Hondacare Protection Plans

[the Ferret]

Offer came in the mail today from Honda offering extended protection plans for my 2021 NC 750X DCT.

Ive never bought an extended warranty in my life. Then again I've never had a bike with a DCT trans or this much electronic stuff.

Protection Plans can be bought from 12 mo for $490 up to 60 months for $970. The first 12 mo are the big hit @ $490, the next 12 are only $90 and the following 12 are $110.

I'll be 72 next month and if I can ride 3 more years that would be astonishing considering family history ( going back 3 gens that I can track, no male has lived past 78), and the fact that I have already had a couple medical "issues". My goal was to ride until I was 70 (55 years riding street on 2 wheels) and I made that in May 2020. Still having the fire in my belly and still feeling physically/ mentally able, I moved the goal post to age 72. That comes next month. I should surely make that (God willing I will be on a MC trip to New England on my birthday with a couple CB 1100 buddies). Then I'm thinking the goal should be 3 more years or until I'm 75.

I believe this will be the 10th year of the DCT so Im pretty sure the trans is a solid deal and not much to worry about. Do I have reason to be concerned with Honda's electrics?

I've had 10 Honda motorcycles, 10 Honda cars/truck, 1 Honda ATV, and none have ever let me down in the past. I dont believe this one will either, but .....

 

[670cc]

I’ve never bought an extended warranty in my life and I never will. If somehow I got talked in to buying one I would be overcome with remorse. and wouldn’t be able to live with myself.

Your last paragraph sums it up. No Honda let downs in ten years. Honda knows that, too. That’s also how Honda knows it’s a sure thing profit maker when they sell extended warranties.

Congratulations on your extensive motorcycle riding history, and best wishes for more rides to come.

As for the DCT, the most common failure lately seems to be the shifter motor. It would be bad if it broke a long way from home, but it’s not going to break your bank to replace it.

 

[Deleted member 10242]

I have a 2022 so haven't had to make that decision yet. My last bike was a Goldwing DCT and I was thinking of an extended warranty before I decided to trade that in. I heard if you call around you might get some better pricing. For the Goldwing one of those people to call was Carter Wood at Blue Ridge Powersports at (540) 434-7345 x125. Don't know if they offer plans for the NC750 but might be worth a call. If you call them, please report back. On a side related note, I have a 2015 Subaru Outback and I bought a 7 year 100,000 mile extended warranty. With just under 2,000 miles to go I called the dealer because my driver window was not going all the way down when I pressed the auto open button. Of course it had expired like a month before I called them. Always seems to be what happens to me...

 

[Rabbit]

It’s a Honda, why would you need an extended warranty? If I wanted one of those I’d get a Triumph

 

[the Ferret]

lol yea, I agree, Just wanted to mull it around for a bit and get opinions. I'll throw it away so it won't aggravate me anymore

 

[670cc]

I have a 2022 so haven't had to make that decision yet. My last bike was a Goldwing DCT and I was thinking of an extended warranty before I decided to trade that in. I heard if you call around you might get some better pricing. For the Goldwing one of those people to call was Carter Wood at Blue Ridge Powersports at (540) 434-7345 x125. Don't know if they offer plans for the NC750 but might be worth a call. If you call them, please report back. On a side related note, I have a 2015 Subaru Outback and I bought a 7 year 100,000 mile extended warranty. With just under 2,000 miles to go I called the dealer because my driver window was not going all the way down when I pressed the auto open button. Of course it had expired like a month before I called them. Always seems to be what happens to me...

So in the end, did you get any warranty service or repair at all on the Subaru over the 7 years year life of the extended warranty?

 

[Deleted member 10242]

So in the end, did you get any warranty service or repair at all on the Subaru over the 7 years year life of the extended warranty?

Nope. Just peace of mind. Would I get one again on a Subaru? Probably not. Will I get on one my 2022 NC750X? Probably not. The Goldwing was also a DCT but had a lot more electronics. It also came with a 3 year warranty and was still under that when I traded it in.

 

[the Ferret]

Three year factory warranties would be nice. 3 years 36K would be great.

 

[670cc]

Three year factory warranties would be nice. 3 years 36K would be great.

I consider the warranty to be for catastrophic failures. With Honda products that is unlikely to happen. If the warranty repair is not a major expense, I fix it myself rather than let a dealer muck it up.

