GM Offers Total Warranty Option

[John]

Not a single exclusion in this newly offered, GM at least 60,000+, five year warranty. No forms to file. Doesn’t even matter whether you sell the car to another person. It can be bought at your new vehicle purchase — included in your original loan. Here’s the details.

GM Breaks New Ground with the Industry’s First True, Optional Extended Bumper-to-Bumper Limited Warranty 2018-10-15

GRAND BLANC, MICH. — Effective immediately, people buying new General Motors vehicles will have the opportunity to purchase a true, extended bumper-to-bumper limited warranty resulting in five years or 60,000 miles of coverage (whichever comes first) for Chevrolet and GMC customers, and six years or 70,000 miles for Buick and Cadillac customers. No other brand offers customers a true extended warranty.

“One of the best things about buying a new vehicle is the peace of mind that comes with the warranty,” said Ken Mac, director of Chevrolet, Buick, GMC, Cadillac Protection. “If you drive a Chevrolet, you know that any GM-brand dealer will take care of warranty repairs without paperwork, deductibles or exclusions. The same goes for Cadillac, GMC and Buick owners. Now, we’re offering people the opportunity to increase the duration of their bumper-to-bumper warranty far out into the future.”

The standard factory bumper-to-bumper limited warranty on Chevrolet and GMC products is three years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first. On Buicks and Cadillacs, it is four years or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first.

GM’s new warranty program differs in several important ways from service contracts, which are a popular way to protect against unexpected repairs.

The most important differences include:

• The optional limited warranty is accepted without question by all Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac dealers nationwide.
• Any warranty service is completed without need to file a claim form and with no deductible.
• The warranty is in force no matter who owns the vehicle, so there’s no need to transfer coverage. This may enhance the resale value of the vehicle.
• The option is included in the overall price of the vehicle and can therefore be folded into the loan or lease at the customer's request.

“People who lease typically keep the vehicle for 24-36 months, so most of them are always covered by the base bumper-to-bumper limited warranty,” Mac said. “But if you buy, analysts say you’ll likely keep your new vehicle for over six years. This true extended warranty can keep the average customers covered for most if not all of the time they own their vehicle.”

On average, new car buyers keep vehicles for about 6.8 years, according IHS Markit.

https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/.../1015-cca.html

[meyerweb]

I wonder what the cost will be. Good option to have available, though.

One minor issue with the story, though. In my experience, dealers are perfectly happy to roll the cost of a service contract into your loan.

[Boomer]

Sounds like a two year warranty extension. Would have to be pretty cheap for me to buy it.

Living happily for the last 20 months without warranty coverage on my 2014 C7. Wonder how much money I've saved so far not having an extended warranty. Maybe more than I would need if I have an issue with the car.

[meyerweb]

On average, buyers will lose money on extended warranty / service contracts. Basic economics. The companies that sell them do so at a profit, and the dealer that sells them makes a profit. As does the insurance company that underwrites the policies. Sometimes there's a local insurance agent with his fingers in the pie, too. So, three or more profit centers between the money buyers pay and the benefits they receive.

OTOH, that's true of all insurance, but most of us pay for insurance on our cars even if there's no lender requiring it. And on our houses. And maybe our lives and healthcare.

If you have the misfortune to need an expensive repair that doesn't fall under the many exclusions, you'll feel like the service contract was a great deal. For most people, not so much. I've bought service contracts on a couple of cars over the years. On a Ford, I never got close to my money's worth. On a Hyundai, I probably came out a bit ahead. (Or, as I told my son, HE came out way ahead, since I paid for the car and handed it down to him at no cost.) I don't buy them any more.

[John]

Of course, like all insurance, it is a benefit versus risk analysis for each of us, with its initial cost known, but obviously the benefit of owning it vs. predicting future failure of out warranty costs completely unknown. If our LT5 were to go totally south after the powertrain warranty expired, would I be financially comfortable with needing to spend $30K to replace it? I paid $1,275 for extending the powertrain warranty on this car, money worth it to me, but might not be worth it for someone else.

I lost money by purchasing such a policy for my C5, saved money by purchasing one on our C6, and so far, have lost money by buying one for our C7.

