Key Points:
- Mechanical breakdown insurance coverage (MBI) is much like an prolonged automobile guarantee in that it covers restore prices associated to defective elements or workmanship.
- MBI plans are regulated by state insurance coverage commissions, whereas prolonged guarantee plans usually are not.
- Your car have to be lower than 15 months old to qualify for Geico MBI.
In addition to the usual sorts of auto insurance coverage, Geico additionally gives a product referred to as mechanical breakdown insurance coverage (MBI). Geico MBI is available to most clients and will be added to current insurance policies for a reasonably low worth. But do you want MBI?
Mechanical breakdown insurance coverage is much like an prolonged automobile guarantee in that it helps cowl the cost of repairs in case your car unexpectedly breaks down. Our evaluate workforce has taken a detailed take a look at the finest prolonged automobile guarantee choices in the marketplace, and whereas an MBI coverage isn’t precisely the identical as an prolonged guarantee, each present comparable protection. Read this evaluate to see how MBI insurance policies evaluate to prolonged warranties and be taught if Geico mechanical breakdown insurance coverage is an efficient funding.
What Is Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance?
Geico mechanical breakdown insurance coverage is a kind of automobile insurance coverage that covers repairs to sure car elements after they break down resulting from regular use. MBI insurance policies are one option to shield your pockets in opposition to hefty restore prices in case your car has defective mechanical elements or defects in workmanship. In this fashion, they’re much like automobile warranties.
Geico is without doubt one of the solely prime insurance coverage firms that gives extra mechanical breakdown protection for automobile repairs. Through Geico, mechanical breakdown insurance coverage is available for leased or new automobiles which can be lower than 15 months old and have lower than 15,000 miles on the odometer. Coverage is renewable as much as 7 years/100,000 miles. Geico MBI covers all car elements and techniques, with a small listing of exclusions.
Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance Exclusions
Some of the objects not included in Geico MBI protection are:
- Regular upkeep providers corresponding to tune-ups, wheel balancing, and suspension alignments
- Maintenance elements like filters, lubricants, coolant, and fluids
- Wear-and-tear elements that deteriorate naturally over time, corresponding to spark plugs, tires, and brake pads, brake sneakers, and linings
Only injury that outcomes from regular use is roofed. Geico’s MBI coverage doesn’t cowl intentional injury and injury that outcomes from misuse or improper upkeep. Additionally, it is not going to cowl injury that outcomes from a crash, vandalism, or climate–you will have collision and complete automobile insurance coverage insurance policies for these incidents.
How to Use Geico MBI
If you want a restore that’s coated underneath Geico mechanical breakdown insurance coverage, you possibly can take your car to the restore facility of your selection and supply your MBI coverage quantity. Geico will then go about authorizing your MBI declare. If your declare is permitted, Geico pays the restore store instantly, minus a $250 deductible that you’ll want to pay out of pocket.
Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance Cost
Gieco doesn’t listing the cost of its mechanical breakdown insurance coverage on-line. But like all sort of automobile insurance coverage, the cost of Geico mechanical breakdown insurance coverage will range from person to person. It’s usually an add-on to your automobile insurance coverage coverage, and various factors can have an effect on the cost. Some of those elements embody:
- Vehicle make and mannequin
- Vehicle age
- Your age
- Where you reside
- Your driving historical past
Is Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance Worth It?
A Geico mechanical breakdown insurance coverage coverage could also be price it for some drivers, however not all. If you’re in a position to lock in a low annual fee, MBI may give you added peace of thoughts on the highway, figuring out you’re coated within the occasion of an surprising breakdown.
However, a lot of the protection supplied by an MBI coverage is already included together with your car’s manufacturing facility guarantee. Typical new automobile guarantee protection lasts for 3 years, so you’re unlikely to realize any worth from an MBI coverage till after that point. This signifies that if you happen to wait till Geico’s 15-month car age cutoff, you’ll be paying for MBI protection for almost two years earlier than you’ll see any profit out of your funding.
That stated, if you happen to’re solely paying a low fee per 12 months for the additional insurance coverage protection, it might be definitely worth the upfront cost to renew your coverage long-term. If you retain your coverage for the total seven-year protection time period, it should find yourself costing considerably much less general than a typical prolonged auto guarantee.
Mechanical Breakdown Insurance Vs. Extended Car Warranties
Mechanical breakdown insurance coverage is much like an prolonged auto guarantee, although they’re not precisely the identical. The desk beneath outlines a few of the key similarities and variations between what mechanical breakdown insurance coverage covers in comparison with an prolonged guarantee.
