Why extended warranties are terrible (The Ramsey Show)

In this Ramsey Show clip, Dave Ramsey makes his trademark blunt case against extended warranties: a big chunk of the price — often roughly half — is sales commission, the plans are engineered to expire right before products typically fail, and most buyers never collect. His alternative is to self-insure: set aside what you’d have spent on the warranty, and keep the money if nothing breaks.

It’s good advice, but it leaves a practical question: when something does break, what do you actually do? That’s where OwnWise picks up. It tracks the coverage you already have — manufacturer warranty, credit-card purchase protection, a home warranty — so you don’t buy redundant plans, and when a unit fails it tells you the likely fault and a fair repair cost, so your self-insurance fund goes exactly as far as it should.

Ramsey tells you to skip the upsell; OwnWise makes living without it easy.