Ever been struck by lightening?  You have the same chance of using an extended warranty.

Statistics show that:

• Products hardly ever break during the standard warranty or extended warranty period.
• If the product does break, costs to repair are usually comparable to the warranty cost.

In addition, those companies offering the extended warranties go to great lengths to stack the deck in their favor.

• Often they’ll add fine print into the warranty that rules out the most common problems a product could have.
• Standard warranties that come with the product often cover many of the most common repairs already.
• Benefits can be prorated, so that even though you are paying a lot for the warranty, you could still not be able to replace the item with the reduced benefit money.
• Scams run rampant.  These scams often prey on the most vulnerable of us, such as senior citizens.

In 2006 Consumer Reports felt so strongly about consumers not buying extended warranties, they placed an add in USA Today warning consumers against them, and against the sales people - often on commission - pushing them.

According to Consumer Reports, there are only two products on the market where it does pay to have the extended warranty:  Apple Computers, and projection TVs.

But if you’re buying anything else, think twice before signing on the dotted line.

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