Re-guarding motors at the boat show…
Evenrude proclaimed a 10 year warranty.
Yamaha was at 2 years with a 3 year extension option. ($400. more but at the boat show it was free)
Several other brands had 2 year warranty.
How can Evenrude be so much longer? This certainly makes a person look closer at this brand.
Would much rather have a reliable motor than one with a long term warranty. Ill pass. The warranty on my Evenrude was the most solid part of that motor. Even when the motor would not run the warranty kept working over and over again.
This thread makes me think of something a wise man named Tommy Boy once said!
Tommy: Let’s think about this for a sec, Ted. Why would somebody put a guarantee on a box? Hmmm, very interesting.
Ted Nelson, Customer: Go on, I’m listening.
Tommy: Here’s the way I see it, Ted. Guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box ’cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty inside.
Ted Nelson, Customer: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: ‘Course it does. Why shouldn’t it? Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter, am I right, Ted?
[chuckles until he sees that Ted is not laughing]
Ted Nelson, Customer: [impatiently] What’s your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the fairy isn’t a crazy glue sniffer? “Building model airplanes” says the little fairy; well, we’re not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that’s all it takes. The next thing you know, there’s money missing off the dresser, and your daughter’s knocked up. I seen it a hundred times.
Ted Nelson, Customer: But why do they put a guarantee on the box?
Tommy: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of poop. That’s all it is, isn’t it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer’s sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from Yamaha 
.
LOL, Joe!!! Way to work a Tommy Boy reference in there.
ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from Yamaha
.
Nicely done!
Thank you Joe.
Lmao Joe, lmao 
OMG! I didn’t know buy buying an Evenrude I would have another grandchild!!
LOL! Too funny.
13 years ago when I bought my Yamaha, the standard warranty was 3 years and I foolishly bought another 3 years. I found out that the extended warranty is often carried by a secondary insurer. In my case, that secondary insurer went out of business long before I got to years 4 – 6. I would never buy an extended warranty again.
I’ve never used a warranty. It’s the last thing I look at.
My CanAm came with a 5 year warranty from the factory. The dealer was running a “sale”, I asked how it was $1500 cheaper than list, they said the warranty was only 6 months. SOLD! I don’t want to be tied to a piece of paper that says I must have $500 worth of work every 6 months, I’ll do the work myself, and if I break something, well it was a learning moment and I now know how to fix that part.
Any day you can work a Tommy Boy quote into a discussion is a good day.
Well done.
A 10 year warranty is absurd and must have tons of the “fine print.”
Only slightly more absurd is the standard 180 month financing package that was promoted with fishing boats starting as low as $18K at the boat show. If it takes 15 years to pay off a fishing boat, you bought the wrong one.
“no dealer-scheduled maintenance. ”
All good points above, so I had to go track down what the warranty covers.
Only slightly more absurd is the standard 180 month financing package that was promoted with fishing boats starting as low as $18K at the boat show. If it takes 15 years to pay off a fishing boat, you bought the wrong one.
I’m wondering how much a person needs to make to buy the “right” one at these prices? 
I don’t know where to start with this. Yamaha no doubt makes a quality motor. That being said all manufacturers have had their issues. Even Yamaha have had issues. Catastrophic failures with their large offshore engines made a couple of years grenaded at 300 hours.Yamaha replaced the power head no questions asked. That being said if I bought a 70k boat and my Yamaha died I would have a hard time feeling all rosy about it too. Mike had a terrible experience with his E-Tec and will let everyone know about it, as I would most likely would too. I have had a couple of Mercury’s. A Yamaha offshore, and 2 E-Tec’s. I have been pretty lucky with all of them. I had an injector stick open on my current E-Tec and that is it. My last one I sold with 600+ hours and as far as I know it is still going. I would buy another E-Tec and a ten year warranty would make it that much more attractive. I tried a 4 stroke and it wasn’t for me. Dog out of the hole and weight were my only real complaints about it. If you or anyone else were on the fence about buying an E-Tec I wouldn’t shy away from it. I did hear that G2 did have some issues with the power steering, so hopefully they have that figured out now. I do think it stinks that many companies let the customers be the guinea pigs testing their products.
This thread makes me think of something a wise man named Tommy Boy once said!
Tommy: Let’s think about this for a sec, Ted. Why would somebody put a guarantee on a box? Hmmm, very interesting.
