[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.