Based in Florida, Fidelity Warranty Services Inc. (FWS) offers car warranty products, care plans, maintenance plans, theft deterrent products, and the list goes on. However, these products and programs are only available at participating dealerships, so you might not have heard of them. Below, we review the Fidelity car warranty and talk about the pros and cons of the company’s products.
Fidelity is just one of many third-party extended warranty providers. To help you find the best options, we’ve reviewed many of the most popular car warranty providers. We think that a handful of companies stand out, including Endurance, CARCHEX and CarShield. Take a look at the companies above and compare quotes from our top picks.
Fidelity Vehicle Protection Plans
Fidelity’s core offering centers on its vehicle protection plans. These plans are designed for cars with low to medium mileage. There are three plans in total, but we’ll start with some facts common to all of them:
- Drivers can add up to 120,000 miles of coverage.
- Coverage begins when the plan is purchased.
- Repairs can be done at 6,000 participating service centers.
- Some dealers can be paid directly for repairs.
- Coverage includes limited rental car, towing and travel expense reimbursement.
- Deductibles can be up to $250.
Next, here are the three different types of vehicle protection plans (also known as Fidelity car warranties):
| Plan | Details |
|---|---|
| Platinum Coverage | This is an exclusionary contract and the highest Fidelity car warranty available. It has a short list of exclusions like brake pads, trim, bulbs, glass, body panels, shock absorbers and the exhaust system. |
| Gold Coverage | This plan covers many parts from most major systems of the car including the engine, cooling, transmission, drive axle, suspension, electrical system and air conditioning. |
| Powertrain Coverage | This plan covers the basic necessities – the engine, transmission, drive axle and critical parts for hybrid and electric cars. |
Note that a Fidelity car warranty doesn’t come with a full roadside assistance service on its own. Instead, you are reimbursed for towing and trip interruption expenses. Most roadside assistance plans include things like fuel delivery, mechanical labor, battery jump-starts and the like.
You can get roadside assistance as part of the Fidelity Warranty Services Car Care Service Plan or Term Care Select, but we’ll get to those in a bit.
Fidelity High Mileage Vehicle Protection
Maybe the car you want to buy has too many miles and is ineligible for Fidelity’s standard vehicle protection plans. If that’s the case, it might be eligible for a high-mileage vehicle protection plan instead.
Fidelity doesn’t publish the number of miles that would be considered high mileage. But we do know that this plan lets drivers add up to 48,000 miles of coverage. There are two main options here, and they both come with the same perks as the standard protection plans. These high-mileage plans are also accepted at the same 6,000 participating service centers nationwide.
| Plan | Details |
|---|---|
| Owner Select | This covers the powertrain (engine, transmission, drive axle) plus the steering, brakes, air conditioning and some hybrid car parts. |
| Drivetrain Plus | This covers the engine, transmission and drive axle plus limited hybrid parts. |
The Drivetrain Plus plan seems very similar to the Powertrain plan we mentioned above. However, it’s impossible to say if that’s true because there are no sample Fidelity car warranty contracts online. Even if the coverage terms were the same, Fidelity might charge more for high-mileage plans since high-mileage cars are more likely to need repairs.
Additional Coverage Options
In addition to the different vehicle protection plans, you can also get a few more coverage options from Fidelity. Here’s a brief rundown:
- Term Care Select: This is an upgraded Platinum plan that also covers some wear items like brake pads and includes roadside assistance.
- Car Care Service Plans: Car Care plans are prepaid maintenance contracts that can cover oil changes, inspections and tire rotations. Plans can come with roadside assistance, key fob replacement and a motor club membership.
- Road Hazard Tire and Wheel Protection: This plan repairs or replaces tires damaged by road hazards. The Premium plan adds coverage for cosmetic damage to factory wheels.
- Theft Deterrent System: You can get different systems from Fidelity designed to deter theft. If your car is stolen and not recovered, you can claim compensation from the plan.
- Total Loss Protection Plan: Also called gap coverage, this plan covers the difference between your car’s value and the amount you owe on the loan in the event of a total loss.
- Lease Excess Wear and Tear: This plan can cover up to $7,500 in wear-and-tear repairs at the end of a lease.
