Posted on 12/24/2025 8:49:52 AM PST by Leaning Right
Most drivers don’t expect to hear from the federal government—unless something has gone very wrong.
But this month, more than 168,000 Americans opened their mailboxes to find checks from the Federal Trade Commission, all tied to a case that exposed widespread deception in the vehicle service contract industry.
*snip*
Many drivers believed they were signing up for protection that covered major repairs, sometimes paying as much as $120 a month. Yet when they needed help, they discovered that the “coverage” often vanished behind exclusions, denials, and carefully crafted contract language.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Sounds good, but 9.6 million divided by 168,000 is $57, if the distribution is equally divided among victims.
And the lawyers win again
wow!
THAT’S a real scam.
My mechanic charges full regular shop fees, so he isn’t cheap (just exceptionally honest and very competent).
at any event, his comment was that the contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on
and while he still will make phone calls or write certifiction letters trying to help any customers collect on these sorts of car warranty contracts..... he really really doesn’t want to deal with them at all anymore... and when a customer asks he tells them to forget about it
These days it is very easy to do Internet searches before trying anything advertised anywhere.
A long list of angry and unhappy customers is usually a clue.
Lol.
Your mechanic is correct. I am the office manager of my family’s auto repair business.
All of them I have ever dealt with are scams. I now tell customers we don’t accept extended warranties or repair insurance. They must pay us up front and get the money from their insurer themselves.
I am not spending hours of my day jumping through their BS hoops.
I see the Carshield adds all the time. I always suspected they were too good to be true and a scam to con unwise consumers.
Understood.
As bad or worse than some dental insurances.
All “extended warranty” type services might not be a scam but THEY ALL NONETHELESS ARE A BAD DEAL because they know the failure rates of their products (which you don’t) and will adjust their fees accordingly.
And it’s a zero-sum game. If they pay you for claims in excess of your premiums, they lose. If you pay premiums in excess of what you receive in claims, you lose. And they couldn’t continue to provide services if they’re not profitable, therefore the fact that they’re still in business proves they’re a bad investment.
Funny you should mention CarShield, I got yet another advertisement from those crooks in the mail today. It went right into the trash!
It doesn't explain why the service contracts were misleading. It doesn't explain how people who bought the contracts were denied reimbursements.
What the article should have mentioned was that the fine print excudes key parts that are required for "covered" systems, so that no system is actually fully covered. If the key part needs to be replaced, the whole system is not covered.
-PJ
An old saying...
“The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away!”
Yep. I know of three times I was a party to a Class Action law suit in which I had no idea.
The first one I received 15, $10, coupons, good for airfare discounts at United Airlines. I had flown quite a bit on United and they did something wrong.
Anyway, looking at the coupons they had to be used one at a time. They could not be combined, and they were only good for full-fare tickets, which were only available at the counters at the airports. They were worthless and I found out the lawyers made somewhere north of $20 million.
The second was I received a check for about $1.25. I don't remember what it was for but the paperwork stated the lawyers received over $10 million.
The third was a check for 36 cents. I didn't even look to see how much the grifting lawyers made for that one.
i have cash app, my son uses it to send me money from time to time, depending on the amount, i usually wait the couple of days with no fees. it works had no issues
Good to know. Thanks.
Me too.
welcome FRiend Merry Christmas
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