I just bought a used car and inside the glove compartment was all the paper work from the last time the previous owner had the brakes done and it was at a Car X, which says the pads have a lifetime warrenty. So does it matter the car is owned by a different person?
Probably. Just call Car X and find out. The odds are that the warranty is not transferable.
I once worked for Tuffy/CarX in a franchise shop, and the warranty is not transferable. It is only valid for the person who’s name is on the invoice.
Generally a pad warranty is for the life of the pad, not the life of the car or the owner. Pad wear is not covered under the warranty, so you don’t get a free set of pads when you wear through this one anyway. The warranty is to cover stuff like the pad breaking, which they almost never do.
Chain shops will cover pad wear. If you wear them out, they will give you another set for free. The labor, markup on rotors, and anything else they can sell you while you are there will more than make up for the cost of the pads. They do it to keep people coming back. Same goes with lifetime mufflers and even shocks/struts.
I didn’t know that because I don’t go to chain shops.
They’d hate me. Maybe I should get some lifetime pads on the car I autocross >:)
“Weren’t you just here 2 weeks ago?”
They’d probably only cover it a time or two, then start trying to sell you calipers and a brake fluid flush to try to get them to last longer. I know the warranty because I worked at a Tuffy for a while (which is also owned by the same operation that runs CarX, called TAC/CAC). I wouldn’t let a chain work on my cars either, unless I personally knew the employee who was doing the work. I’ve seen some real winners go through places like that, getting hired and fired and bouncing from shop to shop. My sister goes to the Tuffy where I used to work for oil changes (she tells me I do too much for her already), but will only let the two guys I worked with when I was there touch her car. If they find something wrong, they tell her about it and then tell her to have me look at it.
You could always be dishonest and say that you are still that person. 
But yes, the warranty was for that person, for that car.
No transfers, not even with a bus pass.
BC.
There’s a Tuffy near me that I use occasionally. I wouldn’t call it a crack team of mechanics or anything, but its been run my the same guy with the same 1/2 dozen wrenchers for at least 10 yrs. That kind of staff stability says something.
I have also seen how they do things while waiting. They do a little bit of upselling, but IMHO not unreasonable (a lot of people really do need new air filters) but on more than one occasion I’ve seen them not oversell at at all - “You should probably replace the whole pipe, but we could also weld in X to get you by for a while” kind of stuff. I don’t take anything complicated there, but for basic stuff that I don’t have the time or tools for I feel ok about it.
Of course, that’s just one location & a special case. They are mostly independently owned franchises so no two will be alike.
Well I do have his name, address and SS number since he left all the info in the glove compartment, so as long as they don’t ask for ID I might be okay…
I was shocked to see the previous owner leave some much personal data in the glove compartment. I would have either cleaned at the glove compartment or if I wanted to leave the paper work from work done I would have inked through my SS number.
When I get rid of a car, I don’t even leave dust!
With so much personal stuff left in your car by the previous owner, it is possible that the previous owner died and that the heirs just wanted to get rid of the car fast.
That might be a chance. i do know where they bought it, and had it serviced and it was a trade in and where the dealership I bought it got it from and how long it sat on their lot. But then I also have the original loan papers from the original owner also.
The Tuffy I worked at was a good shop when I worked there. The same manager had been there for 15 years and he had had the same people there for years working under him. I started there at age 18 as my first automotive job. The shop was a privately held franchise, but the owner ended up losing it for failure to make franchise payments. They fired the manager, and his crew followed him out the door. I stayed since I needed the job, and watched the whole works go downhill for about a year or so before I left. I really think a shop is a shop and consists of the people working there, not the name or logo on the sign. A chain can be a bad sign since the corporate owned locations tend to hire anybody who will work there for a little bit of money, regardless of whether they have any credentials or not. The highest paid technicians at Tuffy when I left were getting $10 an hour. The manager didn’t make much more than that.
Many places offer this kind of warranty…Midas and Sears both offer a lifetime brake-pad warranty. All of these warranties are only for the current owner. In fact they’re counting on it. The one thing Midas ALMOST ALWAYS pulls…yea…they’ll warranty the pads…but every time you go in there to have the pads replaced under warranty…you need new Calipers (which is NOT covered under warranty)…funny how it works out that way.