Geico MBI Vs. Extended Car Warranty: Key Differences
One necessary distinction between mechanical breakdown insurance coverage and prolonged automobile warranties is that MBI insurance policies are regulated by the state insurance coverage commissioner. This further stage of safety could also be a deciding issue for drivers who’re on the fence about prolonged automobile guarantee protection.
MBI insurance policies additionally are inclined to cost lower than prolonged warranties. However, they don’t present protection for older, used vehicles. With Geico, mechanical breakdown insurance coverage have to be bought whereas your producer’s guarantee might be nonetheless in impact.
Even taking this into consideration, an MBI coverage is prone to be cheaper than an prolonged automobile guarantee in the long term. However, Geico mechanical breakdown insurance coverage comes with the next deductible than most prolonged automobile warranties. If your car experiences various cheap breakdowns, your coverage could find yourself not overlaying many repairs.
Keep in thoughts that as automobiles age, the probability of an surprising breakdown will increase. So whereas an MBI coverage from Geico could also be a better option for newer automobiles, an prolonged automobile guarantee will possible be extra helpful for an older, higher-mileage automobile that’s vulnerable to needing main repairs.
Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance: Our Take
Geico is without doubt one of the solely main automobile insurance coverage firms to supply MBI. MBI generally is a good choice for new automobile homeowners who need inexpensive protection for peace of thoughts on the highway.
However, in case your car is older than 15 months, it’s already too late to buy Geico mechanical breakdown insurance coverage. For car safety much like a Geico MBI coverage, you would contemplate an prolonged automobile guarantee. As with insurance coverage, one of the simplest ways to search out the correct worth and the correct coverage on your wants is to buy round and evaluate suppliers.
Recommended Alternatives
Two firms we extremely suggest are Endurance and Carchex. After ranking and reviewing dozens of prolonged guarantee firms, these two stood out from the pack for his or her high-quality protection and excellent customer support.
Endurance: Best Overall
Endurance warranties include a few of the most complete protection choices within the trade. In addition to plain powertrain guarantee and bumper-to-bumper guarantee choices, Endurance supplies all clients with intensive advantages together with:
- Rental automobile reimbursement
- 24/7 roadside help
- Trip interruption protection
- One 12 months of Endurance Elite Benefits
The Endurance Elite Benefits program consists of complete loss safety, identification theft providers, key fob and tire replacements, and a collision low cost, amongst different advantages. You can renew your membership for a further cost after the primary 12 months.
Overall, we rated the supplier 4.7 out of 5.0 stars in our Endurance guarantee evaluate. We gave it excessive marks for reliability, protection plans, pricing, transparency, and buyer expertise. Learn extra by studying the total evaluate, and click on beneath to get a free, customized quote to see how a lot an Endurance guarantee would cost on your car.
Carchex: Best Industry Reputation
Carchex has probably the greatest reputations amongst prolonged automobile guarantee suppliers. It has been endorsed by trade leaders corresponding to Kelley Blue Book, Carfax, and Edmunds.com. Like Endurance, a spread of Carchex car service contracts are available for brand new and used automobiles. Carchex additionally supplies extra helpful advantages corresponding to:
- 24/7 roadside help
- Towing reimbursement
- Rental automobile reimbursement
- Trip interruption protection
Carchex is accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), has an A+ BBB ranking, and scored 4.5 out of 5.0 stars in our Carchex evaluate.
See for your self how a lot a Carchex plan would cost by reaching out for a free, no-obligation quote.
Geico Mechanical Breakdown Insurance: FAQ
Below are some steadily requested questions on Geico mechanical breakdown insurance coverage:
How We Rate Car Warranty Companies
Our evaluate workforce extensively researches prolonged automobile guarantee suppliers to ship knowledgeable and unbiased assessments of main firms. We consider a number of key ranking elements which can be necessary to shoppers to find out which suppliers are the most effective within the trade:
- Reliability: Warranty suppliers that earn sturdy scores from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), work with dependable companions and directors, and have a protracted historical past within the guarantee trade rating effectively on this class.
- Coverage Plans: We take a detailed take a look at the protection plans available by every supplier, together with what number of are supplied, most time period limits, plan exclusions, and extra. We additionally consider the added advantages firms embody with their guarantee plans, corresponding to roadside help and journey interruption advantages.
- Pricing: Our workforce performs a secret shopper evaluation for quite a lot of automobiles and protection plans to get a way of a supplier’s common prices. We see how every firm’s pricing, deductible choices, and low cost alternatives evaluate to opponents when figuring out this rating.
- Transparency: We consider the availability and transparency of every firm’s contracts, in addition to whether or not every supplier gives a money-back guarantee.
- Customer Experience: We contemplate buyer opinions and complaints from websites just like the BBB and Trustpilot. Our workforce additionally reaches out to customer support reps throughout our secret shopper evaluation to get a way of the shopper expertise with every firm.