Are manufacturers warranty any good

Answer 1

Seems to be relative to the dealer you work with. I have seen some that took care of problems very well and others that either did not take care of problems or whacked them with additional charges to warranty an item. Case in point is a customer we had that needed brake rotors. The dealer warrantied the rotors, but then charged additional to put on the pads. So much additional that our shop could have done the whole job less than what he was charged to get warranty work done. Dealers are compensated by the manufacturer when warranty work is kept low as I understand it. How true that is I don't know, but seems to fit. Another case of warranty work that sticks out in my mind is a car that just went out of warranty by 1000 miles or so. It needed headgaskets and the dealer would not take care of it because of no prior maintnenence being performed there. Rare that this happens to an engine, but this particular engine production was a problem child that the dealer often did take care of. Now whether they would have backed it had she brought the car there for oil changes, tire rotations or other services (that probably weren't needed) remains to be seen. Most dealers seem to not want to take care of warranty work if the vehicles was purchased elsewhere. Some are upstanding and reputable because they understand that it is the right thing to do and can build a better customer base by doing so. There are plenty of loopholes to deny warranty work and potential aggravation to get problems resolved....but you never know until that gets to that point. They can be great, but it all depends on what they cover. You need to be sure to read the fine print. And stay away from extended warranties or the "extra" coverage stores like Best Buy and Circuit City offer. They're trash and they'll end up costing you a lot of money.