Is it worth purchasing an extended warranty through the dealership ($400)? A decision I must make in October. Good or bad experiences welcomed.

 

pretty good question. i suppose it depends on what the extended warranty covers/offers. even then, it's a very personal decision.
as a general rule of thumb, i do not purchase extended warranties (EW). the one exception that i made (relative to an EW) was with when i purchased my cellphone, since the salesguy assured me that the phone (since it's always carried around) would almost certainly be dropped (and damaged), which would be covered. sure enough, after about a year and a half, i dropped the phone, which stopped working. sure enough, they would NOT cover it. the point is, be VERY cautious with the fine print, and consider that the bike (assuming it's a ninja 500) has been manufactured for MANY, MANY years in it's current iteration.
you might consider posting another question, asking for any and all problems that ninja (500) owners have experienced with their new bikes. i for one experienced only one issue, which i'm not sure any type of warranty would cover. my back tire essentially has a flat spot in it, which causes the bike to bounce (as if riding on a bumpy road) at certain speeds/conditions. other than that, the bike has performed flawlessly - i'm very impressed with it.
regardless, enjoy the bike!
greg

 

For a proven design like the 500R, no, the extended warranty really isn't worth it.
If you were buying a new design like the Ninja 650R, perhaps, but not for a time-tested design like the 500.

I bought a W650 back in '00 and it has been a great bike, but back then it was a new design, so I sprung for the EW. The bike had one achilles heel--despite being essentially chromed sheet-metal, the original rear fender was supporting the license-plate/taillight assembly and it formed a crack after 22,000 miles. The dealership happily changed it out, at no charge. But even in this case, the extended warranty wasn't the best bargain, because I paid $300 for that fender and a new shock. It would have perhaps been cheaper to have simply bought the parts as I needed them.

It's a crap-shoot, but the chances of anything going mechanically wrong with the mighty 500 are very, very slim.

Good luck with your new bike!
-CCinC

 

It's best to know exactly what that extended warranty covers. You will find it only covers defects, and nothing else. Any defect your 500 might have in the next couple years most likely will not exceed to cost off the warranty either, so I would not do it.

 

Thanks for the feedback...I'm not going to purchase the extended warranty.[sm=proof.gif]

 

I'm glad I read this post yesterday. I purchased a 2 year ext. warranty and my 60 days are up on the 17th. So I stopped
by the dealer and put a cancel on it.

I basically did the same thing when I bought my KLX300 last year but why I didn't learn, I don't know. I guess I
figured being it's a street bike, it might be good to have. But I forgot about what It DOESN'T cover.