Factory warranty !

[gassit320]

There's probably going to be a lot of " ah, der " about this but I found out the hard way that a demo vehicle does not have full factory warranty.
Long story short, bought a 2011 R8 (second-hand) from a Toyota dealer, got them to ring the local HSV dealer as wanted to be sure of warranty, we were told the car had factory warranty until December 2014 which made sense as according to the owners manual it was sold 21/12/11. What I did not know was the car was registered as a demo by same HSV dealer in April 2011 and apparently the factory warranty starts counting down from then. I got the story that " well, you do save a lot on a demo " , yeah right, and of course the dealer doesn't save anything do they ??. (in fact, because the demo wasn't sold for 8 months, the dealer would have got a packet back from Holden).
Anyway, they honoured (thank christ) fixing the harmonic balancer which is a common fault but they wouldn't honour 2 trim items, also common faults, that would have run into $400 with labour. The car has done 45K, spends little time in the sun and I personally think it's pretty disgusting that a 70K car with hardly any work on it has these issues. This will obviously not be a popular comment here, but I will think twice before buying another HSV.

[whitels1ss]

There's probably going to be a lot of " ah, der " about this but I found out the hard way that a demo vehicle does not have full factory warranty.
Long story short, bought a 2011 R8 (second-hand) from a Toyota dealer, got them to ring the local HSV dealer as wanted to be sure of warranty, we were told the car had factory warranty until December 2014 which made sense as according to the owners manual it was sold 21/12/11. What I did not know was the car was registered as a demo by same HSV dealer in April 2011 and apparently the factory warranty starts counting down from then. I got the story that " well, you do save a lot on a demo " , yeah right, and of course the dealer doesn't save anything do they ??. (in fact, because the demo wasn't sold for 8 months, the dealer would have got a packet back from Holden).

I am not with you mate, if you bought an old second hand HSV from some Toyota dealer

who & why was anyone selling you the benefits of " well, you do save a lot on a demo " ?

There would be absolutely no price advantage in buying any second hand car that had at some stage years ago been a demo.

Now about your warranty problems,

I think the story behind the scenes might be that the first private buyer (not the dealer)
would have (as plenty of people do) asked for fresh books with their name in the books (not the name of the dealer as first owner)
& the date they purchased the car written in there also.

Now the dealer might have just made a general inquiry along the lines of.....

"Hey mate I have a HSV here & the books say it was sold in december 2011, when does the warranty run until?"

Or the Toyota dealer you bought your used car from either just took the date of delivery for granted & did not phone the HSV dealer
otherwise whoever you were talking to at the Toyota dealership might not have told you the truth.

I don't think HSV have done anything wrong buddy.

[C4B]

I'd be taking it up with Toyota. It's not HSVs fault the used car dealer gave you a bullshit story.

[whitels1ss]

I'd be taking it up with Toyota. It's not HSVs fault the used car dealer have you a bullshit story.

It's all hearsay anyway,

it's impossible to prove what anyone may have said however long ago it was.

[C4B]

It's all hearsay anyway,

it's impossible to prove what anyone may have said however long ago it was.

This is why you get everything in writing from dealerships. They have no scruples so unless you have it on paper it was never said.....

[Micks]

My take on it: Would go by the original sale date + 3yrs tops, if no paperwork go by the build date. sounds like it was so close & would be touch & go anyhow.
Didn't sound like you were too much outta pocket, put it down to xp & enjoy your lovely ride

[Malus]

I can tell you now that the warranty does in fact start when the car is first registered, not when the car is sold and leaves the dealer. My Maloo was first registered 23 March 2011 as the dealer principles car, but it only did 60km between then and when I bought it in 30 June 2011. When I had the car serviced by Holden, it always stated in the service sheet "Warranty Expires: 23 March 2014". But I did save $15K on the list price for a new Maloo with the options mine has, so I was happy to sacrifice 3 months warranty.

IMO, no point arguing with Holden/HSV as they are in their right to refuse warranty (within reason) on a vehicle that has been registered longer than the factory warranty states. Take up any warranty issues with Toyota.

[markone2]

I can tell you now that the warranty does in fact start when the car is first registered, not when the car is sold and leaves the dealer. My Maloo was first registered 23 March 2011 as the dealer principles car, but it only did 60km between then and when I bought it in 30 June 2011. When I had the car serviced by Holden, it always stated in the service sheet "Warranty Expires: 23 March 2014". But I did save $15K on the list price for a new Maloo with the options mine has, so I was happy to sacrifice 3 months warranty.

IMO, no point arguing with Holden/HSV as they are in their right to refuse warranty (within reason) on a vehicle that has been registered longer than the factory warranty states. Take up any warranty issues with Toyota.

