Car Dealer Warranty

Buying a used car from a licensed motor dealer in Brisbane has many advantages.

Probably the biggest advantage is the “Statutory Warranty” which must by law be afforded to you.

There are two types of warranty depending on the age of the car you buy and/or how many kilometres it has done.

Class A Warranty: This is the longer of the two warranties. The car must be under 10 years old and have under 160,000kms on the odometer. This car gets a 3 month or 5,000 km warranty (whichever happens first).

Class B Warranty: This is for most other registered cars that are older than 10 years or have more than 160,000kms on the odometer. This type of used car gets 1 month or 1,000kms warranty (whichever happens first).

Now – what exactly does a warranty cover?

It covers defects – but it is important to define exactly what a defect is.

Taken straight from the OFT website, a defect is described as: A defect is a part of the vehicle that does not do what it is supposed to do, or has deteriorated to the extent that the buyer cannot rely on it to work.

There are some obvious exemptions not included in a warranty of any kind, and these parts include: tyres, tyre tubes, batteries, airbags, lights, radiator hoses, air conditioning system, aerial, spark plugs, wiper blades, distributor point, oil or oil filer, heater hoses, fuel or air filter, paintwork and upholstery.

As you are aware, a car is made up of literally thousands of parts.

All of which have been wearing since the day it left the manufacturing plant – in whichever country that happened to be.

It is impossible – and unfair to expect any used car you buy to be in “as new” condition.

It is with this point buyer’s expectations have to managed.

I have sold cars where they have been returned within weeks with problems requiring mechanical attention – and I have fixed them.

Some recent examples are an O2 sensor in a Mazda 2, front end Z bars in a 1999 Commodore and the indicators just stopped working in a Holden Astra!

These things caused the car to be non-operational and therefore I am obliged to fix them.

Other times, there may be a list of items a customer comes back with after buying a car that are normal wear and tear and not covered under warranty.

For example, if you take a car to a mechanic for a service, just like any good business person does, they will recommend a load of other items that “require attention”.

Dentists are also excellent and doing this.

They will give you a list of recommended work for the near future.

But some/most of these certainly will not effect your chewing in the short term.

Recently I had a car I sold come back after a FREE mechanical inspection by Ultratune.

My point is OF COURSE they will come up with a list of things requiring attention.

It is called business development!

A recent example had a Commodore come back “needing” new engine mounts, new front brakes, new drive belts, amongst other items.

I’m not saying for one minute these parts weren’t worn.

What I am saying though is these parts are within roadworthy requirements and defective not to a point to cause any problems with the normal operation of the car.

There is obviously sometimes a grey area – but like with all things, in some circumstances you may have some good points for negotiation.

There is always a fair and reasonable outcome to be achieved for any “warranty” problems that fall within a grey area.

I have written more reasons why should I buy from a licensed motor dealer here.