People are often confused about this question: “What is the main difference between a guarantee and a warranty?” Although for many they look same in all aspects. But what you need here to understand is both are not the same thing. By meaning they imply a commitment regarding the quality of product that is given by the sellers. However the real difference between a warranty and guarantee, is the type of protection they both offer that you are supposed to get anyway. Or in more simple words you can distinguish both by the fact that warranty is written while guarantee is implied.

Before going into the more details let’s just define the difference between both these terms first.

Definition of Guarantee

It can be defined as the promise or surety for the after-sales reliability and performance of any product. It tells us about the promise given by the manufacturer regarding the quality and performance of the purchased product. If that obligation is not fulfilled then it is the responsibility of manufacturer to repair or replace the product or refund the money paid as consideration. But note one thing all the claims are only valid up to fixed period of time.

Definition of Warranty

Warranty on other hand is defined as an assurance given to buyers by the manufacturers about originality of products or specific facts of products being genuine or true. You can say it is very much a collateral condition of the contract. The main purpose of the warranty is to specify that the quality, performance and standards of certain product are up to the mark.  And if in case the product is no up to specific standards, then its defective parts will be repaired or a complete replacement. Moreover warranty is further specified into two types one is express and other is implied.

In fact, if you read the terms carefully, then you will get to know that a warranty is basically a ‘lifetime guarantee’. Nonetheless you can distinguish these two terms on following facts as well;

• For Monetary perspective

A warranty that is for a certain period of time often given free when a product is purchased for the first time. However by some way let’s say in the form of insurance a warranty requires sometimes extra charges. That means the option of buying an extended warranty is always available by paying extra money. While on other hand a guarantee is always free.

• If taken as a legal contract

Since now you know a guarantee is said to be a contract without any charges, but a warranty can be taken as valid legal instrument or document even to sue the seller/manufacturer if the promised product/services found not to be of specific standards or not been rendered appropriately.

• Time Span

As a buyer you need to understand this fact that a warranty card clearly mentions the time period for the validity of a warranty on a given item, article or product. And that time period of the warranty ranges from a few weeks or a month to more than 5 to 10 years and some cases even more. But a guarantee is not always clearly stated in terms of the time span for its validity, except for the cases that mention ’30-day money-back guarantee’. A guarantee is more like a general sense or broad term that is used by manufacturers mostly to maintain the credibility of their articles. Which is the reason why these companies for the advertisement of their products often use the term ‘lifetime guarantee’?

Main Differences Between Warranty and Guarantee

Despite the above mentioned basic facts we have pin pointed some key differences between these two terms.

1. The guarantee is actually a promise by the seller that if the purchased product is quality standards then the buyer will get its money refunded or it will be replaced and repaired. Contrary to this a warranty is a written assurance that the facts of certain product are genuine and true, but if it is not so in case then product will be repaired or replaced.
2. The guarantee is a sort of commitment while warranty is an assurance given by the manufacturer to buyer on the purchase of goods.
3. Since most of the time guarantees are oral however they are very hard to prove because of not being in legal written form. Unlike warranty, which is usually easy to prove and claim being in written form.
4. Well the plus point of guarantee is it covers variety like services, product, persons even consumer satisfaction but the warranty covers products/items only.
5. For the warranty customers have to pay for the warranty to protect the common interest. While the guarantee is always free.
6. A warranty is relatively more formal compared to guarantee.
7. Unlike warranty the terms of the guarantee varies on different items. While, the warranty is mostly for long term on any product or part of the product.
8. The returns or money back is possible if clearly stated in case of guarantee, but in warranty you may get your money back rather the product is replaced or repaired.
9. Other difference between them is, warranty is often given by distributers or retailers but a guarantee is generally provided by the manufacturers.
10. Lastly it is the warranty not guarantee that is a subsidiary condition of sale, which is implied later on.

Moreover the warranty can be used as a tool to protect the customers’ rights. Though it is required at your end to pay for legally making it more viable. One of the key advantages of having a warranty on your product is, you can easily sue the manufacturers to face the judicial trials if they compromise on the quality or fail to comply with the warranty provisions. Simply it can be said a warranty is only relevant in case of repairing and replacing of products and the key differences between these terms lies in the fact that in both cases there is a certain dissimilarity of expectations from warranty and guarantee. Therefore it is the consumers who must understand while expecting there is a major difference between in the essence of both “warranty vs. guarantee“.

Summary

Hence in the view of above thorough discussion it is somehow right to say warranty and guarantee have some similarity with each other. But in the real sense both are not the same thing at all. A guarantee is valid regardless of the provision of some warranty while a warranty can go together on same item with an issued guarantee. Despite this there are many technical outcomes attached when both these words are used as assurance of a product on a commercial scale. And we hope this brief article will definitely provide you deep insight regarding the main “difference between a warranty and guarantee”. Thus we can conclude this article with these remarks that there is no obvious winner to say either which one is more better than other here, but all you are supposed to do is don’t forget to have a look at the ‘terms and conditions’ when buying a product.