The product if more important than the support. Common sense proves that if you do not have the product then it would not make sense to purchase a product warranty. If the product is manufactured expertly, warranties and guaranteeds may not be needed because of the expertise that went into the product's manufacture.

 Warranties are usually tagged on for additional support but is not always needed because most product have warranty information built within the first year of operation. In the case of Chrysler that recently had to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal court, the government offered to cover all of the warranties that the Chyrsler company had in place. Chrysler may have been in trouble from beginning with it selection of unpopular model of cars but the government gave a bailout of $8 billion to help it emerge stronger after "marrying" Italian automaker Fiat.  To let the American people know that Chyrsler is still in business, the federal government offered to cover the prevailing and new automobile warranties.

When speaking of car warranties and appliance or smaller warranties, the cost of the investment has a lot to do with the liklihood of needing support services. Electronic items are usually purchased with warranties although most of these are warranted fromthe factory for one year without you having to purchase a product service warranty.

 Maybe if Circuit City had not tried to sell every Tom, Dick and Harry who walked into the store, a warranty, the electronics chain will still be in business. That statement of course is not true but the superstore was known for its salepeople asking you to buy a warranty on everything in the store as it warranties did not come standard. The store is no longer in business and now Best Buy is the major electronic store still prevalent in most areas of the country. Best Buy does not try such a hard sell on product warranties as Circuit City, you just can not ever find any saleman to help you when you need to make a purchase.

 Kmart which has a few stores going out of business and at one time offered warranties on, of all things, school backpacks. Target also offered warranties on school backpacks  which was keyed in  on a receipt at the register. Parents who did not want to buy a backpack every school year most likely purchased the  warranty. The problem was that when you needed to replace the backpack, the warranty receipt was no where to be found. Product support is not of much use if you do not have the validation to use  for repair service on a product replacement.

. In the case of the car dealership, it is a little scary buying a used car when that paper on the side winshield say "as is." Most used car dealership offer cars with a thirty day warranty. Customers never quite understood a thirty day warranty on a $10,000 to $15,000 purchase. The length of the thirty day warranty does not justify the huge purchase price. But the smart consumer opt for the warranty because of the added protection even if for only thirty days of coverage.

Should you purchase product warranties. The answer depends on who is backing the purchase (the federal government?), the complexities of the product and whether or not you can find  that darn receipt as proof of the warranty when needed.