It's more of a marketing gimmick than anything else. Like it said above, who's really going to keep their vehicle beyond 10 years, and be the original owner?

Now, if it was a bumper to bumper warranty, I think more people would hold on to their vehicles.

Ya, nobody really keeps their vehicle longer than 5 years. Maybe 10 at the most, I would think, but I'm not sure. It is a marketing gimmick but I think it is a good move. I'm sure a lot of people stay away from MOPAR because they fear the powertrain reliability. This may put some worries at ease. Let's see if they increase the price of their vehicles now. Can we all quick get a Crossfire and beat the shit out of it?

Are you saying prople don't keep their cars more than 3 years because they have short attention spans or the cars suck?

Personally I think its a great idea. I've always wanted to buy a Jeep, but my faith in Crysler tranmissions has always been rather weak based on family and personal experience.

As for keeping a vehical longer then 10 years, I for one would. I tend to drive vehicals until the cost of repair is too expensive (I personally love not having a car payment because my vehical has been paid off for four years already).

I am no fan of chrysler. They don't make anything I would consider.

Now, those of you that talk about 10 year warranties and how long people keep their cars, remember its almost always 10years/100,000 miles. While a majority of people may not keep a car more than 10 years, you can easily acheive the 100,000 mile mark in 5 years of less.

If my job required me to drive everyday, I would seriously consider getting a Chrysler now.
Of course, I would still be scared that everything else in the car would fall apart at 65K miles.

Of course, you have these marketing gimmicks when you have crappy goods that people are not really wanting to purchase.

Some of us don't go buy new cars every 2-3 years. We actually like to not have a car payment. My family typically keeps a car until our needs change or it dies. My parents didn't get rid of their 88 Honda Civic until last year when my brother wrecked it.

People don't keep there cars for 5 or 10 years?!? I've had my Honda Civic for 10 1/2 years. It's still going strong and I plan on keeping it at least another 2 years.

Whenever I hear of "lifetime" warrenties, I think - Lifetime of what?

The issue is not the length of the warranty. The issue is the quality of the product. It does me no good knowing that my failed powertrain will be repaired/replaced when I'm stuck somewhere with a vehicle that won't move. The fact that it takes Chrysler days to repair a vehicle because "they don't stock parts for the older models because their parts department is full of parts for newer models" (a quote from a service advisor when asked why it was taking so long to make a simple repair) is of no help either. Finally, trying to convince a service advisor what should be covered under the powertrain warranty is extremely frustrating. Basically, what is covered are the components that are not likely to fail anyway like transmission cases, crankshafts, etc. Get them to replace failed CV joints or the electronics that control the powertrain - good luck!

I hope other OEM's like Hyundai that have 10yr/100,000mi warranties change theirs to lifetime as well. This lifetime warranty can only mean good things.

Lifetime is usually applied as "The lifetime of the product" so who knows how long it really is

I wonder....I'll be willing to bet that there are a few more restrictions on that warranty than they're letting on...like maybe you have to have all your regular service (oil change, tire rotation, etc.) done at a Chrysler group dealer?

"Of course, you have these marketing gimmicks when you have crappy goods that people are not really wanting to purchase."

This is like the salesman who says "It's so good you don't need a warranty". If the car is that good, then it shouldn't cost them anything to include the warranty.

I keep my vehicles as long as possible.

My last vehicle, 1993 Ford Ranger Splash lasted till Ivan turned the truck into a submarine. Completely underwater.

Ivan happened in September of 2004, that meant I had the ranger for 11 years, 189k miles and still running strong, well till it was submerged beneath brickish water, mix of salt/fresh water.

You would be surprised at all the people that keep their vehicles longer than 5 years.

Then again, clearly, not everyone has to have the latest vehicle or the me first attitude to keep themself in debt buying a new car.

This is a good step, now if GM and Ford follow along things will get really interesting. :)

Kept my last Acura Legend for 18 years... junked it because of rust. Only replaced alternator on the dang thing.
Just bought a 16 year old Acura Legend is great shape... will drive it another 10 years.
As far as car payment... why would I want to borrow money on a depreciating asset?

