6 months or 10,000 km new car warranty
04/04/2015
Today we are used to at least two years of new car warranty and of course the mileage is unlimited.
This was not always the case, as reports in car magazines of the past remind us. Around 50 years ago, for example, six months and 10,000 kilometers were almost the norm (in Germany). Auto Union, BMW, Daimler-Benz, Ford, Glas, NSU, Opel, Porsche and Volkswagen offered exactly these warranty services, but Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Simca and Saab no longer did. Volvo, Citroën and Peugeot did not limit the kilometers, Austin, DAF, Morris, MG, Wolseley, Rootes and Triumph granted a 12-month warranty, whereby here too, with one exception, the kilometers were limited to 10,000 or 20,000. Only one manufacturer offered an unlimited one-year warranty and that was DAF! That's right, the Dutch supplier trusted its cars so much that 12 months and kilometers were offered without limitation. And we remember, this warranty package was the standard until the nineties.
Even then, it was worth reading the small print: Austin, for example, did not cover installation and removal costs, Fiat did not cover the alternator, and Rootes only covered the car under warranty as long as it was in the hands of the first owner.
Yes, not everything was better in the past ... and even back then, American manufacturers in the USA were much more customer-oriented than their European competitors ...
