Olive Car Warranty Review: An Extended Warranty With a Difference

Your car is one of the biggest financial investments you’ll make and it’s only right that it should be protected. While car insurance is there to cover you (and others) in the event you have an accident, new cars will arrive with a warranty that covers you for any faults with a vehicle’s parts.

However, once the manufacturer’s warranty expires, you’re no longer protected. It’s at this point that people often look to extended warranties for peace of mind. An extended warranty provides cover for parts failure on your vehicle, with just a deductible to pay.

There are plenty of providers out there, and Olive is particularly interesting for those looking for immediate coverage. We’ve done a deep dive into the details of Olive – what it covers, what it doesn’t, costs, and if there are any extras. Will Olive make our roundup of the best car warranty providers? We take a look.

Olive car warranty review: What you need to know

Based in Chicago, IL, Olive.com was founded in 2019 with a view to changing the way people approach extended warranties – or vehicle service contracts, as they’re sometimes known. Looking to move away from automated calling services, Olive focusses on online delivery, which some might find refreshing. The company says that you won’t encounter pushy salespeople; instead, you can quickly get the coverage you want through its website.

Powertrain, Powertrain Plus, and Complete Care are the three tiers of coverage the firm offers, and the unique point about Olive is that there’s no waiting period before you can make a claim. CarmaCare is similar in that if your car is under three years old or inside 36,000 miles, you get immediate protection. You can line Olive up with the expiration of your manufacturer’s warranty to ensure back-to-back coverage, rather than having the 30-day/1,000-mile waiting period of the majority of other warranty providers.

However, Olive’s warranty does apply a maximum age limit for cars, which is 10 years, making the firm’s cover really only suitable for newer vehicles. There’s also a 140,000-mile limit for cars.

In addition, for your car to be eligible, it has to have been maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations, but this is something that all extended warranty providers stipulate.

Olive’s claim limit is the retail value of the car at the time that the claim is made, which is great news for those who have an expensive car in need of expensive parts. Again, this means Olive’s cover is geared towards newer vehicles. If you’ve got an older motor, then Elite Auto Protect might be a better option for you.

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Olive car warranty review: Tiers and parts coverage

Diving into the coverage provided, at the basic level you have Powertrain. As the name suggests, it covers all the essential running gear of the car including the engine, transmission, drive axle, and any turbochargers, as well as the fuel pump. To extend that coverage to include brakes, suspension (front only), steering, and air conditioning, you’ll have to step up to Powertrain Plus – this also includes the CD player/radio.

Both plans also cover electric and hybrid engine systems, but the batteries aren’t covered.

The Complete tier is far more comprehensive, additionally providing coverage for the cooling system and heating system, as well much of the car’s technology – parking sensors and interior displays, for example. The latter isn’t covered at the entry level at all.

If you have a high-tech car, then the Complete tier will offer the most peace of mind, but generally high-tech parts are less prone to failure than some of the mechanical systems of the car.

Olive car warranty review: Breakdown and extras

Olive doesn’t focus on breakdown, so there’s a good chance that you’ll need a separate breakdown and recovery policy from a different provider. Olive offers $35 a day towards a loan car, and $100 reimbursement for towing costs – but that’s all.

Unlike CarmaCare, there’s no cover for expenses if you need to spend the night in a hotel because you can’t get to your destination, no protection against battery or gas refill, and no cover if you lock yourself out of your vehicle.

This sets Olive apart from a lot of other extended warranty providers, which mostly offer some degree of breakdown cover as part of their service.

READ NEXT: What is a Powertrain Warranty?

Olive car warranty review: Customer service

One of the aims of Olive is customer service, and offering a good customer experience. Of course, you can contact the company via the phone or email, but it’s the web experience that the firm’s customers are more likely to use. Olive says that you can get your quote in minutes through the website, without having to talk to a salesperson.

Any problems with your car can be fixed using any ASE-certified repair shop, but Olive also has an online service with RepairPal to help you find and schedule your repair.

While Olive has a number of testimonials on its own site, it doesn’t have reviews on Trustpilot.

Olive car warranty: Verdict

Olive puts the online experience first, offering a modern approach to getting an extended warranty for your car. The aim is to avoid the automated phone systems and salespeople that may have typified this segment of the market in the past.

Olive’s offering centers on a no-waiting period for coverage, offering instant protection for cars less than 10 years old. The maximum claim limits are the value of the car, while the tiered offering provides just basic cover for the powertrain, or top-level, complete cover for your car.

Where Olive is lacking somewhat is with breakdown services. For recovery from the side of the road, you’ll likely need to take out separate protection with another provider, or to keep everything together you’ll be better off with another provider, such as CarmaCare or Endurance.