{"id":143727,"date":"2016-11-19T19:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-11-19T17:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=143727"},"modified":"2016-11-18T16:04:15","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T14:04:15","slug":"know-the-difference-between-a-car-warranty-and-a-service-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/motoring\/143727\/know-the-difference-between-a-car-warranty-and-a-service-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Know the difference between a car warranty and a service plan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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So you\u2019ve bought a new car. You can recite its specs and features off by heart. You know what your monthly repayments are, and you have arranged the necessary insurance. But did you go to the trouble of checking the manufacturer warranty? Do you know if the vehicle has a service or maintenance plan? And if it does, do you know what they all actually mean and what each of these covers?<\/p>\n

The Automobile Association<\/a> of South Africa runs through the differences between a warranty, service plan and maintenance contract.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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It wasn\u2019t that long ago that only luxury vehicles had service or maintenance contracts. These days, however, most new cars are sold with a maintenance or service plan as standard or as an optional extra.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be fooled into thinking that a standard maintenance or service plan is free. The costs are usually included in the purchase price of your new car. The benefit is that there are no additional costs involved in having your vehicle properly serviced and maintained so you can budget exactly how much your new car is going to cost every month. To a certain extent it also protects you against the inevitable cost increases on parts and labour.<\/p>\n

So what are the differences between a service plan, a maintenance plan and a warranty?<\/p>\n

What is a warranty?<\/b><\/p>\n

All new vehicles carry some kind of warranty, but they can differ from one brand to another. They are however, all restricted in terms of time and mileage. Your new car\u2019s warranty is basically a promise by its manufacturer that manufacturing or factory defects will be repaired, or replaced, within a specific period of time. Common items covered by the warranty include the engine, gearbox, electric components, fuel systems, audio systems and sensors.<\/p>\n

Items that won\u2019t be covered include general wear-and-tear items such as tyres and brake pads, and any damage resulting from user abuse will also not be covered. Tyres, for instance, will come with their own manufacturer warranty or guarantee.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, some vehicle manufacturers even offer roadside assistance that runs concurrently with the warranty. This could cover things such as tyre changes and locksmith services.<\/p>\n

It goes without saying that damage because of driver abuse or incorrect use could void the warranty, as could aftermarket alterations made to the vehicle. Be sure to familiarise yourself with exactly what is covered under the warranty and for how long.<\/p>\n

What is a service plan?<\/b><\/p>\n

As the name suggests, a service plan covers all the costs of having your car serviced as per the stipulations of the manufacturer. Generally, this will include the labour and replacement cost of air, pollen, fuel and oil filters, cam belts, brake fluid, oil and gearbox oil, spark plugs and coolant.<\/p>\n

All such services will have to be carried out by an authorised service centre or dealer network to ensure the terms of the service plan contract are met.<\/p>\n

What is a maintenance plan?<\/b><\/p>\n

A maintenance plan<\/strong> <\/b>is basically a service plan on steroids. It has more benefits than a service plan and will include wear-and-tear items on your car such as the gearbox, clutch, suspension and brake pads and discs, wiper blades, shock absorbers, globes and fuses, wheel bearings, replacement gas for the air-conditioning system etc.<\/p>\n

In simply terms, the maintenance contract covers any item on your car that has a wear cycle and will need to be replaced at some point during the car\u2019s lifespan \u2013 the items not covered by a service plan.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the catch?<\/b><\/p>\n

As long as you keep your end of the deal, there is no catch. As mentioned before, there will be a time and distance limit on both maintenance and service contracts. And once the contract runs out, you will be liable for all maintenance and servicing costs on that vehicle.<\/p>\n

Remember that component failures resulting from driver abuse won’t be covered, and could nullify the remainder or some aspects of the contract. Similarly, all maintenance and servicing has to be done by the official dealer with original parts, otherwise the balance of the warranty or contract will be cancelled by the manufacturer or importer.<\/p>\n

Not all service or maintenance plans are created equal, so make sure that you read and understand the plan you are signing up for. Familiarise yourself with what is covered and what isn\u2019t. And remember that there\u2019s no such thing as a stupid question; if you\u2019re not sure, ask, this could save you a lot of frustration and expenses later on.<\/p>\n

Read: These are the most common problems you are likely to be having with your car<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Automobile Association of South Africa runs through the differences between a warranty, service plan and maintenance contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":142355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-143727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143727"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143727\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":143783,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143727\/revisions\/143783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}