Last night I went over to an elderly friends house to help her figure out why she was having problems with balancing her checkbook. When I was looking at the check register I noticed that she was paying $79/month to Nationwide Auto Protection, AKA American Auto Shield, for "Basic Powertrain Coverage". I asked her why she was paying for breakdown coverage on her car and she said that someone had called her and told her that she needed it. Well, I told her that her 1993 Oldsmobile Cutlass, that has only 29,888 miles on it, has a resale value of $477 and that no-one should be selling her coverage that will cost her $2,015 over a two year period.
She realized that she had been taken advantage of by a smooth talking sales person (Joshua Hampton) and was thankful that I had looked at her checkbook. Personally, I can't believe that her car, which she has put less than 30,000 miles on in 18 years, will ever need to be repaired. She puts an average of 1,667 miles/year on her car, and the 4 years of coverage that she was sold for $2,015 will only cover her for about 6,667 miles (given that she will not drive it more than she has in the past).
The only driving she does is to the doctors office and back home. Since she purchased this policy on 10/5 (3 months ago), she has put less than 200 miles on it. I will be contacting American Auto Shield in the morning to see if they will give all of her money back, or if I need to take further action.
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