Your Car Might Have a 'Secret' Warranty

Owning a car is expensive—even new cars need tune-ups, regular maintenance, and occasional repair, and it all adds up (to an average of about $1,452 every year). Car warranties help mitigate those costs, but they typically only cover three years or up to 36,000 miles, which goes by pretty fast, considering most people drive about 15,000 miles per year.

That drives people to look for ways to save money on car repairs, especially if the car is outside the warranty period. But are you sure your car is out of warranty? It’s possible that even if the official warranty has expired, your car is covered to some extent by what’s variously known as “policy adjustments,” “service campaigns,” or “good-will programs.” Whatever the official name, let’s call them what they really are: They’re “secret warranties,” and they could potentially save you a lot of money.

What’s a secret warranty?

A secret warranty comes into being when a car manufacturer realizes that a part or component in one of their car models is defective, usually due to unusually high failure rates or other problems. To manage the situation and protect themselves from liability, they will extend the warranty on that part, offering free replacement parts using new versions or discounts on service work.

So what makes them secret? These warranty extensions aren’t official recalls—they’re voluntary programs from the manufacturer—so there’s actually no law that compels them to notify people. While vehicle owners are sometimes notified of these extended warranties, this is usually done by mail and many people simply don’t read the letters. Additionally, no effort is made to contact secondary owners who bought the vehicle pre-owned, and dealers rarely reach out to publicize free or discounted repairs.

The Center for Auto Safety estimates that at any given time there are more than 500 secret warranties active from all the auto manufacturers combined. Each one represents repair and safety work you might be able to get at no cost or at a discounted rate—if you can find out about them.

How to check

Secret warranties are typically communicated to dealers via what’s known as a technical service bulletin (TSB), which lets the dealer know that they can replace a part or perform some kind of service on specific models (sometimes even specific ranges of Vehicle Identification Numbers, or VINs) at a reduced rate or no cost.

You can potentially find out about TSBs and secret warranties in three ways:

• State laws. While no federal law exists requiring the disclosure of secret warranties, five states have these laws on the books: California, Connecticut, Maryland, Virginia, and Wisconsin. These states require car dealerships to notify you when the warranty on your car is extended or otherwise modified.

• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) site. The NHTSA maintains a database of TSBs. You can enter your car’s information and see a list of “Manufacturer Communications.” These can be a chore to read through and understand, but it can be worth the trouble if you find out you can have your car serviced for free. For example, here’s a memo from Ford detailing an extended warranty on a range of Escape SUVs and Fusion sedans.

  One caveat: Just because there’s a TSB (or several) for your car’s make and model doesn’t mean there’s a secret warranty—they just indicate that a problem exists and the dealer has been given instructions on how to fix it. But having a copy of that communication from the manufacturer will help you find out from your dealer if there’s a secret warranty you can take advantage of.

• Call the dealer. Finally, you can try simply calling the dealer who sold you the car and ask. Have your VIN ready and ask them to check for warranty adjustments or extensions.

Note that just like the original warranty, these “secret” warranties have deadlines. If you find out about them after their effective period has expired, you won’t be able to take advantage of them.

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