Previously in this three-part look at used-equipment warranties: Used-truck warranties more valuable than ever with sky-high equipment prices and maintenance costs
Beyond the OEM warranties that sometimes can be found on newer used trucks, aftermarket extended warranties are available from a handful of providers, including Truck Master Warranty and TruNorth Global. National Truck Protection/Premium 2000+ also offers Class 8 aftermarket warranties, and powertrain warranties are available from engine OEMs like Paccar, Volvo, Mack, Cummins (see below), Cat and Detroit.
Owner-operator Eduardo Sustaita, headquartered in El Paso, Texas, bought his first truck in 2014, starting as a leased Peterbilt 387 he acquired after a 2.5-year lease term in CFI's program. "It was a lemon," frankly, he said, that "brought me almost to bankruptcy," though he got through it with mounting debt. Finally, he had an in-frame done on the engine that didn't go well, and so he sold it six months after completing the lease and taking ownership.
With "everything I learned from having that Peterbilt," Sustaita said, "I checked all the little details" before he bought his current truck, a 2013 Kenworth T660 that's been a better experience. He elected to purchase an extended powertrain warranty, a Premium 2000+ product in this case, for around $5,800. He got an in-frame on the engine at a Cummins dealership, which the Premium 2000+ warranty covered to the tune of $19,555 -- saving him about $14,000 -- and got coverage attendant to that, to "cover the stuff that Premium 2000+ [warranty] wasn't going to cover anymore,” because it had a $20,000 value limit. “... That paid off in two months when a turbo went out. That warranty covered the turbo and DPF."
Outside of the engine OEMs, Lindsey Grammel, with aftermarket used-truck warranty provider TruNorth Global, said the used-truck extended warranty market has consolidated down to just three or four providers in recent years, and “every warranty company is looking to put together the best program for customers."
There's good news in that reality. Recent used truck market dynamics have triggered aftermarket warranty providers to look at covering older vehicles at higher mileages than was previously traditional.
[Related: Sellers' market: Owner-operators adapt to skyrocketing used-truck prices with tight volume]
