Consumer Reports has kicked off a controversy with a report alleging that the extended warranties car dealers sell are a waste.  The magazine conducted "a survey of more than 8,000 readers in December 2007," and determined that "warranties sell costly ‘peace of mind' for repair nightmares that probably won't occur."  The magazine recommends that consumers "buy a car that gets top reliability scores" in Consumer Reports' Vehicle Ratings."  Then, they believe, buyers "probably won't need an extended warranty."

Pennsylvania CBS affiliate KDKA-TV reports, "Forty-two percent of the people in the survey didn't use the extended warranty at all, mainly because they didn't need repairs or because the manufacturers' standard warranty covered the repair."

New York Newsday says that the survey "found that 65 percent who bought warranties that go beyond the manufacturers' basic coverage spent more than they got back in repair savings -- an average of $300 more."  However, advocates of extended warranties say the survey misses the point.  "Longtime Chevrolet and Cadillac dealer Paul Conte," points out that a warranty is "like life insurance; if you don't need it, great, but if you do it's good to have." 

Consumer Reports is advocating against the warranties in a major ad campaign.  Consumerist notes that a full page ad appeared in Tuesday's USA Today "warning against extended warranties and featuring a sign that says ‘Pushover on board.'"  The New York Times reports that similar ads began "to appear Monday on car-buying Web sites like Caranddriver.com and Edmunds.com."

Buyers should also be aware of a nationwide scam that asks them to "renew" extended warranties they never purchased.

Read about the reliability records of cars that interest you with U.S. News rankings and reviews.