2006 Warranty Change

[gthiessen]

Thought the members should know this.





Beginning with 2006 model year vehicles, we will discontinue the 7/70 powertrain limited warranty, and continue to offer our 3/36 warranty coverage on all vehicles. Recent consumer research confirms that the showroom value of the 7/70 is having reduced impact, particularly due to reduced trading cycles, and our dramatically improved vehicle and component quality.



DEALER SHOWROOM TALKING POINTS

REGARDING WARRANTY CHANGE

Over the past five years, warranty costs have been reduced by over 40%, and we have had13 straight years of double-digit quality improvements at the Chrysler group.

As the overall quality of our products continues to improve, an extended powertrain warranty has become less important to our customers.

Ownership trading cycles are decreasing - Chrysler Group research reveals that the average length of new car ownership is 3 ½ years.

Despite our heavy promotion of 7/70 since 2002, less than 10% of consumers know that we have an extended powertrain warranty. That is why it has not become the traffic driving tool we had hoped.

Consumers want new products and new features. What they truly value are our nine new products in 2004 and the many new products in 2005-2006. This is where we want to invest our money.

We have decided to eliminate the 7/70 powertrain warranty effective on '06 MY vehicles. The 3/36 will remain in place.



Our 3/36 warranty coverage is competitive with General Motors, Ford, and Honda.

 

[HDaniel]

Sniff Sniff, I smell smoke, and I am sure that they're blowing it somewhere that I don't want it... . if you know what I mean!

 

[Tomeygun]

WOW, I do not even have that yet... Man you are quick!



If the warranty claims are down SOOO low, Makes you wonder why they are canceling it??? It the claims are SOOO low, it can't cost that much



"Our products are SO great, we dont need this warranty any more!! - So we dont want you to have it!" --- DODGE



Bull honky!!!

 

[SHobbs]

Warranty cost have been reduced by 40% due to the fact that Chrysler refuses to do any warranty work, just read some threads here and you will see that. Also what about the 53 block issue, there are members here like me that are driving time bombs that we will eventually have to deal with on our own. Look at the lift pump issue, what about that? I am very happy with my truck mostly due to the Cummins engine and luckily my truck has held up very well. What idiot made the decision to get away from the old stlye front wheel bearings and go with the ones we have? In order to repair the bearings we have to have the entire front hub redone with a cost of around $300 each. If Chrysler would just look at this site and do some reading about all the problems, compaints and other things I believe customer loyalty, reliability and longevity would rise dramaticaly. What it looks like to me is that Chrysler is putting out cookie cutter trucks and basically telling the customer, well you are on your own good luck. It would be nice to see a manufacturer take a giant leap forward and put the consumer first and profits second, but, we know that won't happen. The 3/36 warranty is competitive with other manufactures may be true , but, how about being an industry leader and offering a longer better warranty and stand behind it. I stopped taking mine in for warranty work after my first visit, my dealership refused to do anything due to the fact I put aftermarket guages in, they said well it has been modified so no warranty work. Well bite me I will do it on my own.

 

[ERohloff]

Right !!!

Wholeheartedly agree with the above - If warranty costs were down why wouldn't you keep the "edge" on the big three and stay with the 7/70. If the public isn't getting the message you Dodge guys gotta another problem and suggest you hire some GM PR people - They know how to promote!

So people trade after an average of 3. 5 yrs. Whats that got to do with dropping a warranty life back? The used buyer might be interested in a warranty. Would help resale value. But forgot, once they got your money why would they care!

bob r...

 

[QWaller]

This is BS without a doubt. I cant,t recall meeting any consumer that felt that a little extra warranty wasn't a good thing. And I have not been aked by any rep on this last purchase. I actually was pulled back towards the Dodge due to the warranty as an extra benefit. But I ws wondering why they kept it around as long as they did. I do think it will affect sales. If anyone is watching, Ford and Cheby have been in the red for the past couple of months. DC has not been. I believe warranty or backing up the product(at least on paper) has a lot to do with this.

 

[Ross]

DCX warrantee schmorantee!

