Does Your Extended Warranty Cover Ball Joints?

Your ball joints should be covered by your extended warranty assuming that you have a plan that is more comprehensive than powertrain coverage. We’ve broken this down for you below, if you need more information.

What Are Ball Joints?

Your ball joint is as the name implies, a ball and socket joint. It’s the same type of joint as your hip joint.

Your ball joint is made up of a metal housing and a stud, which can move around within the housing. Typically ball joints

Ball joints are a component of your car’s front suspension. The complex mechanics of your front suspension allow your front wheels to move up and down independent of one another or turn either left or right together.

Ball joints are a critical part of your front suspension, and as they wear and age can damage your alignment, which can cause your tires to wear unevenly, in addition to a number of other issues.

Typically, your ball joints will need to be replaced after 100,000 miles, although this depends on the conditions you typically drive in. The load bearing ball joints in your vehicle will wear sooner than the non-load bearing joints.

How Do I Know If I Need To Replace My Ball Joints?

Ball joints are just one part of the complicated mechanics of the front suspension, so it’s difficult to point the finger directly at them without getting a detailed inspection.

However, if you’re hearing squeaks or rattles when driving over uneven surfaces, or when turning, you may have an issue with your ball joints. You may also feel more vibration when driving, and experience uneven wear on your tires as a result of your car being out of alignment.

Having your ball joints inspected at a regular interval is worth it, and many manufacturers recommend it because driving with worn ball joints can cause your wheel to come loose, which probably isn’t something you want.

Ball joints can also be expensive, with the cost of repair (including an alignment, which is required when you get new ball joints) coming in at anywhere between $200-$1,000 dollars, according to Repairpal.

Much of this depends on how many ball joints your vehicle has. Some vehicles have 2, others have 4.

So, Does Your Extended Warranty Cover Ball Joints?

With that said, you’re probably wondering if your extended warranty covers ball joints. To make your life a little easier, we’ve gone ahead and examined both the highest-level and lowest level plans for 4 of the largest extended warranty companies (including us!) to see if their plans cover ball joints.

You’ll also see if the company selling you the policy is the direct warranty provider. Without derailing this article, you want to make sure you choose a direct warranty provider, as it’s much easier to get your claim paid when you need a repair. 

That way if you’re facing a potential ball joint repair, you know which company to turn to next time around.

If your extended warranty isn’t with one of these 4 companies (what are you doing?) then your best bet if you’re wondering what’s covered is to read your policy’s exclusions section.

With that said, let’s begin.

Protect My Car

Policy Type: Supreme (Maximum Coverage)

Direct Provider: Yes

Ball Joints Covered: Yes

Notes: Protect My Car’s Supreme policy includes coverage for all front suspension parts, including ball joints and wheel bearings.

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Policy Type: Select (Minimum Coverage)

Direct Provider: Yes

Ball Joints Covered: Yes

Notes: Protect My Car’s Select policy includes coverage for all front suspension parts, including ball joints and wheel bearings.

Endurance

Policy: Supreme Coverage (Maximum Coverage)

Direct Provider: Yes

Ball Joints Covered: Yes

Notes: Endurance’s Supreme policy includes coverage for your front suspension, which does include your ball joints, as long as your ball joints aren’t damaged because of personal negligence, or random acts of nature.

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Policy: Secure

Direct Warranty Provider: Yes

Ball Joints Covered: No

Notes: The front suspension is not covered on Endurance’s Secure policy, which means ball joints are not covered.

Car Shield

Policy Type: American Auto Shield Platinum (Maximum Coverage)

Direct Warranty Provider: No

Ball Joints Covered: Yes

Notes: This policy is not directly administrated by Carchex, which means if you need to make a claim, it’s not Car Shield’s responsibility to pay you.

Your claim will be handled by American Auto Shield in this case, who is actually the company responsible for paying your claim. For what its worth, Consumer Affairs reviews have American Auto Shield rated at 1/5 stars.

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Policy Type: American Auto Shield Powertrain Coverage

Direct Warranty Provider: No

Ball Joints Covered: No

Notes: This policy covers the powertrain of your vehicle only, and doesn’t include front suspension coverage, which means no ball joint coverage.

Carchex

Policy Type: Carchex Care Powered By American Auto Shield (Maximum Coverage)

Direct Warranty Provider: No

Ball Joints Covered: Yes

Notes: This policy is not directly administrated by Carchex, which means if you need to make a claim, it’s not Carchex responsibility to pay you.

Your claim will be handled by American Auto Shield in this case, who is the company responsible for paying your claim. For what it’s worth, Consumer Affairs reviews have American Auto Shield rated at 1/5 stars.

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Policy Type: Powertrain Coverage By American Auto Shield

Direct Provider: No

Ball Joints Covered: Yes

Notes: This policy is meant to cover your powertrain only, which means it doesn’t cover your front suspension or your ball joints.

As a general rule, powertrain warranties will not cover ball joints, but higher-level extended warranty policies will.

Ball joints are not considered a wear and tear item like brakes or windshield wipers, which means most extended warranty policies will cover them, assuming they aren’t damaged because of negligence, or an act of nature that you can’t control.

Whether you have an extended warranty through your vehicle’s manufacturer, or one of the third party companies listed above, your ball joints should be covered as long as you don’t have a minimum coverage plan, like a powertrain policy.

What Is A Direct Warranty Provider?

So you’re probably wondering what the direct warranty provider bit is above. Fear not, we’ll break it down, even though no one is really talking about it. A direct warranty provider is a warranty company that administrates and services its own claims, legally speaking.

What that means, is when a direct warranty provider sells you an extended warranty, they are responsible for paying your claims, as well as handling any customer service issues that arise. Direct providers can offer lower prices for their plans and better customer service because everything is handled in house.

Currently, only Protect My Car and Endurance are direct warranty providers.

Other extended warranty companies aren’t selling their own plans.  When you buy a policy with them, they then transfer the responsibility for your future claims to a 3rd party finance company. They get paid, and then that finance company that you didn’t choose becomes the legal entity responsible for paying your claims.

This can be a huge hassle. Claims take longer to get paid, and your policy can be up to 100% more expensive than choosing a direct warranty provider. That’s not to mention that the 3rd party finance company has no connection to you as a human being and has every financial incentive to pay as little as possible on your claim.

With over 13 years in this business, everyone will tell you that choosing a direct warranty provider is the best way to go. You’ll avoid getting a run around from claims agents, and instead will get help from a real person who wants to see you off smiling.

Worried About Your Ball Joints Or Other Parts Of Your Car Breaking Down?

Get an extended warranty from Protect My Car and stop worrying! With one of our great vehicle breakdown coverage plans, you’ll never have to pay more than $100 dollars for a covered repair again.

That absolutely includes your ball joints, as we mentioned above.

With a ball joint repair running as high as $1,000, having an extended warranty can really take the sting out of car repairs.

Best of all, our plans don’t just cover your ball joints. They cover other expensive parts of your car like your engine, transmission, and exhaust which can set you back many thousands of dollars.

We don’t want that.

Best of all, with our new online quote tool, you can instantly compare policies and find the best price for you in less than 5 minutes with no phone call needed! You can check it out at pmcquote.com, and shop for your best rate.