Tempted to buy that new manual transmission 2019 VW GTI that has been sitting on the dealer lot for a bit? Now may be the best time to jump on it. According to Automotive News, Volkswagen has told dealers it will end its six-year, 72,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty program for the 2020 model year, concluding what is perhaps the industry’s best protection guarantee. VW will replace it with a four-year, 50,000-mile warranty and two years of factory-covered maintenance. That’s not an awful warranty, but it is more in line with those offered by other manufacturers.
Volkswagen instituted the six-year warranty in 2017 to rebuild faith with customers post-Dieselgate and to juice sales of the new Tiguan and Atlas. The trouble was, the program wasn’t providing many benefits for the cost involved. VW found that its three-row SUV customers weren’t aware the extended warranty program existed, much less basing their decisions on it. The long warranty was also irrelevant for people who wanted to lease their vehicle. Free maintenance was likely to be a more effective investment.
Because the new policy does not go into effect until Volkswagen’s 2020 models, 2019 buyers can still snag that sweet 72,000-mile warranty on a car bought now and have it be transferrable on the back end. As a bonus, they also can still get access to the Golf wagon lineup — one of the best values among new cars available — before VW pulls them from the U.S. market.
Gear PatrolThe best way to catch up on the day’s most important product releases and stories. Read the Story