VW decreases new car warranty

[ondma]

Just was looking at a local VW dealer, fantasizing about upgrading to a GTI. They have a great financing deal, zero percent for 6 years.
They have decreased the new car warranty though, from 6 years, 72k to only 4 years, 50k with no extra powertrain warranty. Kind of surprising they would do this in the current situation, where one would think they would be trying as hard as possible to drive sales with extra benefits.

 

[NutBucket]

Standard Toyota/Honda/Subaru warranty has been 3/36k for decades. Maybe VW is trying to up their game. Or they're losing too much money on the longer warranty 😛

I mean, Hyundai and Kia can't be building crap if they can offer a 10 year warranty and still turn a profit in the end.

 

[ondma]

Standard Toyota/Honda/Subaru warranty has been 3/36k for decades. Maybe VW is trying to up their game. Or they're losing too much money on the longer warranty 😛

I mean, Hyundai and Kia can't be building crap if they can offer a 10 year warranty and still turn a profit in the end.

Yea, but the exceptional warranty 6/72,000 was a a great incentive to buy the car, especially for a company that builds very nice cars, but with..... spotty reliability. And Toyota/Honda/ et.al now have a longer powertrain warranty that VW, although a shorter bumper to bumper. VW is advertising that they are giving 2 years of free maintenance instead, but that is basically 2 oil changes and a comprehensive inspection. I would much rather have the extra 2 years of bumper to bumper warranty.
In fact, if I were to seriously shop for a VW now, I would look for a low mileage CPO model with the longer warranty.

 

[Thump553]

Standard Toyota/Honda/Subaru warranty has been 3/36k for decades. Maybe VW is trying to up their game. Or they're losing too much money on the longer warranty 😛

I mean, Hyundai and Kia can't be building crap if they can offer a 10 year warranty and still turn a profit in the end.

The difference between Toyota & Honda reliability and that of VW is night and day. Having owned three VWs I personally can't envision any scenario that would cause me to make that leap of faith again although (as Kia & Hyundai have proven) a long warranty COUPLED with increased quality and rescue a crashing auto manufacturer.

 

[EXCellR8]

I will admit that the Koreans have certainly improved their presence in the auto world, quite a bit, but VW (incl. Audi, Porsche, other subs...) have been in hot water with reliability and emissions for decades.

Having said that, there's a LOT that goes on behind the scenes at these companies; a shortened warranty period doesn't necessarily mean a degradation of product performance. All automakers, save for some of the elite "you'll never come close to owning one" manufacturers are forced to use cheaper and cheaper parts, so it kind of makes sense to lower to 50k miles in a way--especially if most of your fleet is just going to be leased and sold at a Car Max in 5 years.

 

[ondma]

Yea, I suppose if you are planning your sales mainly to be the typical 3 year lease it makes sense. Even then though, having another 3 years of warranty would have been a great selling point at the end of the lease.

Especially now though, with extremely long zero interest financing plans, the car will be out of warranty 3 or 4 years before it is paid for.

 

[deadlyapp]

Much larger trend of consumers being willing to buy extended warranties. Probably figure they can cash in, especially with people who want the desire of the VW but also know that they are trouble mechanically (perception).

 

[pauldun170]

Just was looking at a local VW dealer, fantasizing about upgrading to a GTI. They have a great financing deal, zero percent for 6 years.
They have decreased the new car warranty though, from 6 years, 72k to only 4 years, 50k with no extra powertrain warranty. Kind of surprising they would do this in the current situation, where one would think they would be trying as hard as possible to drive sales with extra benefits.

Occasionally I think about a GTI.
Then I recall that US based GTI's do not get the dual injection engine other regions get and are stuck with the old "good luck with that" DI engine.
That and too many years knowing mechanics who know Volkswagons.
"Thats a car you lease....not buy."

Looks like even Volkswagen doesn't want to be on the hook for their own product at the 5 year mark.

 

[manly]

Much larger trend of consumers being willing to buy extended warranties. Probably figure they can cash in, especially with people who want the desire of the VW but also know that they are trouble mechanically (perception).

