Another get rich scheme - what could go wrong?

[wdfifteen]

We do a little ad agency work now and then. I hate it but it keeps people buys. So a pro ad guy comes to me and wants me to partner with him on a project. A local car dealer has been running a "Lifetime Warranty on Used Cars!" program for a couple of years and wants to franchise it. He wants our help.
Think about it. A lifetime warranty on a used car. What could go wrong?

[Dantilla]

...as long as you bring the car to our approved maintenance shops on schedule for regular maintenance & inspections.

(Where we can tell you MUST replace your shocks/rotors/radiator/yada yada in order to keep the warranty in effect.)

Could be a very profitable rip-off of uneducated drivers. Don't let us perform excessive maintenance, or show up one day late, and warranty is voided.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

We do a little ad agency work now and then. I hate it but it keeps people buys. So a pro ad guy comes to me and wants me to partner with him on a project. A local car dealer has been running a "Lifetime Warranty on Used Cars!" program for a couple of years and wants to franchise it. He wants our help.
Think about it. A lifetime warranty on a used car. What could go wrong?

I think you have a lot more to lose than he does(your good reputation) What could go wrong? Well the warranty may not be honored. I know the feeling when the warranty is not honored with a new car. It takes cojones to get involved in this....

[id10t]

start with a bunch of fresh off lease cars (minimal issues to fix), sell at inflated prices (due to warranty) for a year, require them to do maintainence there (slightly inflated prices again) and then "close"/go out of business after a year or two, only to open with a new name, new s-corp/llc/whatever, etc. so you no longer have to warranty the cars

[rusnak]

who's lifetime?

The car's lifetime, or the business lifetime?

Sounds like the investment horizon is whenever the insurance company drops your policy.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by recycled sixtie

I think you have a lot more to lose than he does(your good reputation).

Oh, there's no way I'm touching this. It sounds too much like the extended warranty racket. Based on the proposal he presented I think the only person making any money on this would be him, and he intended to make it off of me.
I didn't let him talk long enough to get the details, but there has to be a catch. That's why I asked. I didn't think of the "have to have regular maintenance done in our shop" angle. A dealer could make a nice bit of coin off of this if he was without scruples. Where are you going to find a car dealer without scruples?

[Rick Lee]

There are tons of warranty companies out there. I would think he would just sub them out to those warranty companies to spread around the risk. Make the new warranties non-transferrable to next owner, so if they sell the car, he still keeps the premium and new owner has to buy another warranty.

[Charles Freeborn]

My credo is to not sell anything I wouldn't buy myself... Don't want any bricks through my windows..

[Arizona_928]

Mind as well buy and resell DRMO rolling stock.

[GWN7]

It's been done before.

Use our oil treatments in your vehicle (and they had a "treatment" for every part), lifetime warranty. They would sell you the snake oil and then claim any warranty claim was void because they didn't install the snake oil. That was never mentioned when you were sold "The package".