Industry-wide Warranty Round-Up
General Motors dropped a bomb this week when it announced that it was upping its powertrain warranty coverage to 5 years/100,000 miles. That gives the General the best warranty coverage of any full-line automaker, but which company has the best overall warranty coverage and which the worst? Where does your favorite brand fall in the mix? Cars!Cars!Cars! did some digging and compiled a complete list of every automaker's warranty coverage. It's great to see this information compiled in one place, and a little telling, as well. Below are some highlights we found interesting.Best Overall Warranty Coverage
- Hyundai (Basic - 5 yr. / 60,000 mi., Drivetrain - 10 yr. / 100,000 mi.)
- Kia (Basic: 5 yr. / 60,000 mi., Drivetrain: 10 yr. / 100,000 mi.)
- Mitsubishi (Basic: 5 yr. / 60,000 mi., Drivetrain: 10 yr. / 100,000 mi.)
- Chrysler (Basic: 3 yr. / 36,000 mi., Drivetrain: 3 yr. / 36,000 mi.)
- Dodge (Basic: 3 yr. / 36,000 mi., Drivetrain: 3 yr. / 36,000 mi.)
- Jeep (Basic: 3 yr. / 36,000 mi., Drivetrain: 3 yr. / 36,000 mi.)
Interesting Note: We noticed on a commercial for the Ford Focus that it was being offered with a 5-year / 100,000-mile warranty. Curious, we checked Ford's website and learned that the Focus has been offered with such extensive powertrain coverage since late 2003. It's identical to GM's new warranty save for a $100 deductible. We seem to remember other individual models being offered with extended warranties like this. Can anyone remember others?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
joe 11:11AM (9/09/2006)
Isn't the Hyundai Warranty not transferable? That's the thing no one realizes when comparing warranties. It really costs Hyundai nothing because few people keep their cars that long.
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Misaniovent 12:10PM (9/09/2006)
It really says a lot to me that Chrysler Groups's warranties are so comparatively poor. I am a fan of most of their vehicles, but if I had to choose between a GM car with 5 years/100,000 miles and a Chrysler with 3 years/36,000 miles . . . I'd take the longer warranty. I want to know that the maker I'm buying from has faith in their vehicles.
Interestingly, my brother drives an '04ish Dodge Neon with a 7 year/70,000 mile warranty. I don't remember if that was model-specific, or a temporary incentive.
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steve 1:34PM (9/09/2006)
Yeah my 2005 RAM 1500 came with 7/70,000 also.
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Michael Karesh 12:33PM (9/09/2006)
The 7/70 with $100 deductible applied to all Chrysler products from mid-2002 model year (not transferable the first few months they had it) through the end of the 2006 model year. It just went out of effect.
I think it very likely they'll soon go to at least 5/60, which is where most manufacturers now are.
GM had 5/60 on the Aveo, Cobalt, and Uplander based on a table in Consumer Guide.
Hybrids tend to have 8/100 on hybrid components.
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Michael Karesh 12:34PM (9/09/2006)
The above are all powertrain warranties, by the way.
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Ryan 12:46PM (9/09/2006)
"1. Isn't the Hyundai Warranty not transferable?"
-Hyundai's warranty is indeed not transferable to the general public, however you can tranfer it to a family member/husband/wife/domestic partner. And for a reasonable fee (when I purchased an elantra in 2002 it cost 500.00 to make it a bumper to bumper 10/100 and for 750.00 you could make it bumper to bumper 10/100 AND it would tranfer to anyone, plus it is a factory warranty not a "subcontracted" one, but that was 2002 so I'm not sure if Hyundai has increased in "ego" enough to raise those prices.)
"4. The above are all powertrain warranties, by the way."
In 2002 to the 10/100 part of the Hyundai warranty covered a "little bit" (not much) but a little bid more than powertrain for example the 10/100 actually covers:
1.) Engine
2.) Transmission
3.) Exhaust
4.) Cooling system
5.) And of all things, the front ball/CV joints
The cool thing about hyundai is the 5/60 does transfer AND the roadside assistance is 5 years UNLIMITED miles. It's like 5 years of free AAA when you think about it.
Now the cool thing I like about my 2004 Mazda warranty is:
It's a 4/50k (pretty run of the muck)
BUT
It includes rental car coverage, so if your Mazda has to go into the shop you will ALWAYS have a rental car. My local dealership actually issues a purchase order to enterprize rent a car (they use to work with hertz) then they pick you up in your car and your off!
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Albert 12:57PM (9/09/2006)
lack of decent warranty coverage has nothing to do with the manufacturer's quality or their "faith" in their vehical. It's just their way of doing busniess.
