Warranty Clause Review

Reading the Document Against the Address

This is the service that costs nothing and saves the most money. You send us the warranty pages for the door you are about to buy, or the one you already own, and we find the clause that decides whether any of it applies to your house.

Most people never see this document before purchase. They see a brochure with a headline figure on it, and the actual terms arrive in the box after installation, which is far too late for the information to change a decision.

What We Are Looking For

The proximity clause. It sits with the exclusions and it usually reads along the lines of coverage not applying to doors installed within a stated distance of salt water, or in coastal, marine or corrosive environments. The distance named varies by manufacturer. Some are strict, some are generous, and a few do not name a number at all and simply exclude coastal installations, which in practice is the strictest version of all.

Then we check three more things.

Whether the finish is covered separately from the sections, and for how long each runs. A lifetime figure attached to section construction tells you almost nothing about the paint.

Whether hardware is included. It usually is not. Hinges, rollers, track, springs, cables and brackets tend to carry their own short term, often a single year, and springs are frequently rated by cycles instead of time so they expire on use rather than on date.

Whether the coverage is prorated and whether it transfers. Many are both prorated after the first few years and void on sale of the house, which matters if you are buying a door for a property you intend to move on from.

The Questions to Ask the Supplier

Ask how the distance is measured. Straight line to the shoreline, to any salt water, or to mean high tide are three different tests and they give three different answers on the same street. On the harbour it is the difference between being covered and not.

Ask whether specifying a coastal package reinstates the finish coverage, and get that in writing. Some manufacturers will, on conditions about rinsing and documented maintenance. Most will not, and a verbal yes from a salesperson is worth nothing at claim time.

Ask what the installing dealer covers on labour, and for how long. This is separate again from the manufacturer warranty and it is often the shortest term of the three.

What You Do With the Answer

If the clause excludes you, stop weighting the warranty in the purchase decision and start weighting the hardware specification instead. Two doors with identical paperwork are not equivalent if one comes with galvanised hinges and the other does not.

If the clause does not reach your address, the coverage is real and you should choose partly on it, the way a buyer anywhere else would.

Either way you go into the purchase knowing which one you are. Send the pages over or read them to us on the phone.

Call (657) 306-9021.