quote:
Originally posted by FowVay:
Does this mean that the many thousands of parts that are available only from the dealership are supposed to be free? That's just ridiculous!
Had I meant to write "many thousands of parts that are available only from the dealership are supposed to be free", that's what I would have written. What I wrote was that if the manufacturer conditions warranty on a specific disposable (oil, shocks, filters, etc), they either have to provide it at no charge or demonstrate that only that disposable will function properly.
Let's see how the FTC explains it:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/buspubs/warranty.htm
"With some exceptions, Section 102 (c) of the Act prohibits you from including a tie-in sales provision in your warranty."
"Although tie-in sales provisions generally are not allowed, you can include such a provision in your warranty if you can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the FTC that your product will not work properly without a specified item or service. If you believe that this is the case, you should contact the warranty staff of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection for information on how to apply for a waiver of the tie-in sales prohibition."
And they give an example of what is prohibited:
"The following are examples of prohibited tie-in sales provisions."
"In order to keep your new Plenum Brand Vacuum Cleaner warranty in effect, you must use genuine Plenum Brand Filter Bags. Failure to have scheduled maintenance performed, at your expense, by the Great American Maintenance Company, Inc., voids this warranty."
So, requiring a specific brand of motor oil seems to be prohibited, as well as requiring service by VW dealers as a condition of warranty coverage. You could not require a specific brand of oil filter without a waiver, nor require that only factory technicians do maintainence if you charge for it.
quote:
If a supplier decides that it isn't in their best financial interest to reproduce a specific chemical formulation because there aren't enough consumers in the marketplace then it does NOT mean that the original supplier of this products has to provide it for free.
When you suggest that "a supplier decides that it isn't in their best financial interest to reproduce a specific chemical formulation", you miss one of the problems.
You can't produce Chrysler ATF+4 because (1) Chrysler has not released the specifications and (2) Chrysler won't license anyone to do it, not because there aren't enough consumers in the marketplace or because suppliers wouldn't like to.
Similarly the issue raised in this thread was a requirement that the VW oil be used, not that you use oil meeting VW 505.1.
If you happen to encounter an automobile which contains language along the lines of:
"In order to keep your new XYZ automobile warranty in effect, you must use genuine XYZ automobile parts. Failure to have scheduled maintenance performed, at your expense, by your XYZ automobile dealer, voids this warranty."
then the many thousands of parts required to keep the warranty in effect are supposed to be free.