Correct , warranty begins from date of 1st registration of said car..your issue lies directly with the Toyota dealership and more importantly the salesman you dealt with ..take this a bit further imho

.

[gassit320]

I am not with you mate, if you bought an old second hand HSV from some Toyota dealer

Are you serious ? It was 12 months old when I bought it with 19K on the clock, I was the second owner (well, as it turns out, the third), it wasn't a VX, it was the latest model at the time.

who & why was anyone selling you the benefits of " well, you do save a lot on a demo " ?

The people at the HSV dealer justifying the lack of warranty. I was making the point that the dealer does better out of a Demo than a customer so it sucks that you lose the warranty while they get most of the benefit.

There would be absolutely no price advantage in buying any second hand car that had at some stage years ago been a demo.

Quite right, only the first owner would get any benefit, I don't get your point tho.

"Hey mate I have a HSV here & the books say it was sold in december 2011, when does the warranty run until?"

Unlikely, I was sitting across from them when they called, the HSV dealer said the person the Toyota dealer rang probably got the date wrong because on their computer its in USA format, MM/DD/YYYY. Anyway, it's academic.

Didn't sound like you were too much outta pocket, put it down to xp & enjoy your lovely ride

It would cost me $400 inc labour to replace said cheap arse bits of trim, and yes, it is a nice ride

I can tell you now that the warranty does in fact start when the car is first registered, not when the car is sold and leaves the dealer

Umm, yeah, thanks, I get that now.

The point of my post was to warn people about factory warranty on a demo, I've probably owned 20 different cars in the last 35 years, new, nearly new, old, inc 2 HSVs and an SS, and I never new this, maybe I'm just stupid ? (don't answer that), but I find it hard to believe that I am the only person that didn't know this.
The rest was my opinion an a 70K car, that's done no work and been well looked after and has cheap arse bits of trim failing after 3 years.

[sjhugh]

I purchased an undriven demonstrator a few years back which had been registered by the dealer for almost 2 months before I bought it.

I’ve always known the warranty started when the dealer first registered it because it was written in the documentation I received.

If you open your Service/Warranty Booklet to page 1 it is there in black and white.

I quote.

Warranty Period
The coverage commences from the date of the first registration (or in the case of a demonstrator vehicle the date when the vehicle was first placed into service by the dealer). The coverage expires at the end of the period of 3 years after the commencement date or after the vehicle has travelled 100,000 kilometres, whichever occurs first.

[Micks]

The rest was my opinion an a 70K car, that's done no work and been well looked after and has cheap arse bits of trim failing after 3 years.

If it's any consolation we purchased a top of line Calais V Sportswagon brand new & have had a few trim items fail too that the dealer said was not covered under warranty.
Our's has done 34K in 3 1/2 years with zero other incidents or problems. Only way to get warranty is to push the stealership hard or write a letter to Holden themselves.
I found it simpler to go buy the few parts & fit em!
Good luck with it!

[whitels1ss]

Are you serious ? It was 12 months old when I bought it with 19K on the clock, I was the second owner (well, as it turns out, the third), it wasn't a VX, it was the latest model at the time.

The way you wrote your post was not clear, it is obvious you bought a used car from a used car dealer,

but what you wrote about "benefits of buying a demonstrator" have nothing to do with anything.

At the end of the day you bought a used car and it is now out of warranty

I am done with this crap whinging thread now

[BLACK 346]

What are the trim pieces that failed? I know when I purchased my Calais V that the silver trim around the shifter was stuffed. I ended up meeting Holden half way, I paid for the part and they fitted it for free.

[bert02]

i can see his point.
the book didnt tell him it was actually a demo. as by the sounds of it the first owner after the demo was the first entry into the book.
how was he to know 8 months of the warranty had already been used up...
it should of had the demo listed in the book so you would know it started from there

[gassit320]

Thanks for the positive feedback boys, and the feedback from the moderator, well, it sucked, sounds like you work for Holden as you cant even be objective about it.

Black, both scuff plate inserts in the rear have fallen out, no biggy, the worst is the silver (squarish) surround around the trans shift, it's bubbled like a cheap chinese sticker, I don't really think that complaining about something like this in a 70K, 3 year old car ( I paid 51K for it) should be classified as whinging, but anyway.

I might take up the other advice and write to Holden, and let them know my next car is probably going to be a Mustang (I'm sure the Mod will love that statement too

Bert, yes it's not as if this was a month or 2, it was a full 8 months, over a quarter of the cars warranty. Ironically, the stuff that went wrong all happened before the warranty actually ran out, it was just that I was too lazy, busy, thought that I had plenty of time.

Anyway, again thanks for the positive input, I'm off to join the Ford forum,