How much expectation is too much?
My microwave bit the dust recently. But when it refused to heat my dinner one last time, I was pretty philosophical.
It had provided a decade of service. I can’t ask for more than that.
When we buy products with hard-earned money, we expect them to be fit for purpose and work reliably.
Fair enough.
But I reckon, when it comes to high – and potentially unreasonable – expectations, vehicles get a dud deal.
Vehicles are incredible machines made up of thousands of parts and hundreds of systems, and manufacturers spend billions of dollars designing, testing and validating them to achieve reliability and long service.
That’s what consumers expect. But do we expect too much?
Think about the abuse vehicles go through. They sit out in the weather – blistering summer days and stormy winters. They pound along uneven bitumen, pot-holed concrete, craggy rocks and dusty roads. Cold engines get revved. Doors slammed...
Is there any other product on earth that suffers that much abuse?
So, it disappoints me to see the Queensland Government recently raise the threshold for cases heard by the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) from $25,000 to $100,000, where a matter involves a claim that a vehicle has a major fault or multiple minor faults.
These so-called ‘lemon laws’, passed by Queensland State Parliament in April this year include a reignition of a 30-day or 1,000km warranty for motorists buying a vehicle more than 10 years old or with 160,000km or more on the odometer.
These old but new regulations are in addition to current statutory warranties in Queensland which provide a three-month or 5,000km warranty for second-hand vehicles bought from a motor dealer that are no more than 10 years old and have travelled less than 160,000km.
But why is it consumers can sell multiple vehicles without any recourse under consumer or business regulation?
No wonder used car dealers are in retreat.
Words: VACC CEO, Geoff Gwilym. As featured in the Herald Sun 1 November 2019.
Share your thoughts! E: ceo@vacc.com.au