So, How Much Do You Guess Is Being Spent

[MineralMan]

on cell phone robocalls about "your car's extended warranty?"

I've been getting several of them a day, all from spoofed numbers in my area code. Is that business actually profitable enough to warrant all of those annoying calls? Each time, I block that specific number, but the calls keep coming in daily.

Is everyone getting them? I mean, my car is only a year old, and still has four years remaining on its bumper-to-bumper factory warranty. Clearly, they're just calling randomly.

[Turin_C3PO]

1. I also get several of those calls daily.

It’s insane.

[Butterflylady]

2. I've been blocking there calls for months

They evidently have good supply of phone numbers. Sometimes they come from local numbers, other times from different area codes.

[MiniMe]

3. I don't answer my phones any more unless I know the number

I get those calls constantly too. I think the car companies give information to the telemarketers. My car is turning 5 years old in May and I get constant calls about your warrantee may be expiring. It's kind of like those car shield commercials. I find no need to purchase a warrantee like that.

[AirmensMom]

4. My car is 16 years old.

Well, one of them is. The other one is 24 years old. I still get the calls several times a day, along with the ones saying they’re from Social Security (they’re not), and “thank you for choosing Marriott” (I didn’t and never will). I don’t usually answer unless I’m expecting a call from a doc’s office or veterinarian, which may come from a number I don’t recognize.

[Rice4VP]

5. OMG, they are the worse. They keep calling about

my car that I sold over 4 years ago

[katmondoo]

6. My car is 12 yrs old and I have been getting those calls for years.

It is a scam.

[RKP5637]

7. On TV here it's endless. My phones have blockers, so I don't get any.

My mint car is 25 years old and in perfect condition.

[lagomorph777]

20. I don't think the TV ads are tied to the calls. The calls are pure scam.

I assume the TV ads are based on an actual insurance company (though I have no idea whether it's any good or not).

[RKP5637]

21. Yep, I'm pretty sure the TV ads are a real company, but the calls are likely for sure a real scam.nt

[Archae]

8. I'm hoping to see them get busted...

Like that neo-Nazi got busted after making all those spam calls.

https://www.cnet.com/news/robocaller-hit-with-10-million-fine-from-fcc/

As is, if I don't see a familiar name, I let my own machine take the call.

BUT...

The car warranty scammers will use even hospital phone numbers in their spoofed calls.

And I don't own a car, BTW.

[MineralMan]

9. My problem right now is that I'm getting a lot of important

calls from numbers I don't recognize, so I have to answer all calls.

I'm dealing with complicated estate issues after the death of both of my parents.

I'm using the Do Not Disturb feature on my phone when I'm in meetings or something, but really have to take calls at other times.

It's very frustrating. Since the caller does not identify itself or the company that is paying for the calls, it's impossible to complain, since they are using number-spoofing in those calls.

There ought to be a law...

[edhopper]

11. There could be a law

if the Government took on the telecoms.

But so far, money talks.

[MineralMan]

13. For me, it is just an indication of how crooked the extended warranty thing is.

I would never sign up for such a thing. If you needed to use it, no doubt you'd find that an exclusion in the fine print meant that your repair wasn't covered. I have no doubt about that at all.

It's a scam, and a major one, at that. They must be bombarding every possible cell phone number, using some algorithm to generate the automated calls. For example, my phone prefix is 295 in my area code. That means that there are only 10,000 possible numbers in that prefix. Probably even numbers that are not assigned to actual customers are being called.

As you say, the cost per call is minimal, but it is non-zero, and they must be making millions of them a day. More evidence that the whole thing is a scam.

[edhopper]

15. Consumer Reports

say all extended warranties on products are aren't worth it.

[edhopper]

10. The cost per call is so small

And there is so much money to make when they get just a few suckers.

And yes, I get them all the time.

[genxlib]

12. All the time

IT has taken over as the number one nuisance call

[niyad]

14. I was getting at least three a day. Calls from all area codes. I don't bother blocking, too

Many different numbers. It must be profitable, as this scam has been ongoing for months.

[Wounded Bear]

16. Hell, I got a letter in the mail...

ominously saying as how my non-existent policy was about to expire.

Guess I'm moving up in the world.

(Oh, and my car is far too old with too many miles for any of those "extended warranty" insurance scams to touch.)

[frogmarch]

17. I get a couple of them a day

and I don't have a car or any other kind of vehicle.

[c-rational]

18. Same here. I also do not answer calls from unrecognized numbers and last night and this am I

did not pick up a call I needed to because of an unrecognized number. Thankfully they were leaving a message so I picked up. I also note the spoofed number trick and never pick those up.

[lagomorph777]

19. My cars are both 15-20 years out of warrantee.

Eventually, I seem to have blocked about 90% of the calls, but it took a long time.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

22. Blocking a number won't accomplish anything, since

they use many, many different numbers to call from. Or seem to be calling from.

My phone does a lousy job of capturing numbers, and I haven't a clue why that's the case. So most of the time I don't even see a number, which means I mostly answer the phone. As soon as I realize it's some stupid robo call, I just hang up. Takes less than ten seconds of my time.