General Motors will reduce its powertrain warranty on 2016 model year Chevrolet and GMC vehicles from 100,000 miles to 60,000 miles. The 100k mile warranty, which came into effect for the 2007 model year, was apparently not a strong selling point among customers, so The General is scaling it back to meet “customers’ needs and expectations,” the automaker said.
In a memo sent to dealers, GM said market researched showed “included maintenance and warranty rank low on the list of reasons why consumers consider a particular brand over another.” The 60,000 mile warranty is on-par with those offered by competing brands like Honda and Ford and is still “among the most competitive in the industry.”
In addition to the trimmed powertrain warranties, GM also announced that it make changes to its free maintenance program. The free service program, which began in 2014, entitles buyers of new Chevrolet, Buick or GMC vehicles to four free service visits. That, however, will be scaled down to two starting in 2016.
Meanwhile, Cadillac and Buick vehicles will retain their six-year, 70,000 mile powertrain warranties, which were changed in 2013 from the previous 100,000 mile coverage. The money saved from trimming Chevy’s and GMC’s warranties will be injected “into other retail programs that our customers have told us they value more than these,” GM said.
Comments
Bad move. This was a bigger selling point than those after-sale surveys lead on.
People are already well aware of the minimalistic powertrain warranty limitations. I would have been out $600 for an engine sensor, had my G6 been built a year later. Why? Because GM revised the powertrain warranty to delete engine sensors from being covered. Even though they’re part of the engine!
And seriously. Mopar offers first-party lifetime bumper to bumper warranty upgrades. GMEPP needs to wake up and realize the selling points of the competition.
Chinese auto makers are going to do exactly what Hyundai did – come here with very long warranties and undercut the market. Dependability means showing your product is worth standing by it – cutting back warranties now, may sting a lot later.
It’s one less key differentiator, in a market where other makers offer more RWD, rear-vectoring AWD, and lifetime warranty extensions.
AND YOU NEED TO WAKE UP BECAUSE YOU ARE A BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I will never buy a hyundai or a damn Chinese car.. but this move did make me look at Ford more for a truck purchase
Well it does cost companies quite a bit to cover for replacement parts and repairs for extended warranties. But I find it quite hard to believe that such a good warranty doesn’t contribute as much to the purchase of a GM product, especially in lieu if all the recalls and documented issues customers and automotive journalists have had with their vehicles. Car and Driver had a Malibu 2.5L I-4, a Buick Regal GS 2.0L, and two ‘Vettes suffer blown engines during testing! Without those warranties they wouldn’t have been covered.
It’s good for the company to save money and stay competitive, but I think GM is pulling the trigger a bit too fast on this decision. Perhaps after five to ten years of of strong reliability and customer satisfaction they can do this. This sort of wreaks of the bean counters of GM…….
If you would dig into the warranties and offers automaker do you will find the reason for the higher mile warranties are due to peoples lack of confidence in a product. In other words a Long Warranty like this is much like smearing hamburger on the kid to make the dog play with him.
As you note Ford and Honda have lower warranties as they have confidence of the public in their quality and lack of issues. While yes most any model can have some problem ones GM for the most has some of the most reliable models on the market.
Plus you have to factor in other things that are not published like how often dealers will cut breaks or GM will even step in in many cases where there is a failure that is a direct cause to a MFG issue. I have seen it many times and even been on the receiving end once with my dads car. Other things to consider too are the emissions warranty cover so much of the car already and these parts are the ones most likely to fail. Converters, O2 sensors and many other fuel and emission parts are covered for 5 years or 100,000 miles. Yes even your spark plugs and wires.
This is really not as big of a deal as you may think.
Chrysler has had to do it for their many quality issues in the past and even still today. They do have the second worst repeat buyer record and the warranty is a way to help give people confidence to come back. Same with Hyundai as for years their quality was in the tank and the warranty was a way to give people less fear of taking a chance.
GM did this warranty years ago when their quality was tanked and it helped but today most people realize that the car will hold up well they just want a better interior, styling or value.
If anything this is a sign GM has confidence in their image for quality and after the many positive quality reports from JD power and Consumer Reports it should reinforce it with the customer.
As a Salesman for a GMC Dealership, I feel that this is a HUGE mistake. When people ask why they should buy a GMC over a Ford, the disparity in warranties is one of the first things that I mention. If they are going to make changes, it should be the other way. Let’s put our money where our mouth is and offer ALL GMC vehicles with a full 5 year 100,000 mile Bumper to Bumper warranty.
AND YOU SHOULD PUT YOUR BULLSHIT AND YOUR BULLSHIT MONEY WHERE YOUR BULLSHIT MOUTH IS!!!!!!
Folks you may not like what I said but that is why they do things like this. Not my opinion but just fact why they do it.
I would love to have a 5 year bumper to bumper but it is not going to happen.
Salesmen will be the ones who feel this the most as it is a good selling point but lets be honest few of us ever collect on much warranty at 36,000 as it is.
The mileage matters more than the years. Especially on trucks. I know a lot of commercial truck drivers for farming and engineering that put 20,000 miles a year on their trucks.
A 100,000 mile powertrain meant the years and miles lined up – so they went with Chevy. As of the next model year, they’re free agents.
Here on the prairies of Canada it is very common for a the 100,000kms mark to be passed at year 4, or even 3.6. People out here drive a lot more because of how spread out the province is and as a fleet manager/sales trainer for a GM dealership, that extra 60,000kms means a lot to our customers versus a Ford. Bad move.
