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Arguable. Nothing prevents manufacturers from offering 10 or even 20 years of warranty, except of course the market reality that few people would buy it when su
by emiliobumachar 7y ago
Arguable. Nothing prevents manufacturers from offering 10 or even 20 years of warranty, except of course the market reality that few people would buy it when such a wareanty's costs are priced in.
- lmm 7y agoAnd then that manufacturer declares bankruptcy after 3. Limited liability makes it impossible for corporations to offer a credible 10 or 20 year warranty.
- namibj 7y agoAn insurance company could offer it, however. They'd want to make sure the produce is of sufficient quality, and if it breaks, they'll provide replacements/repairs until the end of the warranty period.
- anticensor 7y agoInsurance could only provide a repayment, not repair.
- namibj 7y agoThey could contractually state a non-monetary compensation, i.e. fixing/replacing the broken appliance. Similar to a B2B service contract, where you pay a monthly rate in exchange for updates or even hardware fixes.
- anticensor 7y agoInsurance company would not have sufficient means to provide repair if no one is willing. Replacement might be possible, but is always costlier than repayment as you have to test the replacement product, too.
- namibj 7y agoThat's kind of the point. The consumer doesn't just get his money back, he gets what he ordered. Maybe allow a lump sum payout that's like 5x what they consumer payed just to cap the losses the insurer could incur, while keeping a strong incentive to repair/replace as that's less hassle for the consumer and thus his preferred option. It saves time otherwise spend on shopping for a replacement as well as getting accustomed to said replacement.
- magduf 7y agoWhen was the last time an appliance manufacturer went bankrupt? I can't think of any. There are some that aren't around any more, but it's because they were purchased by or merged with competitors (hence, in America, Whirlpool, Roper, Maytag, Frigidaire, etc., are all the same company now).
- lmm 7y agoMFI's bankruptcy was just over 10 years ago. Hotpoint are now owned by Indesit who won't honour a warranty from ~8 years ago. And those are just the ones I've experienced myself.