General Motors dealers aren’t up in arms over the automaker’s recent decision to cut back its 100,000 mile powertrain warranty to 60,000 miles, a recent report from Automotive News found.
Last week GM announced it will no longer offer a 5 year/100,00 mile powertrain warranty on Chevrolet and GMC models and will be adjusting its free service program to include only two complimentary service visits instead of four. The changes, which will come into effect for the 2016 model year, are sitting just fine with dealers.
“Do I think it’s going to affect our business? No,” Steve Rayman, owner of Steve Rayman Chevrolet in Georgia told AN in an interview.
Some are speculating GM simply scaled back its warranty in order to support service contract sales, as the company took over the sales and marketing aspect of its brand’s finance and insurance products just last fall. A GM spokesperson said the decision to adjust their warranty was “made irrespective of the F&I business,” but dealers think it will help sell extended warranties anyways.
“People are still going to want an extended warranty,” Mike Zorn, a service director at Classic Chevrolet in Texas, told AN.
One dealer argued GM shouldn’t have cut back the amount of free oil changes from four to two, as it helps get the customer in the habit of coming in for oil changes regularly. However they still couldn’t fault them for trimming the warranties, as Ford and other mass market automakers don’t offer it either.
Comment
When I saw this change last week I thought,” increase the bottom line.” That’ s what it is all about.
Of course the dealers won’t complain…they don’t pay the repair charges! Your Road Side Assistance
got slashed, also.