Is that really a trend? Automaking is a competitive industry, with more global players than ever, and reliability is probably at an all time high. It's sad if consumers are being fooled into extended warranties at a greater frequency.

Perhaps unrelated to the OP, but the German lux marques have been watering down their CPO warranty and new vehicle maintenance programs for a few years. I think the real trend is belt-tightening. Ironically even as the auto industry has seemingly done well emerging from the depths of the Great Recession, I think the bean counters were already preeminent before COVID-19 struck this year. Most auto companies realized the economic cycle had reversed, and that a lot of money needed to be plowed into BEV development.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Standard Toyota/Honda/Subaru warranty has been 3/36k for decades. Maybe VW is trying to up their game. Or they're losing too much money on the longer warranty 😛

I mean, Hyundai and Kia can't be building crap if they can offer a 10 year warranty and still turn a profit in the end.

You think warranty is tied in any way to reliability? BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Long warranties are set in place only to help sell cars.

 

[NutBucket]

Sure they are. If you build a crap car, sell it cheap and bundle it with a long warranty how can you stay in business? Basic economics?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Sure they are. If you build a crap car, sell it cheap and bundle it with a long warranty how can you stay in business? Basic economics?

No, they aren’t. Why do you think companies with poor reliability ratings offer longer warranties in the first place? It is to sell more cars. The company I work for sells products to many companies worldwide and you know which products we have the longest warranties on? It is on the products we sell to Intel. And it has nothing whatsoever to do with reliability of the product. It is entirely a marketing decision.

Sales and marketing made the decision that by selling more cars they will have better economies of scale and let R&D work out the warranty problems while the money is rolling in. It is purely a business decision and has absolutely nothing to do with how reliable the car you buy will be.

 

[ondma]

Even if it is a marketing tactic, the longer Kia/Hyundai warranties are a benefit to the consumer, especially considering the complexity and cost of auto repairs these days with all the electronic/computer systems in use. That is why the VW warranty was so exceptional; it was six years, bumper to bumper, not just powertrain.

 

[NutBucket]

Like my dad always said, if you're worried about the warranty then maybe you should be buying a different car. It's a cost/benefit....is the car cool enough or whatever you're willing to sacrifice reliability/more money.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Even if it is a marketing tactic, the longer Kia/Hyundai warranties are a benefit to the consumer, especially considering the complexity and cost of auto repairs these days with all the electronic/computer systems in use. That is why the VW warranty was so exceptional; it was six years, bumper to bumper, not just powertrain.

Length of warranty makes no difference whatsoever to me. Time is money and if I'm spending time dropping my car off for warranty repairs every couple months that is costing me money. The only thing that matters to me is how reliable a car is and how good the service is at the dealership (how they treat their customers, do they provide loaners etc.).

 

[ondma]

Length of warranty makes no difference whatsoever to me. Time is money and if I'm spending time dropping my car off for warranty repairs every couple months that is costing me money. The only thing that matters to me is how reliable a car is and how good the service is at the dealership (how they treat their customers, do they provide loaners etc.).

True to an extent, but is it not also possible that a car that has been generally reliable could require an expensive repair at some point?

 

[ondma]

Length of warranty makes no difference whatsoever to me. Time is money and if I'm spending time dropping my car off for warranty repairs every couple months that is costing me money. The only thing that matters to me is how reliable a car is and how good the service is at the dealership (how they treat their customers, do they provide loaners etc.).

If you had to pay for the repair, would it not be costing you *more* "money".

 

[JulesMaximus]

If you had to pay for the repair, would it not be costing you *more* "money".

Depends on how long you keep the car I guess. I bought a new Toyota a few years ago and kept it for a few years and put a little over 50k miles on it and never had to take it in for a warranty claim once. I have no doubt that car had many more years of trouble free driving left in it. Would I have the same experience with a VW with a longer warranty? Personally, I wouldn’t take that chance... not for a VW. Not in a million years. I’ve owned a VW once and it was utter crap. Never again.

 

[deadlyapp]

Depends on how long you keep the car I guess. I bought a new Toyota a few years ago and kept it for a few years and put a little over 50k miles on it and never had to take it in for a warranty claim once. I have no doubt that car had many more years of trouble free driving left in it. Would I have the same experience with a VW with a longer warranty? Personally, I wouldn’t take that chance... not for a VW. Not in a million years. I’ve owned a VW once and it was utter crap. Never again.

