Warranties

Escalating the weaponry in the builders' battle for home buyers, Presley of Southern California on Wednesday launched a five-year warranty plan covering all of its new houses. The firm, the largest of the Presley Cos.' five home-building divisions, said it also will provide all home buyers with a mortgage payment insurance plan--something several other Orange County builders recently began offering. The five-year warranty, however, appears to be rare. Bob Albertson Jr.

New homes are rarely perfect. Houses are giant puzzles with hundreds of parts, manufactured at different locations and carried to the building site. And try as they might to put together a flawless product, builders and their numerous subcontractors don't always get things right. Luckily, buyers are more likely to have to deal with cosmetic defects than out-and-out structural failures. Scratched refrigerators, broken bathroom tiles and faulty electrical outlets are far more prevalent than badly cracked foundations or sagging roofs.

A one-time major marketer of extended new car warranty programs has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code eight months after halting sales, and its president said Monday that the company, Republic Warranty Corp., will soon go out of business.

Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook apologized to the company's Chinese customers Monday, promising better handling of its warranty and repair policies in the country. The apology from Cook came after the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant was scrutinized by China's state-controlled media, which said Apple applied inferior warranty and repair policies in China compared with those in other countries. For example, in situations in which Apple might choose to give a consumer a replacement iPhone in the U.S., the company would only give a consumer in China a replacement part, the reports alleged.

Figuring that what's done wonders for big brother will be good for little brother too, Irvine-based Kia Motors America today will launch its version of the auto industry's longest warranty--a carbon copy of the 10-year, 100,000-mile coverage offered by Hyundai Motor America. Providing the long-term warranty is an effort by the South Korean auto importer to assure potential customers that the quality of its vehicles has improved dramatically since they were introduced in the U.S. in 1994.

Beginning with the class of 1994, students graduating from Los Angeles district high schools will leave with a "diploma warranty" promising employers that the district will re-enroll them if they prove unqualified to enter the work force. In announcing the program Wednesday, Los Angeles Unified School District Supt. William Anton said that it was designed to give value to diplomas issued by the district.

California's new secret warranty act, intended to provide added protection for automobile owners, has been in effect since January, but the results so far have been less than impressive. Few consumers understand the law--and even the agency administering the law in Sacramento appears to be confused about exactly what legislators intended.

With warranties, the fine print means a lot. Often, the buyer of a product believes that any defect will be covered. But when the warranty is invoked, the producer may cite restrictive language--often in small print--or other reasons for declining to honor the guarantee. Irate consumers recently told me of two such cases, and I checked into both. My findings confirmed my long-held belief that warranties frequently are oversold.

With warranties, the fine print means a lot. Often, the buyer of a product believes that any defect will be covered. But when the warranty is invoked, the producer may cite restrictive language--often in small print--or other reasons for declining to honor the guarantee. Irate consumers recently told me of two such cases, and I checked into both. My findings confirmed my long-held belief that warranties frequently are oversold.

Joining car manufacturers, dishwasher makers and others who stand behind their products, the School of Education at Cal State Long Beach has become the first in California--and one of only a handful in the country--to offer a warranty on teachers. Faculty members this week approved issuing a one-year guarantee to Los Angeles-area school districts, which hire the bulk of the graduates of the university's teacher education program.

It was the sort of letter designed to get attention. "Final attempt to notify," it said on the outside. Within, an official-looking "product warranty expiration notice" said that my Toyota's service contract "is expiring or has expired. " It provided a number to call "to extend coverage. " This was troubling because when I purchased my "certified pre-owned" car from a dealer in 2011, I paid $1,700 for a seven-year, 100,000-mile extended warranty. Now it was expiring? The answer, of course, was no. And the racket I'm about to run down is yet another reminder that you need to examine closely anything that even remotely looks like a financial warning.

They're nearly new and hardly used - as close to pristine as pre-owned can get. No surprise that certified pre-owned vehicles are an increasingly popular option for car shoppers, offering peace of mind and dependability with sticker prices that don't shock.  We're talking refurbished rides for far less than the latest models. All that's missing is that sweet new-car smell - and even that might linger in some late-model CPO rides (many are only a year or two old with scant ticks on the odometer)

So much for the long-held notion that Americans purchase a new car and flip it every three or four years. People who buy new cars are holding on to their vehicles for a record amount of time, an average of almost six years, according to the automotive research firm R.L. Polk & Co. The recent recession has pushed people to hold on to their cars and pay off their loans. In the process, they discovered that their vehicles were more reliable than they might have expected, said Mark Seng, a Polk analyst.

Italy has fined Apple 900,000 euros, or about $1.2 million, accusing the tech giant of selling consumers two-year AppleCare warranties when they were entitled to free two-year warranties under Italian law. The Italian Antitrust Authority said in a statement that instead of offering consumers a no-cost, two-year warranty and tech-support plan, Apple offered only a one-year plan and charged consumers an extension fee for the second year in the form...

The settlement of a major class-action suit is shedding new light on a controversial real estate practice that home buyers and sellers typically know little about: fees paid to realty brokers and agents for promoting home warranty policies. The case involves potentially thousands of buyers and sellers who bought warranty coverage from American Home Shield Corp. between May 2008 and March of this year. American Home Shield is the dominant player in the home warranty field, with sales of $657 million in 2010, according to the company.

Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit over headlights in its 2006 to 2009 Prius hybrids that shut off without warning, triggering at least 2,500 complaints from motorists. Under the terms of the settlement, eligible Prius owners will be reimbursed for their costs to fix failing headlight systems. They will also get their warranties for headlight problems extended to five years or 50,000 miles, rather than the standard three years or 36,000 miles. Although there was no dollar figure connected to the settlement, attorneys for plaintiffs estimated that the toll could run into the tens of millions of dollars, based on the number of vehicles potentially affected by the headlight problem.

Hyundai Motor America says it will spend $25 million to tell U.S. consumers about its new expanded warranty program, which includes 10-year, 100,000-mile powertrain coverage and a 5-year, unlimited mileage roadside assistance program. The Fountain Valley-based importer hopes the program, which bests anything else the car industry offers, will help dispel consumer concerns about the quality of its South Korean-built cars.

General Motors Corp. announced Wednesday that it would improve the warranty on its 2007 model year cars and trucks, hoping to stop car buyers from migrating to Asian automakers. GM extended its warranty to five years or 100,000 miles, substantially enhancing the three-year, 36,000-mile coverage the company had offered on engines, transmissions and other powertrain parts.

It's a question that shoppers get asked a lot ? by car dealers, electronics salespeople, even at the toy store: Do you want to purchase an extended warranty with that? With Christmas about to pounce, and post-holiday sales around the corner, this is as good a time as any to answer that question. Generally speaking, extended service contracts are major money spinners for retailers; that's why they push them so aggressively. Many people never use them, or forget they have them, or are frustrated to learn that their particular issue isn't covered.

If you've bought a cellphone recently, your head is probably still swimming. There is a seemingly endless array of new phones with an equally endless array of options. Between applications and rate plans, accessories and coverage areas, the process has become so complicated that it can drive even the calmest consumer batty. Even after deciding on a phone and its various accouterments, you still face one final decision: whether to buy insurance for your new phone. Consumer experts say that in most cases, the answer is no. "For most consumers, it's not worth the money," said David Kolata, executive director of the nonprofit Citizens Utility Board.