WARM: General Motors Ups Warranty Coverage

[Knavish]

Originally posted by: ClockerXP
It's not transferrable from what I hear. If you sell the vehicle it bumps down to 5/60. Doesn't do much for resale that way...

WRONG
Did you actually read any of the news reports on this?

From the Washington Post:
The warranty, which starts today, is to run 100,000 miles or five years. It has no deductible, is transferable to new owners and applies to all new cars and light trucks sold in the United States and Canada.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Originally posted by: Knavish

Originally posted by: ClockerXP
It's not transferrable from what I hear. If you sell the vehicle it bumps down to 5/60. Doesn't do much for resale that way...

WRONG
Did you actually read any of the news reports on this?

From the Washington Post:
The warranty, which starts today, is to run 100,000 miles or five years. It has no deductible, is transferable to new owners and applies to all new cars and light trucks sold in the United States and Canada.

He was referring to the Hyundai/Kia 10/100 warranty. Read the first 3 posts of this thread, and look at the usernames.

 

[imported_Crusader]

Chevrolet kicks ass.

Nothing beats the Duramax diesel + Allison transmission.

 

[flot]

Originally posted by: vetteguy
Something seems a little fishy...they mention over and over again "Powertrain" warranty...very explicitly. If I recall, many cars already have a powertrain warranty that is longer than the "standard" warranty (I believe that DCX is like 3/36k and then 7/100k powertrain, but I could be mistaken). If this is the case, I wonder if they changed the standard coverage at all? If not, this seems like it is very misleading.

This is a very good point. I just bought a 2004 Dodge that had a 7/70 transferrable powertrain warranty. Due to 9/11, the economy, etc, most dodge vehicles came with this warranty in the 2002-2004 timeframe as a sales incentive.

Amazingly enough - I had to go to *five* Dodge/Chrysler dealers before I could find one that knew how to complete the process of transferring the warranty to me. The owners manual specifically talked about it, but none of the dealers knew how to process the transfer. So basically NONE of the used 02-04 vehicles they sold in the last year got the warranty transferred.

Having said that - powertrain warranties are basically good for 2 things. 1) your engine blows a hole in the side, or 2) your automatic transmission eats itself. #1 is fairly unlikely, even on a dodge. #2 is more likely inside of 70k or 100k and will be a $1500-2500 repair.

I was astounded that so many buyers let the transfer slide... the other advantage is that by making sure the powertrain is now in my name, I will save a couple hundred bucks on the dodge extended bumper-to-bumper warranty pricing, since there are major components it won't have to cover.

 

[lbhskier37]

powertrain warrante is pretty useless. My 1992 Buick Regal has 160k on it and the motor hasn't hiccuped, and this with running 12k between oil changes (use Mobile 1 btw). But the only thing that would make me buy another GM product (as soon as the Regal dies I will buy a new car) is if they did something actually impressive with mileage! I saw a GM commercial today where they are bragging that the Chevy cobalt gets like 34mpg! My fricking 15 year old Regal that weighs twice as much as the Cobalt gets 30 and makes more horsepower on top of it! What progress!

Oh and BTW anyone who rags on Kia Hyundai doesn't know crap! They might have crap for resale, but if you buy them to run them you will get more than your moneys worth. I have a 2003 Elantra with 60k on it right now. The thing has not seen a shop other than to change oil and tires. Hyundai and Kia are solid cars, and the reason they are dirt cheap is because they don't have to overpay union auto workers to sit next to the line and assemble every piece. Only times humans touch those things in the factory are to do things robots don't have the dexterity for, that is the reason their quality is high variation is super low because they take human error out of the equation.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Those of you who are saying "powertrain warranty doesn't mean crap... powertrains never fail" obviously didn't just pay $550 for an ignition coil / throttle body problem on their '03 Trailblazer with 44k miles :|

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: araczynski
GM could have a 20/200k warranty and i still wouldn't buy any of their cars. some of the most regurgitated designs/styles out there.

although i suppose they are a notch above ford.

