Hi guys,

I am new here and I am planning to get myself a vantage v8 2009 next week. Of course I am sending it to the Aston Martin dealership to do the pre-purchase inspection before handing over the check - is there anything particular that I should ask the mechanic to check on the car? The seller did not do the servicing for past 2 years (5th and 6th year services). The dealer is quoting about 7500 for 24 months extended warranty. Is it worth it? Please help this rookie out. I am new here and excited to get my hands on to this amazing machine, fingercross for the result of PPI.

Thanks in advanced.

 

Glad you're joining the most admired brand in the world!

All good salespeople give you haunting examples of monstrous costs that could have been avoided if 'only you'd bought the warranty.'

I was sold two fear-based warranties this way, for Mercedes - not for my Astons, and they were never used, so I'm a little biased. I also like to live dangerously so take that into account too. Some people want security no matter what the cost.

Ask yourself after looking through all the posts on Vantage problems - what can go expensively wrong? In my case it was the roof on my Roadster which cost around the price of a 2 year warranty.

If you don't buy a Roadster, the next issue is the clutch. Since that is a fair wear item it's likely not to be included in the fine print. That's a $3000 repair.

When I did my research on Vantages before buying mine, they seemed to be reliable, if not bulletproof, in the engine and gearbox dept. Wiring can be an issue, since my roof problem was caused by wear in a wire round the rear wheel well caused by - as the dealer shop delicately pointed out - a design issue. But that's not a big cost.

So while it's your call, I'm not advocating a warranty. It'll be interesting to see what others say.

 

Hi Kensilver,

Thank you very much for your prompt response. I have been researching lately about this vantage v8 model and have found great reviews so far. That's why I am wondering if it is worth getting the warranty. The only thing I would do after I get the car next week would be upgrading the bluetooth system to be able to listen to music, tint and clearbra (may be). The car is already beautiful as the way it is. Hopefully, the PPI result comes back without any hiccups. By the way, you said that the repair cost for clutch is $3000.00, i believe it is the cost at outside garages, right? not at the AM dealership.

 

Not worth it to be honest, there are very few huge repair bill items that is a definite with these cars.

For example using the merc S class, the air suspension is a real issue that will pop up sooner or later. Definite with age and miles. But no such issue of that cost really exist other than the timing chain cover leak which if it haven't happened by now it "probably" wont.

Sure, if a lot of small stuffs go wrong they can stack up, but they can be taken care of one at time and most of them do not the render the car unable to be driven.

Or you can get super unlucky and all the electrical system gets fried. But you can never insure everything in life, right?

Just get a thorough PPI, making sure all the service is up to date while youre at it. That way you can make sure nothing that is supposed to be working is in poor state and the rest should be relatively trouble free!

 

Probably - I'm not in the USA so am not up to date with current dealer costs.

 

Clutch replacement isn't covered by the warranty, nor is any type of maintenance.

 

An indie can probably replace your clutch by using the original and do a kevlar rebuild for about 4 - 5k in NJ. Buying new or aftermarket clutch would change that number to maybe 6k?

Dealer quoted me 11k for a clutch change

 

CLUTCH REPLACEMENT is one of the reasons that I am afraid of staying without the warranty and if it is not covered by it, I don't think I will be getting it anymore then. I will just pray to god that nothing major happens.

The car is at 28k miles now - i saw some cars go without having any clutch problems for 60-70k miles. Hope I can be one of those.

 

Warranty does not cover wear items like clutch!

 

Something seems fishy from your dealer. Both dealers by me are roughly half of that. Might be a good idea to shop around dealers.

 

For real. I thought clutch job at AM dealership was around $6-7k all inclusive, and indie could be from around 3.5k-4.5k depending, but that was over a year ago. How often do service and parts costs increase?

 

I never use the dealer haha, but being in NJ doesn't help

 

Plus you could get 15% off with AMOC membership.

 

I've had indie shops charged more than AM dealer.

 

Ballpark for a clutch replacement is $5k. You can go above or below it, depending on OEM vs aftermarket, dealer vs indie, etc. So long as you have that amount ready to go, you should be fine.

There's a book mentioned in the FAQ about buying an Aston - it's well worth the investment of time and relative pocket change.

That's 2x what it should be. ARE YOU GETTING A DUAL CLUTCH??