Well even if it is covered under the warranty, what do you do for the 3 or so days they have your vehicle? My first new truck was a 1995 Jeep Wrangler that I kept till 2005. In that time it went through 3 transmissions (all covered under warranty but what a hassle). I remember having tickets to a concert, stopping at the store, and walking out to the parking lot only to find the transmission wouldn't come out of first gear. Took Jeep a week and half to fix it. What a PITA, missed the concert, and had to rent a car to get to work all week.

This sounded interesting for about 15 seconds. Then I remembered how many times the only Chrysler I've ever owned had to go to the shop for the same stupid problem. Three different dealerships worked on that car and none of them fixed it. No thank you. Extending 3 years of bad service to a lifetime of bad service doesn't make me want to buy from them.

The only way this will help me, is if the other auto makers try to match it.

I think it's a great idea, this should make other car makers follow suit. Dodge has some cars that interest me, maybe a Jeep or two as well.

I, for one, have had an engine in my '00 Honda Accord V6 go out(under warranty) as well as 3 transmissions in my '02 Acura CL-S(defect in design). I got rid of the Acura because it was nearing the 100k warranty expiration on the transmission(Acura extended it due to the design flaw). A lifetime warranty would allow me to drive my cars longer and possibly even have a few years WITHOUT a car payment!

Not a lot of time to post, but my thought is that this is a play that is either going to end Chrysler.

This is a play dead-set on not just bringing in new customers, but making sure that those customers return to Chrysler every time. Ever hear that from old people? How repeat customers are the business you want? I theorize, however, that repeat customers are not exactly the best customers in all cases. They tend to complain a lot when things change (I take to example: everyone who complains GM does not make big block V8 muscle cars anymore).

Also, and this is a really big problem, repeat customers tend to say things like "I've been doing business with you for xx number of years, you should give me a discount!" So yes, they buy things, but they tend to become low margin, and hacked off when you have to change your product line (for instance, due to environmental regulations or sales of existing models). I still hear people complain about how BMW's looks have changed ever since Bangle took over. Now, BMW makes good cars, so even those people will buy a new BMW once their old one finally goes kaput. Chrysler does not have that.

Chrysler is probably thinking that if they can get people to just keep coming to the dealerships (for that warranty work or inspections) they can get those people to be repeat customers. How would someone who is getting free warranty work done be a repeat SPENDER? Easy: when their car gets wrecked they buy a new one, or they take their kids to the Chrysler dealer for their first new car.

But that is the problem. Chrysler's business plan then relies on the cars needing work none to often, otherwise the repairs-for-life eat away at profit margins. Then, they are hoping to bring in repeat business that will want special treatment, further eroding profit margins. And THEN, they are relying almost solely on the customers kids to be the source of real new customers. That, and whomever is friends of the first customers, because word-of-mouth can help. People just do not buy their kids new cars though, and Chrysler may only attract the young audience that way if the kids had a real good experience with their parents brand (not to mention, what happens with rebellious kids).

There is also the idea that a person may just want a new car, but if someone is getting a new car every five years, a 10 year powertrain warranty is enough for them. Heck, even 5 years would be enough. The lifetime warranty is just not going to help for new car buyers.

The one bright spot is actually that low resale value. Because the car depreciates so fast, young buyers and/or people with low budgets can still pick them up cheap. This means that when that person is in the market for a brand new car eventually, they will look at whatever they liked about the used car, and say "that or better with a lifetime power train warranty? Done." Its not always going to be that simple, but if it happened to just a quarter of used Chrysler buyers, its putting Chrysler in a good place.

Of course the low resale value is also a dark spot at the same time (and darker than usually it would be): if a person goes to sell their Chrysler and finds it to be so lowly valued, they may just hold onto it until it gets wrecked, or worse, hold onto it forever. That is the customer who kills Chrysler's profit.

So my summary of Chryslers new business plan:
1. Any customer who just buys the car and holds onto it is just going to eventually eat away whatever profit was in the car.
2. The resale value will still be low, and possibly thats a good thing, but anyone who wants to resell the car later is going to be disappointed.
3. This does not fix that Chrysler still does not make competitive vehicles.

