Since posting my question on this post I've noticed that almost EVERYTHING has an optional extended warranty. It seems the theory is that the gizmo you buy has a life span that's as long as the extended warranty- so you should plan on purchasing the extended warranty with the gizmo & just plan on repeating this process when the warranty is finished.

Fabulous money maker for the manufacturer, not so fabulous for end users. Pretty soon we'll have to replace all electronic gizmos every few years ( including, but not limited to- dishwashers, refrigerators, heaters, air conditioners,etc, not to mention all the standard electronic fair- computers, ipods, etc.). Cars, forklifts, etc will become a comodity to lease ( less expensive to lease than purchase, especially if you're not going to use it for to long), and just replace when the warranty is finished. We'll all be chasing our tails just to keep up on the payments of "stuff" that has to be replaced.

I guess I'm too old school to buy into this replacement cycle type of mentality. My children- who have been paying for their own technology wants for a few years now are beginning to get tired of having to constantly purchase new technology. They are seeing how much $ they spend on phones, ipads, etc. now that they have more pressing bills to pay (college tuition).

PS- by the way- to anyone who has had a new home heater installed within the last few years- the new heater controls are computerized, and as such, are touchy with voltage spikes, etc. During the noreaster we had back in Sept that took out NJ- I never lost power, but had a few brown outs- long story short- the brown outs took out my heater brain at a cost of $500.00. Short of installing a spike protection & battery back up system just for my heater- I was told this is the new norm- I just LOVE technology!

Euros...not sure how it compares to Canadian dollars. For the 3 year ,6000 hour warranty, Our Company gets 4 maintenance checks a year, based on 500 hours, times 3 years @ $78 each.....That's $936 Canadian for scheduled maintenance only. the rest is FIXED maintenance at a set rate. This is a mutual agreement with the customer and the dealer. A premier contract that states we (the dealer) pay for all work unless it's accidental and over $1000. Small collisions or any flat load wheels are covered by us!
So you blokes in Europe are getting a good deal !!!
When we are belly up i may have to re-locate to Europe!

Karait,
You are so right. Everyoen one pushes extended warranties from powered hand tools to appliance, lawn mowers, lift trucks, except if they working in a "pickle foundry" (i.e. a unque way of saying a briney, dusty operation). They do it not to be nice guys but to - to make added profit and protect the dealership whe na FMV lease with full maintenance (similar to an LTR except it is finaced though a third party the actually owns the equipment).

One more from me, if you don't mind.

Generally, the prolonged warranty is pretty good bussiness for the manufacturer/dealer.

Lets consider 3 years/6000 hours warranty.

With 250/500 hours inspection interval (the routine for most japanese, korean, american brands) the enduser is oblidged to purchase 24 or 12 inspections from the supplier, what gives guaranteed 3000 to 5000 Euro income per truck. This is quite a tibit.

When the user considers the alternative of selfinspecting the trucks or using the "non-authorised" service companies it shows the savings on the level of 30-50% of maintenance costs, usually with no loss to the service quality issues.

The potential warranty repair costs are usually low within first three years and very often the supplier charges enduser for them because of "misuse", usually alleged.

This is probably the reason, why many manufaturers/dealers keep 250/500 hours inspection interval.

The main european manufacturers (Linde, Jungheinrich, Still) for many years recommend 1000 hours inspection intervals and offer the significant reduction of mantenance costs.

The issue is - in Europe dominates the full service/LTR culture (in some countries 60 to 80 % of the new trucks on the market are under LTR or FS. And the biggest clients are the LTR fleet operators, who strongly influence on maintenance costs reduction.

Generally, IMHO, the prolonged warranty is mainly a marketing issue to raise the suppliers income.

Thanks for all your inputs. I appreciate it.

For the most of manufactures, different price, different warranty time, the standred is 1 year or 2000 working hours

I do beleive it is dealer only

That does sound impressive. Is the end user allowed to do the maintenance in house or does the dealer have to do it to qualify?

bbforks,

It is an (Extra Cost) extended warranty like no other.

Our Carriage to Counterweight or Bumper to Bumper warranty:

Includes: * All major components - frame, overhead guard, mast weldments, steer axle, drive axle, internal engine and transmission components
* Hydraulic system - control valve, pump and cylinders
* Electrical system - motors, controllers, displays, switches, wire harnesses, cooling fans and DC converters
* Brake system - brake drums, braking plate, master and slave cylinder, parking brake assembly and linkage
* Steering system - steering orbital, steer cylinder, steering motor and steering pump
* Exhaust system - catalytic muffler or converter
* Operator controls - tilt column, levers and linkages, accelerator assembly, brake, joystick
* Mast system - side-shift cylinder, tilt cylinder, reach cylinder and lift cylinder

Excludes: * All planned maintenance items including fluids, filters and lubricants
* Adjustments / connections and programming
* Wear items - tires, brake shoes / pads, seat cushions, battery, belts, hoses, forks, motor brushes, contactor tips, light
bulbs, strobes, floormat, pedal surfaces, gaskets, seals and any other component that has reached a point of normal life
expectancy
* Failures as a result of poor or lack of maintenance, abuse or misuse of the lift truck

Iceman- what do you mean 1 time buy up? Is this an included warranty or an extra cost extended warranty?

To everyone- thanks for your repsonses!

MCFA has a 5 year 10,000 hour carriage to counter weight warranty on all products they offer, Cat, Mitsubishi, and Jungheinrich. The warranty is a onetime buy up. This is not a drive line warranty! This is a full coverage warranty. They even offer it on turret trucks. Prices range from 900-2700. They provide documentation to show exactly what is covered and what is not. In high hour applications this can be priceless. Beware though a Dealer can make all the difference in the value of a warranty. A great dealer can make this useless or priceless depending on their action.

Out of the Yale literature packet:

12 months/2000 hrs. all parts (not brake shoes,tires,bulbs,filters, spark plugs)
24/4000 engine and trans.
180 days for any parts that have been replaced
3 years/2500 hours on any fuel system, ignition system, catalytic converter parts

One other thing about warranties, especially in high usage/multi shift operations is how the hourmeter is activated. Some manufactuers activate with key switch in on position (benefit the manufactuer), some with operator presence & key on activation (a toss up possibly), some with oil pressure sensor if electric in tje drive mode & key on (benefit the customer). I'm certain there are other ways hourmeters are activated.

The warranties are getting even better. The new Raymond 7500 Reach trucks have 6000 hr 5 year power-train and major component warranties if the customer takes the maintenance contract. The service intervals is increased to 500 hrs between SM`s. The factory even offers buy back terms over 5 years in case the customer`s needs change or a major slow down occurs in use
This brings the cost per hour way down over 5 years and gives the customers incentive to ditch their high hour machines.
It`s a win-win situation for the customer with these improved warranties and buy back features.

warranties vary from one mfg to the other
check with the machine manufacturer as to what the warranties are for whatever machine you have a question about.
Most standard warranties are 1yr - 2000hrs but with new technology now a days some mfg's have boosted thier standard warranties to 2yrs - 4000hrs and their standard maintenance intervals correspond with the increase as well.

and yes there are extended warranties but those vary as well depending on what you want to pay for.

there is no definitive answer we can give you without knowing the manufacturer and model lift your speak of.