Well what do you know, GM to announce longer warranties

Too little, too late

Stu

I agree, the market leader should show leadership rather than being a follower. GM is clearly a follower in this one.

All they really did is to extend the powertrain portion of the warranty to 5 years. Toyota, Honda, Ford and Hyundai are already there or more. GM made theirs 5 years or 100,000 miles, but that high mileage limit will only effect a very small number of buyers. Oddly enough, the high mileage limit makes buying used off-rental vehicles more attractive. Hertz, for example, usually sells their cars at 6-12 months old and with

Here is the updated news story:

John

Actually in every dealer meeting that I attended, for just about every brand we sold, when I was in retail I suggest the manufacture include a 100,000 extended service plan be added to the base price of every model they sold. Doing so would cost a relatively small amount, around $700, when one considers historically less than one percent all extended warranties sold ever pay out more than the cost of the plan and the deductible. The extended warranty should only apply to the original owner.

mike hunt

Please expand on this; "warranty should only apply to original owner"

Is it no longer a GM product when the original owner sells the car ? Is it now "an orphan product"? I'm not baiting you.... its' just that this phrase often comes up in car sales.

All manufacturerss factor the warranty into the price of the vehicle. So the full warranty's "paid for".

One owner or ten owners... if the car's warranteed for 50K miles then the odometer reading should be the warranty cut-off. ????

I would prefer more time and less mileage (similar to Chrysler's 7-70 plan). But it's a positive overall. Probably most people will hit the warranty expiration on time, not mileage. So this is effectively a 60K mile warranty for most people.

I'd rather the opposite since I drive 25k a year. Pissed me off when my heated seat went during the second winter with 40k on the odometer.

"John Horner" wrote

This is nothing new. They had those kind of warranties for a while back in the 80's I believe (we hated them). Plus, certain GM vehicles already have the 5 year/100,000 klm warranties in our neck of the woods. Pushing the warranty to 160,000 klms for five years will mean almost nothing to the majority of uses as they will simply not rack up that many miles in five years. Cavaliers have had the extended powertrain warranty for a few years now, all the Olds vehicles had it.

Powertrain warranties are usually hardly used anyway these days. I can see it being useful in the case of transmissions, "and" the intake gasket problems, but GM already warranties the 3.4 intake gaskets for 5 years, 100,000 kilometers and sometimes even longer anyway. Yeah, it's a hidden style of warranty, but it's there. GM probably feels comfortable that their recent changes in engine design will mean that they will have very few repairs to deal with.

Ian

Typically the market leader is a follower. Dell is the marker leader for PC's, everyone else comes out with the new features sooner then when the price drops Dell includes them and sells a whole bunch more. Microsoft is the market leader copying ideas from Apple, linux, Firefox, etc.

in July, Ford Motor Co. (F) extended its powertrain warranties by up to two years on its 2007 Ford, Lincoln and Mercury models.

On Ford and Mercury vehicles, the powertrain warranty was raised to five years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first, up from the current three-year, 36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty.

Lincoln powertrain warranties were extended to six years or 70,000 miles, up from the previous four-year, 50,000-mile bumper-to-bumper guarantee.

The warranties cover the engines and transmissions and are retroactive to any 2007 models that already have been purchased, Ford said. The automaker also offers similar guarantees on 2006 models still on the lots.

Still doesn't touch Hyundai's warranty (at least the original Hyundai owner). As much as I love my Chevy...sad but true fact. Anyone got a

A friend of mine (a month ago) whittled her car choices down to a Hyundai Elantra or a Saturn Ion. The end result? The Hyundai. Why? Tons more standard features and warranty for (roughly) $3000 less. Come on GM, pick up the pace!

-GV

It was a dumb idea. The warranty should apply to the product, not to the owner. With the number of GM vehicles which first pass through rental service before ending up with a retail customer Mike's idea is double-dumb.

John

If Hyundai can offer 100k, surely GM, Ford, and Chrysler should be able to. Why not? Is the product good or not? I drive my cars 150k or more so it is a factor in my decision. I do know a couple of people that bought Hyundai over other brands because of ht warranty.

Even as a used buyer, the factory warranty is a selling point. Making used GM cars popular keeps resale value up and helps in the long run. My boss bought a Lexus. He traded in his Caddy for it. What will he buy next? He says probably not a Caddy because of the resale value compared to the Lexus. Las May be bought his wife anAvalon for that reason. Yes, thee is real monetary reasons to offer long term satisfaction with the brand.

GM dealers also sell used cars. It is a bonus for them to be able to offer the factory warranty. .

One reason US car makers are having problems is the thinking for selling a car today, while the Japanese think long term and have made very loyal customers in a much shorter time than the US makers ever have.

You forget to say in my opinion. GM and Ford sell more vehicles than any import. Apparently a lot of buyers do not agree with your opinion that imports are superior. I certainly don't agree, after a half dozen Lexus V8s, that they are any better than domestics One reason I stopped buying them was it cost too much to replace a Lexus with another ;)

mike

I didn't say they are better cars,. I did imply that the Japanese have done a better job of promoting brand loyalty in a short time compared to "Big 3".

Your situation is not typical though. But GM's plan is a good fit in your case.

How will "GM's plan" be a good fit for someone who experiences a heated seat failure outside of the "bumper to bumper" warranty? GM is simply offering a "powertrain" extended warranty. Most people will be amazed at what "won't" be covered that they "imagine" ought to be covered.

Ian

True, but it would be covered under the now longer bumper to bumper. Some things should be covered for time, not miles anyway. Non moving parts are usually not affected at all by the number of miles driven. If, say, the sun visor fell off after only one year, but beyond 36,000 Miles, that seems difficult to say you "drove it too far" so it broke.