Ok, it is getting a little silly with GM saying that it has been planning to extend its powertrain warranty for nearly a year. The implication is that not only does GM have a better warranty than Ford, but that it thought of the extension first. Maybe GM did have some secret plan to extend its warranty last fall, but more likely it was just beginning to study if it was economically possible. Thinking about it - maybe; decided to do it - unlikely. It was just in the spring when the National Dealer Council asked about a 10/100-powertrain warranty that Mark LaNeve and Brent Dewar, two guys who would definitely know of GM's intentions, said that GM was willing to look into the possibility. That is essentially the same thing that had been said at the NDC for the past few years. Once Ford made its decision, GM took the research it already had accumulated and pulled the trigger.

"Our expectation is perfection; but excellence will be tolerated." That quote was on my board next to my terminal in the tiny warranty office I started in years ago. The exacting and frustrating nature of warranty claims just made it so that you needed to have perfection throughout the dealership. Blame my slant on attending college in the mid-eighties when Tom Peters' book "In Search of Excellence: Lessons from Americas Best Run Companies" was considered the primary reference material for building a reliable business. Jump forward 24 years and the book is still a great and easy read if you are looking for hints for getting better performance from your service staff. Best of all, you can get it for under $5 used on Amazon.