An Extended Warranty – Peace of Mind
Posted by Burnie on Friday, November 21st, 2008For the past 5 years, BraunAbility has offered a Service Contract, sometimes better known as an Extended Warranty, for our wheelchair vans and full-size vans with wheelchair lifts. Â The plans cover most of the components that might fail during the life of the van or lift. Even if you never experience a failure, the peace of mind of knowing you are covered is practically priceless.
The program is designed exclusively for vehicles converted for use by the physically challenged. We offer coverage for the mobility conversion only, or for the vehicle and the mobility conversion. The plan can be purchased any time during the period the vehicle is covered by the full original factory warranty. However, it is generally to your advantage to purchase the policy when you purchase the vehicle, because the price increases as the mileage increases.
For example: a two year old Entervan with 25,000 miles on it would be eligible for a Service Contract, but the price would be considerably more expensive for even less coverage than it would have been when the vehicle was first purchased. In most cases the price of the Service Contract can be included in the financing for the vehicle, making it practically painless. In a few rare cases I have even heard that the price of the extended warranty has been covered by Vocational Rehabilitation or Veterans Administration as a part of the Mobility Conversion, thereby making it totally painless!
There are various plans available, depending on the mileage at the time the package is purchased. Plans from 3 years to 7 years and mileage from 60,000 to 100,000 are available. While most of our plans are sold for protection of a new vehicle after the factory warranty has expired, we also offer plans for used converted vehicles. Let’s say you are interested in purchasing a used Rampvan, but you are concerned that it is no longer covered by the manufacture’s warranty should you run into problems after the purchase. If you purchase the Rampvan from one of our Dealers, you can purchase a service contract that will cover the vehicle and Rampvan conversion for up to 3 years or 36000 miles. Packages are available for vehicles up to 9 years old with under 80,000 miles at the time of purchase. These plans are available for all of our wheelchair vans and full-size vans converted with wheelchair lifts.
The coverage we offer is also available for commercially-operated Rampvans, Entervans and full-size vans with lifts for a small additional commercial surcharge.
For more information about the Service Contracts we offer, you can contact one of our many dealers. For the name of a dealer in your area that is authorized to offer the Extended Warranty please feel free to ask me directly by commenting below!
Tags: service, warranty, Wheelchair Lifts, Wheelchair Vans
December 9th, 2008 at 9:51 pm
Hi, I own an 05 entervan…My warranty just expired and I would like to get an extended warranty…I currently have aprox 34,000 miles on my van, i asked the service person at my dealership about this (prior to my warranty being over) but he told me I would have to contact braun directly…Doing a little serching online i found this saying that the dealership i got my braun vehicle from should offer the “service agreement”…Im afraid that i was misinformed by the dealer and now im left unprotected…what are my options at this point?
Thank you,
FG
December 15th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Hello Fred,
Thank you for your post.
Unfortunately, there is no one that I am aware of that offers an extended on a vehicle that is not still covered by the OEM warranty.
Extended Warranties are actually insurance policies, and must be underwritten by an insurance company. This is true no matter who writes the policy or what it covers. The Insurance Underwriters, for reasons known only to them, have certain policies and procedures. They offer very little to no flexibility.
It is unfortunate that you were misinformed by the dealer. Sometimes, if a dealer feels that he is not up to date on the latest information he will refer a customer directly to us. Things change so fast that it is sometimes difficult to stay up to date. I would have been happy to have provided you with extended warranty information. It would still have been necessary for you to purchase the warranty from a dealer, but you might have had the information early enough to allow you the option.
If, in the future, I find an underwriter who will allow us to write policies on vehicles that are no longer covered by the original factory warranty, I will post it on the Abilityvoice, as well as with our dealers.
December 26th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I think the extended warranty is ok. But unfortunately it is too easy to say the wheelchair or customer caused the problem, hence you don’t pay for anything. And, I am being sent back and forth from Braun rep to Toytoa and still no working ramp. At this point I would be happy just to have the van fixed even though it only has 17,000 miles on it. The ramp has been out going on week two. So, don’t try to sell me on Braun. I am hoping you have some competition.
January 6th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Dear Jalynn,
Thank you for your comments.
Sorry it has taken so long for me to respond. The Holidays have me way behind.
It is not always easy to determine the cause of a problem, and thus the responsible party. We do our best to assess the situation correctly the first time. It is also sometimes difficult to determine who has the expertise to correct a problem. If the problem is chassis related, the Braun Dealer may not have the parts, tools, or the knowledge to repair the problem. Likewise if the problem is conversion related Toyota will generally not have the parts, tools, or knowledge to make the repair. It is also more difficult than you may think for us to tell a customer that something he/she is doing is causing the problem but it does occasionally happen.
In this country, if you build a product that has a degree of profit attached there is always going to be competition. This industry is no exception. Like any other industry, no one in this industry is exempt from problems. Obviously if you find a product that is without problems, even I would have to say buy it. After over thirty years in this business and over 40 years using products designed for the physically challenged, I assure you that no one tries harder to meet or exceed the expectations of our customer, than we do.
If you would like to contact me directly, I would be happy to take a personal look at your situation to see if I can be helpful in getting your van repaired in the least amount of time.
Sincerely,
Burnie B Blackmon, Jr.
Director, Special Vehicle Sales
Voice: 574-946-4139 x 3275
Fax: 574-946-3143
email: burnie.blackmon@braunlift.com
January 31st, 2009 at 11:22 pm
we offer extended warranty’s on vans up to 10 model years old and up to
125000 miles.. due to the technology in today’s vans we suggest you purchase
with your van but in anycase purchase one and be sure your dealer is a
licensed insurance agent..
Regards,
Peter J. Galietta Sr.
President/CEO
[PH]727-524-1300
800-868-6641
[FAX]727-524-1919
pete@wheelchair-van.com
http://www.wheelchair-van.com