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Did they steal the OE cat like Midas did on my Maxima? I didn’t find out until this year when I junked the car.
Do Lifetime Warranties On Auto Parts Really Make Sense?
- Thread starter macarose
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Oh you mean the place where you can buy Pennzoil Platinum 10W 30 for $15 online, pay for it, and since the store doesn’t actually have it, you don’t hear anything nor get a pickup email for 8 days so then you spend 35 min on the phone to get your money back?! Ooops, no, that’s Autozone. Advance is the one where your 84 mo battery warranty expires in 27 mos. according to the computer.
Box store sensors, lifetime warranty is good because you will spend your lifetime regularly replacing them.
So funny you mention this....
My oldest son is away at college and has my old daily...'13 Ford Focus. He has done some mods to it and it's a fun little car...5 spd, suspension, tune, etc. He wanted a bit more noise. This son is...being nice...not mechanical. I ordered him a small bottle Vibrant resonator delivered to him at school. He found a local muffler shop (been around that area a long time...was there when I lived in that area) to have it installed. When he gets home for break...I immediately crawl under and see....the Vibrant installed in-place of the second cat..ahhaah. Stock resonator is still there which was supposed to be replaced with the Vibrant. They stole it. So...contacted the regional manager whose number was on the receipt. Immediatley sorted. Couldn't get the Ford cat but found an aftermarket equivalent. TBH, I coudnl't care less about the cat not being there at 10 years old...some of these came with 1 cat and others (PZEZ) with 2...we have the PZEZ but the pricipal of course said replace. They fixed it up. Hope someone lost their job.
If your going to have to buy replacement parts for your vehicle, which one would YOU choose. One with a Lifetime warranty, or one with a 5 year or 5 minute whichever comes first warranty?. I've always felt the longer the warranty you get on a part, the more confidence the maker of that part has in it's quality. The term lifetime, means different things to different people. Like whose lifetime ?, yours? the guy who sold it to you?, or the guy who made it?, or the business where it was sold to you?.,,
I can't complain about Advance Auto Parts. They replaced a radiator for me under warranty even without a receipt, and it was at least 4 years old. They actually had to have me call the corporate office to have them look up my purchase because they couldn't find any record of it in the store.
Advance is my chain auto parts store of choice...always has been since I was a kid.
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Can you imagine the low price of dishonesty…$300-$500 and commit theft because owner won’t know…
I don't recall them being around here prior to when Trak Auto went out of business in 2002.
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I did the Jack Nicholson routine…had the receipt btw…I bought this in 2006. It’s now 2009. 84 months is 7 years. Do you think 2009 minus 2006 is 7 years? A guy in the back starts laughing. I said what are you laughing about? I bet you can’t do math either.
Now some heavy set security guard is walking over so before any trouble happens, I do a Charlie Daniels Band “Uneasy Rider” move and go to Sears (really)
+2
I always regarded Advance as a more "rural" version of Autozone, since we didn't have Advance here around Chicago (and I'd only see them on road trips). After Trak closed, I started shopping at the new Murray's in town, then Autozone when they came into the area. Eventually Advance moved in in a big way, Murray's became O'Reilly's and now there's typically all three of them within the same block!
I grew up in Virginia Beach - we had Advance when I was a teenager/late '80s.
It's crazy - you don't make that mistake...a resonator and a cat looks v. different. 100% was done on purpose. The GM knew and immediately took action b/c this would be a huge issue if I pressed with news/social media/state enviro agency.
I don't know if they are still any good, but I returned an Advance Auto alternator and got a new one, which has now outlasted the first one by many years. I suspect the lifetime warranty is more of a marketing gimmick than a real guarantee. They've calculated out the average return rate vs. the sales numbers and figure they gain more. There's probably enough hidden clauses in the fine print to weed out customers the store suspects are trying to milk the warranty for more than they should--the guy that comes in yearly with the same part for replacement. By the way, I don't buy into "you get what you pay for" when it comes to auto parts. Sure, some expensive ones are obviously much better than cheaper ones, but not always. I've had independent shops rebuild alternators terribly, while others did a great job. How much they charged didn't seem to correlate. The OEM water pump on my Chevy Impala was built like a piece of junk compared to whatever knock-off I got from Advance that lasted longer. Look at oil filters. You can pay for a K&N or Royal Purple or you can buy a Fram that filters better and costs less.
I had a 2001 Alero with the speed sensor built into the wheel bearing. The sensor would only last a few years. then an ABS light would come on. Tinkem and other brands used to have a lifetime warranty. It came in handy. Over time the companies discontinue the lifetime warranty. But over time the sensors started lasting longer too. I used lifetime warranty on brakes periodically, especially when I used to drive a lot. Some stores only have me one replacement, others didn't' care and kept replacing them over the years.
I honestly have not seen a legit lifetime warranty on a part like I did growing up. Limited lifetime warranty yes, but I remember growing up in the 80’s my dad would get lifetime warranties on his replacement parts, brake pads, mufflers, water pump, etc.
He’d teach me how to remove and reinstall parts, I remember going to the auto parts store with the part, the original box it came in with the receipt taped to it and get it exchanged. Come home and put the new one on and he’d say we’ll see how long this one will last.
He’d teach me how to remove and reinstall parts, I remember going to the auto parts store with the part, the original box it came in with the receipt taped to it and get it exchanged. Come home and put the new one on and he’d say we’ll see how long this one will last.
O'Reilly will usually honor their lifetime warranty, but their reman steering boxes are usually just as bad as the one they're replacing, so I don't think their reman process is anything more than a can of paint. My dad's on his 3rd or 4th reman steering box, but it has a lifetime warranty and isn't super hard to replace. So far they haven't denied him a freshly painted junkyard steering box
