The Rolls Royce Warranty Eclipses Its English Rivals | Autance

Coverage Basics of the Rolls Royce Warranty

Since its founding in 1906, there have been a lot of fanciful rumors that have circulated about lifetime warranties as well as owners who have held the same coverage for 80-plus years. Sadly, the legendary lifetime guarantee has never been a real thing. However, the warranty Rolls Royce does offer is one of the best among luxury automakers.

Bumper-to-Bumper Coverage

Every Rolls Royce is sold with a four-year guarantee that covers every possible repair, other than damage to tires or glass. Its bumper-to-bumper coverage includes not just critical repairs but also regular service, which can be conducted at any authorized dealer or garage within your initial delivery area.

Rolls Royce’s plan encourages you to be highly proactive about preventative maintenance. Cars are installed with a digital system that uses algorithms to figure out when it’s time to replace oil, filters, wipers, spark plugs, or other degradable parts. The system then contacts your dealer to let it know you need to make a service appointment. All repairs are conducted using certified genuine Rolls Royce parts.

While tire damage isn’t covered, tire rotations are. Rolls Royce Teleservices are not offered in every country or for every model, so ask your dealer about it before buying.

Roadside Assistance

The four-year plan also includes comprehensive roadside assistance, offered through individual dealerships and accessed with a simple phone call. Services offered roadside include battery jumps, fuel delivery, flat tire rescues, locksmithing, and extraction from snow, mud, or water using winch equipment.

If a warranty-covered mechanical failure disables your Rolls Royce more than 100 miles from your home, you are eligible for trip interruption coverage, including meals, lodging, replacement car rental, or arrangements for alternate transportation.

Rolls Royce Warranty Exclusions

It’s harder to find holes in Rolls Royce’s warranty than many others we’ve seen, but you shouldn’t make a purchase expecting it to be 100 percent comprehensive. In the following section, we sum up a few things you might not be able to rely on with the automaker’s four-year guarantee.

Lifetime Guarantees

As we noted above, there’s no such thing as lifetime coverage from Rolls Royce. Once your initial four-year warranty and service contract expires, you might be eligible for its extended ownership package, Rolls Royce Service Inclusive.

Available on any Rolls Royce built from 2003 onwards, the package continues the four-year warranty and service contract for either two, three, or five years. New packages can be purchased up to a total of nine years, offering up to 13 years of coverage from your purchase date.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to get more than four years of warranty coverage without an additional fee.

Service Outside Delivery Area

While the warranty protects you against damage incurred anywhere you care to venture with your Rolls Royce, the bundled service contract only pays for maintenance performed by certified dealers inside your delivery area (usually within your city or state). This means that if you want to get a faulty spark plug replaced, or just swap out an old one that’s nearing the end of its life, you have to be near home.

Perks of the Rolls Royce Warranty

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: the combined warranty and service contract is an amazing deal. Not only are you covered bumper to bumper for any possible factory damage, but that same guarantee allows you to keep your Rolls Royce performing at peak capacity.

Let’s not forget that the contract also lasts four years. This is enough to put Rolls Royce well ahead of competitors Bentley and Aston Martin. And while Jaguar’s warranty lasts for a year longer, it has a mileage limit. Rolls Royce has no such cap.

Also excellent is the guarantee that all services will be performed with certified Rolls Royce parts. Using the parts your car was built for is one of the best things you can do to keep it performing optimally.

Another thing that we like is the ability to transfer factory or extended warranties to new buyers upon sale of the vehicle.

Disadvantages of the Rolls Royce Warranty

The drawbacks of a Rolls Royce factory warranty start with the expiration date. After four years, you’ll need to pay to keep enjoying these privileges. This can go on for up to nine more years, but if your Rolls Royce is more than 13 years old, you’re out of luck. The company officially recommends you recycle your car for parts at that point.

The repair services being limited to your delivery area makes sense, though it’s also frustrating. Needing to ship your Rolls Royce back home if a part breaks down, rather than getting it fixed in a certified garage closer to your destination, can make a depressing and premature end to your luxury road trip.

Finally, we wish that the warranty covered more damage that might be sustained in an accident. Rolls Royces can be expensive to insure, and this could provide more peace of mind to drivers.

Takeaway Value

Despite a few areas for improvement, Rolls Royce blows other British luxury automakers out of the water with its four-year warranty. With one of the longest post-purchase protection periods, no mileage limit, and a commitment to preventative maintenance, the warranty offers a big reason to go with Rolls Royce over Aston Martin, Jaguar, or Bentley.