The warranty lists many things that are not covered, including "damage or failures resulting … from … (an) alteration. …" The original owner had made some changes to the car. But the couple says the sales team assured them those changes wouldn't affect the warranty—something the dealership denies.
Consumer Reports' advice is to never depend on spoken assurances. You have to read that fine print carefully and get any assurances in writing. And don't assume that lifetime necessarily means your lifetime. It may simply mean the expected lifetime of the product.
And when a warranty says "limited lifetime warranty," it means limited. Often the warranty only covers the product while it's owned by the original purchaser. Once the product is sold or given away, the warranty is void. And return shipping is often not included.
As for paint, many carry a limited lifetime warranty—but only for the paint itself, not the much bigger cost of repainting.
The Web site Consumerist.org (owned by the publisher of Consumer Reports) gets a lot of complaints from consumers about lifetime warranties, and it follows up on them. Recently it got a complaint that Sears wouldn't take back a Craftsman tool. But when the Consumerist called Sears, the company reminded its sales staff that replacements will be provided for any reason. So it can pay to be persistent.
