DON’T FORGET TO READ THE FINE PRINT,
Warranties, insurance can be unforgiving
Little things mean a lot. And sometimes they mean everything. When a recent bout of unseasonable weather warmed everything from the air to the cockles of motorists’ hearts, some eager beavers flung caution to the wind and had their winter tires rotated right out. “Avoid the lineups come April,” I could almost hear them saying. Who doesn’t want to check a few things off that endless to-do list sooner rather than later?
About those tires: With insurance companies now offering compensation to those who use them, most people called to ask how much of a discount they could expect. Too many others forget they’re expected to uphold their end of the agreement, and keep those tires on between specified dates. It’s usually April 1 or April 15 before they can come off, but each company differs.
The problem? By r ushing spring, you could be setting yourself up for a very expensive lesson. If you have a crash before the contracted date and you don’t have on the specified tires, your insurance company can reasonably tell you you’re on your own for the damages. They had a requirement; you broke it. Remember: Insurance companies mitigate risk, and it’s very easy to mitigate you right out of coverage if you don’t play by the rules.
That might seem nitpicky, but as some comments on a recent headline- grabbing story made clear, not everybody understands how insurance works. Recent pictures show a once glorious McLaren Spider, now crumpled by the roadside in Oakville, Ontario, after meeting its demise by being plowed into a hydro box. Car crashes are a dime a dozen, of course, but there is something almost pornographic about seeing $300,000 worth of car with its face punched in.
Those commenters? Some were up in arms that a claim of such metal violence would be paid out to some drunk brat. They needn’t have worried; if you are convicted of a criminal code violation — such as drunk driving — and your insurance to repair or replace that vehicle vaporizes. The dude behind the wheel was charged with impaired driving causing bodily harm (he had a passenger) and over 80 causing bodily harm.
Maybe ride- share and driveshare programs are your thing. You’ve sorted out your insurance to make sure you’re all legal, but what about your leasing agreement? If you lease, you’re just borrowing the vehicle, and most leasing agreements, buried in the print you flipped past, expressly state you can’t use the vehicle as a ride-for-hire. As the world changes, leasing companies are finding ways to keep up, but read your contract carefully. A dealer principal related one story to me where the lessee brought his car in for servicing and left the Uber sign in his window. Oops.
Speaking of leasing, you might be considering it. Rates are attractive and for anyone who prefers a new vehicle every few years, it might be the way to go. By now everybody knows to be attentive to the mileage piling up, but consider a few other things that can all act as “gotchas” when it’s time to turn it in.
If you’ve had your l eased vehicle for four years, it’s probably going to need tires. If you don’t replace them, they’ ll do i t and charge you f or t hem. You can’t hand it back needing brakes. You can’t hand it back with holes punched in the dash for aftermarket anything. The workaround, of course, is to buy or lease a new vehicle from the same place, when they are notoriously easygoing on what they’ll overlook, because they have lots of other places to hide the cost of the things it looks like they’re absorbing. A month before your lease is up, have a technician go over it to point out where it might cost you money. Find a set of decent, used (matching) tires if you have to; it’ll be a lot cheaper than the leasing company’s solution. Actually, anything you do will be cheaper than their solution.
Fine print on warranties is a fun minefield. I had a reader learn her rear-view camera wasn’t included under her “bumper to bumper” warranty, because the term is misleading at best. If you take an extended warranty, make sure you’re aware of the exclusions.
Longer warranties are attractive right now in many cases because of computer component and high- tech systems that are still having the bugs worked out. With so many sensors, cameras and modules that work in conjunction with each other, repairs can get really pricey, really fast.
It might sound like the biggest snooze- fest in the world, but do yourself a favour and read your owner’s manual, your warranty, your sales or leasing agreement and your insurance policy. Better to figure out what you’re going to do instead of what you should have done.