[kaustuv123]

My experience with M&M as far as warranty and extended warranty has been pleasant. Although I have to visit the workshop multiple times for the same problem, but the issue has been resolved in the end. I have got replacement for multiple parts e.g. drive shaft, rear shockers, throttle body.

Although I have after market alloys and a K&N filter but I have never faced any warranty rejections because of the same as of now.

[Arion003]

The brakes on my fiesta were making these strange grinding sounds at 19k km. Sent it to the service centre in Lingrajpuram, Bangalore. The chap said nothing sir some cleaning of the brakes is required. And sent it back to me. The brakes were fine for a week or so and started screeching again. I sent the car back. Same story repeated. This went on for a month or so. And then my car went for its standard service at 20ish k km. The Ford chap calls me and tells me sir the disks and pads need to be replaced they're worn out. I told him to replace it under warranty. "No sir. Warranty is only uptil 20k km and your car is over.". I hit the roof when I heard this and spoke to the manager and the who's who at that service centre about what were clearly fraudulent tactics applied by their people wherein an in warranty vehicle in kept going by cleaning and such jugaad until it crosses the warranty threshold and when the parts have to be paid for by the owner then it becomes essential to replace parts. Ofcourse the chap didn't agree said no sir we follow the highest ethical standards etc etc. Long story short I ended up paying for the disks and pads.

I am at 27k km today and my new brake discs, which I was told today are supposed to last to 30k km (why the 20k km limit on the warranty I will never know), have worn out. I had a bit of a shouting match with the ford chap who was denying that these had been replaced and that since it is out of the 20k warranty he couldn't replace them. The good news is that after some bellowing I am making him replace them for free.

It really is such underhanded business this.

[kkg]

Rather than holding companies responsible for all these warranty stuff, in my view the common Indian mentality of "taking some body else's advantage when he is in the trouble" is the root cause of the problem.

The service center, its advisors, its manager and even the cleaning guy would want you to pay out of your pocket. If there is some fault with your car and it is under warranty and somehow you manage to convince the SC about it, more often than not, they will repair itwithout any fuss. As per them "hamari jeb se kya jata hain?". I have managed to get goodwill warranty from GM just because I had good repo with SC guys. But I have also seen some SAs who just to reach their respective monthly targets, misguide cutomers and fleece them.

I have got many things replaced under warranty and some out of warranty. But some of the repairs that were done out of warranty (a fuel pump failure, a crack in the engine head), I managed a good discount on both of them. Here the company was GM and the car is Spark.

I my brief stint with the Tata and their Nano, I have never faced any issue on warranty which is now extended to four years. Although they do not have the parts all the times but I do not expect that any ways.

To me every body at service centres, regional offices, company customer care, HO are human beings and very seldom in India we see people who like to serve customers. Its all about THINKING.

[Kiyon]

Well My Swifts clutch plate packed within 15000 Km.. Even though the service adviser acknowledged its weak, nothing was replace under warranty and I have to pay from my pocket..

Coming to my I20 within one year I had AC vent broken and Side Rear view mirror integrated indicator light stopped working. Both were replaced under warranty without me asking for it. Probably since car was within 1 year they didn't make a fuss out of it I guess..

[anurag.somani]

Now I know why the Hyundai guys press to sell extended warranty!
Plus they insist you got to get your car serviced by the Authorized service center for warranty to remain effective! That leaves me with no choice but get pay super-obnoxious Hyundai A$$ in Bangalore.

If this were to be in US; the antitrust law guys would be looking into it for sure!

[sunil_k_u]

Very valid discussion going on here, and a much relevant topic for me when I am going through exactly the same ordeal.

My 52k odo Safari (2.2 Dicor Lx 2008 Model) is in the service centre for a general check-up before a long trip (I do it usually to avoid any surprises in the middle of the road) and for a power window issue. The front-left window needs multiple press on the switch to raise the glass fully as it stops in between.

The service advisor (with whom I am in good terms due to his attention to every small details of the work done) found that the alternator has some issue too and suggested replacement (he mentioned they sent it to TVS/Bosch and get a replacement). I told him to get both the power window motor and the alternator covered under extended warranty. Today he calls up to say that the alternator got approved for coverage under extended warranty and the claim for the latter got rejected. I gave him little piece-of-mind, but he says the motor had twisted wiring (which I did not really catch) as the reason for claim rejection.

In the meantime, I digged-out the long forgotten extended warranty booklet from my cupboard to see what's covered and what not. It is clearly written that the 'window motor' is covered under extended warranty (I guess this is same as power window motor). Planning to visit the A$$ to put a big fight. The service advisor has been good to me with his work so far (needless to mention, I got the cluch assembly replaced under warranty at 25k odo as it was really tight at that point), but Rs: 5,500/- for the power window motor is a bit too much to pay from my pocket while the extended warranty is very much there for more than a year more.
Any suggestions to intensify the fight?

[Arion003]

Originally Posted by anurag.somani

If this were to be in US; the antitrust law guys would be looking into it for sure!

The Competition Act has been in effect in India for nearly two years or so now. Perhaps you should speak to a lawyer and maybe you (or the community in general) can seriously look into taking this up with the Competition Commission of India as an across the board reform re car warranties.

[sunil_k_u]

The remaining part of the story goes like this -

I complained at the manufacturer's (Tata Motors) website. The manager of the A$$ service centre called to offer discounts on parts and waive-off labour charges. I did not agree as all these stuff should be covered under extended warranty for which I had paid in advance 3 years ago.

He was not ready to do anything then and there, but agreed to get back in a week to check what he can do on this. I told him that I wouldn't leave this isse like this and wanted him too take it seriously.

Just giving them some breathing time, and poor me (customer who opted for extended warranty) waiting to get my rights fulfilled.

