How to Manage Your New Car Warranty

Every new car, pickup, and truck comes with a Manufacturers Warranty. How does it work and how can you get the most out of it?

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. You bought a new car and something is not working right. Who is responsible for fixing it? Who makes that decision? Sometimes the question is not always clear. But the person in the dealership who provides the answer nearly 99% percent of the time is a clerk hidden in the bowels of the dealership, the Warranty Clerk. That is me. I have been a Warranty Clerk in two dealerships and handled three major car manufacturers. My job is to impartially decide who screwed up and who will pay. Some times the owner of the car is upset, sometimes the owner of the dealership is upset, and quite often the manufacturer's rep is upset, but I call them as I see them. This article will help you do your part in taking care of your vehicle so that when something major goes wrong, you can get the help you need, the help that you deserve, and the help that you paid for when you bought the car.

2. The whole process begins with paperwork. There is no short cut. The next step is doing all of the required maintenance as needed. A $10,000 engine will be all yours if you cannot prove that you did your oil changes faithfully for the past 36 months and 36,000 miles. And with the longer warranties from GM and Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep, you have to keep the paperwork even longer.

3. Taking Care of the Paperwork.
   So you got a new car. Check in the glove box for the Owner's Manual and find the section on maintenance. If you fail to do your scheduled maintenance, then when the engine or transmission fails, that puppy is all yours. You have to keep up on the maintenance. But who actually does it? That is up to you. Just remember, cover your tail with paperwork. If there is no room in your owner's manual, spend a buck and get a small notebook to keep in your glove box.
   
   1. You can do it yourself, but hang on to the receipts for the oil and filters bought from the auto parts store or local Walmart. And write it down in your book. That could be your only proof that you have been changing the oil.
   2. Any automotive shop from Joe's Auto down at the corner to Jiffy Lube can legally do the work. Find out if they have a system for tracking the work done on your car, other than remembering your face. If that is their only documentation, keep your receipts and write each visit down in your notebook.
   3. Any dealership for any car manufacturer, including the one you bought the car at, can also do the work. There is absolutely no legal requirement to have the selling dealership do any of the maintenance on your vehicle. But dealerships are required by the manufactures to keep extensive records so you can look at the paperwork on your vehicle from the day it was manufactured up to your last visit.
   We have files over an inch thick in the dealership on vehicles bought back in the 1990s and have been back every since for all of their maintenance work.

4. Choosing a Place to Take Your Car.
   You are free to choose who you want to take care of your vehicle maintenance, but exercise your freedom wisely.
   1. If you are mechanically inclined and detail oriented, you can do the work yourself, saving lots of money in the process. But as I mentioned early, keep the paperwork.
   2. If you are like most of us, you take your car to someone else because it is easier to pay them than invest in the tools, time, and waste disposal problem. But who?
   a. Someone handy whenever you happen to think about it. This approach does not bode well for your car or for your pocket. No one shop did the work, and no one will want to take responsibility. You are much better off taking it to the same shop all of the time.
   b. The shop where the owner is putting his son through Harvard Law School. When you drive into this shop the owner is having to pay some serious bills and he is getting that money from you today. He will sell you every maintenance procedure he can, and you end up paying to have the air in your tires rotated. He does not plan on seeing you again and he will not let you out the door with any money left in your checking account. You come away with the sick feeling that you have been overcharged, and you are right.
   c. Mr. See No Evil is the opposite side of the coin. He will do exactly what you asked and will not mention anything else, including the grease coming out of the wheel bearing. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
   d. Your Car, Your Money, Your Choice. When your vehicle is being serviced the mechanic needs to be looking it over and writing up possible services and problems. The Service Writer will then advise on what was spotted and then let you chose what needs to be done. You will get just what you want to pay for.
   e. The Dealership. As I mentioned earlier there is no legal requirement for the selling dealership to do the work, or even another dealer that sells that line, but it is a viable option. The mechanics at the dealership are trained for that particular line of vehicles. They know what special lube might be required in the rear differential and they know if the timing chain must be replaced before 60,000 miles or the engine could self destruct.

5. Why Should You Have the Dealership Maintain Your Vehicle?
   Sure the dealership is the expert on your vehicle, but they are so expensive. Actually vehicle maintenance is very competitive so the out-the-door price is very competitive. I went to a big box store to shop for tires and they had a good deal for me. But after I added in their extra charges to mount, balance, and put air in the tires, they were more expensive than the tire store down the street. A low price will get you in the door, but when you are asked if you want your washer fluid topped off, you could see that charged on your bill as your $19.95 oil change works it way up to $50.00. My wife stopped going to the local oil change chain when she realized that the price going in was not the price going out.
   I work in a small town dealership so loyalty goes both ways. We have had owners come in with problems after their vehicles are out of warranty, but when we can prove to GM that they loyally and regularly brought their vehicle to us for maintenance, we can convince GM to provide Good Will warranty.
   One owner had us do his services for the four years he owned his pickup. GM just paid over $600.00 to have his front axle rebuilt at 70,000 miles. Another owner has ignored recall notices and has not brought his vehicle into a GM dealership for years, so his recall was never done. Now he wants GM to pay for the damage to his engine that the recall would have prevented. The Factory Rep is mulling that over.

