Saltman,
Have the friend take those insurance policies to his State Insurance
Commissioner. There are funds all insurance companies pay in to which cover the
claims of people such as this, who are insured by a company that goes out of
business, etc. and the fund will take the claim and process it. If such a fund
exists in that State the claim may be paid at a lesser than 100% one the dollar
rate, but at least some may be recovered.

About the service contracts, or extended warranties, you can buy a warranty
from the dealerships which are not actually underwritten by the Auto Mfg, but
are underwritten by GE or some other financial corporation, etc. These
sometimes are sold, the same as mortgages, and you end up with who knows......

I would not buy a service contract or extended warranty unless it was actually
underwritten by Honda Corp. Like a prior writer said, it may cost you more, but
you at least know Honda is going to be around a while... you have no clue what
GE or some other financial institution is going to do... I haven't heard of
the motor car companies selling these contracts off either. So, if you buy a
Honda contract it will be a Honda contract 7 years later. I think IF you are
going to buy one you should go for the 7 year 100,000 mile one... the years are
what get you... of course if you are going to drive more than 100,000 miles in
5 years no need to buy the 7 year one. Personally I will put about 10,000 per
year on a vehicle, so the 7 year 75,000 mile will probably do me okay, but then
driving habits may change, etc., so for maybe another 100 dollars, go for the
100,000. The cost quoted me when we bought a new one in December was $1295.
Another thing, don't have to buy these extended warranties until the end of the
mfg warranty, I am told, so you can actually wait 3 years or 36,000 miles before
buying....

Good luck on these. The statistics I hear is a vehicle actually rarely causes
serious problems until after about 70000 miles, then you can expect some
problems, if they are going to happen, at which time you need the extended
warranty.... In other words buying an extended warranty to extend the mfg
warranty from 36000 miles to 50000 miles is probably a waste of money. Or even
from 36000 to 60000 or 70000 miles.... The people buying those warranties are
paying for the problems of those who buy the 100000 mile ones...

kathylowell@...
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