Having had some exposure to the ways manufacturers structure their sales and marketing ploys, let me tell you a little bit about the warranty hows and whys, and how to get around them.
The normal expected expenses of in-warranty repairs are baked in to the price of a new vehicle, plus a generous buffer. It's wrapped up in advertising and goodwill and customer retention. Manufacturers know there will always be warranty repairs and adjustments, and plan for them. They also make sure you, the buyer, don't start abusing their system, therefore causing the generous money buffer, that
you paid for, to shrink or (horrors!) disappear altogether.
The manufacturers also know that once you own the vehicle, inertia sets in. Within the first 30-90 days of ownership, you'll find some niggly details you wouldn't mind having them take care of (a mark on the carpet, a small paint boo-boo, some rattle in the dash). But some other minor things, though, you will decide, "it's not worth my time to drop the car off to get this little thing fixed, I'll just live with it." After driving the car a while, you just go with the flow, and consider it a part of your new car's character. :coolio:
What they ideally want you to do is to bring the car in for some bigger things, maybe once or twice in the warranty period, and with a big laundry list of everything that's wrong with the car, so they can handle it all on the same day. That saves them trouble and money, and keeps you happy. Most people don't do it this way, but that would be ideal for them.
And what if they have your car up on the lift and notice a warranty-covered issue that you didn't report? Hah! Usually...
They will not bring it to your attention. They would rather you run out the warranty and return with a billable complaint
after the warranty runs out. That's a good way to make money, you know. However, and here's the kicker: If
you bring up the problem to their attention, they are legally- and honor-bound to resolve the problem to your satisfaction.
We seldom keep a car past its warranty period, but in the past, with vehicles that we drive seldom or we have an attachment to, we approach the end of the warranty period with a specific protocol, meant to save us a lot of time and trouble... and money. We don't put enough miles on any of the cars to bump up against a mileage limit, it's always time for us. :rollingeyes:
Here's what I always do: I bought My Beloved a new 2002 325Ci for an anniversary present, and we kept that car until last year's anniversary (when I replaced it with the SL550). But a month before the end of the coverage, I took the BMW to a BMW-centric Indy, with instructions to go over it with a fine-tooth comb, and provide us with a laundry list of everything needing replacement, repair, or attention that would be covered by the BMW factory warranty. Lo and behold, after gladly paying him a couple of hundred dollars for a few hours of his time, he provided me with a list of ten or twelve items that would be covered (noisy window regulator, some suspension issues, a power steering issue, and a lot of other things). I drove to my BMW dealer with the list on his letterhead, said "here," and left the car with them for two days. After picking it up, we got an invoice marked "no charge" for about $5200 of repairs at retail that we would have incurred, had we waited.
If you're approaching the end of your warranty... I suggest you find an independent mechanic and have him do a bumper-to-bumper inspection of your vehicle, with warranty repairs in mind... and bring that to the dealer. That way, you'll know you have many (hopefully) trouble-free miles ahead when you're pantless...