Chrysler had better hope that its latest product line is better than all the others combined. Why? Because American automakers have a nasty habit of making cars that just catch up to the imports, and then the import manufacturers release their new models the next year and suddenly the Americans are sub-par again. Toyota now has a model that has been on sale since last year in the Camry sedan: this means that either next year or the year after we will have a new Camry. Chrysler not only needs a car that will displace the Camry now (and its not even competitive in that segment with the current offerings), but something to deal with the 2010 Camry.

All in all, I'm still not buying any stock in Chrysler. This just ruins their profit margins down the road, it ruins the price of the car down the road in the long term (not the second or third time customer really, but the third, fourth, and fifth time customers yes), it does nothing to bring in the business that Chrysler does not have, and it just hurts the budget for research the Chrysler needs.

Say what you will but im gettin my butt down to pick up a SRT8 Jeep as soon as possible.

this is a perfect excuse to get rid of my 2006 Acura TL.

my only concern is what happens after christler goes under do i still keep my warrante????

I bought mine yesterday :(

Brilliant marketing plan. Their interiors are so bad you couldn't keep the car more than 5 years because all of the little plastic stuff would break and I have this funny feeling they are going to stop making all of the plastic interior stuff.

There is going to be the one guy who makes them live up to this who either machines metal versions of the interior stuff that breaks or keeps the whole thing together with duckt tape, bailing wire, sheer will and determination and they are going to use him in their ad in 50 years.

My mom drives almost 50k a year, depending on the year and what not. at this rate the warrenty is over in no time flat, while the car itself is still in great shape cause its highway miles. a lifetime warrenty would be great cause at 300k, the tranny might go and ur stuck with a 99 (our expedition) with 300k that runs amazing, is only 6 years old at the time and is in basicly mint conditing (aside some scratches and what not)

This will get people bringing their car to the dealer for everything. Meaning whenever something which is NOT part of the powertrain goes kaput the person will probably still take it to the dealer and they can then sell all of the add on services like oil changes, transmission flushes, radiator flushes, changing fuses (because we all know how important THAT is) refilling r134 and all of the other needed or bullshit services they can think to charge someone for.

Or they could be like Chapman Chevrolet in Tempe AZ who had my car in for warranty service on the water pump. I went to their parts department and bought a new serpent belt and asked them to please put the new belt on when they reassemble the car. First they charged me $300 and something because the pump wasn't bad, the gasket was and gaskets aren't covered under warranty. They then tried to charge me $180 worth of labor for putting that belt on!! I had to throw a HUGE hissey fit and have the service manager come out and explain to me exactly how his magical technician was able to replace the water pump gasket without removing the serpent belt. After some back and forth and my dramatically throwing myself at his feet asking him to be my sensai he had to admit that yes, the serpent belt does come off when the water pump is replaced and that time is already included in the cost of the water pump repair so when putting a belt on there is absolutely no additional labor involved between an old belt and a new one.

What if I didn't know that the water pump is run off of that serpent belt though?

I have a really funny feeling this is the same kind of thing which will happen here. The powertrain is free, but the hoses, gaskets, thermostat, electrical and whatever else are not included and those are what usually go bad and then if the water pump goes bad they will tell you how you need new belts and hoses too and they are not covered and they will charge you for the belts and hoses AND for the labor even though most of that labor should have been included in the initial warranty part since you have to remove the serpent belt and at least some hoses to get to the pump. So I'm sure it will be a money making machine for them.

This will get people bringing their car to the dealer for everything. Meaning whenever something which is NOT part of the powertrain goes kaput the person will probably still take it to the dealer and they can then sell all of the add on services like oil changes, transmission flushes, radiator flushes, changing fuses (because we all know how important THAT is) refilling r134 and all of the other needed or bullshit services they can think to charge someone for.

