Auto Warranty News

West Newbury Massachusetts officials have proclaimed that the town needs a new fire truck. The curent truck has numerous problems, most notably, the ladder on the Fire Department’s 28 year old Seagrave truck doesn’t always deploy, and when it does deply its weight limit isn’t even able to hold an average sized fireman wearing his gear.  Also, officials say the truck has considerable corrosion which affects several safety devices that are disabled.  It is said that the list goes on and on noting that repair costs are to be considerable. It would not make sense to put a ton of money into a 28 year-old truck.

The truck was taken out of service several months ago the town is now relying on aid from several area towns but the situation is dire. 

Residents are being asked to approve the funds for a new truck at a Town Meeting in February.  In the meanwhile, they hope to line up a new truck.  This way if voters approve the funding it can be delivered right away.

The truck they are interested in is a 95-foot tower truck with a price tag of $785,000.  Once purchased the vehicle would also carry a limited warranty. To have continuous warranty coverage the town now needs to look into an auto warranty program that would cover an emergency use vehicle.  These commercial type plans are available through several aftermarket auto warranty programs.

Does your auto warranty restrict where you can go for your repairs?

Auto warranties come in many different shapes and sizes.  Some limit the locations where you can bring the vehicle for repairs under their coverage.  It’s safe to say that some consumers do not have a specific repair shop over a long period of time that they use but the most consistent customers probably go to a particular maintenance shop.  These contract holders are forced to find a new location that may not be comfortable or convenient for them.  An aftermarket auto warranty program that binds its contract holders to particular locations for auto repair can be quite a hassle on scheduling, travel distance, and the repair shop may not be as reputable as the local competition.

If you’re in the market for an automobile warranty that does not limit you on repair locations, be sure to read their fine print.  The bottom line is that you want to choose an auto warranty that allows you to pick you own repair shop.

Lawmakers recently voted to strengthen the regulation of auto repair facilities after an investigation by a television news team from Nevada.

Apparently the current laws in place are more or less a license to rip people off. The new laws help streamline the regulatory process and have the Department of Motor Vehicles named as the place for disheartened consumers to lodge their complaints. This is a great step as the DMV has authority to shut down a crooked repair shop.

Auto warranty providers had also lobbied for the new legislation as it will provide them with an additional safety mechanism for the used car warranties they offer. 

It has already helped as some repair facilities have already felt the sting of the new system and have lost their license to do business.

The bill also helps to provide additional funds for the attorney general’s office to do more in the future with their undercover investigations.

Here is the situation presented to us…

Q: One of our contract holders allowed a friend to take over his car payments for 6 months while he was out of the US. A notarized contract was signed by both people. A month later, after the car was put in the shop for repairs incurring a $750 repair bill the person who took over the payments lost his job.  He claimed he was broke and moved out of the state, abandoning the car at the repair facility. The shop refused to release the car to the original owner saying that as the car’s owner he was responsible for the bill even though all repair paperwork was signed by the person who had assumed responsibility for the car.Is the repair shop in the right?

Is it worth the effort of taking legal action against the shop to release vehicle since taking the other party to court is not an option?   

A: Legally it really depends upon the laws regarding an auto repair in your state. In most states the person who authorized the work is the one that is liable to the repair facility for the repairs. Since this person had possession of the car with your consent (and by your “contract” arrangement), they were the one acting as your agent and had authority to contract with the shop for repairs. 

The shop is entitled to get paid for the work they did. They’re under no obligation to release the car to you without any charge. If they wanted, the shop could even get technical about the situation and require that they will only release the vehicle to the party who brought it to them in the first place and for whom the work was performed in good faith.

Obviously, in the future you would be many dollars ahead of the game by simply purchasing a comprehensive auto warranty.  This would keep you form worrying about any used car warranty law issues in the future.  There are many excellent aftermarket auto warranty programs to choose from.  In my opinion the best of the best is Auto Advantage Incorporated at www.autowarranties.com. 

Good luck with your current situation.

Why are some older auto dealers so happy? Some dealers in the US that are in business for 10, 20, 30 or more years have been facing many new challenges in this ever changing industry.  The older dealers however, have much lower operating expenses and quite a few even own their own land which keeps them generating modest profits even in this difficult market. 

Sales at some dealerships have not met expectations since moving into newer, larger facilities but they are still in the black.  Auto warranty service work is still a staple for dealerships even though vehicle quality keeps improving. Some vehicle’s like Land Rovers are some of the more costly for owners and profitable for dealers when it comes to auto warranty repair bills.

A dealership owner I recently spoke with at length said he thought that the aftermarket auto warranty programs offered on the internet were definitely becoming stiff competition to the programs he has so profitably offered in the past.  Regardless of lost warranty profits, the automotive aftermarket sales by his finance office were still very strong keeping his sales department very profitable.

All over America cars are a necessity for our everyday travel needs.

Because we rely on our vehicles as our main source of transportation we sometimes need to bring the car or truck into the shop for repairs.  When we do we sometimes find out we have another problem we weren’t even there for.  It is at that moment that we realize the need for a good auto warranty.   How much will this repair bill be?  A stressful question that can easily be stifled by knowing that you have a good aftermarket auto warranty to fall back on.  More good advice is to use only a reputable automobile repair shop and to always get all of your repair estimates in writing before any work is done..

Recently Saab debuted the worlds first completely hybrid car.  The vehicle Saab unveiled is the first fossil-fuel-free hybrid and it’s a convertible to boot. The car is called the BioPower Hybrid 9-3 convertible concept car. It is a giant leap in hybrid cars. This concept is based on using pure bioethonal instead of just a part bioethonal formula.

In addition, this biopower convertible has a “zero mode,” which is a button that enables the car to run from two very powerful batteries eliminating all emissions.  Even though while in “zero mode” the car’s maximum speed is limited, it has the ability to switch back automatically to the biofuel mode. 

Saab’s BioPower Hybrid also includes anew and natural step in the development of BioPower technology.  One challenge is how to fit this technology into the auto warranty market.  New car warranties are not currently structured for this.

Their turbochargers have been tuned to take advantage of the high octane rating of pure bioethanol so the engine can produce a solid 260 bhp and 375 Nm torque. Acceleration has been increased by two electric motors of the hybrid system. At low speed and take-off they can add a huge instant 785 Nm of torque helping to catapult you from zero to 100 in 6.9 seconds, faster than most diesel or gas-driven cars, but with zero fossil fuel emission.

Very exciting, I can hardly wait until they are actually developed to work in the “real world.” If Saab can deliver it sounds like a success story to me.

A somewhat new IBM technology helps auto manufacturers cut warranty expenses which are an over $14 billion cost to them annually. IBM’s plan goes beyond “keyword” searches and collects and analyzes data from many different information sources like repair records and blogs. Automotive companies worldwide face stiff competition as well as a difficult marketplace. To help stimulate growth automakers, particularly from the

United States have resorted to deep discounts to stay competitive. Obviously this takes a toll on the profit margins. To counterbalance downward trends of their profit margins, many automakers are looking at new ways to control costs. Auto warranty coverage is one of the quickest growing areas of operating costs in the industry. In 2004, some industry experts estimated that warranty costs could exceed $45 billion worldwide. In the

United States, auto warranties account for nearly 41 percent of all auto warranties industry wide. For the first time, in 2004 the number of recalled vehicles exceeded the total number of manufactured vehicles. One of the causes behind rising warranty costs and claims is the ever increasing complexity of the vehicles being built. Almost 40 percent of the value in a vehicle is tied up in the car’s software.  A car could have as many as 70 different processors that control everything from anti-lock brakes, automatic transmissions, cruise control, and fuel injection systems.  Controlling the costs of warranties has enormous benefits. Warranty costs can drag down profits of the automobile industry by over 3 percent. Automakers could lower their warranty costs by half and they would see their profits soar over 300 percent.

Owning a fuel-efficient Hybrid car is a great idea but one problem is that these cars still use gas or diesel engines.  With the batteries produced today they do not have enough energy to hold a charge long enough making people believe that all electric cars are in the future.

However, there is news of a new Ultra Battery. This smart new battery technology increases the life of the battery four times, and has more than twice the power. In the future this new UltraBattery could find its way into vehicle production as the answer to all electric cars.

Whether you buy a new gas powered vehicle or a Hybrid model, a good auto warranty is very important, and it’s worth doing some research to choose the best policy for you.  New car warranties cover repairs and maintenance from about three months up to five years. Follow the same auto warranty tips when purchasing a used vehicle, as there are many good used car warranties available.

Even though forecasters predict a slow 2008 for automobile sales, many dealerships are hoping for a steady recovery toward the end of the year.  More specifically, some dealers are backing up their hopeful outlook by reinvesting money back into their own businesses.  Their stocking levels and ordering project 2008 will be about the same as 2007. 

Some think 2008 will have some late momentum and that things will start to get better. They are hopeful that they saw the bottom in 2007. In 2007 just over 16 million cars were sold in the U.S., down from almost 17 million the previous year. 

In Detroit, analysts predict that 2008 may fall to around 15.5 million cars and trucks. Regardless, dealers will be looking for a way to increase profits.  The aftersales market, including auto warranty sales will probably be a great way to make more money.  Dealers who sell new car warranties and used car warranties generally make $500-$1,000 dollars on each warranty sale.  Aftermarket auto warranty companies are their only threat as they have much smaller markups so their prices are considerably lower.

I guess time will tell, we’ll check again in January 2009.