The new OMVIC rules are definitely a thorn in the side for shady dealers. We have always disclosed everything we knew anyhow, so it doesnt create any change for us on that front. Articsteve is correct in a lot of what he says re warranties and used cars. Manufacturers can deny warranty claims on cars if you can't prove they have been serviced properly. Th example of the transmission service would apply to many manufacturers - not just Toyota. It is nice to get service history for this very reason, but it is hard to get! The frustrating part of this is that Manufacturers and even dealers hands are tied by privacy laws - or so they claim. They wont give out any vehicle history other than an in service date and an original selling or servicing dealer name. You might get lucky and get the dealer to tell you what history they have, but a lot of people dont return to the dealer for simple oil change intervals anyhow - so this isn't that helpful majority of the time. Why wether someone changed their oil or not, or for that matter the warranty claims history of a vehicle, are guarded by privacy laws is beyond me. I would like an actual legal opinion on that one actually - I have often wondered if it is a underhanded way for Manufacturers to deny claims, by denying access to service history, then denying claims due to no service history available. Any lawyers in the mix here?
On the upside, My experience has been that extended warranty companies don't require service history for the vehicle from before your purchased it. They definitely require it post purchase. So buying Extended warranty can definitely be a good move - beware however there are a lot of crap extended warranty companies. New OMVIC laws also regulate that and which ones are legal to sell in Ontario - but again there's only so much they can do.
Re advertising this car with warranty. “Waranty” simply a checked box that applies to autotrader ads – it doesn’t not give any details re the warranty – nor did the ad state “balance of factory warranty” which – if you look at our site – most of our ads do clearly state. We provide a 30 day complete warranty on every late model car we sell… this is why they are considered to have warranty - even if they are out of factory warranty. And again – the simple fact is, this customer was informed of the risks of the factory warranty being cancelled, as is every customer who buys a car with theft recovery history from us. I understand that she feels that it was downplayed – nonetheless, she acknowledges she was told… not sure how that can be downplayed. It is either a possibility – or it isn’t.
Re financing and disclosure of commissions. This is not a big deal for us - the bank typically pays dealers anywhere from $150 - 2.5% of the financed amount as a commission. We have no trouble disclosing that info, in fact we often tell customers that the banks pay us a fee to send them the business. It is a win win situation – not only do they pay us a fee – but they also give us a reduced rate over what you can get from your branch of the bank on the same loan. So why would a consumer care if we are getting a commission unless as long as we are saving them money while doing it, its not at their expense. Don’t think for a second that if car dealers didn’t make these commissions – they would arrange your loans for you for free. There is a lot of time consuming paperwork and liability, which go along with it.
This info only applies to car loans btw – we don’t have access to other banking products such as line of credit or consolidation loans, which can be at all kinds of different rates.