Or they could be like Chapman Chevrolet in Tempe AZ who had my car in for warranty service on the water pump. I went to their parts department and bought a new serpent belt and asked them to please put the new belt on when they reassemble the car. First they charged me $300 and something because the pump wasn't bad, the gasket was and gaskets aren't covered under warranty. They then tried to charge me $180 worth of labor for putting that belt on!! I had to throw a HUGE hissey fit and have the service manager come out and explain to me exactly how his magical technician was able to replace the water pump gasket without removing the serpent belt. After some back and forth and my dramatically throwing myself at his feet asking him to be my sensai he had to admit that yes, the serpent belt does come off when the water pump is replaced and that time is already included in the cost of the water pump repair so when putting a belt on there is absolutely no additional labor involved between an old belt and a new one.

What if I didn't know that the water pump is run off of that serpent belt though?

I have a really funny feeling this is the same kind of thing which will happen here. The powertrain is free, but the hoses, gaskets, thermostat, electrical and whatever else are not included and those are what usually go bad and then if the water pump goes bad they will tell you how you need new belts and hoses too and they are not covered and they will charge you for the belts and hoses AND for the labor even though most of that labor should have been included in the initial warranty part since you have to remove the serpent belt and at least some hoses to get to the pump. So I'm sure it will be a money making machine for them.

Once again on limited time (the sleeping pills should kick in any second), but I retract some of my earlier post: PD is right. The wording in the warranty will insure that Chrysler will not loose money on the warranty, indeed all the repairs and maintenance that could be done cheaper at a local Jiffy Lube someone may have the dealer do now. Heck this may even add value to Chryslers sales.

Hmm, still not picking up stock, but if the next quarter is good and the price still low enough, I may pick some up.

To anyone looking to buy a Chrysler now: If you read the warranty on their website it specifically says that the SRT line of cars is NOT covered by the lifetime warranty, which is too bad.

NO SRT ??? what thats there only cars i like ...

Come on TL baby you know i didnt mean it... i love you Acura.... don't make me beg... damn it now shes pissed at me... Now look what you have done dodge....

What is a powertrain? i thaught i was buying a car not a locomotive...

I've owned 3 Chryslers and have had nothing but problems with all of them. I bought 1 new and had the fuel pump replaced twice with less than 20K on the odometer. My fondest memories with 2 of the vehicles involve being stalled in intersections while other motorists gun their cars around me with one hand on the wheel and the other hand showing me the bird.

On the other hand, a 89 Corolla I once had lasted 16 years with nothing but routine maintenance which I personally performed.

I wouldn't buy another Chrysler if they came with a Lifetime warranty on every single component - it's just not worth the inevitable headaches.

Contrary to popular belief, I'd wager that most people buy foreign cars not because of status, image, or marketing but because of previous poor experience with American brands.

japs and nazis know how to make a lemon to i bet i just dont really hear about too may of em'

because they don't make too many of 'em?

I currently drive a 1995 dodge 3500 truck. The mileage is well over 300,000 with the majority being heavy service. The financial benefit of keeping a vehicle long term can be enhanced by such a warranty.

we've had our Neons since brand new in 1994/1995. so people do hold on to their cars and drive them into the ground.

Me and my family have only purchased jeeps over the last few years. and we had a 98 Cherokee with over 250k on it and the only reason we had to get rid of it is my brother wrecked it. Other wise we had no problems with it, As far as the engine and transmission goes they were great. we purchased another 98 and it is running perfectly! This unlimited warranty will be great for me since I will at least feel like I can at least pay the vehicle off and most engine and transmission problems will be fixed under warranty.
The sales associate said I could get my Oil changes at any place.
I didn't have to go to the dealership for them. I am definately planning on getting a Jeep wrangler 2 door and keeping it as long as I can!

Me and my family have only purchased jeeps over the last few years. and we had a 98 Cherokee with over 250k on it and the only reason we had to get rid of it is my brother wrecked it. Other wise we had no problems with it, As far as the engine and transmission goes they were great. we purchased another 98 and it is running perfectly! This unlimited warranty will be great for me since I will at least feel like I can at least pay the vehicle off and most engine and transmission problems will be fixed under warranty.
The sales associate said I could get my Oil changes at any place.
I didn't have to go to the dealership for them. I am definately planning on getting a Jeep wrangler 2 door and keeping it as long as I can!

Well look it on the bright side...you can be buried with ur CHRYSLER car.... :D