@cdaquila Me thinks spam. I almost think the thread was spam from the start.
Hey, doctors do it. Why shouldnât mechanics!?
In seriousness, the real mechanics around here can chime in, but were I running a shop and you told me that some 3rd party would pay me, pinkie swear, Iâd tell you to jump in a lake. YOU pay me, then YOU can seek reimbursement through the warranty company - Iâm not taking on that burden.
Are you spamming me? Iâm legitimately trying to learn here and really appreciate everyoneâs input and sharing of knowledge. Thank you!
Thatâs what I was thinking! But the dealer makes it seem so logical and matter-of-fact.
Thank you VDCdriver, I will look into this and call my normal mechanic shop to see if they would even be willing to check those aspects of the car in an inspection.
Do you think that this means that if it just fails, unrelated to passing inspection, the warranty wonât cover it?
Thanks again!
Your questions are starting to get into the realm of needing a consultation with an attorney. These arenât mechanical questions about cars, theyâre questions pertaining to the language in the contract.
In general, assuming the company is at least quasi-legitimate, the warranty will cover what the company contracted to cover when they sold the warranty. If you want to know exactly what those things are, and what the exclusions are, you need to have an attorney read the relevant documents.
Somewhere in the contract it will define what the powertrain is for the purposes of the contract. It will also define what the powertrain isnât - for example it may say that the engine is covered, but then exclude the spark plugs.
Nothing a bunch of gearheads can say will predict what the contract defines as the powertrain. As I said 7 years ago when this was first brought up, were I running a fly-by-night warranty company I would define the powertrain as consisting only of those parts which almost never break, and I would put a lot of onerous requirements that you had to meet in order to keep the warranty in effect, and then hope that you wouldnât bother to read the contract before plunking down your cash.
This is why you need a lawyer, not a car guy.
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Yup!
Even if the warrantyâin theoryâcovers specific parts, most of those extended warranties have what are known in legal circles as âweasel clausesâ that allow them to disallow claims for various reasons.
The ONLY extended warranties that I would suggest are the ones that are sold through the vehicle manufacturer. What a dealership sellsâindependent of the vehicle mfrâshould be considered HIGHLY suspectâunless one considers car salesmen to be a bunch of consistently honest people who would never do anything to increase their own profit margin or to tell falsehoods.
Hopefully you are not that naĂŻve.
Hereâs the big gotcha.
;-]
We had a car wash offering lifetime free car washes, I think it was $149, 6 months later the business closed. I always imagine, lifetime warranty, it breaks, sorry lifetime is over.
A shop; owner or service manager would have to be completely insane to complete a repair and hand a vehicle back over to a customer without being paid up front.
Many years ago when warranty policies first started becoming popular a number of shops found out the hard way when they were left holding the bag; or the same for the customer.
As for âlifetimeâ that could mean anything. The engine dies at 190k miles they will simply say itâs due to normal wear and tear so no warranty is applicable.
Back in the late 2000s Chrysler offered a lifetime warranty on all of their vehicles. Look how well that worked out.
It depends on whether the mechanic trusted theyâd get fully paid and w/due speed. When you go to McDonalds and order up a hamburger you pay $1 up front, but donât get your hamburger until a few minutes later, right? But nobody wonders if theyâll really get their hamburger or not. They trust they will, based on experience. If the mechanic has that same level of trust, based on experience, then theyâll go ahead and do the work, and submit their invoice to the warranty company. Iâm guessing that the level of trust folks have in the hamburger/vendor relationship probably isnât quite the same for the mechanic/warranty company relationship. So I doubt most mechanics would be willing to take on that risk.
Before work begins on a vehicle the service contract company is contacted for approval. The price of the parts, the labor hours and the cost of the labor hours must be agreed on.
If the cost of the repair exceeds a certain (very low) threshold the contract company will send an inspector to document the failure. For this reason it can take 3 to 5 days before work begins.
You should take your service contract work to a dealer, your independent repair shop may not have the patience to process the claim.
All you do is read the agreement and look at the cost of the offer.
There is a GM dealer next town over that advertises a lifetime powertrain warranty. A friend was negotiating a new car deal and when it got to the end, he asked whatâs this $4000 for? They said that was for the warranty. Bye. He bought the same car here without the free lifetime warranty.
Really though, just start a new discussion so we donât have to read 30 responses from six years ago.
The dealership advertises that their cars come with a lifetime powertrain warranty, but then they charge customers for that coverage? Yikes!
This is just one more example of why customers need to closely scrutinize the paperwork before finalizing a purchase.
Yeah, but when I go to the French Laundry (I wish) and sit down to a $500 meal, they feed me before I pay them. Iâm willing to risk $1 on the idea that McDonalds wonât deliver my gut bomb, but Iâm not willing to risk significant amounts of cash on the same premise.
OPâs warranty company would be asking the mechanic to risk a lot more than $1.
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Couple things you need to considerâŠMost people donât keep their vehicles past 150k miles. So lifetime warranty really doesnât mean a whole lot. The few people that do keep their vehicles a long time are also the type of person to maintain it properly (i.e. follow guideline in owners manual). Weâve kept 5+ vehicles well over 300k miles with ZERO drive train issues.
I think the lifetime warranty is a good thingâŠwish more dealers would do it. I just hope this works out for the dealer.
Right! Some time ago in the 70s I was at Midas for a muffler and got talking to a woman customer who was having her 5th âLifetimeâ muffler installed. The car was originally bought in Hawaii, and the Midas guarantee was issued there. This couple kept their cars a very long time but in the 70s mufflers were not of the quality they are today and she just kept going back to Midas for another Lifetime unit.
Our 86 Buick went through mufflers because of its location and the short trips. A relative had a muffler shop and put a lifetime muffler on it. Went back for a replacement of the lifetime muffler and he said they were the same as any other muffler and he just had to pay for the replacement himself. What could I say? We split the deal and I paid for the muffler and he threw in the labor.
Based on my experience, those lifetime muffler deals were a joke. The business was still making a handsome profit because all they guaranteed was the muffler itself. You had to pay for the labor each time. Itâs a great business model- install a cheap muffler that will rust out in 2 years and virtually guarantee a repeat customer for life of the car, paying good profit on the first muffler and then profit on the labor to install new ones every couple of yearsâŠI can also mine for additional profit opportunities on every visitâŠ
I bought a used car not too long ago that came from a local family owned dealership. They took it in trade. Came with lifetime power train warranty from them. It was defined in one small paragraph. As long as I change oils per manfr maintenance schedule (anywhere I choose, even myself) they will repair or replace engine or transmission if it fails for any reason for as long as I own the vehicle. period.
They wonât hire professional sales people either. They hire inexperienced people and train them how to sell cars their way. If you buy a new car, it comes with free tires for life. Everyone working there has smiles a mile wide and will tell you how happy they are to be working there. Too bad Iâm not a fan of SubarusâŠ
I wish there were places like that close to me!