I WILL NOT be buying any more new DCX products. Why pay new car premiums, when they won't stand behind them anyway? My 98 3500 has been the best truck I've ever owned, in spite of a 53 block, 5 lift pumps, and other problems; no vehicle is perfect. BUT... . we bought a new 2002 Town and Country! What a POS!!!! Plus, they dealer either can't or won't fix anything on it. They are useless. Even though it was under their "warrantee. " They say the A/C controls are supposed to work that way (passenger/driver temp controls have their own mind).



My bro has a new 2004 3500, and has had nothing but trouble with it, plus same dealer issues.



Never mind dodge. I'm done with you.



My next tow rig is a Volvo 610 with a N-14 Cummins. I don't need my dually anymore anyway.

 

[rweis]

Anyone notice the "little" overseas trucks are getting bigger? Given time they will produce a duallie AND stand behind it.



So far I have been able to figuer out how to correct the DC engineering errors. Will probably be the last "big 3" auto mfg vehicle.



My 2002 Chevy Venture dropped from $27k to $17k the first year. Guess how happy I was about that?



Not again from my checkbook.



I would rather drive an FL60 as a daily driver and get 500k miles, than one of the "big 3" and get 75k miles.



I can put a lot of replacement parts in my 2002 3500 for the direction the US auto mfgs are going.



Just not going to play their game.



Bob Weis

 

[rrl989]

They will certainly now have even less warranty costs, because they will now sell less trucks. With diesel at $2. 50+ by me (seems to go up . 05 a day) I don't see the big three gettting many any extra sales. A few more months of these fuel prices, and I think they will all be in trouble. Then they will be giving free warranties away to move the surplus. It all works out in the end.



Ron

 

[Big Wheel]

I am glad my truck is a lease truck come December good buy Chrysler hello G. M or FORD.

 

[CORed]

Man, this is interesting and a bunch of crap! Their "justification" sounds like a teenager's logic. How can you spin this to a customer as a "good" thing!! You can't, no matter how much BS they put around it... it's still smells.



Unfortunately, I think it is all too common with other automakers as well. I'm looking at a 4-door car for my wife, or a car-like SUV and I always do searches for forums on that particular make / model in my research and it is interesting to see others complain about their dealerships lack of "service".



You buy a car... you take your chances. Guess I'll continue to purchase used since buying new doesn't get me the value/benefit that it costs me. And when it comes time to fix something, wherever I can, I'll purchase something better from a 3rd party... like a trackbar from Thuren, batteries from Sears, shocks from Bilstein, fuel pump from FASS, etc, etc, etc.



Dealers won't stand behind me, I won't stand behind them.



Steve

 

[rbattelle]

Both Ford and GM have lost a significant amount of market share over the past couple years (Ford's down around 18%, GM's around 24%). Sales at GM are down 10% so far in 2005. Ford continues to struggle despite new introductions like the Mustang and F-150. Meanwhile Chrysler's not suffering so bad. I believe DCX sales are up about 4% this year.



I cite 2 big reasons for this decline. First, GM has hypnotized the public with incentives. They deliberatly raised their MSRPs in order to offer ridiculous rebates in the thousands of dollars. So people go out on the internet shopping for a new vehicle and they see that the list prices for all the GM vehicles are higher than everyone else, so they mark them off the list. Besides that, it's created the opinion among car buyers that you should expect to pay many thousands below sticker price for a vehicle.



Second, rising fuel costs (or rather the perception of rising fuel costs... fuel is actually still very cheap compared to historical highs) are driving people away from larger vehicles - the traditional domain of Ford and GM.



Why is DC still doing okay? Well, it's been a good couple years for them. They're making "exciting" products that people want to own (300C, Durango, Charger, Magnum) while Ford and GM are making things like the 500 (yawn) and the Equinox (yawn).



Nevertheless, the perception that in order to get a "good deal" you've got to pay $4000 under sticker price and get 0% APR has hurt all the auto makers. Profit margins continue to be trimmed, to the point where dealerships are now actively protesting actions by the manufacturers that result in the dealer "taking it in the shorts". I read a statistic somewhere that the number of domestic car dealerships in this country is falling... it's hard to stay open when you're making so little profit (and selling so few cars).



