File in Section:
Bulletin No.:

Service Bulletin

Date:

00 - General Information
11-00-89-005C
December, 2012

WARRANTY ADMINISTRATION
Subject:

Warranty Administration – Clarification of Use - Dealer Empowerment Labor
Operations and Customer Enthusiasm (U.S. Only)

Models:

2013 and Prior GM Passenger Cars and Trucks

Attention: This service bulletin does not apply to ‘GM of Canada’ dealers. Dealers in Canada
should continue to refer to the Goodwill section on the Warranty Administration
Homepage in GM Global Connect for the most recent information and updates to the
GM of Canada ‘Enable and Empower Project.’
This bulletin is being revised to remove bullet #5 under The Policy guidelines are
Not being used to: heading. Please discard Corporate Bulletin Number 11-00-89-005B
(Section 00 – General Information).

The effective date of the requirements of this bulletin is
October 17, 2012.
For some time now we have been working together to
be even more focused on our customers and to put
them first in everything that we do. During this time,
we’ve challenged you, our dealer partners, to be
assertive on behalf of our customers and make
effective use of the policy and goodwill tools available
so that customers are satisfied and remain loyal to their
vehicle brand and your dealership.
Over the past several years, we have extended
increased levels of empowerment to our dealers and
our team members so that you can confidently do what
is right to satisfy our mutual customers. And while this
effort has been largely successful, the reality is that the
strategic approach is not always consistent across
different dealerships and different markets. In addition,
with more and more of your employees engaged in
doing what’s right for the customer, several of you have
requested that we provide additional guidance to assist
you in training them to make good quality decisions, on
behalf of the customer, while expending resources in a
cost effective manner.

Copyright 2012 General Motors LLC. All Rights Reserved.

It is those requests, and the desire to continually
improve the customer experience that are the basis for
this bulletin, in which we will be documenting guidelines
to further assist you and your employees in developing
a more consistent professional approach to resolving
customer issues while spending resources in a
judicious manner.

Organizational Terms
The following should clarify the terms used to describe
various payment categories used to satisfy customer
requests for assistance. These terms will be used
throughout this bulletin.

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December, 2012

Bulletin No.: 11-00-89-005C

Resource

Definition

Warranty

Vehicle repairs within the time and mileage limitations of the written warranty period that are a result of
a covered defect in materials or workmanship.
• Example: Ignition lock cylinder is replaced during the 3 years/36,000 mile New Vehicle Limited
Warranty.

Customer
Enthusiasm

Vehicle repairs within the time and mileage limitations of the written warranty period that ARE NOT the
result of a covered defect in materials or workmanship.
• Used in rare/unique circumstances.
• When submitting a transaction for repairs that are Customer Enthusiasm, be sure to select
Customer Enthusiasm in the Job Card Transactions Detail section of GWM.
• Example: Repair of a front air deflector due to customer not realizing how low it is.

Policy

Vehicle repairs outside of the applicable time and mileage limitations of the written warranty period.
• Example: Wiper motor fails at 52,000 miles and GM pays for all or part of the repair cost.
• When submitting a transaction for repairs that are Policy, be sure to select Policy Flag in the Job
Card Transactions Detail section of GWM.

Goodwill

Assistance expenditures made to satisfy the customer.
• The term “Goodwill” does not refer to a vehicle repair. Repair outside of Warranty is “Policy.”
• Goodwill is the term for the tools that are used to offset customer inconvenience or to offer
additional protection and peace of mind. Details of the Goodwill tools are found later in this bulletin.
• Example: An Owner Loyalty Certificate (OLC) is offered to a customer who is in the market for a
new vehicle due to continued out-of-warranty transmission issues.

Special Coverage

Extension of the warranty coverage of a specific vehicle component or system if an identified
non-safety related failure occurs.
• The necessary repair under a Special Coverage will be performed only if the specified condition is
present in the vehicle.
• Example: Extended coverage on the transmission shift cable for certain Saturn vehicles.

