Helped a buddy purchase a 2010 G37 on Sunday. Car was a certified pre-owned vehicle with 22,000 miles on it.

At the time of the sale, it was explained that the car was covered up to 100,000 miles, and an additional 6 years. Seeing it only had 22,000 miles, that seemed like a great warranty.

He bought the car, signed the paperwork, put his $10K down payment down.

Fast forward to today.

He gets a call saying he needs to come back to the dealer to sign another piece of paper that was missed. When he gets there, it turns out to be the warranty agreement, that shows the 6-years starting from the ORIGINAL date of sale... so he really only has 3 years left to drive 78,000 miles under warranty (total 100,000 miles).

This was NOT the way it was explained to him and I (I was there during the whole negotiation) and he then called the salesman on speaker phone, who apologized and ADMITTED he didn't explain it to us that way! The service manager apparently walked out of the office when he heard him say that over speaker... clearly pissed off.

So my friend obviously refused to sign the paper until I was able to also accompany him, and he also requested the same salesman and finance manager who wrote up the paperwork present. The service manager said "It doesn't matter what the salesman told you... these are the terms, and this is the warranty, end of story".

Soooooo... now what? He's obviously pretty bummed out that it's only 3-year coverage now, not 6 years! They tried pretty hard to get him to buy the "Elite" protection for $1550 (Cost) which at the time he declined during the sale.

What should be his "reasonable" course of action? I'm sure he has the option of walking away, and giving the car back since the warranty terms were NOT clearly explained, which was admitted by the salesman... He LOVES the car, and wants to keep it... but feels its not the amazing killer deal he thought.

 

Try talking to the general manager/president of the dealership and explain the situation in a calm and professional manner. Contrary to popular belief, getting angry and yelling at them will not accomplish much. You are more likely to be able to reason with them if you treat them with respect.

Best case scenario, they offer you the elite membership free of charge or provide you a significant discount. In the end, some people will tell you that the warranty is not worth it as the g37s have a track record of being reliable. That being said, there's no substitute for peace of mind and imo, $1500 is not a terribly large sum for that. If they don't budge on offering you the warranty for free, you can try negotiating the elite protection down.

Good luck!

 

Return the car and tell them you want your deposit back for breach of contract.

 

Yeup, I believe the salesman screwed-up explaining it wrong but for what I understand it is from the "in service date" ( the day the car was first ever sold )

If he loves the car he should keep it. Even if he goes somewhere else and finds another car, same year, same everything, the factory warranty will be the same from "in service date".
You might ask them to get you a lower price on the extended "Elite" protection due to the misunderstanding.

g/l

 

His choices are to walk away from the sale or keep it under the actual terms of the warranty. Another 3 years / 78K is exceptional IMO even if the salesman didn't explain it properly.

 

The thing that worries him most, is that it's a convertible, which is NOT covered under the basic extended certified warranty, but WOULD be with the Elite.

On top of that, it acted up tonight and wouldn't close until he opened and closed the "separator" in the trunk 3-4 times! So now he's really worried obviously.

I think asking for a hefty discount on the Elite warranty, or maybe even free of charge due to the misrepresentation, would be the best possible outcome.

 

Good luck with that. If the car is already giving him an issue that he's got serious concerns about, he should walk away form it or live with the eventual regret.

 

I don't like to assume the worst but it seems a little convenient that the one item that wasn't signed was the "warranty" paperwork. Certification paperwork is very important and rarely missed by the dealership. Also, from the way you describe the warranty, you are aware that the 6 years, 100k is powertrain only right? The bumper to bumper coverage is 4 years, 60k miles from original date of sale.

The fact that this is a certified vehicle means that your friend has the option of a 96 month 120k bumper to bumper warranty from original date of purchase. That warranty has a very low cost due to the certification on the car. Tell the dealer you want the elite warranty for half of what they are quoting you due to the intentional misrepresentation by the sales person. As stated above, do this in a calm reasonable manner with the general sales manager.

This solution, I think is a win win for everyone. The dealership increases their penetration of warranties and your friend has a truly exceptional warranty for longer than he will probably keep the car.

 

Great advice... That's exactly what we'll shoot for!

Thanks everybody.

 

Good luck, let us know what happened!

 

Ended up giving him the 96-month, 120,000-mile Elite warranty, for $1100... Spread it out into the payment, so it increased his payment only $20/month.

So he has 5 more years of warranty, and 100,000 more miles from today.

From what I've read, that's a killer price on that warranty, so he's happy.

 

Glad it worked out.

 

Isnt Elite warranty or any extended warranty prorated by law after 30 days? within 30 days you get a full refund if you decide not to keep it. My parents were recently scammed by a sales rep @ Toyota. A call to Toyota care and a simple fax stating cancellation and it was done. If warranty payments are rolled into the finance cost then the credit counts toward principal. so monthly payment amount will remain the same.

 

It can be cancelled for a prorated refund at ANY time... Not just first 30 days. At least in California.