Maintenance Records...

[kmoney_imp]

Indeed. I forgot to mention that I also record the cost of each service line item, so when I'm feeling especially anal, I can quickly calculate the service cost per mile of operation. My BMW's are expensive on a cost/mile basis. It's interesting to see how my maintenance costs decrease over time (which might be counter-intuitive) but explained by the fact that I'm reluctant to continue to pour money into a vehicle after a certain point -- good money after bad, I suppose. At a certain point, I just let it die a nice, gradual death.

To the Sears lifetime warranty topic, it's true. My dad bought a new Sears battery for our '56 Jag XK140 in April 1965. The car has a weak generator (alternator) and has a tough time keeping the battery charged. We trot down to Sears every few years and demand a replacement. We pull out the receipt and they can't believe it, but they honor it. We've been doing this for 50 years.

I worked at an AAMCO part time to put myself through undergrad in early 2000 and there was a customer with a daily driven 1968 AMC Javelin with a Borg Warner 3 speed. This guy got his trans rebuilt and was sold a nationwide lifetime warranty sometime back in the 70's and this guy (rightfully) just kept bringing it back for warranty repairs. Leaks, seals, bushings, pan gaskets, multiple rebuilds, a new case (took forever to find) and probably a few sets of hard parts over its multiple rebuilds. I swear they must have paid back 10 times what his original bill was in warranty work over the years.

I'm sure the actuaries build these outliers into their warranty pricing, but it's still got to drive them a little nuts (I know our owner cried a little inside every time he saw that red AMC pull up).