Auto Extended Warranty

My factory warranty for my Chevrolet expired this week. I finally made the decision to get an extended warranty. The dealership's extended warranty was quite pathetic. It only insured the car for 2 more years. I was a little worried about getting an extended warranty from the internet. Never sure if those companies are reputable and will stay in business over the years. I did find one that seemed to be good deal and seemed to be from a reputable company.

One thing I noticed during the warranty search was how hard it is to find useful information on companies. When searching google, there seems to be two main places where you can get information. The first are affiliate sites. The problem with these sites is that they get a commission if they lead you to a warranty site and you make a purchase. So you can't really trust them in giving you unbias information. There's no incentive for them to say anything bad about the company.

The other place where I found a little information are discussion forums. Often someone will ask a question or give their opinions or personal experience about one of these companies. At least this information is usually unbiased. But there are only small pieces of information, nothing too useful. There are a few sites like epinions.com that provide a very innovative forum to view others' opinions on companies and products. However, they didn't have any reviews of extended car warranty companies.

I did find one way to get some bit of relevant information about the warranty companies. Now a days, each city or region has a local better business bureau which has its database online and freely accessible. I was able to check out their ratings on several warranty companies. Of course this only provides a little bit of information, but at least you can see if there are any red flags on their service. The BBB will log complaints against the company and provide a "satisfactory" or "unsatisfactory" recommendation of the business. There are also web-only versions of the local BBBs that can also be helpful. It never hurts to have more information.

I've listed some links to local better busines bureaus entries on several extended auto warranty companies. Unlike affiliates, my information is totally unbiased, just the facts:

• WarrantyDirect
  Report from bbbnewyork.org
  BBBOnLine Report
• Warranty Acceptance Corporation - My dad almost purchased a plan from this company. They must have some good brochures. When I checked their web site, half of it was under construction. When I checked their report on the local BBB, they had a lot of complaints. Better Business Bureau of South Alabama (bbbsouthal.org)
  warrantyacceptancecorp.com web site
• 1sourcewarranty.com
  Report from denver.bbb.org

Snow in Austin

We had the most snow in Austin yesterday than any day since the mid 80's, but it wasn't too impressive. Officially, we had 1.6 inches. At my apartment, there was just a little snow on the cars and on the grass and trees. Nothing stuck to the roads. It was nothing like what I remember back up in Maryland. I remember one winter day a few decades ago when we got around two feet of snow. As a young boy at that time, it was a very pleasant surprise. Major snowfalls weren't too common where I lived in Maryland.

Motorola Marathon

The Motorola Marathon was held in Austin today. Luckily, it wasn't yesterday or the day before. Yesterday was the snow. The day before we had a cold rain for most of the day. This day was perfect. It was a little cold in the early morning, but it was nice and sunny.

I didn't run the marathon, but instead assisted a coworker who ran the full 26.2 miles. Couldn't believe how much they charge these days for the registration fee. It's 100 dollars! ($80 for early registration). But there were thousands of runners. There's something about a challenge that lures people. Whether it's climbing a mountain, flying around the world, hiking to the south pole, sailing across the ocean, or running an incredible distance, there will always be people seeking the challenge and willing to pay to try it. I bet there is a lot of money to be made here. Running has been around for awhile. There's got to be some other new athletic challenges that people would want to attempt.

There was one interesting thing I observed as a spectator in this marathon. In the mix of spectators who were cheering the runners, a lone Howard Dean supporter was holding a Dean sign. This has to be a dedicated supporter who doesn't give up easily. Perhaps if the marathon was a few weeks ago before all of the wins by Kerry, a sign might seem useful. But now, I'm afraid it's not going to help much. And even if it were still a very close race, how much difference do political signs make anyway? How many people say: "Wow, what a sign, he must be worth voting for"? I never really understood political signs. If you are going to hold a political sign during a marathon, why not be a little creative with your sign. How about something like: "A vote for Dean is a vote for good American jobs and affordable marathons"?

posted by Ken on 3:07 PM permalink and comments  

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