GM: Best Warranty Coverage Out There

[Clocker]

GM now has the best, most comprehensive warranty coverage in the auto industry. And, unlike some other manufacturers, the 5/100 powertrain coverage stays with the vehicle no matter if you keep it or sell it (no transfer fee is required).

Why are they doing it? Because they can.


http://www.edmunds.com/apps/vdpcontainers/do/vdp/articleId=43094/pageNumber=1

More Info:
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060907/AUTO01/609070379/1148

 

[Clocker]

More comparison info found at the "Compare Our Warranty" link on this page (lower right):

http://www.gm.com/warranty/

 

[Pradeep]

That's great news. Nice to see them one-upping Mistubishi, Kias and Hyundai by having the warranty stay with the car/truck, instead of the owner.

Though it would be nice to see them make it 10 years for the powertrain, for those that drive less than 20K per year.

Local Ford dealership (local thing) has been offering 5yr/100K powertrain on all Fords for a while now, just to compete with the imports.

 

[Pradeep]

Follow up: I don't know if I'd classify it as the most comprehensive in the industry, unless you are referring to just US auto industry?

Because Hyundai and Co. have 5yr/60,000 bumper to bumper and 5yr/unlimited miles road side assistance. The Hyundai bumper to bumper even includes headlight/tail light bulbs.

 

[Clocker]

Hyundai's bumper to bumper 5/60 has a lot of caveats it seems and leaves a lot to interpretation. Bulbs are only 1 year 12,000 miles.:

Covers repair or replacement of any component manufactured or originally installed by Hyundai that is defective in material or factory workmanship, under normal use and maintenance.

Following components covered for time and mileage limits indicated:
- Radio And Sound Systems (i.e. radio, cassette tape drive mechanism, and compact disc player): 3 years / 36,000 miles
- Paint: 3 years/ 36,000 miles
- Battery: 3 years / unlimited miles (100% covered 2 years / unlimited miles; after 2 years and within 3 years, 25% cost of battery and 100% labor cost covered)
- Air Conditioner Refrigerant Charge: 1 year / unlimited miles
- Adjustments: 1 year / 12,000 miles
- Wear Items: 1 year / 12,000 miles (e.g. belts, brake pads & linings, clutch linings, filters, wiper blades, bulbs, fuses

 

[Pradeep]

Had left/right headlight bulbs, and a tail light replaced under warranty, Elantra is about 2.5 years old.

I believe the 1 yr/12 month is for all other lamps (inside dome, etc). Either that or I've got a good dealer. Dealership makes all the difference come warranty claim time.

Here's to hoping this spurs Honda, Toyota et al to follow GM's move.

*Hiccup*

 

[Handruin]

It has to some degree moved acura into offering a 6/70K for drive-train. That is a recent addition to their new cars. I don't know if it's directly related to GM, but it may be partially related to them and the others who have longer warranties.

 

[P5-133XL]

My opinion is that neither Honda nor Toyota are likely to change their warrentee. Long warrentee's are a result of a widely held opinions of unreliability. Once that opinion starts, then effectively the only way for the manufacturer to fight it is to extend the warrentee, so that they are paying for any problems, rather than the consumer.

Honda and Toyota's have great reliability reputations. The result is that the consumer is not going to insist and the manufacturer isn't going to increase its costs. Hyundai, has had a very bad reliability reputation and that produced a long warrentee. Mazada had a short warrentee, untill they produced some very bad rotary engines and then they modified their warrentee to give very long warrentees to all cars with rotary engines. It was just necessary, if they wanted to stay in business.

GM's reliability reputation has been poor over the recent decades, and now they are improving quality assurance and giving long warrentees. All good steps, indicating they are traveling the road to improve both their image and their cars. Unfortunately, it takes years to change an image, once established. Both Honda and Toyota did it The early Japanesse car years the vehicals were jokes) but it took decades of producing vehicals that were signifigently more reliable than American. I don't think Mazda, ever really recovered their reputation and I don't think Hyundai has ever even tried improving their QA: They seem to be happy selling bottom of the barrel autos.

 

[Bozo]

Those warretees are a double edged sword for the manufacturer. They are saying that our products are that good, we will back them longer.

Back in the late 1960s Chyrsler tried the longer warrenty ploy to bolster their image. They went bankrupt in the early 1970s. Part of that came from honoring all those long warrentees.

Bozo :joker:

 

[P5-133XL]

Those warretees are a double edged sword for the manufacturer. They are saying that our products are that good, we will back them longer.

Back in the late 1960s Chyrsler tried the longer warrenty ploy to bolster their image. They went bankrupt in the early 1970s. Part of that came from honoring all those long warrentees.

Bozo :joker:

Long warrentees are only double edged, if the cars are junk. Longer warrentees don't cost the manufacturers more, if the cars don't require additional service. My 96 Honda accord hasn't seen the inside of the service area except for normal maintainence. In my case, Honda would not have incurred any additional expense if it had offered a 10 year warrentee. I'm sure my machine is an exception, but it does show my point.