* The last time I even let a Honda dealer tackle a warranty problem on a new Honda motorcycle was in 1998. They didn’t fix the issue and also put the bike back together wrong. I ended up correcting the problem myself and fixing everything they messed up.
* In 2000, a new Sea-Doo boat had an engine failure. Powersports dealer‘s repair worked for about an hour and the engine failed again. I ended up rebuilding the engine on a six month old boat myself and it is still running fine today.
* Took my new Ridgeline in to have the doors aligned to the body, because the factory was sloppy. Dealer damaged the front bumper and had to give me a new one, which I accepted in the wrapper; I would not let them install it.
* Took car in for warranty clutch replacement. Took a total five trips to the dealer to accomplish the job, including three to fix what they messed up, plus I had to replace the mudflaps because they damaged them.
* New RV had numerous faults. I had dealer give me free warranty parts so I could address the problems myself, but the RV has never physically returned to the dealer since the day I first drove it home. I know better than to let them touch it.

The point is that it’s nice for the warranty to be there, but I am unlikely to use it.

 

[the Ferret]

That's all well and good if you are mechanically inclined, which I most definitely am not. I can add air to tires, change the oil & oil filters, adjust the chain slack, change out a windshield. Anything more serious than that and it's going to a real mechanic with tools and actual skills lol. Luckily the head mechanic at my local shop who has been maintaining my bikes for 30 years is very good, albeit somewhat expensive. So if something does go wrong in the next couple of years it's coming straight out of my pocket.

 

[itsmenc700]

Why do you think there are those annoying texts & calls about extended car warrantees???
Extended warrantees are all about making more money for however you pay.
You'd be better off putting money away in an account for "future failures"!
As long as you do the maintenance 99.85% chance you'll not have a major repair bill.
I even buy 4 year cars without any warranties - !!!!!!!

 

[670cc]

That's all well and good if you are mechanically inclined, which I most definitely am not. I can add air to tires, change the oil & oil filters, adjust the chain slack, change out a windshield. Anything more serious than that and it's going to a real mechanic with tools and actual skills lol. Luckily the head mechanic at my local shop who has been maintaining my bikes for 30 years is very good, albeit somewhat expensive. So if something does go wrong in the next couple of years it's coming straight out of my pocket.

This is where the warranty concept falls apart for me, in finding “a real mechanic with tools and actual skills.” Most of my local automobile and powersports dealers don’t seem to have them. You are fortunate to have a good local shop.

If you buy an extended warranty, you have definitely spent money, even if the product never breaks. If you pay for repairs as they may happen, you may or may not spend money. I’d go for the latter choice. The game is rigged in favor of the warranty company.

 

[the Ferret]

Yea that's my plan, skip the ext warranty and trust that Honda did a good job of putting my mc together. Will turn over 12K miles by the weekend, so far so good lol

 

[Gixus]

This is where the warranty concept falls apart for me, in finding “a real mechanic with tools and actual skills.” Most of my local automobile and powersports dealers don’t seem to have them. You are fortunate to have a good local shop.

If you buy an extended warranty, you have definitely spent money, even if the product never breaks. If you pay for repairs as they may happen, you may or may not spend money. I’d go for the latter choice. The game is rigged in favor of the warranty company.

I think that’s the major problem with any motorcycle warranty these days, finding a competent dealership mechanic who can work on your bike. There is only one large dealership within 50 miles of me, and I wouldn’t trust them to even do an oil change on my bike.

I think part of the problem is that bikes are so reliable these days, rarely have any problems that a reasonably handy owner can’t deal with himself, that few mechanics are able to maintain their skills. That’s if they had any to begin with.

Ive never had the valves checked at a dealership in all my years of riding. I can’t understand why anyone would trust that it was even done, especially if the result is that none needed adjustment, and they don’t give you the individual reading for each valve. On the majority of 4 cylinder engines I’ve checked, there might be two valves that require, or are close to requiring adjustment. I don’t see many dealerships going through the hassle of charging extra money to adjust if some valves are slightly out. They like making their money on exorbitant charges for changing tires.

My dealership charges $110 an hours for labour. With tax they charge me $60 to put a tire on a rim I bring in. Seeing as they take 10 minutes at most to do it, they’re charging me close to 3 times their hourly rate. Change 6 tires in an hour and they’ve made $360. Why go through the hassle of checking valves properly and only getting around $110 an hour?

 

[762x54]

I think that’s the major problem with any motorcycle warranty these days, finding a competent dealership mechanic who can work on your bike. There is only one large dealership within 50 miles of me, and I wouldn’t trust them to even do an oil change on my bike.

I think part of the problem is that bikes are so reliable these days, rarely have any problems that a reasonably handy owner can’t deal with himself, that few mechanics are able to maintain their skills. That’s if they had any to begin with.

Ive never had the valves checked at a dealership in all my years of riding. I can’t understand why anyone would trust that it was even done, especially if the result is that none needed adjustment, and they don’t give you the individual reading for each valve. On the majority of 4 cylinder engines I’ve checked, there might be two valves that require, or are close to requiring adjustment. I don’t see many dealerships going through the hassle of charging extra money to adjust if some valves are slightly out. They like making their money on exorbitant charges for changing tires.

