This has come up today with a warranty repair for our vehicle. The vehicle's manufacturer warranty for the repair item is 60,000 miles or 5 years. We have an issue noted that was discovered by the dealer within both these limits.

Does anyone with knowledge of vehicle warranties know *specifically* if repair of warranted items noted by the dealer within the warranty period must be completed within the warranty limits, or can work completed within a reasonable time outside of the warranty limits?

It seems my contention that issues noted within the warranty period could/should still be completed under warranty within a "reasonable" time frame after the warranty period ends (if the problem was noted within the warranty period), is wrong (as I am told by the dealer service writer and the manufacturer CSR over the phone) and that if the vehicle exceeds the limits that I am out of luck, and I will be paying myself.

(I can find no language in the vehicle warranty handbook that references whether or not work must be completed within the warranty period).

Thoughts? Links to any verbiage either supporting or refuting my postition?

Nothing is absolute. That said, I would count on losing warranty support as soon as you are on the other side of the mileage or time specified. If it needs to be done, get it done before you go out of warranty.

within, time/mileage limits are there for a reason!!

If the discrepancy was noted and documented inside the warranty limits, it should be covered.

Say you had a serious tranny problem, the dealer did a quick fix and said ‘let’s try this’. After that you got the miles or time where the warranty period is over. If that defect would be covered under the warranty, now documented inside that timeframe, should be covered.

If the dealership balks, don’t argue with them relentlessly. The next calls are to the headquarters, via a consumer action number, or email. I’d also start a complaint at the BBB, standing by for a serious Google review of the dealership.

I had a relatively simple defect years ago, broken wire under warranty. The service manager tried to pass it off as a rodent chewing, meanwhile the technician working on it didn’t agree with that assessment. After talking to Detroit it was taken care of, I was just ramping up.

Givem how backed up dealership shops seem to be, I'd think noted within warranty should equal repaired under warranty, even if your mileage is outside of it.

May be partly under the discretion of the svc Mgr, but you could also escalate if you think you have a case for it

Presently GM warranty information is pretty cut and dried with”during the warranty period”

It also states that anything beyond the warranty period is on a case by case basis.

Back when I was in a service department we were able to write a service order noting the date and mileage and a date to return within thirty days if the vehicle was still under either time or mileage of the New Car Warranty period. That’s been a long time so things may and probably have changed.

I think this depends on the actual warranty document. I read the one for my newest truck and its pretty clear that the defect needs to happen (and be documented) in the warranty period but that does not require that its fixed in that period. And I would normally think in most States consumer protection would provide you that anyway. Warranties are not that hard to read you might take a look at your actual warranty for guidance.

Who decided to not do the work during the warranty and what type of problem was this?

quote:

Originally posted by hrcjon:
I think this depends on the actual warranty document. I read the one for my newest truck and it’s pretty clear that the defect needs to happen (and be documented) in the warranty period but that does not require that it’s fixed in that period. And I would normally think in most States consumer protection would provide you that anyway. Warranties are not that hard to read you might take a look at your actual warranty for guidance.

I’m a pretty good reader; you’ll note in the original post I alluded to the fact that I could find no language referencing my contention either in the affirmative or negative.

quote:

Originally posted by 220-9er:
Who decided to not do the work during the warranty and what type of problem was this?

We ended up scrambling to get the repair done today with a couple hundred miles to spare. It was a little inconvenient as we’re preparing for a road trip with this vehicle.

That the vehicle was STILL within the warranty period DOES change things a bit, don't ya think? Had you 'alluded to that fact' in your original post, we'd all be wondering what all the concern was about. There's NO reason why a warranty repair can't be scheduled 'at YOUR convenience' (after your road trip?) unless your planned road trip was an extended cross country tour of some sort. Otherwise, it seems your dealer AND the manufacturer CSR are idiots, and you'd be well served to find another dealer! Just sayin'

You will need to know the exact language in the warranty contract. Even then, there could be ambiguity.

If you're close, what's to stop a dealership from "test driving" the vehicle until the recorded mileage exceeds warranty coverage, or letting it sit in the lot until time runs out? Shouldn't they honor the warranty at least if the vehicle were dropped off for warranty work before the limits are reached?

At our shop if something is needing fixed before the warranty expires and the driver can't down the truck at that time we can open a work order that has the mileage and hours on it and they can return to get it fixed at a later date.
Depending on the customer things get done if it is just out of warranty, parts covered and they pay the labor or both are taken care of if they buy a lot of trucks.

Warranty uses every trick in the book to deny a claim, best to not mess around getting stuff taken care of.
Warranty jobs do not close right away and can take months to close.
If the warranty is not cut and dry at the start you're probably out of luck trying to get them to see if it'll fly as they will not want to take the chance of eating it when it gets kicked back.
Some do pay for the repair and then wait till the job closes and if warranty covered it then they get refunded.

We just had a meeting about warranty, the shop ate $400,000 last year in warranty kick backs and overages ( too much time on the job)
Bunch of dick heads.

quote:

Originally posted by architect:
If you're close, what's to stop a dealership from "test driving" the vehicle until the recorded mileage exceeds warranty coverage, or letting it sit in the lot until time runs out? Shouldn't they honor the warranty at least if the vehicle were dropped off for warranty work before the limits are reached?

Dealerships have little incentive to do that. They get paid for the work done under warranty by the provider of the warranty. The dealership wants that service work, so they have an incentive to get the warranty coverage. The dealer is not the provider of the warranty. The warranty work will be paid for by the manufacturer or a third party warranty provider.

^^^Uhhh, Point of Order...Dealerships do NOT get reimbursed/paid for Warranty work at the same rate as they can (and do!) charge for regular service worn NOT under Warranty. Therefore, unscrupulous 'Stealerships' are more than happy to 'tow the line' on the first response from the Vehicle Mfr. if it means they'll end up scheduling the Service work as a Non-Warranty Repair! Just sayin'...