mitsu 10year warranty
Carsales Staff15 Oct 2020
NEWS

AAAA leads charge against Mitsubishi 10-year warranty

Aftermarket Association, MTAA and VACC rail against exclusive servicing provisions for proposed warranty

Mitsubishi Australia is facing a torrent of criticism from independent service outlets and parts suppliers in response to its proposed 10-year new-vehicle factory warranty.

The businesses concerned are outraged by Mitsubishi’s insistence that the warranty will only be available to customers who have their vehicles serviced exclusively by Mitsubishi’s dealer network.

According to the Australian Automotive Aftermarket Association (AAAA), as many as 150 complaints were submitted to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) before the closing date for submissions on October 9.

Opening the batting for the opposition, AAAA CEO Stuart Charity noted that “this type of commercial arrangement is contrary to the Competition Act”.

“Mitsubishi’s application constitutes a deliberate attempt to exclude Australian owned businesses from supplying safe and legitimate products and services to consumers and should be revoked,” Charity continued.

“Extended warranties promised by car manufacturers are designed to encourage consumers to purchase a vehicle with ‘peace of mind’. The fact that car companies feel that they can use conflict-free warranty repairs as a marketing tool is very concerning.

“The reality is that most car owners are unsure or unaware of their consumer rights and fear legitimate warranty claims will not be honoured. They are inappropriately misled and feel they need to accept the conditions of an extended warranty, just to ensure they have a safety net should their new vehicle fail.

“Mitsubishi’s 10-year conditional warranty essentially encourages consumers to trade away their statutory rights to avoid any potential future issues. It is a blatant attempt to reinforce the myth promulgated by car companies that the only protection a consumer has on their vehicle is under the manufacturer’s warranty.”

That’s the principle at stake, but the AAAA argues that there are also practical considerations that should be of concern to the consumer.

“Given the average age of registered vehicles in Australia is just over 10 years, the widespread adoption of these conditional warranties would have a detrimental impact on the 30,000 predominately family-owned mechanical repair businesses in Australia as well as the globally recognised $5 billion Australian automotive parts manufacturing sector,” Charity was quoted as saying in an AAAA press release.

“This will result in reduced competition and choice and drive up the cost of vehicle ownership for all Australians.”

The AAAA has been joined in its lobbying by the MTAA (Motor Trades Association of Australia) and VACC (Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce), which have lodged a joint submission to the ACCC.

Members of the VACC, the MTAA and AAAA have been reportedly clogging talkback radio telephone lines, even claiming that Mitsubishi owners will be left stranded by the roadside in the event of a major defect.

Whether the campaign by the lobby groups succeeds will naturally depend on the ACCC’s view of the situation. With Mitsubishi vehicle owners covered for major defects by Australian Consumer Law (ACL) beyond the current five-year warranty anyway, the controversy surrounding the 10-year/200,000km warranty may be academic.

Buyers will still be covered by the car-maker’s five-year/100,000km warranty if they need or want to service their vehicle outside the Mitsubishi network, for example if they live in a remote location and the only nearby servicing facility is an independent workshop, or can get a better deal than Mitsubishi’s 10-year/150,000km capped price service program.

On top of that, ACL will provide some peace of mind beyond the expiration of the warranty and Mitsubishi’s recalls record has been the equal of many competitors, if not better, making the likelihood of a ‘major failure’ a relatively dim prospect.

The ACCC is expected to hand down its finding this month. Mitsubishi expects the consumer watchdog to decide in favour of what would be Australia’s most generous new-vehicle warranty.

If not, it may choose to extend the 10-year warranty to all new-car buyers without the exclusive servicing provision.

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Written byCarsales Staff
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