One of the reasons Hyundai has such holes in its long warrentee is because can't afford to repair all that breaks but still wants to advertise the long warrentee to relieve the consumer's anxiety and get a sale. With the loopholes, it then gets to argue with the customer on who pays for the repairs. Not the best strategy if you want to dig yourself out of the poor reputation game...

 

[ddrueding]

Not the best strategy if you want to dig yourself out of the poor reputation game...

There is a market in selling to short-sighted customers...

 

[Clocker]

I can't believe that Chrysler and Nissan only offer a 3/36k powertrain warranty. That says something to me about the confidence they have in their products.

One of the reasons we (GM) have increased our warranty is because our warranty costs (as a percent of revenue) have gone down a lot over the past 10 years and continue to steadily decline. It makes good business sense because we know that increasing the warranty will gain us more in consumer confidence & business than it will cost us in warranty dollars.

 

[P5-133XL]

I can't believe that Chrysler and Nissan only offer a 3/36k powertrain warranty. That says something to me about the confidence they have in their products.

One of the reasons we (GM) have increased our warranty is because our warranty costs (as a percent of revenue) have gone down a lot over the past 10 years and continue to steadily decline. It makes good business sense because we know that increasing the warranty will gain us more in consumer confidence & business than it will cost us in warranty dollars.

That simply means that quality has been improving over time. A very good thing. Warrentee costs won't increase signifigently as long as the product is quality is high. Keep it up and the consumers confidence in your product will improve over time. I hope GM looks at this as not simply a quick fix to be recinded when things look a bit more cheery. Corporate attention spans, tend to be a bit on the short term side and changing public opinion is a long slow (expensive) process.

 

[Pradeep]

What's wierd with Chrysler is that just last year they were offering 7yr/70,000 mile powertrain warranties. When they change warranty durations every year, that's got to confuse consumers.

Have you had a bad experience with Hyundai Mark? I can assure you quality is vastly improved over the stuff they made a few years back. Their warrantee costs have been lower than they forcast. Given that many people are paying $30K for the new Hyundai/Kia minivan (which has a higher safety rating than Toyota or Honda), I would have to differ on your opinion that they only make bottom of the barrel autos. If they were still selling junk they wouldn't have increased sales in the last quarter, yet again. And their excess warrantee repairs would have seen them go belly up.

I'm pretty sure GM isn't including brake wear/wiper wear in their new warranty scheme either AFAIK the only manufacturer that warrants wear items for a significant duration is BMW.

 

[P5-133XL]

What's wierd with Chrysler is that just last year they were offering 7yr/70,000 mile powertrain warranties. When they change warranty durations every year, that's got to confuse consumers.

Have you had a bad experience with Hyundai Mark? I can assure you quality is vastly improved over the stuff they made a few years back. Their warrantee costs have been lower than they forcast. Given that many people are paying $30K for the new Hyundai/Kia minivan (which has a higher safety rating than Toyota or Honda), I would have to differ on your opinion that they only make bottom of the barrel autos. If they were still selling junk they wouldn't have increased sales in the last quarter, yet again. And their excess warrantee repairs would have seen them go belly up.

I'm pretty sure GM isn't including brake wear/wiper wear in their new warranty scheme either AFAIK the only manufacturer that warrants wear items for a significant duration is BMW.

Personally, I have never ownd a Hyundai. However, I have had two friends that bought new cars from them (aprox 5 and 7 years ago) and had nothing but continious troubles. Neither ended up having to pay for the service done under warrentee.

The first and worst was a car that literally was in the shop more often, than not: i.e. in a given 7 day week, the car was in the shop for more than 4. It is sickening to watch a friend go through such. The car just plain never worked right and continued not working till it was sold aprox a year after purchase. He just gave up.

The second, person had his car in the shop at least monthly. Nothing particularly serious or a pattern that I could get ahold of, but stuff just kept breaking. After a few years, that car was also sold.

The point of buying a new car over a used car is to have at least some reliability. One really has an expectation for the first couple of years, that in the morning, your new car should start and when you get off work, it should get you home. I can't say that I saw that with Hyundai.

Now mind you, I was not a good enough friend, to either, not to excessively point out that for a few dollars more, they could have had a Honda, like mine. Shame on me.

 

[ddrueding]

3.5 years, 111k miles, haven't done more than oil, wiper and tire changes since 20k (original brakes, original clutch, etc). The only warrantee work done was the static part of the passenger door latch came loose. Fixed without appointment and without any paperwork in 2 minutes.

I think I'll be buying another Volkswagen.

 

[Tannin]

Agggargh! What's with this "warantee" nonsense? Drives me nuts! it is spelled WARRANTY, the plural is WARRANTIES - get it right, people!

 

[P5-133XL]

Agggargh! What's with this "warantee" nonsense? Drives me nuts! it is spelled WARRANTY, the plural is WARRANTIES - get it right, people!

Spelling and grammer is the perview of the grammer police. You have no right to correct anyone. If the grammer police sees it as good, then it must be. Conceptually, there is not other conceivable choice.