Ted Nelson, Customer: Go on, I’m listening.
Tommy: Here’s the way I see it, Ted. Guy puts a fancy guarantee on a box ’cause he wants you to feel all warm and toasty inside.
Ted Nelson, Customer: Yeah, makes a man feel good.
Tommy: ‘Course it does. Why shouldn’t it? Ya figure you put that little box under your pillow at night, the Guarantee Fairy might come by and leave a quarter, am I right, Ted?
[chuckles until he sees that Ted is not laughing]
Ted Nelson, Customer: [impatiently] What’s your point?
Tommy: The point is, how do you know the fairy isn’t a crazy glue sniffer? “Building model airplanes” says the little fairy; well, we’re not buying it. He sneaks into your house once, that’s all it takes. The next thing you know, there’s money missing off the dresser, and your daughter’s knocked up. I seen it a hundred times.
Ted Nelson, Customer: But why do they put a guarantee on the box?
Tommy: Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of poop. That’s all it is, isn’t it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer’s sake, for your daughter’s sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from Yamaha
Greatest reply ever!
I think it’s a pretty safe business decision by BRP because like every other maker, they have improved their designs over time AND you have look at the fact that even though guys are spending HUGE $$$ on boats, the average guy puts a paltry number of hours on his outboard every year.
In freshwater, I’d be shocked if the AVERAGE use by an outboard owner was over 40 hours a year country-wide. Here in the tundra, I’m betting the average is less. So it’s a pretty safe bet on BRP’s part if only for the reason that so few owners will use an outboard enough to break it, even in 10 years.
Also good observation, it’s always interesting to me that once a product gets a good reputation, huge product issues just get completely ignored. Yamahas are great engines, but do some reading on the powerhead explosions they were having a few years back. I believe it was the confined to the higher HP range, but man the saltwater guys were NOT happy with Yamaha for about 5 years.
Once upon a time “Japanese car” was a synonym for “total piece of s!it”. Things change quickly these days and in the internet age no company can just sweep problems under the run and not address them.
Grouse
Well stated, Mr Grouse.
tweed
The day a Etec carries the same warranty as Hormel puts on a can of Spam I’ll buy one. Until then no thanks.
LOL! Well played Dutchy!
I knew if you were lurking around that would drag you out. 
I have had both evinrude and yamaha. My evinrude did have a 5 year warranty, and it did get used twice. My yamaha came with a 2 year, which I paid extra to have 3 years added. Had an issue with one of my digital gauges not working, and when Yamaha learned I was a part-time guide, they voided my warranty, refunded what I paid to add the three years, and gave me a 1 year warranty as I was a professional fisherman.
Yamaha is a solid motor and all that, but don’t be led to believe they are all about customer service and support. They don’t want to deal with warranty claims anymore than any other manufacturer.
They may not think their move impacts more than me, but I will guarantee that every client that has asked me how I like my yamaha gets to hear that story. The money they saved by not covering my motors pales in comparison to the 3 clients who have bought new boats with evinrudes instead of Yamaha.
They should hear that story.
I have had both evinrude and yamaha. My evinrude did have a 5 year warranty, and it did get used twice. My yamaha came with a 2 year, which I paid extra to have 3 years added. Had an issue with one of my digital gauges not working, and when Yamaha learned I was a part-time guide, they voided my warranty, refunded what I paid to add the three years, and gave me a 1 year warranty as I was a professional fisherman.
Yamaha is a solid motor and all that, but don’t be led to believe they are all about customer service and support. They don’t want to deal with warranty claims anymore than any other manufacturer.
They may not think their move impacts more than me, but I will guarantee that every client that has asked me how I like my yamaha gets to hear that story. The money they saved by not covering my motors pales in comparison to the 3 clients who have bought new boats with evinrudes instead of Yamaha.
I’m not sure how that works with all motors and boats John but when I was transferring the warranty on my Merc and Lund in 2001, I was told about the same. Also if they are used as a rental boat same deal.
Thanks for reminding me. 
They should hear that story.
They have, multiple times.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>mojogunter wrote:</div>
They should hear that story.They have, multiple times.
How does this effect your clients, they don’t guide? Telling them a story that doesn’t apply to them?
I think I’d prefer a digital gauge issue over having two motor issues with an Evinrude. Your story would make me buy a Yamaha…
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