The lifetime warranty of the car company fooled our colleagues

Abstract:

It is nothing new to buy a car with a lifetime warranty these days. This warranty policy has routines, which is nothing new. After all, they are all smart companies. But what I never expected was that this routine was encountered by one of our own people recently, and the ending was a bit unexpected.

Ru Jun, a colleague from the Automobile Department, bought

Polestar 2 in 2023

As the first owner when I bought it, this car came with a lifetime warranty.

More than a year after he picked up the car, he noticed that the passenger door handle shook when he pulled it. At that time, I went to the official after-sales store. The store said it was a common design problem and they fixed it and put it back together. No parts were replaced and no money was charged.

The following is normal use. As a result, this year, the door handle was completely broken, shaking so badly that it felt like it was about to fall off.

This time he went to the store again. After taking it apart and inspecting it, the store said that the buckle inside was broken and the parts needed to be replaced.

Logically speaking, this thing can't be broken with normal use. This car has only been owned for a few years, so it is definitely OK to just take out the warranty.

As a result, his lifetime warranty did not work.

Polestar first set up artificial obstacles in the procedures, requiring ID cards, driving licenses, car purchase contracts, invoices, green books, lifetime warranty contracts, and shooting with designated watermark cameras.

The purpose of going through such a pile of materials is to prove that you are the first car owner. I guess Polestar didn’t expect that someone would actually buy this car, drive it for two or three years and still not sell it?

After verification, when our colleague went to the store again, the store said that the buckle was broken, and the accessories would cost 800 yuan to process. But sorry, this is not covered by the warranty and you have to pay for it yourself.

The reason given by the store was that

the door handle was damaged by external force and was not a quality problem.

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What we are saying is that the door handle is a force-bearing part. Normally, there is no violent pulling when using the car, and the breakage point is not visible inside the part. Is this kind of damage considered stress damage, or is it a quality problem?

There is an exclusion clause in Polestar's warranty contract, which stipulates the circumstances under which warranty services cannot be enjoyed.

Consumable parts such as wipers, air conditioning filters, and brake discs, as well as damage caused by wear, normal aging, or improper use, are not covered by the warranty.

These regulations are reasonable, right?

But as for the door handle, it is neither a wearing part nor improper use. It doesn't seem to make sense to deny warranty just because it is damaged by force. And why would I, as a car owner, intentionally damage the door handle? It's only possible that it's not durable and has worn out.

Besides, door handles are still safety parts, and car companies also need to conduct various tests including door opening and closing durability during development. To put it bluntly, this thing should have been made more durable.

I even think that if the door handle breaks after three years of normal use, it may not only be a quality problem, but also a safety defect. Should Polestar consider a recall?

On a door handle, if you are so ungrateful, people may say that this is a problem with the brand. After all, all its stores in China have been closed.

But Polestar is different from those bankrupt car companies. It has Geely and Volvo behind it, and its after-sales service also shares the same system, so dads can take care of it no matter what. People can cultivate even if they are in the extreme, how can I not be able to cultivate in the extreme?

Of course, the matter ends here, and we won’t write this article. Jiexing’s sexy operation is not over yet...

This colleague of ours, in order to protect his rights, decided to use human flesh to film "1818 GoldenEye", thinking that it could not be fixed, but this kind of behavior still needs to be condemned. As a result, guess what, there was still trouble, and there was a new turn after the exposure.

The manufacturer called and said that after some coordination, it could be repaired again. It would be the same store and a free replacement would be offered. What's interesting is that this time the store said it would not replace parts under warranty, but repair and maintenance.

What does it mean? My translation is that Jiexing does not admit that it is a quality problem, but considering your situation (making trouble), it has decided to fix it in other ways for you.

What is this called? It's allocated according to the trouble... What about the other car owners who didn't make trouble? Just consider yourself unlucky and fix it yourself?

So, as we can see from our personal example,

the various lifetime warranties provided by car companies, which ones can be guaranteed and which ones cannot be guaranteed, the right to interpret is entirely in the hands of the car companies.

There are many cases like this where car owners think they should have a warranty, but car companies do not provide warranty.

For example, if someone's vanity mirror cover fell off three times, the store said it was due to excessive force and refused to provide warranty. In the end, the car owner spent more than 1,000 to repair it. Coincidentally, other riders also had the same problem.

Brother Neck also saw a case in the group of car enthusiasts, where a friend’s shark fin antenna on the roof leaked and was damaged. He went to the after-sales service, and then the store said that it was damaged by a high-pressure water gun and did not give him a warranty.

Then the question is, has anyone ever used a high-pressure water gun to wash their car?

You see, just because there are so many areas in the car where the definition of damage is vague, car companies can make all kinds of fuss about the warranty.

Of course, we are not saying that the warranty is useless. Some people do enjoy the benefits of the lifetime warranty.

For example, someone used the lifetime warranty to replace two headlights, saving over 8,000 yuan.

Some people also replaced a bunch of parts such as steering wheels, daytime running lights, and tow hooks for free.

But no matter what,

almost all car companies will include a bunch of restrictions in the terms of their lifetime warranty.

For example, there is an upper limit on the total annual mileage. Many of them are not in natural years. Instead, within any 12 consecutive months, the mileage cannot exceed a certain range, such as 30,000 kilometers or longer. Anyway, you have to pay attention to it every month.

There is a colleague in the editorial department who lives far away. He does not drive for a period of time every year and takes an hour and a half by subway to work. He is afraid that exceeding the mileage will affect the warranty.

Also, all maintenance must go to the official store, and you must go when the fixed time/mileage is up. Failure to do maintenance after the expiration date will also cause the warranty to be out of service.

If there is a problem, you will have to spend a lot more than the market price for repairs. Whether this account is worth it or not requires careful calculation by car owners.

Not to mention that in many details, car companies will always leave a backdoor.

For example, some car owners discovered that the MG07's three-power lifetime warranty stated that the battery pack must undergo a battery charge equalization operation at least once a month. This operation must be done under slow charging.

If you don’t have a home to recharge and go out to charge quickly every day, can that be considered a violation of the operation...

Everyone needs to pay more attention to these.

The warranty policies of different brands and different models are different. Even if the first car owner provides a lifetime warranty, many will distinguish between the vehicle warranty, the three-electricity warranty, and the key parts warranty, and the coverage is different.

For cars that do not have a lifetime warranty, many car companies will also provide extended warranty services.

Whether you buy this or not, I think one depends on the quality and stability of the car, and the other depends on whether you plan to hold this car for a long time.

For example, I have encountered many owners of Xpeng P7 cars who said that the three-in-one car power supply broke after the warranty expired, and repairs start at 8,000. If this kind of common fault does not occur within the warranty period, it is recommended to buy an extended warranty for peace of mind.

Not long ago, the old Model 3P in the hands of bad reviewer Dandan encountered a problem of broken engine. He went to the store to ask for repairs and it cost 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. After another Tesla owner in the editorial department heard about it, he immediately turned to Tesla’s official extended warranty service and decided to buy it no matter what.

In short, there are too many ways to go about vehicle warranty, and everyone needs to be careful.

The same sentence remains, because many warranties are originally customized by car companies and are not stipulated in the national three guarantees. The right to interpret them lies entirely in the hands of the car companies.

When buying a car, you should pay more attention to the brand, quality and the car itself. Don’t let these other additional guarantees affect your car purchase decision.

Just listen to the lifetime warranty.