GM ups used car warranty, cites quality gains
August 20th, 2008 | by admin |DETROIT, Aug 19 (Reuters) - General Motors Corp (GM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) onTuesday said it was extending a warranty offer on certifiedused cars and trucks, citing gains in quality and a drop inwarranty-funded repairs.
GM said it would begin offering a 12-month, 12,000-mile”bumper-to-bumper” warranty on all used cars and truckscertified as eligible for the repair coverage by participatingGM dealers.
The change, which takes effect on Sept. 13, extends theterm of the GM warranty on late model used cars in goodcondition by an additional 9 months and 9,000 miles.
The move comes a day after GM announced it was rolling outa sweeping new discount program on new cars and trucks thatwill offer employee-level pricing for any buyer.
U.S. automakers, including GM, have long argued thatimprovements in the quality of their vehicles have not beenfully recognized by American consumers.
In response, all three Detroit-based automakers have rolledout more generous warranties over the past several years in abid to raise consumer confidence.
GM’s sales of new cars and trucks have dropped 18 percentso far this year, pushing its dealers to rely more heavily onsales of used cars, which typically carry higher margins.
“This is a clear indication of the confidence in thequality and value of our cars and trucks,” Brian McVeigh, GM’smanager of fleet and commercial operations, said in a statementabout the revamped warranty offer.
GM has seen a drop of 40 percent in warranty-funded repairsover the past two years and a decline of 14 percent this yearalone, Jamie Hresko, the automaker’s vice president of quality,told reporters and analysts.
