Posts: 32789
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | ColdLabatts - 8/18/2017 3:40 PM
I work in product support for a major manufacturing company and I can assure you that companies care about this sort of situation....companies that try and take care of their customers at least. Yes its 12 years old but they may offer you a deal on a trade in or something like that. We call them goodwill claims and do it all the time.
Doesn't matter which outboard motor company you are talking about. I've been in the marine sale/service/warranty business for 45 years and once an outboard is out of warranty AND several years out of production I know of precious few good will warranty settlements offered even for the original owner, and even less a chance if not the original owner and unless the engine had a registered history of repeated problems, and even then, 12 years is a really long time to expect going to the company will result in a good deal on a new engine. Hours have a ton to do with it, marine engines from that era and technology 'can' go over a thousand hours, but there is absolutely no warranty implied they will last past the warranty period. The reason you see longer warranties now is what could be considered extremely large improvements in technology since the engine companies were forced to start building 'green tech' engines.
Similar to automotive, outboards, like pick up truck engines and transmissions, wear out, and once age and wear, an uncertain or completely unknown service record, etc. become a reality that will lead to a 'no' answer almost every time. I own a Toyota Tundra with 200K on it and an excellent service record, but would not expect them to give me a hot deal on a new one if I lost a cylinder today.
Of course, everyone would applaud the company for a 'good will' deal on an engine failure like that, but so much relies on the engine history it's a big expense to even find out what the failure was and why it happened. Worth a try of course because one never knows, but to expect it would be a bit past reality in this biz.
That said, whatever your company sells, I'd buy it over a company that offers none, if I knew it was a standard practice. |
