Old cars 633

"Colonel Forbin" wrote...

I have to agree with the Colonel here. Back in my youth, my banking career included a stint "floor planning" cars (new and used) for dealers. Seeing the car business from the inside is like working at the chicken plant. You don't really want to know....

Extended warranties are rarely peddled (and backed) by the carmaker, but are the products of companies within which lurk a high ratio of scum suckers and other douche bags who have fallen upon a discovery as great as old Chris Columbo's. A. Start company. B. Sell lots of "extended warranties." C. Pay the first couple of thousand. D. Remove as salary, bonus, underwriting expense, rent, consulting fees, etc., substantial cash for houses, furs, cars, jewels, pedicures, etc.. E. Shut the doors, maybe along the way taking bankruptcy, but some simply don't bother. F. Move to Nevada and do it again.

The ones which are "honest" survive by "skin-flinting", either fighting every claim or reimbursing dealers so little as to make them unlikely to want to take on a job.

We 'Merkins are a trusting lot. Give us an engraved certificate with some gold letters and a seal, and we'll believe anything. The dealership, of course, has already made its commission selling the extended warranty - service contracts" and will be sympathetic to your plight, even giving you a copy of the notice from the court that the "Midnight Auto Warranty and Hubcap Supply Co." has taken a powder.

The original warranty which comes with a new car is a horse of another color. Contrary to some reports here, many US dealerships make far more "fixing" cars than selling them, and the reimbursement by the manufacturer is in many markets quite adequate. Warranty repair, once avoided by dealers, now keeps many dealers' doors open (as profits on individual sales go into the gutter, redeemed only by the kickback or promotional allowance on number of units sold.

Ask yourself a complex question? If the hourly wage rate for a mechanic in San Francisco is $30.00, while the hourly wage rate in Cleburne, Texas is $15.00, the manufacturer reimburses the same amount for labor in a specific task, the dealership in Cleburne actually sells more vehicles and has a bigger shop (land and buildings being cheaper and many US urban dealerships lagging far behind suburban dealers, especially the specialty sort - pickups, SUVs, etc.), where is your vehicle likely to get more and longer attention?

TM "Never read of as many folks still driving ancient cars**" Oliver

** At the monthly rust spread of most of the TRs I ever saw, none could possibly continue to exist.