madbrad-ga:
I'm posting this as a Comment because there is no hard and fast rule
governing this.
Manufacturers are not required to honour or offer warranties on
products that were not originally sold in the jurisdiction where the
warranty claim is being made (naturally, there will always be
exceptions, some jurisdictions do not allow for limited warranties and
so your actual results will depend on where the vehicle is being moved
to). For many classes of goods where there is a reasonable expectation
of longevity, there is a requirement that a warranty of some type be
offered to protect the customer. The actual terms of the warranty are
up to the manufacturer; if the consumer does not like the terms of the
warranty, the idea is that they can turn to a competing manufacturer
who offers a better one.
In recent years, the issue has come to a head for the North American
auto industry. Up until the past few months, when the exchange rate
between the American and Canadian dollars was still heavily in favor
of the US dollar, there were a lot of individuals and brokers
importing Canadian automobiles fresh off the lot of a Canadian dealer,
directly to the driveway of an American customer. They could do this
because, with the exception of the speedometer/odometer, the rest of
the vehicle was already up to American regulatory requirements.
As you can see from this article:
http://www.odili.net/home/money/news/2003/may/5.html
Part of the way that the manufacturers are trying to combat this 'grey
market' is to stop honoring the warranties on these directly imported
new vehicles. You'll note in the article, it mentions that GM has
(arbitrarily) chosen to only honor the warranties on vehicles that
were imported after being used for at least 7,500 miles in Canada,
first. This is completely up to GM to decide, and depends on whether
they wish to extend any goodwill to the customer. All warranty terms
specify that the product's warranty is only applicable where the
manufacturer says it is.
Dishonoring warranties is one of the few tools available to
manufacturers to combat 'grey market', or parallel import, versions of
their products, so this arbitrary practice will continue for the
foreseeable future.
For your specific question, though, if the vehicle is taken out of the
US by its owner to another country where the manufacturer has a retail
presence, there's a pretty good likelihood that the manufacturer will
honor the warranty out of goodwill so that they can get the owner's
future business. Since the decision is an arbitrary one, though, there
is no guarantee that this will be the case. If you are comtemplating
moving from the US to another country where Chevy has a retail
presence, your best bet is to contact Chevrolet's customer service
team directly at:
http://www.chevrolet.com/global/popup/contact_us/
and ask them to tell you what sort of documentation you need in order
to keep your warranty valid when you move.
If, however, you are thinking of buying a used car from the US and
importing it to your home country, then there is a pretty good
likelihood that the warranty will be nullified. It is completely up to
the manufacturer whether or not a warranty is transferable from the
original owner to a subsequent owner (as long as that is spelled out
in the warranty terms).
Regards,
aht-ga
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