Average Life Span

Tom is more accurate. This has been discussed many times before and I have been very up front about issues here and in other forums. Primarily you see the users with issues come to a website for support. People who simply are enjoying the product do not comment as frequently. This distorts the perception. We also have 100's of thousands of kayaks out there now and are the leading builder of kayaks World Wide. We have a bigger foot print.

We have a unique product that places higher stresses on molded hulls. We have more molded-in features. We did experience a bubble of issues in the mid to late 2000's, primarily due to a plastic supplier issue. That swelled the warranty numbers for a number of years and IS the reason you feel our rate is high. Our rate is well under 1% these days. We proactively extended warranty coverage for those older boats 3x the stated warranty coverage period. This is pure good faith.

We have better and longer warranty coverage than anyone else, but there are limits to how many years of coverage we will extend and at what cost. We are not a tire company and can not simply measure the tread used to make adjustments. If you have ever dealt with a tire defect... they do not replace @ 100% for 2 years. They charge for the tread used regardless of the defect. We have to rely on product age data to determine a use factor. Adjustments in the replacement cost reflect use of the product and often the upgrade to a current model.

Remember one thing. Most companies will not extend coverage beyond their written policy regardless of the situation. Our warranty is for two years and ANYTHING beyond that is outstanding coverage.

The claims that are receiving adjusted / pro-rated costs are beyond 2 years of purchase and have been as old as 6 years or more out of policy range.

_________________
Matt Miller
Former - Director of Parts and Accessory Sales
Warranty and Technical Support
Hobie Cat USA
(Retired 11/7/2022)

And per Matt's reply above, that is a very good reason why I am a Hobie owner....aside from the fact that Hobie Mirage drive kayaks are unmatched in design on the open market.
IMHO, the company has gone above and beyond with their extended warranty coverage to "keep and satisfy customers".

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR