Despite threatenings, Opel sticks to lifetime warranty
By Andrew C., 27 Aug, 2010. 0 Comments
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Opel/Vauxhall is in the hot seat as its lifetime guarantees on new vehicles have made German competition authorities upset enough to threaten to sue for misleading advertising. Alain Visser, head of sales and marketing at the General Motors Co. unit, defends its guarantees and asserts that he opposes the authorities' claims that the campaign was "misleading." He said that the unit is not even thinking about dropping this campaign. Recently, Opel had received criticism from Germany's federal committee for its alleged unfair commercial practices when it launched the campaign providing a lifelong warranty on new cars.
Visser clarified that similar to other guarantee offers, those of Opel/Vauxhall has conditions, which he claims have been presented very clearly. He didn't reveal how much the campaign cost but he stated that it had been worked out over a long period of time and was announced with the same care and dedication as a new product or model of car. The competition authority calls this campaign to be deceiving because even though there is no time restriction on the warranty, it only guarantees repair cost-coverage for vehicles with less than 160,000 kilometers (about 100,000 miles) on the odometer.
Visser responds to this argument with a challenge for anyone to find him a car that has at least 100,000 kilometers. The coverage of this warranty deal includes the engine, transmission, electronics and the steering system; however, the parts subject to regular wear and tear such as seat belts and oil filters are excluded. [via autonews - sub. required]
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