Special: Extended warranty and scheduled servicing costs

[Arctra]

Assuming it is the same offer, I saw it advertised in this weekend's SMH. This offer excludes the Golf VI, Tiguan and Passat CC. Only available on cars ordered and delivered before May 31.

Maybe it's currently limited to those vehicles, but she definitely mentioned it in relation to the Tig, coz it's all we looked at with them. Maybe they are extending it?

[Transporter]

If the Tig is well build and I assume it is I wouldn't be worry too much about additional 3 years warranty.

The things to consider with such warranty plans are:
Does it cover servicing under severe driving conditions or will you have to pay for intermediate servicing (every 7,500km)? If yes. How much?

What about if you chip or re-flash ECU?

Will you keep it longer than 3years?

Is the 6 years protection plan taking away any bargaining when purchasing the vehicle? I would rather get $2000.00 off the price than free servicing for 3years, because I'm sure that they will recover their money in the following 3 years.

Nothing is free. Not even the death.

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... Express warranties do not override statutory warranties in any way. They may be given on the basis of “money back, no questions asked” or there may be conditions attached such as regular servicing or time limits on claims.

There is widespread misunderstanding by both buyers and sellers of the real nature of warranties and the difference between statutory and extended warranties.

The statutory warranties entitles the purchaser to seek a refund, compensation, repair or replacement if the goods are faulty, fail to do the job intended or do not match the sample shown or have hidden defects.

After conversations with ACCC about this issue, this is what has been relayed to me:

Statutory warranties are NOT manufacturers warranties. In fact, there is NO specified "time limit" on statutory warranties - from my understanding, the law of reasonableness applies. So the 1, 2, 3 etc year manufacturers warranty is not necessarily "statutory" (which explains a whole lot if anyone has owned a Mercedes Benz or an Aprilia recently).

As far as "Express" or "Mechanical Protection Plan" go, quite simply, that is a personal contract between you and the dealer, and the dealer is entitled to put whatever conditions they like into the contract- as long as it does not contravene the statutory conditions. But that does not necessarily mean that you can take your car and have it serviced by anyone for the first 3 years just because there is a manufacturers 3 year warranty, because that may not necessarily be considered statutory warranty requirements. So failing to abide by the conditions of the contract between yourself and the dealer with the Express or Mechanical Protection Plan, you may be hard pressed to argue if you did not abide by their conditions of having the car serviced exclusively by them.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the laws around statutory warranties are not quite as prescriptive as I assumed.

[Transporter]

After conversations with ACCC about this issue, this is what has been relayed to me:

Statutory warranties are NOT manufacturers warranties. In fact, there is NO specified "time limit" on statutory warranties - from my understanding, the law of reasonableness applies. So the 1, 2, 3 etc year manufacturers warranty is not necessarily "statutory" (which explains a whole lot if anyone has owned a Mercedes Benz or an Aprilia recently).

As far as "Express" or "Mechanical Protection Plan" go, quite simply, that is a personal contract between you and the dealer, and the dealer is entitled to put whatever conditions they like into the contract- as long as it does not contravene the statutory conditions. But that does not necessarily mean that you can take your car and have it serviced by anyone for the first 3 years just because there is a manufacturers 3 year warranty, because that may not necessarily be considered statutory warranty requirements. So failing to abide by the conditions of the contract between yourself and the dealer with the Express or Mechanical Protection Plan, you may be hard pressed to argue if you did not abide by their conditions of having the car serviced exclusively by them.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the laws around statutory warranties are not quite as prescriptive as I assumed.

I don't have a problem with this I service all our cars myself and dealer does only warranty repairs. I would never sign any contract like that.

P.S. You could have had a conversation with someone at ACCC, but fortunetely what is on the paper that counts.

[clip]

I would never sign any contract like that.

well, there's actually no problem in signing one, just be aware of the conditions - and if you are being charged for it, maybe think it through first. Personally, I wouldn't pay for one.