Right...Corvette Z06, Saturn Sky Redline, Hummer H3, Caddilac V-series...
How are any of these regurgitated designs?

And the GM Warranty is the best out of all the manufacturers excluding the Koreans-and they're better than the Koreans if you take into account warranty transferability.

I own a Toyota BTW heh.
Although I do own GM stock, lol.

But honestly I would buy a GM vehicle-that Sky Redline is mighty tempting.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: tealk
Kia sucks a$$...that's my contribution!

I confirm your statement.

I test drove one for a $50 gift card and they never sent me my card... plus the cars are cr*p and drive like a styrofoam tortoise.

 

[seanbigdealer]

Kia Sedona has 5 *s Front and Side impact.

http://www.internetautoguide.com/crash-tests/09-int/2006/kia/sedona/index.html

 

[ClockerXP]

5 Stars is good but did you know that a vehicle must be at least 4 stars to even be saleable?

 

[lbhskier37]

Yes, but many, even most vehicles out there stop at 4 stars because that's all they need to pass to be saleable.

 

[Calgar99]

Originally posted by: nealh
Powertrain is a gimmck(that stuff better last 100,000 mi otherwise a pure crap product IMHO)..when was the last time you used this..the bumper to bumper warranty is more important...ie covering the components that general fail..electrical, ac, radio etc

Agreed. Even on junk American cars, you won't see the powertrain fail until well after the warranty period. Should you even *think* your failure is considered powertrain, I'm sure it's already listed somewhere as an excluded part, for whatever reason (including wear and tear items, etc.).

And for Crusader who mentioned the Duramax... all I can think of is how I have a peverted mind. There's this Diesel Truck store near my house. The scrolling sign reads "We sell... DURAMAX... CUMMINS... POWER STROKE." Makes me laugh each morning on my way to work.

-Matt

 

[ClockerXP]

This is the HOT DEALS forum guys.

If you want to debate warranties & design, it's probably better to take it to the OT forum.

 

[seanbigdealer]

So, Kia/Hyundai went the extra they needed to get all 5s, that is Hot! Perfect for a Hot Deal forum :>

 

[Steve Guilliot]

Originally posted by: Trevelyan

Originally posted by: nealh
Powertrain is a gimmck(that stuff better last 100,000 mi otherwise a pure crap product IMHO)..when was the last time you used this..the bumper to bumper warranty is more important...ie covering the components that general fail..electrical, ac, radio etc

I have owned in the last 15yrs..Ford, Infiniti, Nissan x2, Audi, Mercedes, BMW...never used the powertrain portion of a warranty....but I sure have used the other and paid for repairs on electrical, ABS, computer modules, brake issues(not pads, rotors..thats maintenance) etc...

Seriously, who cares about the Powertrain warranty? They can afford to up it because I'm sure people rarely need it... electrical, A/C, brakes, etc are all prone to fail and need repair way before anything under the powertrain warranty.

GM's bumper-to-bumper warranty is still only 36k/3yrs, so I consider this 100% marketing.

 

[njcoig]

It's common knowledge that as a rule of thumb, the longer the warranty a company offers, the shoddier the quality of their products. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule, but does generally hold true.

Odd, but I learned that in on my my MKT classes.

-N

 

[EXman]

haha Mazda just went down for 2007. was 4/48 now 3/36

 

[lbhskier37]

Originally posted by: njcoig
It's common knowledge that as a rule of thumb, the longer the warranty a company offers, the shoddier the quality of their products. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule, but does generally hold true.

Odd, but I learned that in on my my MKT classes.

-N

Not sure who taught that, but they don't really understand manufacturing much. You can't have a longer warrantee without having a part that lasts longer, unless you don't like making money. Every company spends a good deal of effort on minimizing warrantee cost. To the company I work for, anything you can do to reduce warrantee is basically like getting the company free money. Companys are learning that any money spent on increasing quality is money well spent. Toyota and Honda was doing it before American companies, but American companies now know the only way they can compete is to have quality on par with the rest of the world.

