I sometimes wonder if we have become warranty dependent. I want a reasonable warranty on purchases I make. However, as I stated earlier, most defects in a new vehicle will occur within the first months or 4000 miles.
I have never had a dealer balk on a warranty repair. I bought a Ford Aerostar from an independent used car dealer that had the balance of the factory warranty. The engine was replaced under warranty by the Ford dealer without any hassle.
Speaking of warranties, I had two occurrences where my purchase had an interesting warranty. I bought a little am transistor radio back in the early 1970s. I paid $2.95 for the radio. The warranty was good for one year. If the radio had a problem, I could ship it to the distributor for repair or replacement. I needed to send along $5 to cover shipping and handling. I bought a vacuum cleaner from Sears for $19.95. it was marked way down because all the attachments and the wands had been lost. I had an upright vacuum cleaner that was great on carpets, but there wasnāt much suction when the attachments were used and the upright didnāt work well for cleaning the car. The Sears canister was perfect for me. I used the attachments from the upright on the canister vacuum when vacuuming upholstery or sweeping hardwood floors. Two weeks after I bought the canister vacuum cleaner from Sears for $19.95, I got a call from Sears that for only $20 a year for the next three years I could extend the 90 day warranty. I declined.
I feel the same way about most extended auto warranties as I did about the warranty on my $2.95 transistor radio or the extended warranty on my Sears vacuum cleaner. I canāt remember what became of the radio after five years. The Sears vacuum cleaner lasted 20 years.
I had an āinterestingā extended warranty offer from Radio Shack. I purchased a microphone for $14.95. It had a 1 year factory warranty. The kid behind the counter offered me a 1 year additional warranty for only $29.99!!! He could not comprehend why I declined the offer. This was over 30 years ago. The microphone still works fine.
Radio Shack, on the other hand, hasnāt weathered as well as your microphone.
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ā¦ unlike Radio Shackā¦
