Actually, the Fit does have a timing belt... it just isn't a rubber-type belt like some cars. It's a metal geared belt... and it can break. See the engine pic here:

http://asia.vtec.net/Series/FitJazz/lseries/

No, according to the warranty, you can have it serviced at any dealer, Honda or not, because it is warrantied by a warranty company and not Honda.

I'm sure there is some extra cost somewhere.

But, hey, if Honda Fits can truly make it over 250k miles like lots of people claim it will, and you can hold on to it as the original owner, the cost may be worth it... an average repair on a car is well over $500 a visit.

The real question is how much are we "actually" paying for the warranty?

 

Actually it's called a cam chain.


About this warranty, I'm sure that you pay for it somehow. Think about it... They are in business to make money. Why would they give you something without there being something in it for them? They won't.

In fact, I'm sure that they have done their homework and made sure to be on the winning side of the deal. Think about the statistics used by insurance companies and how that makes them profit.

 

I'll try to find my invoice, maybe scan it in...I'm pretty sure I didn't pay anything more than list price of an '09 MT Sport. I don't even think that they charged me for the tinting or floor mats!

I can see how they could offer this for nothing added - in a big market like Houston, if you have one dealer out of 15 or so able to make this claim on the same vehicle for the same price as all the others, I'm going to definitely consider that dealership, especially if they already have a decent reputation.

As someone else posted, the likelihood of the need for service that meets all the criteria is pretty low, so the increase in business they get by making this available most likely offsets any claims that do get made.

 

 

Legally, these things are not really warranties at all, but are an insurance policy. They are not subject to Federal warranty law, but state insurance regulations. Most dont do much to regulate them because fire, liability, medical, and other major types insurance take enough effort as it is.

Even genuine Hondacare contracts contain restrictions that do not apply to the new car warranty itself.

I'm not saying its bad, just read it and determine how much its worth to you for how much it costs. If you bought a car at MSRP with no other markups and you could have gotten it elsewhere for $600 less, you essentially paid $600 for it, which may be a good deal.

 

By list, do you mean MSRP? If so, then you probably paid at least 300-400 bucks for the warranty over what the market price of the car was, which I would bet is at least twice what the dealer cost of the warranty is.

 

Mine has this same warranty from the dealer I bought mine from here in Houston. It's basically to entice more people to buy their cars during a bad economy. So I think it's not something that will be offered later.

here are the details on it.

Goodson Auto Group in Houston, TX | Honda, New, Used Cars - Lifetime Warranty - On All New and Select Used Vehicles

Oh and I didn't pay MSRP for my car.

 

I think I agree with you. During this really bad slump they have to entice you to buy from them. If this additional cost is too high, the buyer will not buy. Maybe this warranty, given that most people will not keep their cars to the high digits, will almost never be used. The insurance company has probably figured that they won't be putting out too much and therefore can practically give this policy away to dealers to entice new sales. Maybe this amounts to an increase in dealer costs of less than a $100. I guess the only way to find out is to canvas a bunch of dealers for identical vehicles... some dealers with this warranty and some without... and compare the differences. Come to think of it, unless you know someone in the Honda dealer business, I can't see how this can be calculated... it's all guess work.

 

I noticed that a local Honda dealer offers a lifetime warranty on all their cars too. Since I was curious, I emailed them (through a buying service) to see how low they would go. They quoted me $18k for a 2013 Civic LX and refused all counter offers. I bought mine for $17k couple days ago , so the "free lifetime warranty" would've cost me $1k extra.

 

I hate how the word "warranty" gets abused by the car industry especially, or any one selling "extended warranties". A warranty is a protection against defects, that the manufacturer has engineered to a degree, they can guarantee there should be no issues within a certain time period/usuage. Anything beyond that isn't a damn warranty, it's INSURANCE! That YOU directly pay for! A warranty is priced into the car from the r&d stage on, where as the extended bs is nothing more than a profit centre for dealers, than any actual protection for your "investment"!

 

I'm a bit shocked nobody here seems to have heard of lifetime warranties offered by car dealers, as it's become more and more common over the last few years. Quite a few dealers around me even offer lifetime engine/drivetrain warranties on used vehicles with less than 150K miles. Cars are much more reliable now then they were even 10 years ago, and they were pretty reliable then so there really isn't a whole lot of risk.

As for costs, it's paid for by insurance, you're correct there but for the customer it's essentially a warranty in that you don't pay anything (i.e. you have no deductible). Blow a rod? It's covered. Works no different for you than the warranty does.

It also shouldn't cost you any more in the price of the vehicle either, as the dealers make the money back they spend on the insurance as they generally require you to have your regular maintenance (i.e. oil changes, timing belt changes, fluid changes) done at required intervals at their dealerships. But you should really be doing that anyway, right? If you don't follow the maintenance schedule, your forfeit the warranty.

Now, you can also shop around with these policies as some dealers will require you to have oil changes or other service done at their dealership, and some don't. Some allow you to have your warranty work done elsewhere, some don't. Pays to read the fine print.

 

Good point. There are some semantics between insurance and warranty and you should just consider it as a pure financial bet.

But if you are arguing semantics, I think warranty is more of a correct term for what they are offering.

In an insurance contract, you will be paid back money to cover a loss.
Whereas in a warranty contract, the product is repaired or replaced to be functional again-often with an insurance payout option.

So between Insurance/warranty, "warranty" would the better term for this contract for the consumer. But an even better one would be "service contract" or repair contract (for specific repairs, not for scheduled maintenance).


The contract dealer has with the Insurance company, is insurance, because they pay the Dealer money for their claims.


Now, if only they can switch Life Insurance over to being a Life Warranty.

 

I'll argue that no, warranty shouldn't apply because warranty is synonymous with a guarantee. They design and engineer a product and based on R&D, they can guarantee it will be free from defect up to a certain point, and if it fails, they will cover repair cost. Past that point, it's not actually a warranty since items will wear out or the likelihood of those previously guaranteed components failing, statistically go up, so your are actually buying insurance to cover those potential financial losses.

I'll agree with you that "service-contract" would be more appropriate and accurate name, instead of devalueing the true meaning of what a warranty is.

 

Maintenance should be done and documented. Who does it has no affect on the factory warranty. As long as you're performing it according to the MM it should have no affect on the factory warranty.

Tanstaafl. You either pay for the extended coverage in the price of the car, or in hooks that get you to spend more at the dealer (as you pointed out). Most dealers profits are derived from after sales service. If you refuse the dealer's bloated $300 30K interval service and 5K oil changes do you forfeit your warranty?

 

Yes, legally this is the case



Hell no!, Again legally, as long as you follow the Manufacturers (not your dealers) scheduled maintenance, you will be in compliance and fully qualify for warranty work.

 

Peter's Honda in Nashua, NH, offers the same "Lifetime Warranty". They then try to upsell you to a "Platinum" warranty that covers a lot more. As noted, you have to do two oil changes a year to keep the warranty in force, but I didn't note anything else.

 

I don't think they are so malicious to specifically entrap you. It is more or a loss-leader strategy. The more often they have you in, they will point out a bunch of parts that are worn or marginal, but currently still functional.
Even it no service is currently needed or recommended, it will Inception it's way into your subconscious and you may be more receptive to approving the job at the next service, or otherwise earlier than if you were ignorant of it altogether.

But I don't think they will hold it against you as an tit-for-tat relationship. It is really easy to try to make the "stealership" out to be a villain, and sure there are some bad dealerships just like there are some bad customers. But the successful businesses want to promote win-win relationships, not win-lose.