Car Warranty Solicitations

Maybe you've received a telemarketing call or a mailer saying your car warranty is about to expire. A Spartanburg car dealership and the Better Business Bureau say they're getting complaints from consumers who receive these when, in fact, their warranties are not expiring. One state's Attorney General says some warranty sales companies have deceived consumers into buying warranties they don't need.

At Dave Edwards Toyota in Spartanburg, finance director Andy Brand says they receive a dozen complaints a month from customers who receive mailers stating their car warranties are expiring. Said Brand, "Customers are calling in concerned that their factory warranty is either expired or about to expire, when most of the time this is certainly not the case."

The notices are not from Toyota or Dave Edwards Toyota. They're from other warranty sales companies.

Brand showed us a mailer that Dave Edwards' wife, Sarah, received from a company called "Dealership Warranties" in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Said Brand, "The owner's wife, Mrs. Edwards received one recently, which is a little peculiar because she doesn't have a vehicle title in her name."

We called Dealership Warranties owner Eric Gerhardt. Said Gerhardt, "All I can say is we buy our lists, we're using a reputable source.... What we're asking for in our list is for people in South Carolina that have vehicles in these years, say 2004, and give us their names and addresses."

Better Business Bureau President Kathy Barrett showed us mailings from several different warranty sales companies that have generated similar complaints. The Missouri Attorney General recently took legal action against several companies that sell warranties, saying they deceived consumers into buying warranties they didn't need.

Dealership Warranties was not among those companies and says it contacts it's mailing list suppliers when there's an error. Said Gerhardt, "It costs us money when that happens, so we obviously do not want to be sending these to anybody who doesn't have that year of vehicle." The Better Business Bureau says Dealership Waranties has also resolved any complaints filed against the company.

Andy Brand urges any car owner to check their warranty before they buy another one so that they don't pay for more coverage than they need.

Here's some advice from the Better Business Bureau on how to check out any warranty before you buy it:

Check out the company and the insurance company that backs the warranty.

See which repairs will be covered and which ones will not.

And look for clauses that void the warranty. If you do not properly maintain your car, for example, you may void the warranty.