Kia's Adverts Warrant An Investigation

Cammy Corrigan
by Cammy Corrigan


I’ve mentioned before that the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) can be quite rabid when pursuing adverts with bold claims. Remember Renault’s run-in (nice alliteration) with the ASA about their claims for “zero emissions”? Or BMW, who tried to give the impression that their 3 litre, 6 cylinder hoonmobile, the Z4, was doing its bit for the environment (presumably by draining it of all that troublesome oil)? Well, the ASA is at it again.

And this time, they’ve got lowly Kia in their crosshairs. What Car reports that Warranty Direct (an independent warranty provider) lodged a complaint against Kia with the ASA. It’s not difficult to see why Warranty Direct was fuming at Kia. Warranty Direct makes a living selling warranties to customers after their initial 3 year warranty has expired. So, it’s bad news for Warranty Direct when Kia comes to town with their lovely, comprehensive 7 year warranty. Trouble is, is it that comprehensive? Not according to the ASA.

Warranty Direct complained to the ASA that Kia’s adverts for their 7 year warranty were misleading. They claimed that Kia didn’t put enough emphasis on the slightly small detail that the 7 year warranty only lasts until you clock 100,000 miles. And that you could only hit 100,000 miles between years 4 and 7. Oh, and that different parts were covered for different lengths of time.

ASA agreed on all accounts. They said that Kia did display the 100,000 miles caveat, but that it was not on-screen during the visual and the voice-over description. Because of this customers would think the warranty would cover all parts for 7 years. Warranty Direct also complained that Kia didn’t mention that the warranty didn’t cover “wear and tear” items, but the ASA didn’t uphold the complaint because they believed that customers wouldn’t be stupid enough to believe that Kia would cover those sorts of items. Although, they may have put it a bit more diplomatically.

Kia felt they were a little hard done by. “We understand and accept the ASA’s judgement, but feel this is a technical infringement. It was never our intention to mislead and we still believe Kia’s warranty is the best and most transparent policy.” Kia said, “We were back on air with the advert on August 5th and literally had to change one word to abide by the ruling.” Want to know to know what they word was? “Conditions”. The small print now reads “terms and exclusions apply” instead of “terms and conditions apply”. I hope Vauxhall has got their ducks in a row with their “lifetime” warranty.


Cammy Corrigan
Cammy Corrigan

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  • SCE to AUX SCE to AUX on Aug 11, 2010

    Are those 100k metric miles, or English miles? Extended warranties are a gold mine for the seller, and a nearly useless lottery ticket for the buyer. Few people cash in, however I was one of them - but not for a car. The only extended warranty I ever bought was for a refrigerator whose compressor croaked at 9.5 years; I got a new, improved one for "free". It's still running at age 22.

  • PeriSoft PeriSoft on Aug 12, 2010
    I hope Vauxhall has got their ducks in a row with their “lifetime” warranty. What - the car is warranted for the life of the car?
  • Ronin It's one thing to stay tried and true to loyal past customers; you'll ensure a stream of revenue from your installed base- maybe every several years or so.It's another to attract net-new customers, who are dazzled by so many other attractive offerings that have more cargo capacity than that high-floored 4-Runner bed, and are not so scrunched in scrunchy front seats.Like with the FJ Cruiser: don't bother to update it, thereby saving money while explaining customers like it that way, all the way into oblivion. Not recognizing some customers like to actually have right rear visibility in their SUVs.
  • MaintenanceCosts It's not a Benz or a Jag / it's a 5-0 with a rag /And I don't wanna brag / but I could never be stag
  • 3-On-The-Tree Son has a 2016 Mustang GT 5.0 and I have a 2009 C6 Corvette LS3 6spd. And on paper they are pretty close.
  • 3-On-The-Tree Same as the Land Cruiser, emissions. I have a 1985 FJ60 Land Cruiser and it’s a beast off-roading.
  • CanadaCraig I would like for this anniversary special to be a bare-bones Plain-Jane model offered in Dynasty Green and Vintage Burgundy.
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