Personally, I blame GM for many of the industry's current woes. They dug their own hole when they started with the 0% financing and $6000 rebates. GM is now trying to get their dealers to "push" factory warranties - so much so that a dealership group in Virginia recently sued them (and won). An extended warranty on a large GM truck costs the consumer $1475 but $610 of that is pure profit - right back to the OEM.



So here we have DCX, enjoying growth while GM and Ford wither. From their point of view, why bother to continue to support a 7/70 powertrain warranty when if you cut it now people will get used to it and accept it, allowing you to continue to under-cut the other 2 auto makers on price since you don't have to pay the overhead associated with 7/70 warranties.



Did anyone else notice that Hyundai quietly stopped offering 10/100 bumper-to-bumper warranties? They now offer 10/100 powertrain warranties, and 5/100 bumper-to-bumper warranties instead. You have to pay extra to get the 10/100 bumper-to-bumper warranty.



When the market is this competitive (and getting more so every day), you've got to go to extremes to get a piece of the action. People want to pay nothing and expect to get perfection. Not to mention people modifying their vehicles and expecting the OEM to cover failures attributable to those modifications.



It's a harsh automotive world out there. Glad I'm not a dealer.



-Ryan

p. s. congratulations if you actually bothered to read all that!

 

[TX Gooseneck]

I'm seeing the replay of Chris Farley in Tommy Boy here. .



"Look, if you want me to take a dump in a box and guarantee that I sold you a piece of ****, I'll bee happy to do, I've got some spare time. You can get a good look at a T-bone if you stick your head up a bulls arse, but wouldn't you rather take the butchers word on it?"

Or something along those lines



Good post Ryan, I read it cover to cover!

 

[SHobbs]

Tx Gooseneck

God bless our veterans, they are heros to all of us. Too bad Chrysler can't offer customer service like Peter, Rip and other vendors here that have stood behind their products. I have lost all hope in any large corporation, they are just like the U. S Gov. , out to put the screws to everyone they come in contact with. Corporate greed is one factor that killing this country and it will continue. I think the reason that the 7/70 is being dropped is the fact that Chrysler knows that thier vehicles won't hold up that long and they don't want the liability of fixing them under warranty if they fix them at all.

 

[swexlin]

Wholeheartedly agree with the above - If warranty costs were down why wouldn't you keep the "edge" on the big three and stay with the 7/70. If the public isn't getting the message you Dodge guys gotta another problem and suggest you hire some GM PR people - They know how to promote!

My thoughts exactly. And Gtheissen, aren't you taking a bit of a chance posting internal, confidential, corporate marketing information on a public internet forum? I have worked for a large company (Citigroup) and if I had EVER posted anything like that, which is about policy changes and market strategy, I would have been canned. Hope your boss doesn't read this.



That said, thanks for the info.

 

[RAvery]

Hey guys, what happened to the claim by Dodge "When you build it better you can back it better, That was on all of the ads in 03 when I bought mine.

So if they can't back it better, why buy it. Have they lost confidence in their own product now?

 

[rbattelle]

Anyway, it is odd that we are dropping the 7/70 when they are constantly preaching how DCX is going to match or surpass the Big 3 Asian Auto makers.

Let's look at the factory warranties from the major import brands:



Honda - 3/36

Toyota - 3/36 plus 5/60 powertrain

Nissan - 3/36 plus 5/60 powertrain

Mitsubishi - 5/60 plus 10/100 powertrain

Hyundai - 5/60 plus 10/100 powertrain



-Ryan

 

[swexlin]

Still a step backward, IMO.

 

[rrl989]

Is it just my perception, or have things been really going downhill in this country ? Was it better in the 60's or 70's than it is today market as far as any loyalty from both sides ?



Ron

 

[EEdmondson]

and we have had 13 straight years of double-digit quality improvements at the Chrysler group.

Wow! 13 straight years of double-digit improvements. Quality must have been pretty poor 13 years ago and now it's so good you don't need a warranty. I'd like to see their numbers.