"German Technology" and "Lifetime Warranty". Buyer beware!

"German Technology" and "Lifetime Warranty". Buyer beware!

Posted by HVC on 9th Oct 2017

On the topic of "German Technology"

When you see LED headlight kits labeled as "German Technology" and sold for little over $100, you can be 100% sure there is nothing German about them. Internet automotive companies are selling LED kits labeled "German Technology" because you, as the consumer, believe that a German LED product must be better that any other. Maybe it is all in your head because you know cars like AUDI and BMW are made in Germany, and they are supposed to be solid. Anyway, think about the reasons why you are buying an LED kit. Is it because of price or because it is "German Technology"? There are other factors such as lumens, wattage, ease of installation, fitment. Those things might be more important than "German Technology" labels. Educate yourselves, ask questions, wonder why something is the way it is. And, by the way, "German Technology" is NOT the same thing as "Made in Germany".

On the topic of "Lifetime Warranty".

First of all, ask yourself is this even possible. If you ran an online automotive LED store, would you offer lifetime product warranty? No retail store in Canada does this, and there is a good reason for it. LEDs do not last forever. Whose "lifetime" are we talking about, the products or yours? Is the owner of the shop gambling, thinking, customers will sell or upgrade their vehicles in a few years, and then long forget about the seemingly amazing "lifetime" warranty. Automotive LED manufacturers offer 1-2 year warranty, and in some rare cases 4 years, never a "lifetime" warranty. So even if I was crazy enought to offer a "lifetime" warranty on an LED headlight kit, I would not be able to honor it. Why? Manufacturers change product lines about every 6 months, and what was sold 6 months ago may not be available anymore, nevermind something that was sold 4 years ago. So, please educate yourself. Ask questions about the warranty. I called a few places that advertise their product with "Lifetime Warranty", and their answers to my question about their "Lifetime Warranty" went like this:

1. "Lifetime" - means lifetime of the product, which is 1 to 4 years...depending on what they want to offer you.
2. "Lifetime" - means "Lifetime", forever and ever, which is what most of us think when seeing "Lifetime", but when asked what happens when the product is no longer available, I was told "you'll be looked after". How? No one explained how. Will I get my money back, will I get a new LED kit? How will they look after me? They couldn't answer that.

Marketing uses words we want to see when buying a product. Words that create a sense of quality and reliability. Find out what happens when you have an issue with a product, how will the company look after you, what will they do for you, will they answer the phone when you call, will they email you back on the same day? Don't get hooked on words like "German Technology" and "Lifetime warranty" without verifying what they mean first.