'Extended Car Warranty' Call? Scam
'We've been trying to reach you about your car's extended warranty.' You may not even own a car — the robocalls go to everyone. The 'warranty' is overpriced, near-worthless, or nonexistent, sold by high-pressure boiler rooms. It is one of the most complained-about robocalls there is, and hanging up is the whole defense.
TL;DR / Quick Fix
Quick fix: hang up — the 'extended warranty' robocall is a sales scam, not your manufacturer. Never buy coverage from a cold call; real warranties come from dealers or manufacturers you contact yourself. Block the number, report it, and never press any key — that confirms a live line.
Follow these steps
- Hang up immediately. Do not press 1 to 'speak to someone,' do not press 9 to 'opt out' — any keypress confirms a live number and invites more calls.
- Know what they are selling. Third-party 'vehicle service contracts' with exclusion-riddled fine print, sold far above market. The rare legitimate ones never cold-call you.
- Never buy from a cold call. Real extended warranties come from your dealer or manufacturer, researched by you. A robocall is disqualifying by itself — no exceptions.
- Block and report. Block the number; report to the Do Not Call registry and your carrier's spam tools. Reports aggregate into enforcement.
- Check your actual coverage. If warranty questions are real, call your dealer or check your paperwork. Knowing your actual coverage ends the 'what if' that scammers exploit.
- Use call screening. Enable your phone's spam filtering and silence unknown callers. The calls still come; you just never hear them.
What NOT to do
- Do not press any key, ever. 'Press 2 to opt out' is a live-line detector, not an opt-out.
- Do not give vehicle or personal details. The 'verification' questions harvest data for the next scam.
- Do not assume a local number means local business. See spoofed caller ID — the warranty boiler room is nowhere near you.
- Do not pay by gift card or wire for any warranty. Legitimate sellers take normal payments; scammers take irreversible ones.
Frequently asked questions
I don't own a car — why do I get these?
Because they robocall everyone. The campaign does not know or care what you drive; it only needs a fraction of answerers to bite.
Are extended car warranties ever legitimate?
Yes, from manufacturers and reputable dealers — researched and bought by you, never sold via robocall. The channel is the tell.
Will blocking stop them?
Not entirely — they rotate numbers. Blocking plus call screening plus never engaging shrinks them to background noise.