My dealership charges $110 an hours for labour. With tax they charge me $60 to put a tire on a rim I bring in. Seeing as they take 10 minutes at most to do it, they’re charging me close to 3 times their hourly rate. Change 6 tires in an hour and they’ve made $360. Why go through the hassle of checking valves properly and only getting around $110 an hour?

Well now...... as a retired employee of a large dealership I can say that this tire thing is a whore's game. If you try to sell tires at retail very few people will buy them. If you match price with the online sellers you can barely make enough money to keep the doors open. So some dealers sell tires at a discount and try to make a profit on the mounting and balancing. It is a vicious business and if you find a dealer that treats you right and does a good job for you, you should go out of your way to support them. BTW, this applies to all after market accessories.

 

[itsmenc700]

I'd rather pay a bit more for the tire and way less for the mounting.
Better yet make it a package deal so I can see the total - some things are just to simple for the average auto/bike repair place to get.

 

[GregC]

I'd rather pay a bit more for the tire and way less for the mounting.
Better yet make it a package deal so I can see the total - some things are just to simple for the average auto/bike repair place to get.

And here’s the other thing I don’t understand about buying tires locally. If RevZilla or anyone else can sell them cheaper online, why wouldn’t the dealer just buy them online himself, mark it up 10%, and then charge a reasonable price to mount them, and sell the whole thing as a package? I’d happily pay a reasonable markup and reasonable price for mounting if I could get it all done locally so I can spend my time riding and not wrestling damned mounting spoons. One of the few local shops here that mounts tires wants $90 per tire and that’s IF you buy the tire from them (at about 30% over online prices).

If the dealer also hired competent mechanics who double check their work, I’d happily take my bike there for other service as well, again so I can spend my time riding instead of wrenching. Riding is a pure fun hobby for me, and while I can wrench to a large degree, I’m at the point where I’d rather “trade treasure for time” and ride. I’d rather be a motorcycle rider than a motorcycle mechanic.

 

[Rabbit]

And here’s the other thing I don’t understand about buying tires locally. If RevZilla or anyone else can sell them cheaper online, why wouldn’t the dealer just buy them online himself, mark it up 10%, and then charge a reasonable price to mount them, and sell the whole thing as a package? I’d happily pay a reasonable markup and reasonable price for mounting if I could get it all done locally so I can spend my time riding and not wrestling damned mounting spoons. One of the few local shops here that mounts tires wants $90 per tire and that’s IF you buy the tire from them (at about 30% over online prices).

If the dealer also hired competent mechanics who double check their work, I’d happily take my bike there for other service as well, again so I can spend my time riding instead of wrenching. Riding is a pure fun hobby for me, and while I can wrench to a large degree, I’m at the point where I’d rather “trade treasure for time” and ride. I’d rather be a motorcycle rider than a motorcycle mechanic.

90$ ? That’s crazy. I thought 40$ was bad. I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just mount them. That’s basically pure profit and usually is very quick. On the flip side, most motorcycle riders tend towards a more DIY mindset so the volume of business relative to the investment in manpower may not be justified.

 

[670cc]

Well now...... as a retired employee of a large dealership I can say that this tire thing is a whore's game. If you try to sell tires at retail very few people will buy them. If you match price with the online sellers you can barely make enough money to keep the doors open. So some dealers sell tires at a discount and try to make a profit on the mounting and balancing. It is a vicious business and if you find a dealer that treats you right and does a good job for you, you should go out of your way to support them. BTW, this applies to all after market accessories.

I don’t understand the mindset that I should go out of my way to support a dealer. I don’t owe them any more than they owe me. I’ll go to a dealer for one reason: they have a product or service I need or want for a price I’m willing to pay.

It may be a vicious business, but if the dealer’s business model, market size, or profitability is not working to their satisfaction, I guess they have some decisions to make. How that plays out is not my responsibility.

 

[Rabbit]

I don’t understand the mindset that I should go out of my way to support a dealer. I don’t owe them any more than they owe me. I’ll go to a dealer for one reason: they have a product or service I need for a price I’m willing to pay.

It may be a vicious business, but if the dealer’s business model, market size, or profitability is not working to their satisfaction, I guess they have some decisions to make. How that plays out is not my responsibility.

It’s like supporting anything else I suppose. If you want something to exist then we must be willing to financially support it. Whether that be a local dealer, farmer or manufacturer. Now if the prices get ridiculous then I’ll not support it because it doesn’t make sense and some of these prices on here are definitely ridiculous.