Does Honda Care Provide the Best Coverage?

You’ve just purchased a beautiful new Honda vehicle. As excited as you might be, you know that protecting it past the manufacturer’s warranty is important. Your Honda dealer will probably offer you a protection plan from Honda Care®. These Honda vehicle service contracts provide coverage for specific types of repairs to your car.

Did you know a Honda Care plan isn’t your only option? An extended warranty from CARCHEX gives you the protection you need at an affordable price.

See the benefits and disadvantages to a Honda Care plan and how one of our Extended Vehicle Protection Plans gives you unmatched protection. To get a quote on extended protection for your Honda, call 866-261-3457.

Honda Care is the extended warranty program offered directly from Honda. This program allows new and certified pre-owned Honda buyers to enroll in a vehicle service contract for their car. Although vehicle service contracts are often called auto service contracts and warranties, they are separate from your Honda factory warranty.

You can sign up for a Honda Care plan when you buy your car from a Honda dealership that offers the program. Not all dealerships provide Honda Care enrollment.

Most people look for an extended care program for their new or certified pre-owned vehicle to help protect it against unexpected breakdowns. Your Honda manufacturer’s warranty only covers repairs due to faulty or defective parts and poor workmanship.

Likewise, insurance policies, which are required by state automobile financial responsibility laws, don’t cover breakdowns from normal use. Your insurance policy only covers repairs related to accidents and is dependent on the type of coverage you carry.

Extended warranties, on the other hand, provide coverage for vehicle systems that tend to break down over time. Even with proper maintenance, the parts on your Honda can wear out. A vehicle service contract seeks to relieve some of the cost of expensive repairs.

Honda offers new car owners plenty of coverage options through their Honda Care plans. Some of the covered components of a Honda Care plan for new Hondas include the engine, brakes, and electrical components.

See the chart below for some of the more common covered components.

Honda offers four different plans for new, certified pre-owned, and pre-owned Honda vehicles. You can also sign up for Honda Care if you don’t have a Honda vehicle. This generally isn’t recommended, as you’ll still need to have repairs to your non-Honda vehicle done at a Honda dealership.

Honda also offers a maintenance plan for purchase. While Honda doesn’t provide free maintenance for your vehicle, the maintenance plan gives you the chance to buy a bundle of oil changes and other maintenance services up front.

There are two types of coverage:

• Component Coverage
• Powertrain Coverage

Component Coverage

Honda Care Component Coverage is available for:

• New Honda Vehicles
• Pre-Owned Vehicles
• Certified Additional Coverage for Certified Pre-Owned Hondas

Component Coverage is the most extensive Honda Care plan available. It offers exclusionary coverage. This means every system of your car is covered except for a list of excluded parts.

Some excluded parts of the Component Coverage plan are:

• Non-genuine Honda Parts
• Cables, belts, and hoses
• Battery
• Non-Honda electronic or audio accessories
• Windshields and glass
• Oil changes and other routine maintenance

Powertrain Coverage

Powertrain coverage is available only for pre-owned vehicles. It offers basic protection from costly repairs. Covered parts include:

• Engine
• Drive axle
• Transmission
• Seals, gaskets, and fluids

Are Used Vehicles Covered?

You can cover your used Honda under a Honda Care plan. Vehicles must be a 2016 or newer and have fewer than 36,000 miles on them. Once a Honda vehicle falls outside these requirements, Honda Care is no longer an option.

How Much Does Honda Care Cost?

Pricing for Honda Care depends on a number of factors. For example, you can choose a plan with a deductible or one with a $0 deductible. The $0 deductible plan is more expensive. Other factors in the price of Honda Care include:

• Vehicle age
• Mileage
• Honda model

Honda Care Roadside Assistance

One benefit offered by Honda Care is roadside assistance, which includes:

• Towing services
• Lockout assistance
• Battery jump-start
• Tire change
• Fuel delivery

If you need a rental car while a covered repair is being made, Honda Care provides rental car reimbursement up to $35 a day for up to six days.

Similarly, Honda Care includes trip interruption service if your car breaks down 100 miles or more away from home. The plan provides $100 a day for up to three days for meals and lodging.

As with any dealership-offered extended warranty, Honda Care plans come with a lot of restrictions. Not meeting certain requirements could have your repair claims denied. This could leave you with a broken vehicle and big repair costs.

Some of the biggest drawbacks to Honda Care come from the use of Honda parts, dealer repairs, and driver modifications:

• Must Use Honda Dealership for Repairs: You’re required to have repairs completed at a Honda dealership. In some specific circumstances, you may be able to use a Honda-certified repair shop. These scenarios generally happen if you break down in an area outside of towing distance from a Honda dealer.
• Only Genuine Honda Parts: Your favorite mechanic might be able to get you a good price on repairs by using third-party parts. If you have a Honda Care plan, however, the dealership can only use genuine Honda parts. Branded parts are often more expensive, pushing repair costs even higher. While high repair costs may be fine when your Honda Care plan is active, once it expires, you may be stuck paying for costly repairs using these expensive parts.
• Strictly Follow Honda Maintenance: You should perform regular maintenance on your vehicle. This helps it run better and keeps you from voiding extended warranty contracts. With a Honda Care extended warranty, you’ll need to follow the Honda maintenance schedule using only Honda-approved parts.
• Upgrades Aren’t Covered: Thinking of making small modifications to your vehicle? Or have you had small repairs done by your local repair mechanic? Any non-Honda parts used in these modifications aren’t covered by the Honda Care plans.
• Limited Coverage Options: The limited timeframe to enroll in a Honda Care plan is one of the biggest downsides. Cars must be under three years old and have fewer than 36,000 miles to purchase a Honda Care service contract. Hondas rank below industry average in reliability, according to the 2019 J.D. Power Vehicle Dependability Study. That means as your Honda ages, you’re more likely to need protection from unexpected breakdowns.
• Extra Expenses: Your dealership will likely ask if you’d like to roll the price of your Honda Care plan into your car financing. This makes payment simple since you’ll only have to make one monthly payment. However, the cost of your Honda Care will then be charged interest like the rest of your financing.

When it comes to third-party extended warranty coverage for Honda vehicles, CARCHEX is an industry leader. We’re committed to customer satisfaction. In fact, we’ve put so much value in helping our customers, we’ve been BBB accredited since 2009 and made our motto “Customer Experience Above All.”

See how a CARCHEX warranty stands out from other providers:

• Excellent Customer Service: Our A+ BBB rating comes from a desire to help our customers.
• Flexible Payments: We offer low monthly payment plans to best fit your budget.
• Coverage for Almost Any Car: Our protection plans provide options for cars of all shapes and sizes, including new Hondas, high-mileage Hondas, and older vehicles.
• Easy Repair Payments: Paying your repair bill is simple. You’ll pay your deductible if your plan has one, and we’ll take care of the rest by paying the repair shop directly. Best of all, you’ll get to work with your favorite mechanic, regardless of brand.
• 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee: Don’t like your CARCHEX plan? Cancel within 30 days and we’ll give you your money back, no questions asked.
• Extra Perks: Like the Honda Care plans, CARCHEX provides all of our protection plan customers with a robust roadside assistance and trip interruption service at no extra charge. Get a tow to your mechanic, fuel delivery, battery jump-start, and more with 24/7 access.