Chrysler's New Lifetime Warranty

[Steel2686]

I know we didn't really touch on this here, but it was a pretty dramatic thing to announce just after Cerberus took over.

I'm pretty interested to see where Chrysler goes. A lifetime drivetrain warranty is a solid start to the mess Daimler had made (or couldn't fix, depending on where you stand on their ownership tenure).

Thoughts?

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I have 2 Chrysler products right now and both of them have been the most dependable car I have ever owned. I don't understand why some people think so badly of them now. It's true they have had some problems in the past but since about 2000 they have turned out some quality vehicles. So much so a friend of mine can't get 40 hours of work at the dealership anymore. They fired the transmission guy because they weren't coming in needing repair. Most of his work is general maintenance like brakes and oil changes.

[Rhode Island Red]

Lifetime warranty's are only good as long as Chrysler stays in business. If Chrysler doesn't perform, PLAN on Cerberus selling Chrsler off piece by piece or whatever they have to do to make money off of Chrysler... expect that warranty to be the first casualty

[Steel2686]

I have 2 Chrysler products right now and both of them have been the most dependable car I have ever owned. I don't understand why some people think so badly of them now. It's true they have had some problems in the past but since about 2000 they have turned out some quality vehicles. So much so a friend of mine can't get 40 hours of work at the dealership anymore. They fired the transmission guy because they weren't coming in needing repair. Most of his work is general maintenance like brakes and oil changes.

I don't think poorly of Chrysler at all. I have always been a fan. Daimler was known for reliability issues, but that had mostly to do with Mercedes.

My brother has worked for a Chrysler dealership (head of parts) for eleven years now. They've gotten better, no doubt, but the Grand Cherokees still can't seem to stay out of the shop. It's not the transmissions like it used to be, but several small problems... namely electrical gremlins.

Big difference though. He was dead set against Chrysler anything because of experience. Now he's looking to buy a 300C.

I hope Cerberus pulls them out of the tailspin. I like having Chrysler around.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

I don't think poorly of Chrysler at all. I have always been a fan. Daimler was known for reliability issues, but that had mostly to do with Mercedes.

My brother has worked for a Chrysler dealership (head of parts) for eleven years now. They've gotten better, no doubt, but the Grand Cherokees still can't seem to stay out of the shop. It's not the transmissions like it used to be, but several small problems... namely electrical gremlins.

Big difference though. He was dead set against Chrysler anything because of experience. Now he's looking to buy a 300C.

I hope Cerberus pulls them out of the tailspin. I like having Chrysler around.

I wasn't point a finger at you. It was just a general statement.

I know Jeeps are Chryslers but the Grand Cherokees were junk up untill the redesign of 2005. Electrical, heater cores, differnentials, brakes. I was up at the dealership last weekend and we took a Grand off the lot because it had a class 3 hitch on it to pull a boat trailer of the owners around to put new bearings in it. He said lets see if it has any error codes in it so he pushed 2 buttons on the HVAC and it popped up an error code I think 51. He said it means the diverter flap in the system is messed up. He said you have to take the whole dash apart to fix it and it would cost about $1500. This car was on the lot and some poor sap is probably going to buy it.

[Christopherrr]

I know Jeeps are Chryslers but the Grand Cherokees were junk up untill the redesign of 2005.

I second that...my pastor had a GC and I was always working on it...the AC finally died and he ended up selling it. It was at 2003 with less than 40K it felt like it had 300K! I mean, all cars/trucks have issues...things go out, but man, that GC was a wreak!

[Christopherrr]

and the whole warranty thing...you have to follow a strict schedule and it's only for the original owner...who owns a car over 5 years anyway? I mean, nothing that Chrysler is making would make me want to keep forever.

Doesn't apply to pre-owned or GM still has the best warranty in the industry.

[Steel2686]

He said lets see if it has any error codes in it so he pushed 2 buttons on the HVAC and it popped up an error code I think 51. He said it means the diverter flap in the system is messed up. He said you have to take the whole dash apart to fix it and it would cost about $1500. This car was on the lot and some poor sap is probably going to buy it.

That's a Grand Cherokee alright!

Even after the '05 redesiegn, they still manage to have some minor issues. They certainly have gotten better, however.

Here's where I was impressed with the lifetime warranty: Fleet Vehicles.

For instance, my cousin's husband runs his own carpentry business (I worked for him for several years). He currently runs five GMC's. He brings them all to the dealership for maintenance mostly due to time constraints. Three of the five trucks have over 150K on them, and one of those has well over 230K.

Under Chrysler's warranty, had he bought Dodge trucks, realistically, he could have them running for many, many years. He had the heads replaced on one of the 150K trucks last year. Cost him quite a bit.

It will be interesting to see what this does to the blue collar segment in terms of who becomes top dog. In our area, I mostly see Chevy or Ford work trucks. Rarely do I see a Dodge. When I do, it's one out of a fleet of four or five Chevys. This could either push a change in ranking, or GM and Ford warranties.

[Black97]

We had 94 GC we bought used with about 70k. It started to have all kinds of powertrain issues over the couple of years we had it. We bought a brand new Liberty when it first came out and had it for three years. No problems there besides a recall.

In 2005 we bought a used 2004 GC and it has now 30k's on it and it's been running great. One recall for the seat heaters and one warranty claim on an AC module. Everything else is going strong besides the chrome peeling off the wheels. It came with a 7 year waranty or 60k miles. The newer 05 models were back to 5 years only.

Would buy another one.

[MN6WS6]

I work in a parts department for a dealership (Nissan), and I can tell you what will be the first casualty: the technicians. Techs can't make a paycheck on warranty, because warranty flat out screws technicians on pay. Right now there is a recall on the Titan for the condensor fan, and it pays something stupid like 0.4 of an hour. The thing is, in the recall, the tech is required to pull the front bumper, which is in no means an easy task for one person, damn near impossible on the ones with chrome bumpers. They've found a way around pulling the bumper, but it still takes longer than it pays. You can't keep techs around when the work takes longer than it pays.

Parts gets screwed too because warranty pays a good percentage less than list, so although you are still making money, it's not near as much as you would if it was a customer pay deal. Now you add that on top of the fact that the imports warranty friggin everything (when I say everything, I mean stupid stuff like belts and light bulbs too), and you have an entire dealership suffering because the big corporations want to keep their customer satisfaction so high.

I think it's great for the customers that they are offering lifetime powertrain warranties, but the tradeoff is that you are going to see labor rates for non-warranty items going through the ceiling, comparable to Porsche and Jaguar hourly rates (in the neighborhood of $100 an hour). That's going to make people less likely to keep up maintenance, dealerships service and parts departments making less income for the stores (and they are the ones that pay all the bills anyway), and eventually the warranty will go back to something reasonable.