Dealer Add On's | An overview of Add On's that dealers try to sell you:

Add-ons You May Want To Think About.
Some of these products may appeal to you. Instead of purchasing right away, ask the business manager to provide you with information so that you can read at home, and let them know in a couple of days. This prevents you from purchasing things under pressure.

• Credit Life Insurance
A credit life-insurance policy covers your car payments if you die.  Our advice: Buying life or disability insurance from an auto dealer just doesn't make a lot of sense.  If this is something that worries you find a good life insurance agent instead.

• Accident & Health Insurance
Accident & Health insurance will cover the amount of your payment in the likely hood you become sick or disabled. Buying Accident & Health insurance from an auto dealer just doesn't make a lot of sense.  If this is something that worries you find a good life insurance agent instead.

• Extended Warranties
Over the past decade the quality of vehicles has vastly improved.  Most manufactures offer a very good manufacture warranty programs and the need of buying an extended warranty has decreased.

The only reason that we would recommend an extended warranty is if you plan on keeping the vehicle after the manufactures warranty has expired and you see are struggling to make the payments in the future. You should get a quote from a Warranty company before you enter the dealership. They can sometimes be as much as 60% savings.

If you are in a cash tight situation a extended warranty can help avoid agonizing over decisions over whether repairs need to be done or not.  They may even save you from financial disaster.

• Car Insurance
If you plan on getting you car insurance through the dealer make sure that you shop for competitive rates first.  We would recommend you visit our Car Insurance Buying Guide first before making any decisions with you dealer.

• Fabric protection
The most common add-on dealers sell is fabric protection. Some dealerships will charge close to $200 for this service. There is no difference between what they sell and what you can easily but in the store.  Our advice is to go buy a can of Scotch Guard

• Gap Insurance
Gap Insurance is extra insurance that will cover the "gap" between the actual value of your car at the time of the accident and the amount you still owe the finance company. 

Most finance companies require you owners to have full coverage on your new vehicle, but gap insurance isn't usually included.

If your car is totaled or stolen within the first two years, you could be in for a nasty surprise, due to the rapid depreciation of new cars you could owe more than you car is worth. 

We recommend buying this extra insurance if you plan to finance more than 95% of the vehicle.

• Paint Sealant
Your car paint is already protected with coatings right from the factory.  If you take reasonable good care of you car you should not need to pay for this extra protection.

• Rust Proofing
These days cars are rust-proof enough right out of the factory, to last longer than anyone is likely to keep a car.  Our suggestion is unless you have some extreme reason to expect a rust problem you should probably pass on this add-on.

• VIN Window Etching
Every 23 seconds a vehicle is stolen in the country.  Most police departments and insurance companies will tell you that the most effective anti-theft device for your car in VIN window etching.  Car dealerships charge anyway from $150 - $300 for this service and in most cases only will cost them around $14.  Our advice is to do this yourself.  You can buy VIN etching kits for $20 and will only take a few minutes of your time.

• Maintenance Plans
When you buy a maintenance plane you are essentially pre-paying for all of your scheduled maintenance.  We have found that most dealer plans will cost much less than paying full price for all of you upcoming scheduled maintenance.  Our advice is to get pricing from the dealership on the normal maintenance costs and see if the plan is cheaper.  Also make sure that you are comfortable with their service department and that the dealership’s location is convenient for you.

Add-ons The Dealer May Try To Slip Into Your Contract.
Before you sign any paperwork make sure that you carefully read all of it.  Many times the dealer will try to slip extra costs into your paperwork with out you even knowing.  Here are a couple of the usually suspects to watch out for.

• Dealer Protection Package
By using a name like "dealer protection package" dealers can front load their vehicles with add on products; like paint protection, fabric protection.  This is very common with Toyota.