The real question one must ask is if you have owned a recent new GM car since 2008 and later how often have you had to repair much?
In GM cars back to the 90’s I had to replace bad chrome on my 04 GTP wheels and a Strut on the hatch of the Terrain. Nothing else has gone out that was covered under warranty. The last car I had any kind of issue with was a 90 GP that the rear calipers froze up on the pins and it has a recall to fix them. Just had normal wear items on the Sonoma and the other cars.
Warranties make for a good selling point but other than that things will remain the same. Most cars if they are going to have a failure things go in the first year.
On my G6 I’m one warranty claim to being in the black on my 106,000 bumper-to-bumper GMPP plan. Paid $2,500 for it in 2011, and I’m at about $2,500 in claims on it.
One year to go, and unless the car is literally problem free for the next 16 months… I will definitely be in the black on that warranty buy.
Cars last longer, so value goes up, but so does the nickel-and-dime problems that can rack up thousands in repair bills every few years.
Needless to say, the very first thing I did with both of my Sky Red Line purchases… was buy a bumper-to-bumper CNA warranty. If you’re buying a Kappa, buy a warranty. The engine will probably hit 200k, but you’ll be paying to keep the rest of the car around it going.
Now see this is where we differ. I will not buy an extended warranty. I keep cars approximately 8-10 years and not once have ever exceeded the cost of an extended warranty as about 90% of the people who buy them.
The Extended warranty is a case where the house almost always wins otherwise they would not offer them.
The extended warranties are great for people who can not keep any savings or afford to fix a car if something does happen.
The smart thing to do if you want to protect yourself is take the amount you would pay for the warranty at purchase and put the money away in a separate account as a payment per each month. It is no different than if you had financed the warranty into the payment anyways as you are paying monthly.
You then keep that money in reserve as you build it up while under the factory warranty. When the time comes the factory warranty is off you will have enough to cover most issues if you should have one. Seldom do many get the big ones. At this point you can either sit on the money or continue to self insure this account to carry over to the next car or you could use it as a down payment on a new car.
This way the money you pay for the warranty will remain with you and not go to GM or a third party. They like to play on your worst outcome fears and make money off of you. Extended warranties may be great for piece of mind but they are one of the worst financial move you will ever make.
You are either unlucky to have used most of what you paid for the warranty or lucky you did use it as I see so many pay for the warranty and never come close to claiming even half. Cars for the most part are really trouble free and generally if they do have an issue the part is still under warranty from the factory or the cost of repair is no where near $2,000.
I have owned close to 30 cars over the years and I have never had to put more than a few hundred into any of them for repair. Now I have spent more for performance items but even then I have not even broken a lot with the modifications.
The fact is if you think in 100,000 miles you expect to pay $2,000 in repairs then why are you buying the car?
I have family members that live way out in the mountains and they can put on up to 400,000 miles on their cars in less than 10 years. Generally they have few issues and even then seldom spend $2,000 for the repairs that would have been covered under any kind of plan. The only car they spent anything on was a Chrysler that lost an engine. the rest generally W body Monte Carlos and Cutlasses have only needed hub bearings, windshields, sunroof seal and one transmission that was far less than a warranty and was well over 300,000 miles worn out.
I generally tell people if you can put money back or you just have to have the piece of mind then buy the warranty. But if they can put the payment money away and not touch it the money is better off in your pocket and not in GM’s or the dealer.
Extended warranties are a sucker bet that generally you lose
Of all the people I have seen buy them only two have claimed their money back and both were Cadillac’s they should have never bought in the first place.
“The Extended warranty is a case where the house almost always wins otherwise they would not offer them.”
Only if you don’t know your cars.
Kappa? Buy the warranty. Zeta? Pass. Epsilon? Not a bad idea. W-Body? Not worth it. Delta? If you got an SS, sure. XLR? Are you insane!? Go get that warranty!!
Sorry but that does not wash. There are lemons in every crowd.
You may have been lucky to collect but I have many warranties and very few ever paid more than they were sold for,
It is just what ever let you sleep at night.
Generally most folks would be better off taking the monthly additional payment and putting it in a separate account. By the time the regular warranty is out you would be well on the way to self insured. In the end when you use none of the money or very little of it you can use it for part of the down payment to a new car.
Most people pay that $2 plus interest and never claim $2K let alone see a dime of it back.
Extended warranties are sucker bets for most.
It is like how I see the difference between Gaming and Gambling. Gaming is where you have odds you can work with say like in Black Jack and you stand a change. This is where you can self insure and the odds are even or better you will come out ahead. On the other hand Gambling is like winning the lottery where the odds are so great you can not control them and generally you lose.
But in the end it is what ever lets you sleep at night brother. Money in my account is a lot more secure to me than money I pay out for something the odds are against I will ever see the full amount back in some form.
Work smart not hard. This is often why some folks make money and others never get ahead.
In my experience having sold vehicles in the past ,the length of a warranty is not in the top 5 reasons for the purchase.
It was usually appearance/styling, fuel economy, comfort, handling (in no particular order ). If warranty ever became the tipping I would figure out a deal on an extended warranty. Also if someone is doing a 4 year lease then a 5yr warranty is a non-starter.
Sorry, but mileage should be 75,000 on Chevy, GMC and Buick to cover someone that drives an average of 15000 miles per year. Cadillac should be 100,000 miles without a doubt.
Buick (and possibly GMC) should retain the 4 oil change/tire rotations as GM is trying to position them upmarket. Only Chevy should be trimmed to two service visits.