Questionnaire: Would you pay for an extended warranty?

Ste-robbo

Hi All,

My first post on here but I am on a couple of other forums. A friend of mine works within the insurance industry and is the go to guy for new ideas and projects. I approached him a while back about offering an extended warranty service on bikes and also a separate warranty scheme for used bikes so you can get those bargain second hand bikes and still have warranty to rely on. He seemed pretty interested in the basic concept if I can come up with some figures so here I am.. Basically I would really appreciate it if you could take a minute or two out of your time to answer the below.

Hopefully if I can get something going it would be a good idea for us bikers as I have seen numerous cases of frames getting seriously damaged out side of warranty or bought second hand. Anyway here we go:

Did you buy your bike brand new or second hand?
What did you pay?
What would you be happy to pay for an annual warranty policy if it covered all your criteria?
Would you prefer to pay annually or monthly?
Would you consider second hand if this was available?

As said hopefully this will come about as I think it will benefit a lot of riders and give us a little bit of extra peace of mind if your warranty has expired or you buy used.
I am trying to get the T&C's to be very close to the manufacturers so all reasonable grounds are covered.

Thankyou for you time.
*Just copied this from the MTB general section, although I am not a roadie it helps to get a good idea between road & mtb

owenlars

For what it is worth I don't pay for extended warranties for anything. Just profit for the supplier or someone else. On the other hand if you're looking to make money then they are an excellent way of extracting it from the unsuspecting buyer. It is a bit like betting shops really, where does their profit come from? Gullible Joe public.

WindyG

Did you buy your bike brand new or second hand? Yes
What did you pay? Money
What would you be happy to pay for an annual warranty policy if it covered all your criteria? No
Would you prefer to pay annually or monthly? See Above
Would you consider second hand if this was available? Why would I want a 2nd hand policy

djm501

OK, I'll bite.

Did you buy your bike brand new or second hand? New
What did you pay? 2 bikes - one £725, the other £999
What would you be happy to pay for an annual warranty policy if it covered all your criteria? No
Would you prefer to pay annually or monthly? See Above
Would you consider second hand if this was available? No

Sorry but I too will never pay for extended warranties on anything - money for old rope.

AchillesLeftKnee

Ste-robbo wrote:

What would you be happy to pay for an annual warranty policy if it covered all your criteria?

...

*Just copied this from the MTB general section, although I am not a roadie it helps to get a good idea between road & mtb

The problem with warranties for road bikes is, IMHO, road bikes don't have the one (or two) thingy(s) where I reckon a warranty would come in handy - shocks. They strike me as the only part of a bike that's potentially expensive enough to get really irritated about if it died that could also be reasonably expected to go belly up under normal (and therefore be covered by a warranty) use insofar as the whole point of them is to kick seven shades of stool out of them, all the time, with pike and tuck.

There's also the slight problem of the durability of road bits. They tend to last an awfully long time unless either seriously el cheapo in the first place, or abused beyond what they were really designed for. Take "lubricated with liquid mud" and "bashed to bits on the scenery" out of the equation and component lifespans are pretty long.

navrig

Waste of money.

dynamicbrick

Not worth the effort as any insurer will take exclude 'wear & tear' - which'll mean chainset, gears, wheels, bb, shift mechanism, bar tape and saddle.

Therefore, as most manufacturers guarantee their frames for quite a while now, you'll be left with a warranty on your brakes, seatpost, and stem.

majormantra

Ha! Not a chance.

nferrar

Yeah extended warranties have such a crap (often deservedly so) reputation that they're a hard sell these days. Personally I'd say you're better off for bike cover with accidental damage cover on your home contents insurance (and making sure it's a new for old policy).

chris_bass

I always go with the theory if someone in a shop is trying really hard to sell you something as an extra or add on to a product, whatever it may be, it is usually because they are paid commision to sell it. The company they work for is only interested in making money so it must be better for them than you!

also, as far as bikes go, what would be covered? too much of it just natuarally wears out anyway.

Monty Dog

Warranties were developed by the US auto industry in the face of poor quality domestic products against cheaper, more reliable imports. These were subsequently adopted by many of the US bike makers as part of the 'brand' offer, again in the face of imported product. IME, those brands that tout warranties the most are the ones that have the worst reputation for product failures. The way that warranties work is that the manufacturer buys insurance to pay for customer claims and expect this is the same that what's being offered here. The trouble is, warranties don't cover you for wear, tear or accidental damage - or they'd be very expensive. As many have found out, lifetime warranties can be worthless after a while as they are completely discretionary and have no legal obligation - Merlin titanium bikes being an example. I'd much rather spend my money on hardware than useless pieces of paper - if it does break, I can fix / replace it myself. Much like PPI, it's purely a ruse to make money, not to provide tangible value to the consumer.

keef66

Tough crowd! So that's a no then?

Conclusive market research I'd say, and for that reason I'm out.