Fresh from being scolded by the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) for its 'misleading' Lifetime Warranty adverts, Vauxhall has announced that it is extending said warranty to used cars.
To contextualise, the ASA had a right go at Vauxhall recently after about 40 enraged members of the public complained that its Lifetime Warranty ads were misleading. They felt that the warranty's 100,000-mile limit - and the fact it's not transferable when the car is sold - weren't made clear enough.
Vauxhall did say that in the small print, but not loudly enough for the ASA, who made the company change the TV, online and print versions of the reportedly £7m advertising campaign.
A battle of interpretation then ensued after the internet was literally flooded with a handful of reports claiming the advert had been 'banned'. Vauxhall released a statement (on 5 January) saying it hadn't been banned at all, but had been altered as instructed by the ASA and had continued to run over the Christmas period. Let's not get bogged down in semantics or anything.
Anyway, a mere two days after this teacup storm comes the announcement that the lifetime warranty will now be extended to used cars younger than 12 months old and sold by Vauxhall's Network Q approved used scheme.
'After stunning the industry and customers alike with its groundbreaking Lifetime Warranty,' reads the press release, 'Vauxhall now raises the bar even higher by passing on this unique benefit to second owners.'
Aside from being less than a year old, qualifying cars must have less than 30,000 miles on the clock. Again, the Lifetime Warranty runs out at 100,000 miles.
The warranty covers the engine, brakes, steering and electrics until the car reaches 100,000 miles or its owner dies, whichever comes first.
Mark Nichol - 10 Jan 2011