The language is a living changing beast. This consistant misspelling amoung dirverse people around the world is merely the evolution of the English language. Have you ever tried to read old english? In a few more centuries (if we survive), I predict that warantee (warranty) will probably be spelled W'tea.

 

[sechs]

These are the same kind of folks who have determined that doughnut has no "g" in it.

 

[ddrueding]

I kept reading it, sure it was wrong, but when it came time to make a post myself; I wasn't so sure anymore. So I just went with to, too lazy to actually look it up.

 

[Stereodude]

I can't believe that Chrysler and Nissan only offer a 3/36k powertrain warranty. That says something to me about the confidence they have in their products.

Sorry, but that's incorrect...

From: http://www.nissanusa.com/owning/warranty/warranty_faq.html

"The Nissan New Vehicle Limited Warranty's coverage is 36 months/36,000 miles. Powertrain coverage is 5 years/60,000 miles."

 

[Clocker]

Yeah, I misread that about Nissan. But they don't offer courtesy transportation or as good of a rust warranty. No Onstar to do automatic vehicle diagnostics for you either... The monthly e-mail I get from Onstar about my car is actually pretty neat.

 

[Mercutio]

Onstar = vehicular spyware. They can turn it on whether you pay for it or not, and they can hear what you're talking about in the car. Law enforcement wiretaps Onstar all the time.

Yeah, that's something I'd want.

 

[Stereodude]

Yeah, I misread that about Nissan. But they don't offer courtesy transportation or as good of a rust warranty. No Onstar to do automatic vehicle diagnostics for you either... The monthly e-mail I get from Onstar about my car is actually pretty neat.

Do you get compensated at work for pimping GM to the world on this forum?

 

[Clocker]

Onstar = vehicular spyware. They can turn it on whether you pay for it or not, and they can hear what you're talking about in the car. Law enforcement wiretaps Onstar all the time.

Yeah, that's something I'd want.

Paranoid? Or do you have a reason to be scared? My brother-in-law is in the DEA and listens in on drug dealers using wire taps & cell phones all the time. He knows what goes on with that stuff and how hard it is to be allowed to do it, so if he doesn't care about Onstar, it sure doesn't bother me.

 

[Clocker]

Do you get compensated at work for pimping GM to the world on this forum?

Indirectly, I guess.

 

[Mercutio]

Paranoid? Or do you have a reason to be scared?

I believe my privacy is a fundamental right. I also believe that, if you give someone a tool to violate privacy, it will be used. I'm absolutely positive that Onstar techs are, when they aren't terribly busy, listening in on other people's lives for their own amusement, let along what the current administration is doing in the name of stopping the "terrorists."

 

[Clocker]

I'm absolutely positive that Onstar techs are, when they aren't terribly busy, listening in on other people's lives for their own amusement, let along what the current administration is doing in the name of stopping the "terrorists."

Then you better stop using your telephone, cell phone, sending e-mail and doing the occasional IM for your customers too.

 

[Mercutio]

If it's important enough, I've set up GPG for it.

 

[Bozo]

The other intereting thing I read a while back, was the "Black Box" installed in Corvettes. Not only is it capable of broadcasting your speed and location to a nearby cop, the insurance companies want to use the data in accident "investigations"
Insurance Slimball " The data recorder says you were doing 58MPH. That's three miles per hour above the legal limit where you hit that deer. We are not going to pay for the damage, in our opinion, you were speeding"

Big Bother is watching.

Bozo :joker:

 

[P5-133XL]

I would hope that the US constitunional protection against self-incimination would kick in at some point.

 

[Mercutio]

Why would it do that? Chances are, somewhere in your auto loan paperwork and/or the conditions of sale from GM, you probably agreed to waive your privacy rights.

 

[timwhit]

After this thread this whole website is probably being monitored by the FBI, CIA, and DEA.

 

[ddrueding]

After this thread this whole website is probably being monitored by the FBI, CIA, and DEA.

Well, we may as well say hello...

:smack:

 

[fb]

I think that GM put the black boxes in all their cars. And I also think that they will never give the data away to someone outside the company. I mean, would you buy a Corvette or Saab if you knew that the police or insurance company could take a look at the data whenever they feel like it?

 

[Bozo]

They started installing them a few years ago. I would think they are in everything by now.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,141048,00.html

Bozo :joker:

 

[Clocker]

They being all (or almost all) the auto manufacturers.

 

[Clocker]

Data can be called up from the vehicle computer in criminal investigation cases but it is not broadcast for law enforcement to hear.

Also, the data ''recorder' only holds something like 15-30 seconds before the event which may trip a sensor (i.e. accelerometer reading very high g-levels, etc.). This data has been successfully used to resolve court cases where the driver was not telling the truth about the curcumstances of an accident. It's a much better witness than any human being, IMO.

 

[sechs]

After this thread this whole website is probably being monitored by the FBI, CIA, and DEA.

You should have seen what happened when I started a bulletin board called "kill the president."

 

[LOST6200]

Prteyy useless to me. In 5 years I drive axopriomately 32,000 mile. UI'd much rather have 7/70 warranty. anmyway for mnay years GM has made nothing I want to drive.