interesting bit about warranty..
my parents are NOT the type to purchase extra crap and my dad is usually very good at negotiations and seeing value. I was shocked to learn they purchased Toyota ECP when they bought the new Corolla.
Historically the Corolla's reliability speaks for itself. My dad is even does all his own car work.
His reason behind the purchase was that this Corolla is all new and being the first year it may have some bugs so he felt the extra protection was worthwhile.
We got the 7 year, 160,000km ECP on the Corolla because the 'deal of the week' was a free 4 year ECP ($1049 value) and it was an additional $549 to upgrade to 7 years. That's a no-brainer.
With ECPs, you get some free oil changes (first 3 years, so 6 in total at $50 each = $300 saved), free tire rotations and other crap that has 'some' value, too. To me, it was essentially a free warranty. On top of that, if we opted for the ECP, we got 1/2 price on rustproofing (paid $249), which as described in other threads, is simply another form of insurance/warranty (lifetime, no need to inspect ever). So for $800, less the money saved from oil changes, we have a 7 year bumper-to-bumper warranty on a reliable vehicle plus lifetime warranty against rust. You wouldn't spend on it?
...I agree, on my brother's Crosstrek I advised against getting the ECP - it was $2,600 for 7 years and didn't seem worth it. That's a lot of repair before it starts to pay for itself.
...I also agree that our ECP was probably more of the outlier than the usual ECP experience.