What is an E-bike?
An electric bicycle also known as an e-bike is a bicycle with an integrated electric motor which can be used to assist propulsion. Many kinds of e-bikes are available worldwide, from e-bikes that only have a small motor to assist the rider’s pedal-power to more powerful e-bikes which are closer to moped-style functionality. All retain the ability to be pedalled by the rider and are therefore not electric motorcycles.
What is a Warranty?
A warranty is a guarantee provided by the manufacturer of a product, in other words, a warranty is a contract between the consumer and the bike company. It’s not between the customer and the dealer (or retailer) where the customer bought the bike. The dealer is actually caught in the middle. The retailer goes back with the claim to the importer, and the importer goes back to the bike company to validate the claim to see if they can replace the item. If the product was purchased online, then customers have to contact with the staff of the company through the website and make claims by themselves.
Why are warranties important?
Because the warranty assures the customer that the product is of good quality and performance so that they do not need to worry about the manufacturing defects, which providing them with peace of mind. Warranties give consumers the right to ask the manufacturer to deal with any issues according to their terms and conditions. The federal government requires companies to make a warranty easily accessible to prospective buyers and the product brochure must contain complete details of its warranty terms.
What are the benefits of product warranties?
Actually, Product warranties are beneficial to both the customers and the enterprise.
As for customers, they could know what they’re getting into if they ever need to fix or return the products. Besides, If there’s trouble with the products, they can turn to the companies.
As for enterprises, if customers have the choice to buy two products of the same price, and one company offers a warranty while the other does not, they’re going to buy the product with protection. What’s more, the warranties encourage repeat sales. If customers know that they can trust certain businesses, they’re going to go back to them over and over again.
When customers buy products, they want to be reassured that they’re making the best decision possible. They need to know that what they spend their money on will last, and that if it doesn’t, they can reach out to the company for support. Having said so much, let’s take a look at those figures which show the warranties of multiple E-bike companies. (I picked the newest rule of each brands)
| Brand Item |
Himiway | Trek | Rad power | Pedego | Specialized | X-treme | Juiced | Vanmoof |
| Frame | 2 years | lifetime | 1 year | 1 year | lifetime | lifetime | 1 year | 3 years |
| Batteries | 2 years | 2 year | 1 year | 1 year | 2 years | 1 year | 1 year | 3 years |
| Part & components | 2 years | 2 years | 1 year | 1 year | 2 years | 1 year | 1 year | 3 years |
| Subsequent Ownership | 2 years from the original purchase | 3 years from the original purchase | 1 year from the original purchase | 1 year from the original purchase | 2 years from the original purchase | Don’t offer warranty | 1 year from the original purchase | 3 years from the original purchase |
The figure shows the warranty year of each items of e-bike of those famous brands. Besides, there are lots of rules for customer to follow when they need to use the rights of warranty.
For example, as for Himiway, if you bought a second-hand Himiway, then you need to know the initial owner’s name and the initial order number, by the way, you need to know whether the 2-year package hasn’t expired since the initial owner has received it. These are the significant information you need to know from initial owner or you may not have the warranty. Besides, Himiway will replace any and all component that is deemed to be defective or damaged (including damage incurred during shipment) without user error, there are many specific issues of each items which is not limited for warranty, you can check on the website before you make the claim. What’s more, Himiway will not replace any part without first seeing photos or video of the damaged product. Thus, the customer needs to provide enough evidences by email. Actually, I suggest that you contact the company at first as there may be a simple fix for your problem.
As for the Trek, Specialized and X-treme these 3 brands, all of them provide lifetime warranty on their frames. Additionally, Trek would provide lifetime warranty on the Bontrager wheels with alloy rims and the Roval wheels of Specialized are warrantied for life too. These would be more attractive than those companies, which do not have lifetime warranty.
While most companies are providing limited time of warranty, I found that X-treme has unique additional services about warranty options. Customers can spend 74.95 dollars to buy one year extended warranty and spend 149.95 dollars to buy life time extended warranty. From my perspective, I love this option. As we all known, unless we buy apple care with the new iphone, we will spend a lot of money on repairing out broken iphones. Additional warranty are beneficial to both the customers and the enterprise. On the one hand, it’s equivalent to buying a piece of peace of mind for customers, on the other hand, the enterprise will have a better reputation.
Standard warranty nowadays for a good e-bike is 1-year warranty on all components, including battery. As we can see form the figure above, half of the brands of E-bike has more than 1 year warranty of all the items. These would be the advantage when the price of product is the same, customer would prefer the brand with better warranty so that they would feel reassured.
All in all, warranty is a type of guarantee that a manufacturer makes regarding the condition of its product. It also refers to the terms and situations in which repairs or exchanges will be made in the event that the product does not function as originally described or intended. It will also affect the choice of the customers. As for customers, if you would like to use the warranty rights, please look the following the rules on the website at first , make sure that your e-bike is limited in warranty, then contact the support staff of the company, provide all the information they need about the e-bike, after receiving their confirmation, it is time to send your e-bike back to them. Then you’ll be all set. Hope everyone has a nice after-sales experience!