subject: A Warranty Which Could Last A Lifetime [print this page] Last year after the scrappage scheme was withdrawn many manufacturers struggled to entice new car customers to theirs businesses. Cut price deals, special offers and other incentives just were not working as well as they had hoped. Kia was penetrating the market with its budget cars and the Kia 7 year warranty. The Kia warranty was revolutionary and at the time of its introduction no manufacturer was matching it, which personally came as a surprise to me from some dealers.
Vauxhall dealers entered the market with a life time warranty, which many thought was miss leading as the warranty had its conditions and was not actually a lifetime warranty. The competition authorities in Germany got involved and ruled that Vauxhall and Opel need to reword their marketing slogans. Vauxhall decided to go with 'A warranty that could last a lifetime' this is much more descriptive.
Vauxhalls warranty can indeed last a lifetime as long as the car did not exceed 100,000 miles and the car did not change hands, which with the new lifestyle people are taking on in the credit crunch soul happen. Opel the parent company of Vauxhall announced recently that it will soon be withdrawing this warranty and instead replace it with an extended warranty that can be purchased at an extra cost.
This goes to show how expensive and valuable a warranty can be and the fact that Kia can still offer the 7 year warranty is amazing. After all the recalls and reliability issues Toyota the Japanese company now offers a 5 year warranty on all its new cars. The idea of these long warranties does entice a new time buyer as in the long run this can save a lot of money.
All warranties have their terms and conditions so before buying any car with a warranty make sure you read the small print and ask questions if you are unsure. This is key when buying into any high value goods because they vary across the board and something you may consider be standard may not be included, and you do not want to be caught out. So far in the UK I have not heard any complaints or concerns about the Vauxhall warranty so all seems good for now! The Kia and Toyota warranties also appear to be bullet proof with no complaints lodged.
If I remember correctly the Vauxhall warranty is now available on some used cars too, these used cars have to meet certain criteria to qualify and must be sold through the Network Q used car programme.
