Looking at the numbers on any extended warranty, the average qualifying repair cost would be a fraction of the cost of extending the warranty, don't forget that more and more gets excluded by the "wear and tear" clause as the vehicle gets older - so what you'd actually be betting against is the cost of a major repair which isn't caused by wear and tear - like electronics, faults like that usually appear in the first year or so of an items use.

When we had the Premacy, we extended the Mazda warranty for a fourth year, which included breakdown cover as well for £450. The drivers airbag module needed replacing 8 months into the extension - cost for the module alone was £750.

We have just changed our Mazda 2, which had a two year extended warranty for £525, and again included breakdown cover. No warranty work needed doing during the extension. However when you take the breakdown cover into account, the warranty would have cost in the region of £350 for the two years. Good value for peace of mind in my opinion.

Does the Chevrolet warranty include breakdown cover? If so, £339 for the year is pretty good. I would chivvy the dealer along now if you're going for it.

"Any opinions... (especially from avant!)"

You're too kind, ORB! I'm probably not the best person to ask as we are lucky enough to change our cars within thre manufacturer's warranty.... but it'll change no doubt when we retire.

I took out a warranty when I bought the 7-year-old Z3: it was from Auto Protect (becausethe dealer dealt with them) and was so-so: not much went wrong but they quibbled over the one claim I did make and gave me about half what I wanted.

Care Care Plan is a well-known name and certainly reputable: inevitably, the older the car, the more they will reject as being wear and tear. If possible have a look closely at the exclusions and take a view on how good or bad a deal it is.