As an associate at an auto parts store, I have seen first hand that there is always a lot of confusion about how auto parts warranties work. Two of your most commonly warranted items are brake pads and batteries.
So I want to explain how these warrantees work and how you are made to believe they work. For starters, you walk up to your auto parts counter and you say that you need a set of brake pads. Of course, you don’t just get one option. You get four or five options ranging anywhere from $15.99 to $109.99, depending on your make and model vehicle.
You will be presented with an option for a house brand, several options for mid grade and a high end option. The first thing they will tell you is that they all have the same warranty. They all have a lifetime warranty. This is where your warrantees are not being thoroughly explained to you.
If you buy your low end pads, it does indeed say that you have a lifetime warranty. But what you actually have is a limited lifetime warranty. Which means that it is only warranted against manufacturers defects. Maybe one out of one hundred brake pads actually end up with manufacturers defects, so these rarely are warrantable.
So this might spark you to buy the middle grade pads. But to be honest with you, the warranty is no different from your low end pads. And there is an even more remote chance of having a manufacturers defect with these because they are made with better quality materials.
So we move into the high end pads. These pads have a better warranty. Ninety nine percent of the time these pads will come with a lifetime warranty that also includes a wear warranty. Which means that they are expensive, but the only thing that voids the warranty on these is if you go past the pad and into metal. By keeping good maintenance up you can buy a set of these and never have to pay for pads again. So as long as you bring the pads in before you are going metal to metal, you can get them warranted and receive a brand new set.
As far as batteries are concerned, you will find certain warranties printed on the packages. Warranties range from anywhere between 48 months to 100 months, depending on the battery you buy.
Most batteries will state that they have so many months of warranty with the first two or three years of free replacement. After the free replacement period, you will be told that it will prorated for the time used. And during your pro rated period you will pay a small amount for every time you have the battery replaced.
Here is the theory to that. If the customer doesn’t ask, don’t give out any extra information.
You take a battery to an auto parts store that you think is bad, and they will spend an hour to an hour and a half checking the battery out before they will decide to replace it for you in the hopes that you will get so frustrated with the time that you will end up purchasing a new one instead. Another thing they don’t tell you, is that if you come in even one day after your free replacement period is over, and you pay the prorated replacement of even a cent for a new battery, your initial warranty with free replacement starts all over again. So auto part companies do not encourage employees to give out this information out to customers.
This information concerning warranties will be printed on the back of your receipt. Most customers are not aware of this and once they throw that receipt away, they remain unaware.
