Are Automotive Warranties Bad?

[rammstein]

I had a thought on my drive to work this morning (after the usual near death experiences with the A-Pipes who call themselves drivers in Miami).


Many people buy new cars to get a vehicle with a warranty, and get out of their current cars when the warranty is up. I am thinking that this makes overall vehicle quality/servicability way less important to consumers than if they were having to pay for repairs on day 1.

That is what I am getting at. Many people, my family included, love VW/Audi products. However, they also get in the habit of selling them as soon as the warranty is up, because of either frequency or ridiculous cost of repairs. I can say with all certainty that if no cars carried warranties, my father would not be buying a Passat and instead be looking at Accords. Furthermore, if consumers were driving a perfectly functioning car at year 4, they may not feel so compelled to get the newest model if there was no warranty benefit.

If consumers had to pay for all repairs from day 1, there might be a greater focus on things like the costs involved in replacing wearable parts. By wearable parts, I mean things that are guaranteed to wear out in a certain timeframe, like belts, seals, clutches, etc. I bet we'd see a spreadsheet of repair estimates by an independent company on all new cars. Imagine if you were looking at new sedans, and 1 had a belt or seal that required dropping the entire front subframe to get at, and on a different car it was accessible with a screwdriver.

I am curious what your thoughts are. My contention is that warranties contribute to inferior quality and design, as well as contribute to environmental waste.

[Mo_Gearhead]

Most people that buy NEW products want some kind of a guarantee that the manufacturer will stand behind their product.

Manufacturers play games with that, especially with automobiles. I can see 'bean counters' running the numbers to see: ok, longer time on engine/drive train, less on body integrity, or ...whatever? And a lot of that is driven by competition.

Most consumers have no idea what a particular (auto) repair will/should cost.
As you stated, there would have to be a type of 'consumers report list' to enumerate the differences between models, complications, costs, etc.

Your conclusion may in fact be true, but the masses will continue to want a warranty of some kind ...and so the game plays on.

[KFC911]

IMO, warranties are not much more than an appeasment for selling "designed as disposable crap" products with predictable life cycles. I've never purchased an extended warranty of any type, and have never had to take a new car in for work that was covered. Maybe I've just been lucky, but in general, produce quality products, and warranties become almost a moot point. Do warranties contribute to neglected maintenance on things like cars? ....absolutely and "maybe" by design.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Designed obsolescence. Did you think it was a coincidence that many new cars seem more problematic as they age than cars 10 years ago? Sure, they are more complicated, but things are designed with a finite lifespan and associated price-point. It's no longer about being superior, not in our disposable society.

Warranties are all well and good, but you still have to find a dealer to make good on it. The few new cars I have had have all been nightmares when I attempted to make a warranty claim.

[id10t]

If a year's worth of maintainence and repairs is less than a years worth of car payments...

[gr8fl4porsche]

Originally Posted by KC911

I've never purchased an extended warranty of any type, and have never had to take a new car in for work that was covered.

You have been very fortunate. Millions of folks have car troubles. Go to any, and by that I mean all, auto dealerships and you will see a parking lot full of vehicles in need of repair. Some minor and maintenance, but lots of very expensive major repairs.

I have had vehicles that never needed repairs other than minor and I have had plenty that needed major repairs. New tranny's, rear ends, steering racks, bad struts, bad ac condensors, heater cores that went bad after of couple of years, etc.

On my '02 Mountaineer, I passed on the extended warranty. Big mistake. I have spent over $6,000 in the last couple of years replacing expensive parts including wheel bearing/hubs - 6 times, transfer case, ac condensor, various sensors, vaccuum lines, and the list keeps on going. All of this between 60,000 and 100,000 miles. I am done with Ford.

My new Honda Van has been to the dealer several times during its first year. I bought an 8 year 120,000 warranty on that very complicated vehicle and expect to use it.

I think without warranties on new vehicles, folks would drive their old cars much longer. It is usually cheaper to continually fix an older car than make payments on a new one.

[onewhippedpuppy]

My problems with warranties is I rarely trust the dealers. Case in point:

Had minor issues with our SRX, did some research, found that it was most-likely the transfer case, and there was an improved model. Took it into the dealership, tech took the car into the shop to check transfer case PN. When he came back, he stated that the part number is that of the new model. Big shock.

This totally disagreed with my information, so when I got home I decided to check. Lo and behold, it was the old PN. The SOB had lied to me, he never even bothered to check. After confronting the service manager about it, he stated that he had "had a talk" with the tech. Great. Issue still hasn't been fixed, and I've gone about as far up as I can go with the dealer. Now they aren't returning my calls. Fortunately it's not a serious issue, and we otherwise like the car. I have one independent regular shop I trust, and one BMW specialist shop I trust. Dealers are crooked as hell, at least in my experience.

[Rot 911]

Up until the 80's most cars only had a 12 month warranty. Before that time people kept their cars much longer. Unfortunately the quality of U.S. made cars kept deteriorating. Which made it easier for the Japanese to get their cars sold here.

[on2wheels52]

I bet you $500 my wife's car breaks down this year. What do I win if it does?
Jim

[Tobra]

I bought an integra GS-R new, had 4 miles on it when I first sat in it, have pic of gauge cluster around somewhere, start of the road trip series, SLC to Houston(Well, Conroe). Lot of good back roads in the Lone Star State, but man alive Honda puts shatty tires on there cars new. Have done the maint myself, though I paid for the water pump timing belt gig when it turned 95,000 miles. Radiator went at 120k, put on new hoses when I replaced that myself. Have gone through set of Axxis ultimate pads, which were a bit unkind to the rotor, would stop hard enough to pin you to your seatbelt and did not last long. Went back to stock pads because I did not feel like doing the brake pads that often, though I miss the extra stopping power. I have done nothing but wear items, tires(Yokohama AVS intermediates transformed the car) and oil, clutch is still pretty damn good, even with 140,000 miles.

Point is, I bought a Honda driving utensil, which is pretty easy to wrench on, especially compared to adjusting the valves on the 914, which is kind of a PITA, even with small hands.

I researched the car before I bought it, regarding reliability info on various cars, and the Japanese were tops when I was looking, imagine they still are. There are those who say the Asian car companies make soul less vehicles, but I have been pretty happy. I know someone who is in the market to ditch her not that old Stratus, or Sebring, whatever the damn thing is, because of some prone to failure parts, like my Ford Tempo with a plastic mount for the alternator pulley, just got old and brittle, it was junk, poorly designed. Ditched it shortly thereafter. That car I did not research.

Did have one warranty repair on the car. The little vent thing for the A/C broke from me hitting my sin on the dash under it too many times getting in and out of the car when I first got it.

[Moneyguy1]

Kurt:

I was just a kid but back in the 50s the auto warranty was 90 days!!

WooHoo!!

"Oh, you bought that Caddy four months ago and the engine seized? Unfortunately, your warranty is expired."

[JavaBrewer]

Our current fleet -

2003 Land Rover Discovey, 46K miles, out of warranty
2001 Audi TT, 44K miles, out of warranty

So far so good but both cars are not known for their long term reliability...

[john70t]

There are quite a few articals about taxi driver Andrew Grant of Vancouver who put over 200,000 miles on a Prius with very few repairs, except for the usual oil change/tires/struts/etc... http://priuschat.com/index.php?showtopic=19791
Toyota corp snatched up his car for testing purposes.

-The Prius transmission is a motor.
-The brakes are mostly an alternator
-The batteries are good for 10 years+. BTW-almost all NiMH patents are now owned by Texaco.
-The small engine shuts down during extensive idling periods.