6. Maintenance: What and When?
   1. Every make and model has slightly different maintenance requirements so the standards you have to meet are laid out in your Owner's Manual. After you decide who will do the services, get out the manual and set up a schedule with them. Some folks can afford to pay for the big expenses when they happen at 30, 60, and 90 thousand miles. Others like to spread out the pain so the expenses do not hit so heavily.
   2. Oil change mileage will vary. For years every shop pushed 3 months or 3,000 miles between oil changes. With upgraded oil standards and newer vehicles the mileage has been changed to 5,000 miles. Tests conducted by GM proved that modern oils do not start to degrade until around 7,500 miles, and that was in the worst driving conditions. And that is standard oil, not the synthetic brands. The comment, "With our local driving conditions you need to change your oil more often" is just a line. After 100,000 miles changing oil sooner would be advisable.
   3. Transmission services come in two variations, flush or filter change, and it is best to switch back and forth. A flush replaces all of the fluid but not the filter. A filter change only changes some of the fluid. Some vehicles, like the Ford Contour, require 13 hours of labor to replace the filter, so that type is just flushed. An Allison transmission on a GM pickup has a screw on filter that can be changed in minutes. Heat is the worst enemy of an automatic transmission, and since heat is a factor of temperature, grade, and load, never buy a car with a trailer hitch.

7. Additives
   If snake oil really worked they would not call it snake oil.
   
   Gasoline Octane
   The number on the fuel pump is an indication of resistance against pre-mature detonation, also called 'pinging.' If your engine sounds like it is being pelted with gravel when accelerating or going up a hill, you need a higher octane gasoline. Modern day engines are designed to use 87 octane. Any higher is a waste of money, any lower can ruin your engine. Check your Owner's Manual. If you are driving a high end sports car, like a Corvette, or a car with a super charger, like some Cobalts, you will need a higher octane. Pinging is also affected by air pressure, which varies with altitude. If you live in Denver you could get away with 85 octane. A higher octane has nothing to do with cleaning your engine or getting better mpg.
   
   Brand Name Gasolines
   Gasoline comes via a pipeline. After it is pumped into the fuel delivery trucks, the drivers dump in the additives that make each brand unique. My Ford F250 would get 16mpg if I used high test Shell and 10mpg if I used anything else. My Ford Taurus could care less, as long as it was 87 octane. Keep a book and track your mileage. And some gas stations sell gasoline that will vapor lock your fuel line because of too much alcohol.
   
   Anti-Ice Additive
   The Anti-Ice additive is alcohol which keeps any water in your fuel tank from freezing until it is consumed by the engine. Nearly all fuel already has ethynol (alcohol) added, there is no need to put in more.

8. After Market Warranties or Extended Service Contracts.
   When you buy your vehicle you might be asked if you want extra warranty coverage for an additional fee. If your vehicle is loaded with expensive options, this extended coverage might pay off for you. I can change the radio in my plain vanilla Ford F250 Super Duty for a couple of hundred dollars because Ford designed it to be simple. The radio in my wife's Kia Amanti costs over $500.00 to replace.
   The manufacture's warranty is bumper to bumper for the 1st 3 years or 36,000 miles, which ever comes sooner. That includes peeling paint or window noise from a door. These sort of things are not covered by an extended service contract.
   If you decide to buy extra coverage, buy it from the dealership. You know where you bought it, and you know where to go to use it. If you are travelling when the vehicle goes down, the repair shop in Nowhere, Idaho can call and get approval to do the repair.
   I get letters all of the time telling me that my warranty is about to end on my vehicle and I need to send them some money so they will extend my coverage. The letters are written to cause you to think they are coming from the manufacturer, they are not. This is a scam. My 12 year old Taurus is approaching 250,000 miles. That is 9 years and 220,000 miles out of warranty. No one could realistically be expected to provide coverage for that car. I would be more likely to find a life insurance company willing to provide coverage for an obese 99 year old man with terminal cancer. Sure they will take your money, but do not hold your breath until they pay up.

Tips & Warnings

• The opinions expressed here are based on over 9 years of handling Manufacture' s New Car Warranties.

[dannydomuch]

on 2/16/2009 sorry, involves your car.

[dannydomuch]

on 2/16/2009 "1. You can do it yourself, but hang on to the receipts for the oil and filters bought from the auto parts store or local Walmart. And write it down in your book. That could be your only proof that you have been changing the oil. "It really depends on what your contract or document says. It MAY be OK to do, unless further specified. Some warranties specify that you must have routine maintenance done by a certified mechanic. If you aren't certified, it's probably best to get it done by someone else who is, otherwise you could be liable for the damages (even if you think you aren't), thereby nullifying your warranty. Always important, read EVERY single detail of the warranty before you sign it. If you don't understand it, ask the officer/clerk about it. Don't be afraid to ask questions, even if you think they might sound stupid. You can never be too cautious in a decision that involve