What is a Factory warranty on a car? – A comprehensive guide to a Factory warranty

The moment you receive the ownership of a car; you probably get a bunch of paperwork as a new owner. You might also see a list of multiple numbers of years as well as thousands of miles, which might seem useless to you until your car gets into an accident or need repairs.

These numbers show the standard factory warranty for your new car, and you will be needing it when your car comes up with a certain problem. So, what is a factory warranty on a car?

A factory/manufacturer warranty

The answer to the question of what is a factory warranty on a car can be stated as:

A factory warranty is also commonly called a manufacturer’s warranty. It is simply a warranty that the manufacturers of the new cars offer to the buyers. The warranty covers repair for a specific time and mileage that starts the moment you purchase the vehicle.

Usually, factory warranties apply to the purchase of new cars and may include maintenance coverage, a powertrain warranty as well as emissions and corrosion coverages. Factory warranty differs from other warranties as you don’t have to purchase it from the insurance company; it is provided by the manufacturer of the car. However, you may require to pay deductibles for some specific repairs.

Most of the car manufacturers provide a standard car factory warranty with the new cars that vary according to the model and type of the vehicle, but the basic clauses in all of them are similar. For the same reason, major brands in the vehicle industry are competing with each other on this part as well. However, details of the warranties can be different among brands. The buyers at the same time mostly expect the same coverage from every factory coverage.

However, not all warranties are the same and you should have complete knowledge of what your manufacturer will cover in case of any breakage of your car. Auto Consumer info states that the warranty may cover maintenance, corrosion, emissions, and powertrain. Generally, new vehicles come with a three-year/ 36,000-mile factory or manufacturer’s warranty. That excludes any wear and tear or the damages that happened due to routine maintenance.

Curious to know more about what is a factory warranty on a car, keep your curiousness flows to the next part of the article.  

What factory warranty offers?

A factory warranty includes more than one warranty. The main coverages that are included in the factory warranty are:

Basic limited warranty

It is also referred to as bumper-to-bumper or comprehensive coverage. A basic limited warranty covers all the faults in materials and workmanship for almost all parts of a vehicle, where the wear parts like tires, breaks, environmental damages to windshield or rust to some parts, and breaks are excluded in the basic limited warranty. The bumper-to-bumper warranty also does not cover the damages done by nature like floods, heavy rain, or natural disasters.

What confuses people is that they often mixed the basic limited warranty with the factory warranty. If you see someone talking about the warranty that lasts for 60,000 miles or for 5 years, they might be referring to a basic limited warranty.

Powertrain warranty

Second coverage which is offered by almost every brand’s is the powertrain warranty. This warranty is exactly what it sounds like. It covers components that power the whole vehicle and usually includes everything from the engine till the wheels, like:

• Transmission or transaxle
• Engine, including the engine block and internal parts
• Drivetrain

There are certainly other types that may include in the factory warranty, that are:

Corrosion coverage

The corrosion coverage pays for the repairs of the parts that are rusted. To have the coverage compensation, the part must have a hole in the metal sheet, and not covered by the rusted surface. This coverage differs among the other parts of the vehicle.

Emission warranty

The federal law defines that the defect on emission parts should be covered. They are likely to be covered for 24,000 miles or for 2-years, while some emission parts such as emission control unit and catalytic converter should be covered for 100,000 miles or for 8 years as the federal laws stated.

Roadside assistance

Several brands offer roadside assistance nowadays. This assistance can come together with the powertrain warranty period or can have its own duration. The ones that come with their own duration may have the requirement of deductibles or may offer allowances only regarding roadside assistance.

Maintenance

Some major brands in the automobile industry covers maintenance regularly for a limited period of time. Such as Toyota, which covers regular maintenance for their new cars up to 25,000 miles or for 2 –years. This maintenance coverage normally comes with a short duration.

Let us learn how popular manufacturers offer different coverages with different durations.