[sunil_k_u]

To conclude my experience with warranty / extended warranty:

Things replaced under warranty:
Clutch assembly - at around 25k KMs
Left tie rod - at around 40k KMs

Things replaced under Extended Warranty:
Alternator bearing - at around 50K KMs
Turn Indicator/head light combination switch - at around 50k KMs

Apart from the above, the A$$ (The service advisor sounded more committed than the service manager during the conversation) made a commitment that the power window motor will be replaced during my next visit. Along with the commitment I also got a humble request to not to take the complaint route if something is not happening upto the customer's satisfaction; instead approach the service manager. Not to mention - I have no intention to leave it to their mercy if the service is not to my satisfaction next time too.

Coming back to the topic - Is extended warranty worth going for? From my experience - Yes, considering the money I would have paid otherwise for the above mentioned repairs.

The closing note is that - having extended warranty only might not be enough in the Indian scenario. One need to have time and perseverance to get things done from the people involved (read it as the vehicle manufacturer and the A$$).

[breezydrive]

My ANHC shall be completing 2 yrs (25000 km) within a month's time. Honda dealers are pressing me to buy EW, which is costing Rs. 8750 for 02 years.

Quoting the wording from EW brochure (attached)

" Quote
......The decision of Honda Cars or its dealers would be final regarding the cover of extended warranty....
Unquote"

This means that one can't argue with the dealer if they deny replacement of an affected/ damaged part.

So, what is the use of buying EW?

[MHG]

Good to see this thread bumped out of oblivion. A lot of trash has been put on manufacturers and dealers here, so can this thread also be used to discuss the ones who DON'T scam people ? For instance, I am interested in knowing specific dealers of specific manufacturers in Bangalore who don't try cheating their clients.

[Derezzed]

I had extended warranty on my 2010 July Wagon-R.
A week before this warranty was about to expire, I paid a visit to my regular MASS (same dealer I bought my car from) for the 3rd year/ 30k KM servicing.
To my horror they could not remove the engine oil as the oil stop cock was tightened so much at the previous service that this couldn't be removed without breaking/chiselling the oil sump.
On enquiry I was told that my extended warranty is of no use here, despite this being a major engine part and the issue was caused due to the blatant mistake from one of the MASS's own buffoons.

I quickly made two decisions:
1. No more extending my warranty further. Extended warranty concept is a piece of s*** in India. At least with Maruti.
2. Get it done from another MASS or a reliable service station. (Other MASS was able to remove the screw in 1 minute instead of chiselling/breaking the entire oil sump) Saved me Rs. 5k in the process.

[supremeBaleno]

This happened to a person staying in our community. Have posted below his narration about the car, the clutch problem & the dealer's refusal to have this fixed under warranty.

Most cars have a 2-year warranty, but I understand from him that the Etios comes with a 3-year manufacturer warranty. This extra year of warranty shows the confidence Toyota have in their product, but unfortunately the product did not live up to the confidence.

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Sub:- Failure of clutch for my Toyotta Etios Vehicle number TN11 Y 6213

This is with respect to the clutch-failure of my Toyota Etios Car. I had purchased the vehicle in 2013 March from Pallikaranai, Chennai Show Room.

Last Thursday(12th February) I was driving the vehicle on the busy Adyar Guindy Road, when the car suddenly stopped moving inspite of accelerator being pressed. I managed to push the vehicle by the side of the road and parked in front of Gandhi Mandapam, Adyar.

I called the customer care of Toyota and the vehicle was towed to Pallikaranai Toyota Show room. To my surprise, servicemen told that there is a total failure in clutch and that the same needs to be replaced.

I had serviced the car at the same show room just 2 months ago (27th December 2014) and there was no mention about any possible issue with the clutch.

Service Manage told that clutch will not be covered under guaranty and I need to pay for it. Moreover he is telling the clutch failure occurs due to wrong usage. Due to urgency, I paid the bill amount of Rs 17,500 and took delivery of my car.

Request to take action on the same and make arrangements to get back the bill amount.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Some questions :
1) Isn't clutch failure covered under warranty ? I remember our Swift (and many others in that batch) having issue with the clutch, which was fixed under warranty by the dealer.

2) I find it illogical that the dealer attributes this failure to "wrong usage". More so because this is not his first car - he had a Santro earlier for a long time.

3) Is this a one-off thing or other Etios owners have faced similar issues ?

Toyota stands for quality worldwide. And while there could be issues with cars, I find it tough to digest the fact that the clutch of their midsize sedan should fail within warranty period, when we have lakhs of much cheaper cars running around without clutch issues.

[drmohitg]

Originally Posted by supremeBaleno

This happened to a person staying in our community. Have posted below his narration about the car, the clutch problem & the dealer's refusal to have this fixed under warranty.

This I feel might be the deepest of the so called "Grey areas" under warranty coverage. Time and again I have read on the Forum that a clutch can be totally destroyed or burnt with faulty usage even with few kms of driving.

So how does a owner prove his driving skills to the dealership or the carmaker? The fact that I have a valid DL in hand should suffice for that in my opinion.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by drmohitg

a clutch can be totally destroyed or burnt with faulty usage even with few kms of driving.

True. And actually it can be done without even driving the car a metre. Like I did long time ago with our M800.
Had parked it on a sandy stretch near the beach while visiting a friend. While leaving I try to drive off, but car won't move. So half-clutch, rev, repeat etc, but no success. All the car did was dig deeper into the sand. All I needed to do was to ask the guys around to help push it out of the sand, but I believed I am too good a driver for some sand to deter me. Finally had to take their help to push it out. The air was full of the stench of burnt clutch, but I drove back home some 40kms without issues. Next day, car won't move - replaced the clutch. But this is not a normal abuse.