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Mark 9:29PM (9/10/2006)
The real issue with warranties is how well the manufacturer honors it. My experience with GM is there is usually some sort of weasel out. They seem to come up with reasons to deny coverage requiring a battle to get them to finaly cover it. Soemetimes they will deny it and it requires you to hire legal help to pressur them to honor it. The cost of legal help is of course paid by you.
I would rather have a good car with no warranty than a problematic car with a great warranty
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Ryan 1:12PM (9/09/2006)
"6. lack of decent warranty coverage has nothing to do with the manufacturer's quality or their "faith" in their vehical. It's just their way of doing busniess."
Hopefully the maufactuerer's way of doing business is in line with the way the consumer does business.
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DPC car videos 1:16PM (9/09/2006)
Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep better get in their board room and come up with longer warranty terms if they want to enjoy their sales.
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Mat 1:28PM (9/09/2006)
6. lack of decent warranty coverage has nothing to do with the manufacturer's quality or their "faith" in their vehical. It's just their way of doing busniess.
Posted at 12:55PM on Sep 9th 2006 by Albert
It has an awful lot to do with the level of faith in the vehicle. It is an insurance policy and its cost is determined by their estimate of claims against the warrantee policy. The offerer of the warrantee wants to offer something that has a higher percieved value than what will be proven by actual experience. So, until recently GM didn't have enough faith in their vehicle dependability to offer the top tier warrantee and estimated rebates and 0% financing as being less expensive for them. For someone with a quality perception problem this was not a good indication. Hyundai and Kia also had quality perception issues because of newness in the marketplace and their positioning in the economy segment. They had a great deal of faith in their product and put the warrantee out their. My mom put down 200k mi. on a Sephia with nary a tick or squeak which is an example of how a company offered her piece of mind and percieved value without ultimately spending jack.
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Denis 1:35PM (9/09/2006)
This is only the manfucatures "assurance" that the Mfg. will replace the defective parts.
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Stoneman 1:41PM (9/09/2006)
I'm surprised the big 3 manufacturers warranties are so poor in length and kilometers. GM is still behind KIA and
Hyundai when it comes to warranties.
Stoneman
Oh and the Sonata is a good car.
http://www.stonemanautoreview.com
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Mal Fuller 1:47PM (9/09/2006)
The ballsiest warranty ever offered in the auto industry was the American Motors Buyer Protection Plan. It was a FULL warranty, not a LIMITED warranty. Every other vehicle warranty ever offered by any company has been a limited warranty. When it was introduced it made headlines and nearly instantly increased AMC's market penetration. Since the Buyer Protection Plan is now part of Chrysler's CLAIMED history, why don't they bring it back? (Answer - No Balls.)
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AladdinSane 3:43PM (9/09/2006)
I agree that Chrysler/Jeep should lengthen their warranties, because they WILL lose sales if they don't wise up.
I do suggest something radical: Why doesn't GM offer a five year bumper to bumper warranty on all their product. That would certainly show that GM has faith in the good quality their company now claims to have!
Peace!
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Frank 4:00PM (9/09/2006)
Chrysler reduced their powertrain warranty from 7/70 (they always had 3/36 bumper to bumper) because their internal studies showed that it made little or no difference to persuade customers to buy their product.
Are their studies correct? Only time will tell. If they do lose sales they will quickly reinstate the extended powertrain warranty. This will be intersting to see what happens.
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Excusuzki me 1:00PM (9/10/2006)
Mazda dropped their warranty for 2007 by not offering loaner cars anymore.
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dakota 6:50PM (9/09/2006)
"Chrysler reduced their powertrain warranty from 7/70 (they always had 3/36 bumper to bumper) because their internal studies showed that it made little or no difference to persuade customers to buy their product.
Are their studies correct? Only time will tell. If they do lose sales they will quickly reinstate the extended powertrain warranty. This will be intersting to see what happens."
Finally, someone smart enough to post fact, not stupid shit out of their ass.
When buying the car you also have the option to add on a service contract, I did when I bought my Chrysler CPO (which BTW has a better CPO program than GM or Ford), and my new one which the dealer paid most of the cost of it and the entire thing covers everything except tires, brake pads, hoses, belts, wiperblades and fluids for 7 years or 85K miles, plus roadside assistance and rental car allowance for that same amount of time too.
Consumers before were not phased by the basic 3/36 that was being offered across the board not too long ago so now it's a huge deal? Employee pricing, and wads of cash on top of the hood doesn't sell cars anymore and the "big 3" have (hopefully) figured that out.
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ronin 9:15AM (9/10/2006)
I believe Mazda is reducing its warranty for 07
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Albert 10:34PM (9/09/2006)
"It has an awful lot to do with the level of faith in the vehicle"
Nope, the manfucatures will do whatever it takes to boost their bottom line. If the add traffic and sales to their showroom can offset the cost of offering better warranties, then they up the coverage regardless of the quality of the vehicle.
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