I think it ends up coming down to the psychology of it. Gut feel for most people is that if a company offers a longer warranty, then they're standing behind their product and saying that it won't have defects during that time period. They think this because how could a company make any money if they had to continuously repair things within warranty at their own cost?

Whether or not that's true is hard to say - and it's not constant across all industries either.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I think it ends up coming down to the psychology of it. Gut feel for most people is that if a company offers a longer warranty, then they're standing behind their product and saying that it won't have defects during that time period. They think this because how could a company make any money if they had to continuously repair things within warranty at their own cost?

Whether or not that's true is hard to say - and it's not constant across all industries either.

By that logic Toyota should have the longest warranties in the business but they don't.

A company will factor the warranty cost into the cost of the product and if they don't meet their targets as far as actual warranty cost then they beat up the departments that are responsible for those failures. Like I said, it has nothing to do with reliability. It is a marketing tactic.

 

[deadlyapp]

By that logic Toyota should have the longest warranties in the business but they don't.

A company will factor the warranty cost into the cost of the product and if they don't meet their targets as far as actual warranty cost then they beat up the departments that are responsible for those failures. Like I said, it has nothing to do with reliability. It is a marketing tactic.

That's what I meant. It's psychology and marketing. The general layperson doesn't understand how warranty works or how cost is incurred by the company, warranty reserves, etc. Also most people don't blink twice if they have something in for warranty repair and the tech also finds other preventative things that they can charge for.

"Oh! You're going to do $5000 of warranty repair for free?! And you say that I need $300 of other work done that I need to pay for? Well then go ahead!"

 

[pauldun170]

You think warranty is tied in any way to reliability? BWAHAHAHAHA!!!

Long warranties are set in place only to help sell cars.

"Anybody can talk about quality, but the only quality that counts is the quality you're willing to stand behind,"

Boom
7 years
70,000 miles
Even kind rhymes with reliable

Want quality?
Grab yourself a mid 80's Chrysler.
Proof is in the warranty

 

[JulesMaximus]

"Anybody can talk about quality, but the only quality that counts is the quality you're willing to stand behind,"

Boom
7 years
70,000 miles
Even kind rhymes with reliable

Want quality?
Grab yourself a mid 80's Chrysler.
Proof is in the warranty

Ah, the k car. LOL! I remember those cars and that advertising campaign. Chrysler was suffering from a perceived reliability PR problem and financial ruin and this was their answer... and it worked.

I worked in the car rental industry and we had fleets of those cars. Chrysler sold a shit ton of them, they were not great cars. Box on wheels. Notice how many you see on the roads still to this day? 😉 I see one every once in a great while and I always try to take a picture of it to send to a good friend of mine who also started out in the car rental business. It has been years since my last sighting. They are pretty rare.

 

[mindless1]

Okay... warranty... marketing tactic... but you still have to wonder why they decided to LOWER the warranty unless they anticipated excessive expense to honor it. That's different than setting a lower warranty in the first place.

It's not like VW are selling so well in the US that they'd feel like they can ease up on competitive features. There is no type of vehicle I'd purchase where VW is on the list of potentials, unless it was taking an old rusted-out beetle and converting it into a dunebuggy. Even then it'd have to be a great price and I'd probably just flip it to some nut who wanted to restore it.

 

[ondma]

Okay... warranty... marketing tactic... but you still have to wonder why they decided to LOWER the warranty unless they anticipated excessive expense to honor it. That's different than setting a lower warranty in the first place.

It's not like VW are selling so well in the US that they'd feel like they can ease up on competitive features. There is no type of vehicle I'd purchase where VW is on the list of potentials, unless it was taking an old rusted-out beetle and converting it into a dunebuggy.

I like some of their cars actually. Dont care for the SUVs (they are OK but Mazda, Honda, Toyota, Suburu) all have equivalent or better choices. The GLI/GTI is still a very well rounded performance model. I also liked the Alltrack a lot, but they discontinued it. It was a very good competitor to the Suburu Outback.