The Most Common Warranty Disputes
The dealers we spoke to listed the following items as the most common areas of dispute when it comes to warranties:
Batteries: batteries are covered under manufacturers warranties, but the most common reason they fail is operator neglect – usually the result of failing to ride enough miles to keep the battery charged, and also not putting it on a tender while not in use. If the battery is defective, it will be covered – but if it died because of poor maintenance practices, it’s a toss-up.
Brakes – Pads and Rotors: Brakes, just like tires, oil, and filters, are a wear item – if they are doing their jobs and working properly, they will wear down over time. However, because some riders are used to the “bumper-to-bumper” coverage they have on their cars, they think even brakes wearing out should be covered under warranty – but unless there is an actual problem with them, they aren’t.
Clutches: Like brakes, these are a wear item – as long as they are doing what they are supposed to do, they will wear over time. Most clutches last a very long time under normal use, but dealers do often see clutches wear fast from hard use or improper riding (i.e. dragging the clutch.)
Lightbulbs: Manufacturers seem to be split on this; they often will be covered under warranty, but they are considered a wear item, and often have limited coverage under manufacturers warranty policies.
“But Dealers Make a Ton of Money On Warranties – Why Don’t They Fix All They Can?”
When a warranty claim is made, it is the vehicle
manufacturer footing the bill – they simply rely on their expansive dealer network to provide the service to you. When something is fixed under warranty, the dealer is simply sending the bill to the OEM, rather than sending it to you.
But it is mostly a myth that dealerships make “a ton of money” on warranty services, but most dealerships don’t really make much money on them – OEMs service a lot of warranty claims, and tend to be very good at not overpaying for services. To cover warranty services, OEMs have almost every possible service codified, with timeframes associated with every one – and those timeframes don’t tend to be very generous.
Sure, a skilled tech can often beat “book times” on a job if he is fast and knows a few shortcuts, completing an 8 hour job in 5 or 6 hours, for example – but these jobs are the exception, not the norm. For the most part, dealerships break even on warranty service, and they are more motivated by retaining customer loyalty and making more sales in the future by doing good warranty service, than they are by making money on the work.
A Warranty Is Not An Excuse To Thrash Your Bike
Aside from misunderstandings or inflated expectations about what warranties cover, some customers simply use warranty coverage as an excuse to not maintain their bikes at all. One interesting trend we discovered was that brands with higher-end bikes and longer warranty periods tended to see this more – Harley-Davidson and BMW dealers both said this seemed to be a much more common problem than Big Four dealers did, presumably because they have higher expectations of both the bike itself and the warranty coverage.
Here's an interesting warranty claim - a rider had been using a pressure washer to wash his bike, forcing water into the drive shaft and wheel bearings. The parts were heavily rusted out even though the bike was less than a year old. Though he was in the wrong due to improper maintenance, the manufacturer covered this, because he genuinely did not know he was causing this to happen.
This is why you don't use a pressure washer on your bike!
The key thing to remember here is that, regardless of how generous a warranty is,
you as the owner do have to hold up your end of the deal by maintaining your bike properly. If you don’t do the maintenance, or make sure it is done, you are essentially violating a contract – and the manufacturer may not cover your service. In the interest of keeping up their reputation, they often will err on the side of the customer – but some bikes are so neglected, the manufacturer will simply say “sorry, no can do.”
To illustrate, check out this line from Harley-Davidson's warranty policy: "As a condition of this warranty, you are responsible for properly using, maintaining, and caring for your motorcycle as outlined in your Owner Manual. Harley-Davidson recommends that you maintain copies of all maintenance records and receipts."
How to Make Sure You’re Always Covered
For the most part, warranties exist to keep customers happy, and they do a pretty good job of that. But to mitigate any future issues, there are a few things to know and do:
1) Read the fine print - know what your warranty covers. Nobody likes reading “the fine print,” but doing it up front can avoid costly issues later. Know how long you’ll be covered, for how many miles, and what parts are and are not covered. In addition, look for exceptions to warranty rules – for example, BMW motorcycles have a 3-year warranty, but the battery itself is limited to only 2 years of coverage.
2) Keep up scheduled maintenance – plain and simple. Manufacturers want to make sure their products work well and that you are a happy customer, but with complex machinery, you have to do your part and maintain it. If the dealer does it and keeps service records, great – that means they have all records on file. If you’re one who likes to do your own maintenance, you can still get warranty coverage – you just have to be a lot more meticulous about documenting your own work. Keeping a log of maintenance you performed will be invaluable should you have a warranty claim arise, and keeping receipts of parts and materials you used is even better.
Heavily warped clutch plates on a customer bike. The cause of this was actually a customer modification to the bike which voided the factory warranty.
3) Establish a relationship with your dealer. “Dealerships are people too,” and developing a relationship with your dealer will help you if and when problems arise with warranty coverage – especially if it comes down to a dispute with the manufacturer themselves, because the dealership will be the one in the middle advocating for you. Even if you do your service yourself, cultivate a relationship with your dealer, and let them know how you like the bike from time to time. One little-advertised fact is that dealerships for some brands can actually extend warranty coverage past the policy period under extenuating circumstances – and they are a lot more likely to do this for a great customer than for someone who appeared for the first time demanding expensive warranty work.