It would be an understatement to say that Fidelity offers a lot of options. There are at least eight different plan types, and that doesn’t even include the contract levels within the plans.
It’s always nice to have enough choices, but the issue is that you can only get a Fidelity warranty at a dealership when you’re buying a car. That’s typically not the best time to make a decision about all these different coverage options.
The process of buying a car can take hours. By the end, you may be tempted to sign up for a plan just to get out the door. It would be much better to go through each of these coverage options at your own pace.
How Much Does a Fidelity Car Warranty Cost?
Fidelity doesn’t publish warranty prices online, which is common in the extended warranty market. That’s because prices are often dependent upon the type of car you drive and its condition. However, we did a little searching around and found that one driver paid $2,300 for a 6-year/100,000-mile plan for a Buick Escort.
On Yelp, another driver said they paid about $4,000 for a 5-year/60,000-mile plan for a Mercedes-Benz AMG C63. That might seem expensive, but it’s also proportional to the cost of repairing a luxury car.
If you want to sell your car in the near future, an extended warranty can be a good idea to have. It adds value to your car and can help you get your asking price. Fidelity car warranties are fully transferable to secondary buyers, though the transfer might require a fee.
You can cancel a Fidelity car warranty by getting in touch with the dealer that sold you the plan. They will have a Fidelity Warranty Services cancellation form. Unfortunately, that’s all the information Fidelity discloses about cancellations. You may have to pay a cancellation fee.
We noticed something interesting while looking through reviews on Fidelity. A couple of different reviewers on BirdEye said Fidelity gave them full refunds after their warranty period expired and they had not used any coverage. Of course, we can’t say if that’s a policy that Fidelity has right now, but could be worth asking about.
Fidelity Warranty Services Reviews
Fidelity Warranty Services has an A rating from the Better Business Bureau (BBB), though it has a few customer complaints on that website. Fidelity Warranty Services is BBB accredited, as well. We’ll look at a couple of customer service reviews here, including some Fidelity Platinum warranty reviews.
Positive Reviews
“Nice to be able to count on a warranty service to have your back and approve expenses quickly when you need them.”
– Wendy V., BBB
“They spent over $1,500.00 in claims within the first year and never gave me any push back. Forward to a year and a half into my lease, I just purchased the Platinum Coverage Warranty plan for my car for 5 years/75,000 miles. From the way my tires were handled with ease, I would recommend this company.”
– Kyle C., BBB
Negative Reviews
“I bought a 2016 Nissan Sentra from Hertz Car Sales along with the Platinum Extended Warranty Program through Fidelity. I drove 3 months with Lyft, which apparently made my warranty null and void. I put in a claim for a transmission and it was denied due to the fact I was using my vehicle for commercial purposes…”
– Matthew R., BBB
“$2,400 for extended warranty on a Ford Mustang, 200 miles later engine blows up. I call Fidelity and they immediately start trying to weasel out, they paid zero of items covered, towing, lodging when on road. I had to rent a car trailer to get the car home then again to get the car to shop…”
– Ralph O., BBB
Is Fidelity Worth it?
A Fidelity car warranty could be a good way to protect your vehicle investment if you understand exactly what is covered. If you’ve been presented with one at a dealership, find out if there is a free cancellation period and be sure to read the contract carefully.
Compared to other leading extended warranty providers we’ve researched, Fidelity offers a good number of coverage options. However, deductibles can reach $250, and that’s pretty high. Another big downside is that you can only get repairs at 6,000 participating dealerships and shops. In contrast, many top third-party warranty companies like CarShield let customers go to any ASE-certified repair shop.
CARCHEX and Endurance round out our top picks for extended warranty providers – take some time to shop around and compare quotes.
Methodology
The Detroit Bureau collects data from every major car warranty provider to formulate rankings of the best warranty companies. Our in-depth rating system takes into account coverage, pricing, transparency, customer satisfaction and ratings from industry experts. Each provider is given a weighted score in five categories, as well as an overall score out of 10.0.
We recommend auto warranty companies based on these rankings, but we also encourage you to perform your own research and compare quotes to find the best coverage.