Customer Enthusiasm Repair-Non
Warranty
A Customer Enthusiasm Repair is a repair performed
within the warranty period when the product issue is not
covered by the New Vehicle Limited Warranty but the
dealer/customer wants GM to cover the repair to
ensure customer loyalty. In these instances, when the
transaction is being submitted for reimbursement, the
dealer should use the repairing labor operation and
select the “Customer Enthusiasm-Non Warranty
Repair ” check-box.
Important: Do not select Customer Enthusiasm if the
vehicle is beyond the terms of the applicable warranty –
by definition post warranty repairs are Policy
transactions. ALSO: All examples in this Bulletin
assume certain facts. You should evaluate each
customer’s situation on a case-by-case basis.

•

Example 1: A customer comes into the
dealership and states their keyless entry fob
on their 2010 SRX with 24,000 miles was
inadvertently lost by their college age son who
was unfamiliar with the keyless start system.
This is not a defect in material or workmanship
and therefore is not covered by the New
Vehicle Limited Warranty. However, based on
the customer’s situation, previous repairs for
other issues and to maintain customer
satisfaction, it is determined that GM will cover
66% of the $150 cost to replace the transmitter
and re-program the system. To do this, the
transaction would be entered as a ZREG using
the R4482 Remote Control Door Lock and
Theft Deterrent Transmitter Replacement labor
Operation, the Customer Enthusiasm-Non
Warranty Repair box checked, the full amount
of parts and labor input and the $50 Customer
participation input into the Customer/Service
Agent Participation field. The Complaint,
Cause, and Correction fields must document
the situation including the reason for the
decision.

Bulletin No.: 11-00-89-005C

December, 2012

Important: The Complaint, Cause, and Correction
fields must document the specific situation including
the substantive reason, for the decision.
• Example 2: Customer’s vehicle has a cut in the
rear seat back at 8,000 miles. This is not a clear
defect in material or workmanship and
therefore would not be a warranty repair.
Based on the facts and circumstances and the
customer’s history with the dealership, the
service manager would like to fix the
customers issue and submit this to GM for
reimbursement even though it is a
non-warrantable repair. The transaction would
be entered as a ZREG using the rear seat back
labor operation with the Customer
Enthusiasm-Non Warranty Repair box
checked. The Complaint, Cause, and
Correction fields must document the situation
including the substantive reasons for the
decision.

Policy Guidelines
Earlier in 2012, General Motors introduced Policy
Guidelines to document the boundaries of vehicle
Policy repairs. Now that they have been in market, it
has become clear that there is some confusion on how
and when to use them. To simplify the process, GM is
launching a revised set of guidelines that are
documented below.
The Policy guidelines are being used to:
• Create a Policy strategy which drives increased
service and sales retention.
• Develop consistent decision making practices /
processes among Dealers, Field and CAC
representatives.
• Document mandatory minimum customer / dealer
participation amounts at varying time and mileage
intervals once a decision to provide assistance
has been made.
The Policy guidelines are NOT being used to:
• Discourage taking care of our customers.
• Impose a rigid “one size fits” all approach to issue
resolution.
• Drive a particular decision – the guidelines are
only to be used after a decision to assist has
been made.
• Disregard facts or circumstances that make a
particular customer’s situation unique.
When presented with a Customer situation that
requires you to determine whether to perform a Policy
repair your decision making process must treat each
case as a unique set of circumstances and each
customer’s situation must be evaluated on a
case-by-case basis.
Some things to consider in the decision making
process includes the following:
• The customers expectations.
• Type of repair.
• Vehicle age and mileage.
• Overall condition and maintenance level of the
vehicle.