 

[zephyrprime]

Originally posted by: njcoig
It's common knowledge that as a rule of thumb, the longer the warranty a company offers, the shoddier the quality of their products. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule, but does generally hold true.

Odd, but I learned that in on my my MKT classes.

-N

I don't seem to recall any situation where that was true.

 

[Lucky]

"think the powertarin warranty is overrated as very few people will be driving 100000 miles in 5 years (more likely 50000 miles) and GM knows this very well"


What? The US DOT says average new cars are driven 15K/miles/year, so for a normal buyer, that's 75K miles. All it would take is to drive 33% more than the average person and you'd hit 100K miles. And believe me, it's not hard to drive 20K/miles/year. I've put 48 on in 2 years.

 

[GTFan]

Yeah I'm guessing the average in the ATL is between 15-20k a year (and higher for many). I know more than one dude where I work that drives more than 60 miles to work ONE WAY. Any big city that's spread out and has crappy public trans (LA, ATL, Houston, etc.) will have 20k a year easy.

But I agree with others here, a 100k powertrain warranty is not costing them much. There's so much expensive stuff excluded and outside of the occasional trans failure, not a whole lot goes wrong with a powertrain in the first 100k anyway.

 

[cparent]

The warranty is a good deal. My 05 Dodge Ram is 7/70 and I thought that was good.

BTW: I love the anti american car company posters in this thread. They make me laugh. I hope that they dont live in the U.S. or call themselves americans. Like the "fords still in business?" guy. Maybe he hasnt heard but Ford has the number one world wide selling vehicle for the past 20 or so years.

 

[houe]

With the warranty you'll be guaranteed to be driving a GM car for a long time which I'm not so sure is a good thing.

 

[TekDemon]

Originally posted by: njcoig
It's common knowledge that as a rule of thumb, the longer the warranty a company offers, the shoddier the quality of their products. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule, but does generally hold true.

Odd, but I learned that in on my my MKT classes.

-N

Not exactly-it's more that companies that have produced shoddy products need one to rebuild confidence in their reliability.
Realize though, that in the LONG term, offering a long warranty means that you *have* to be building reliable products, or your warranty liabilities will just stack up until you go bankrupt.

So in the auto industry at least, a long warranty just means a company is trying to rebuild it's image after perhaps having produced some cars that weren't quite up to spec.

However, if you're buying some free after rebate sound card, that lifetime warranty is probably a joke, and the company might not even be around after 3 years, or if it is it's warranty will be almost unclaimable.

Anyways I really see this as more like GM trying to catch up to the competition-their powertrain warranty has been shorter than Toyota's for years now, and it sure doesn't help if you have a crappier warranty AND people think your cars are less reliable to begin with.

So they've basically matched Toyota's 5 years and raised them 40K-which is just enough that it doesn't scream "desperately extending warranties" like 10/100.

You know what probably really doesn't help? That Daimler Chrysler went to 7/100 and then had to back down, lol. That almost looks like their powertrains kept failing and they couldn't shoulder the costs.

BTW, Hyundai's own 5/60 and 10/100 warranty actually cost them a LOT of money in the initial years-but that put quite the fire under their ass to get their cars reliable...so basically it was "make our cars reliable or go bankrupt". Great motivator for your own company if you basically force yourself to hit a standard just to survive.

Finally, not everything you learn in class is going to be totally true. I totally had a psych professor who thought Rainbow parties were more than urban legend and that kids everywhere were doing it all the time lol.

 

[MrX8503]

Originally posted by: tealk

Originally posted by: manno

Originally posted by: tealk
Kia sucks a$$...that's my contribution!

Care to elaborate? I have a friend that has a Kia, and his dad drives it everyday to work 3 hours/day total. I asked him how it's holding up, and he said he has no complaints.

One of the worst cars to be in crash with. That's why they are so cheap...The doors are paper thin. i don't know how people feel safe in any of their crappy a$$ cars.

This doesnt even have anything to do with the car's reliability. I want a car that is reliable, not something that breaks down every 3 months.

I'm glad that car companies cant pass on crappy products onto the consumer and that they are doing something about it.