Chrysler offers lifetime powertrain warranty

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Jul 27 2007, 04:01 AM) [snapback]486001[/snapback]</div>

Ah, but here's the catch. "Lifetime" warranty means that, legally, the company only has to honor it for 7 years. It's one of those little symantics issues that lets the consumer believe that he can drive his vehicle for his entire life, perhaps 80 years, under warranty but companies who offer this "lifetime" warranty don't actually specify whose life time they're referring to. If they really wanted to impress me, they would have offered a 50 year warranty but "lifetime" is marketing legerdemain.

The really cute part of this from Chrysler's perspective is that most people don't hold on to their cars for 7 years anyway so no one will ever know.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JackDodge @ Jul 27 2007, 06:54 AM) [snapback]486026[/snapback]</div>

Do you have anything to back up this claim? My father has a lifetime warranty on the conversion part of his 1993 conversion van. He is still using that warranty even though the company is quite pissed and has asked several times how long he expects them to honor the warranty. Every time he says "as long as I have the vehicle and you are in business".

I would be more interested to see if the warranty has some type of "Manufacturer Defect Only" clause and doesn't cover normal wear and tear. Just about anything can be blamed on "Normal Wear". "Oh, your engine has lost compression and needs new rings at 70K miles, that normal wear, not a manufacturing defect".

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Jul 27 2007, 12:53 PM) [snapback]486167[/snapback]</div>

So your argument (missing conclusion) is that because your father actually did business with a company that honors the spirit as well as the letter of their warranty that what I said is wrong? The legal precedent was set due to a lawsuit against a company that went out of business and claimed that the warranty was, therefore, invalidated. I grow very bored arguing points with someone who uses invalid reasoning and won't present his own conclusion. You're reacting instead of thinking. Whether you choose to accept what I've said or not is not meaningful to me.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(JackDodge @ Jul 27 2007, 01:19 PM) [snapback]486233[/snapback]</div>

Since your "bored" with my "invalid reasoning" and it "is not meaningful" if I choose to blindly accept your statement as fact or not, you probably won't respond, but I'll ask again. Do you have proof that the legal definition of "lifetime warranty" is 7 years as you claim.

Your last post is illogical because you claim that this legal precedent was set due to a lawsuit against a company that went out of business. I would think that it is common knowledge that if the company backing your warranty goes out of business that you are out of luck and your warranty is now worthless. These are two very different points.

I just happened to point out a case of lifetime warranty so far being lifetime and much longer than expected by the company that issued the warranty.

My conclusion is that you are wrong and that "Lifetime Warranty" for the original owner means that as long as the original owner still owns the vehicle the warranty must be honored unless the company that issues the warranty is no longer in business. I suspect that Chrysler assumes that the number of people that will keep their vehicle long enough for this to cost them money will be less than the boost in sales they will get by offering a "Lifetime Warranty".

EDIT:

It also seems that the FTC hasn't heard about your 7 year limitation.

From the Federal Trade Commission 16 C.F.R. 239.4

How to Advertise a Lifetime Warranty or Guarantee
"Lifetime" warranties or guarantees can be a source of confusion for consumers. This is because it is often difficult to tell just whose life measures the period of coverage. "Lifetime" can be used in at least three ways.

For example, a warrantor of an auto muffler may intend his "lifetime" warranty's duration to be for the life of the car on which the muffler is installed. In this case, the muffler warranty would be transferable to subsequent owners of the car and would remain in effect throughout the car's useful life.

Or the warrantor of the muffler might intend a "lifetime" warranty to last as long as the original purchaser of the muffler owns the car on which the muffler is installed. Although commonly used, this is an inaccurate application of the term "lifetime."

Finally, "lifetime" can be used to describe a warranty that lasts as long as the original purchaser of the product lives. This is probably the least common usage of the term.

The Guides advise that to avoid confusing consumers about the duration of a "lifetime" warranty or guarantee, ads should tell consumers which "life" measures the warranty's duration In that way, consumers will know which meaning of the term "lifetime" you intend.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(jhinton @ Jul 27 2007, 02:32 PM) [snapback]486353[/snapback]</div>

I remember when Midas used to advertise their "lifetime" warranty as the second example above; warrented to last as long as the original purchaser owned the car it was installed on.

The part they didn't advertise: the warranty only covered the muffler itself, not the other sections of the exhaust system (tailpipe) or the labor to replace them. I found this out by first hand experience when my tailpipe rusted through within 2 years and it wasn't covered.

In the case of Chrysler corp, I have to wonder who's lifetime we are talking about: my lifetime, the car's lifetime, or the companies' lifetime. If it is in fact only a 7 year life, will Chrysler still be around by then?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(cwerdna @ Jul 27 2007, 04:01 AM) [snapback]486001[/snapback]</div>

My Prius came with a lifetime powertrain warranty for the original owner. This particular dealer offers it for free.

It really pissed off the other local dealers, because it is a huge selling point. The other dealers said that they have never honored it. When I asked my dealer if he ever honored it, he had a list of people who they have done work for on this "extended" warranty.

I'm not trying to advertize for my dealer so if anyone wants to know the name of the dealer PM me.

 

My dealer also has lifetime warranty(powertrain) on all new Toyota's, I guess it's a "Southeast Toyota" thing but not all of them offer it

 

I want a lifetime warranty on all the 'other' expensive things that nickel-and-dime car owners...

How about a lifetime warranty on:
*The air conditioning compressor
*The alternator
*The power steering pump, steering gear, etc.
*The climate control stuff under the dash
*The switches that operate the power windows, door locks, etc.
*The shock absorbers/struts

The powertrain thing is great, but sometimes those other things can be what really makes one vehicle cost more to operate than another. I can recall a specific GM vehicle, where the engine was still ticking over and the transmission still shifting smoothly...but just about everything else was unreliable.

It sucked to not be able to roll down the window...again.

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And we also know that there will be one little cheap part (maybe a wire or some sort of connector or something) that's built into a big, expensive assembly...and of course the little cheap part will NOT be covered, so the whole thing is (once again) my responsibility...

Just don't trust 'em to stand behind their offer, is all. Rather buy something built well in the first place, and be done with it.