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•
•

Customer loyalty to GM or to your dealership.
Similar previous repairs performed under
warranty.
• Current or previous damage from collision, abuse
or misuse.
• Customer point in purchase cycle.
• Active Service contract.
If you decide that some level of assistance is
appropriate, you will need to do the following:
• Based upon the result of your review of the
particular case, you will need to determine and
agree with the customer / District Manager
Aftersales (if required) to an appropriate level of
GM assistance for repair. In addition to the
concept of a declining level of GM support as
the vehicle’s age and mileage increases there
is a required minimum customer / dealer
participation amount as outlined below.
• The mandatory minimum amount of customer /
dealer participation must be documented in the
“Customer/Service Agent Participation Amount”
field as described in the next section. Please note
that this is a minimum amount and that based
upon the business case, a higher amount of
customer / dealer participation may be warranted.
The minimum amount will be the greater of the
two amounts from the time and mileage tables
below.
Important Mandatory Minimum Notes
• If the cost of repair under warranty rates is less
than the indicated mandatory minimum amount
then there will be no GM participation.
• As the majority of Policy repairs are isolated and
unique, the mandatory minimum applies to each
Policy labor operation on the job card.
• The mandatory minimum amount and any other
customer or dealer participation MUST be
documented in the Customer / Service Agent
participation field of the Global Warranty system
transaction (see section below).
Important: Failure to document the minimum amount
in the Customer/Service Agent participation field may
result in a charge back for the applicable amount.
• Document in the job card the substantive reasons
and pertinent facts and circumstances supporting
the assistance. The reasons supporting GM
assistance should be abundantly clear to an
objective third party reviewing the Job Card that
has not been involved in the customer decision
making process. Short general comments such as
“good customer” or “out of warranty” are not
sufficient - document your decision making
process as well as the reasons for adjustment in
some detail.
• Providing assistance on a vehicle that is beyond
8 years old should only be considered under rare
circumstances. As an alternative for these and
other circumstances where repair assistance is
inappropriate, consider using one of the Goodwill
tools that are described later in this bulletin.

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December, 2012

Bulletin No.: 11-00-89-005C

Mandatory Minimum Time and Mileage Tables
Bumper-to-Bumper Coverage (Includes Powertrain items on 2006 and Prior vehicles)
Beyond New Vehicle Limited Warranty Repairs in the following repair groups:
• Air Conditioning/Heating
• Brakes
• Electrical
• Electronic Components
• Engine Electrical and Engine Fuel
• Front Suspension/Steering
• Body
• Glass/Trim
• Paint/Metal

Time and Mileage Table (Chevrolet, GMC, Pontiac, Saturn)
Customer/Dealer will pay greater of Minimum $ amount or % of total repair as indicated in the applicable table below.
Days out of Warranty

Miles out
of
Warranty

0

1 – 365

366 – 730

731 – 1,095

1,096
– 1,460

1,461 – 1,825

1,826 +

0

In
Warranty

10%
or $100

25%
or $200

40% or $300

55%
or $400

70% or $500

Pre-Approval

1 – 12,000

10%
or $100

10%
or $100

25%
or $200

40% or $300

55%
or $400

70% or $500

Pre-Approval

12,001 –
24,000

25%
or $200

25%
or $200

25%
or $200

40% or $300

55%
or $400

70% or $500

Pre-Approval

24,001 –
36,000

40%
or $300

40%
or $300

40%
or $300

40% or $300

55%
or $400

70% or $500

Pre-Approval

36,001 –
48,000

55%
or $400

55%
or $400

55%
or $400

55% or $400

55%
or $400

70% or $500

Pre-Approval

48,001 –
60,000

70%
or $500

70%
or $500

70%
or $500

70% or $500

70%
or $500

70% or $500

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

60,001 +

Pre-Approval

TABLE 1

Time and Mileage Table (Buick, Cadillac, HUMMER)
Customer/Dealer will pay greater of Minimum $ amount or % of total repair as indicated in the applicable table below.
Days out of Warranty

Miles out
of
Warranty

0

1 – 365

366 – 730

731 – 1,095

1,096 – 1,460

1,461 +

0

In Warranty

10% or $100

25% or $200

40% or $300

55% or $400

Pre-Approval

1 – 12,000

10% or $100

10% or $100

25% or $200

40% or $300

55% or $400

Pre-Approval

12,001 –
24,000

25% or $200

25% or $200

25% or $200

40% or $300

55% or $400

Pre-Approval

24,001 –
36,000

40% or $300

40% or $300

40% or $300

40% or $300

55% or $400

Pre-Approval

36,001 –
48,000

55% or $400

55% or $400

55% or $400

55% or $400

55% or $400

Pre-Approval

48,001 +

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Pre-Approval

Bulletin No.: 11-00-89-005C

December, 2012

Page 5

TABLE 2
Powertrain Coverage (2007 Model Year + )
Bumper-to-Bumper Coverage