Carrier extended warranty.....lotza questions!

[Katy_Sparkles]

Ok guys I *think* I’ve made up my mind on the Carrier system. ARI #902974 - it’s the Infinity 80% dual stage / variable speed furnace and a 16 seer Performance condenser. (This is the original thread: http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=250022 )

Soooo I keep reading about these sometimes humongous repair bills and I want to shield myself from those. I think the 10 year parts/labor warranty is the way to go. Monday morning I’m going to call my sales rep and ask some questions, but I want to run some things by you smart guys around here first!

The dealer I’m working with is listed as a dealer on the Carrier website, but does NOT have the “factory authorized dealer” logo next to their name. So can they even sell me a factory warranty, or would it be a third party warranty (I’ve heard bad things about those)?

Second, this has to do with maintenance a little bit too, what maintenance is required for the warranty to stay valid? Are once yearly checkups / coil cleanings sufficient? I can change the inside air filter myself correct?

Correct me if I’m wrong, but the standard warranty is 2 years labor and 10 years parts. If I don’t buy the extended warranty now, do I have the option to buy an extended warranty later?

Thanks!

Katy

[jasonairmaster]

You do not have to be a factory auth dealer for carrier to sell a extended warranty.
Yes I would purchase a extended warranty for the system. The warranty is threw carrier so no third party.
They do recommend to have the unitserviced every year.
You can change the filter unless you have or bought a special filter which might need maintance too.
But all in all very good system choice.

[WhoIsThat?]

Soooo I keep reading about these sometimes humongous repair bills and I want to shield myself from those.
The cost of a warranty is like the premium on an insurance policy; the premium price is the likelihood of a failure x the cost of that failure + company overhead.
If you self-insure you save the overhead.

"Struck by Lightning" by Rosenthal talks about decisions like this.

The only shield you have is to buy reliable equipment, and reliability data [that is, hard numbers] are hard to come by. It's called Mean Time Between Failures.

The last two extended service contracts I saw had fine print that said that once you buy the contract they will tell you what is covered.
The fine print also said, "This is not a contract."

I don't know how they get away with nonsense like this.

Be very careful with any kind of warranty coverage. I wouldn't even consider the warranty when making a buying decision. They always seem to have ways around it.

[dash]

Factory/Carrier warranty covers most eventhing that's in each "bow" not what is outside,lineset,drains,flues,etc.,etc..

Your Contractor should be able to detail this for you.