[Boomer]

In 2014 Consumer Reports said this:

"Looking for an easy way to save hundreds on your next new car and simplify the buying process at the same time? Skip the extended warranty. The dealer will probably try hard to sell you one, telling horror stories about the thousands of dollars it can cost to replace an engine or transmission. But the odds are you’ll never need the coverage, and even if you do, the money you’ll save in repairs won’t come close to what you paid for the added warranty."

The new GM program has some differences but again, it would have to be pretty cheap for me to get it.

[John]

Following Consumer Reports thesis, as the odds of your house crashing down in an earthquake are pretty low, but what if your house were destroyed in a earthquake? Peace of mind is worth an awful lot, and again we each get to choose.

I look at my fire insurance, my earthquake insurances as something I hope, in the end were a 100% total loss of money spend on purchase/premiums.

[Boomer]

Yea, its risk analysis like you said in Post #5. I don't have earthquake insurance here in MD, but I bet its available and probably cheap.

The Atlantic Ocean is just down the street. I cancelled my flood insurance a coupla years ago when they "adjusted" their rates. May sound stupid now since Michael and others, but odds are in my favor and my savings are going in the bank. My wife refused to allow me to cancel our homeowners insurance just because of "tradition", but I got the lowest coverage/premium my insurance company offered.

If the land is still good, I rebuild in the event....

[Plasboy]

Sounds like a two year warranty extension. Would have to be pretty cheap for me to buy it.

Living happily for the last 20 months without warranty coverage on my 2014 C7. Wonder how much money I've saved so far not having an extended warranty. Maybe more than I would need if I have an issue with the car.

Not if you have much of a problem.

[JB]

Does this new warranty coverage replace gmepp extended warranty.

i tend to keep the cars longer than 60k miles so gmepp is a better deal for me.

ive always bought the gmpp warranties in the 30th month for an additional 48 months and an extra 48k miles.

i get the $100 deductible and its always been a good deal.

i think i paid Under $1600 for the four extra years or less than $400 a year....

thanks for the information and i hope this new warranty is in addition to gmepp

[John]

That is a good point JB, for one of the really good advantages of the GMPP plan is that their was the ability to have different dealers submit a quote to you. As we learned, several of us through at least two competitive bidding cycles, Denny Fichtner (now at Denny Menholt Chevrolet), was consistently way under the rest of the dealership — and why I and many others bought from him.

If however, as JB has raised a critically cogent question, if this totally replaces GMPP, and one could only get this next program from your selling dealer, this could become an unfriendly turn of events.

We have a lot more to learn! It might be close to as good as sliced bread; it could be moldy bread. I will contact GM’s listed reps on the press release and try and learn more — reporting back here.

[meyerweb]

Following Consumer Reports thesis, as the odds of your house crashing down in an earthquake are pretty low, but what if your house were destroyed in a earthquake? Peace of mind is worth an awful lot, and again we each get to choose.

I look at my fire insurance, my earthquake insurances as something I hope, in the end were a 100% total loss of money spend on purchase/premiums.

But there is a quantitative difference between paying, out of pocket, $30K for a new engine (or $40K to just buy a used Corvette), and $250K to $500K or more to replace your house.

[John]

Reembering that many, many buyers can only afford to purchase a low optioned, Stingray, because replacing its blown motor out of warranty would be $18K, that is an amount that could result in many parking their car because they could not afford to replace their LT1.

As always, a highly personal decision of potential benefit vs. an unknown amount if risk.

[John]

I just got off the phone with GM, and good news, that the new bumper-to-bumper warranty program described in the first post of this thread will be in addition to the existing Chevrolet Extended Protection Plan warranty program currently available. That will allow us to choose, should be want one, to negotiate with our dealership for a good price on both of them, or to chose to compare such pricing with the current best pricing on the CEPP program being historically offered by Dennis Fichtner of Denny Menholt Chevrolet.

[tooold2race]

Please do not forget that the 'price' for ANY extended warranty is NEGOTIABLE with the dealer..... just as is the price of the car. For example you can buy the genuine GM extended warranties form ANY dealer, not just the one selling you the car. SHOP THE INTERNET for the best price. Again, I am referring to the GM version, not the many 3rd party warranty products out there.