VinFast's Long Warranties Provide Extra Security for Car Owners
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MARKHAM, Ontario — As Canadian households juggle increasingly strained budgets, VinFast is positioning its long warranties and lower ownership costs as a way to soften the blow of unexpected car repairs. Canadians are trying to juggle tight budgets while keeping up with essential expenses. Macroeconomic uncertainty has made every surprise cost feel heavier. A single car repair, for instance, can throw off a whole month's finances for many families.
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Car repairs hurt more these days
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The numbers highlight the strain. More than half of Canadian workers live paycheck to paycheck 1. 41% of people say they can't save money each month after covering the basic 2. And 61% are reconsidering major life decisions due to rising costs 3. A sudden car repair can force people to make tough choices, like putting off a long-overdue trip or cutting back on other essentials.
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Beyond the direct financial impact, the pressure from unexpected repairs can ripple across other areas of life. Families may delay medical care, spend less on education, or simply have trouble getting to work. The stress of managing these costs can also affect mental health and overall family well-being.
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At the same time, car ownership quietly crept higher. Annual costs rose 9% in one year, from $5,025 to $5,497 4. A 2024 report found that the average dealership service visit now costs $465, which is up 7.6% from last year 5.
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Yet despite rising costs, 78% of Canadians say living without a car is not an option 6. Work, groceries, medical appointments, and family responsibilities all require reliable transportation. For many, the car is a necessity.
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Some Canadians have considered alternatives, including public transportation. Car sharing services report 87% satisfaction among users. Nearly half of car owners say they would rather pay only when they need a vehicle. However, these options do not work for everyone and often remain more accessible in cities.
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VinFast aims to reduce surprise costs
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VinFast, Vietnam's best-selling car manufacturer in 2024, is now three years into its global expansion 7, including in Canada. The company offers a different approach in this challenging landscape.
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Its electric vehicle lineup includes the all-wheel-drive midsize SUV VF 8 and the flagship three-row VF 9, with starting all-in MSRPs of CAD $56,026 and CAD $77,321, respectively. But what makes them stand out is that they both come with one of the industry's longest warranties: ten years or 200,000 kilometers, with unlimited kilometers on the battery under normal usage. For the VF 8, VinFast also offers competitive monthly payment plans to reduce the financial pressure of switching to electric vehicles.
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The extended warranty and after-sales support help prevent unexpected repair bills. For Canadian families navigating financial uncertainty, knowing repair costs won't appear without warning is a big relief.
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This strategy reflects the foundation of VinFast's market leadership at home. It is built on three core values: premium vehicles, affordable pricing, and strong aftersales policies. For customers, it underscores the company's focus on long-term ownership support rather than one-time sales.
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In a time when every dollar matters and people are cutting cost wherever they can, VinFast's focus on reducing ownership uncertainty positions the company to meet a growing need for stability and predictability.
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Globe and Mail
44 minutes ago
- Globe and Mail
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People accused him of faking his story and its photos, because the distance to Puerto Vallarta was seen as too far to travel on electricity alone. So how would it be to Tuktoyaktuk – to the end of the earth? Most of the drive was straightforward, he says, and he used online apps to always plan ahead to the next fast-charging point. The Ioniq 5 can travel up to 460 kilometres on a single charge, but he would normally drive about half that distance, not letting the battery drop below 30 per cent and charging just up to 80 per cent – that's when the speed of the charging slows, to not damage the battery. On average, he'd charge at fast chargers for about 35 minutes each time. 'Most of the time,' he said, 'I needed it, for a break after driving maybe 250 kilometres, not because the car needed it.' In a normal driving day, starting out with a fully charged battery every morning, Nadeau estimated the electric charging added about an hour to his time, compared to fill-ups at gas stations. The new Ioniq 5 can charge at Tesla charging stations and Nadeau says it was never a challenge to find a place to recharge. Well, except for the Dempster Highway. The Dempster is 740 kilometres of mostly gravel that runs between Dawson City in the Yukon and Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. There's only one place to recharge on the highway, at Eagle Plains, at roughly the halfway point. And the Level 2 charger there was not working. 'There was another guy there, another French Canadian, in a Tesla, but he had to plug in his Level 1 charger for three days. So he turned back,' said Nadeau. A Level 1 charger is any 110-volt household wall socket, which charges slowly. A Level 2 is a 220-volt outlet, often used for household dryers or garage equipment, which is usually good for about 30 amps and can provide perhaps 35 kilometres of range in an hour. A Level 3 is the fastest and most powerful of all, delivering up to 100 kilometres in perhaps 10 minutes. 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CBC
an hour ago
- CBC
New law that aims to protect Ontario gig workers falls short, critics say
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Globe and Mail
2 hours ago
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Happy Canada Day, from Donald Trump
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The theory behind it is that foreign (mostly American) companies making money in Canada through the sale of digital services do so without facing taxation on earnings in this country. Washington was always going to push for the elimination of the tax as part of a broader trade deal. And Canada, it is fair to bet, was going to be willing to give in to that demand, if it unlocked a deal. The digital services tax was bad policy, but killing it now makes us look terribly weak A guide to The Globe's Canada Day coverage Was Canada threatening to start collecting money on June 30 partly as a bargaining tactic? Had the tax become the kind of irritant you put in the window precisely because the other side wants it removed it, thereby kicking off some horse trading? The tax was expected to bring in about $900-million a year. That's small change. It's like a car salesman throwing in a free bottle of Turtle Wax. Mr. Trump publicly halting negotiations until Canada dropped something it was going to drop in those negotiations may be a way for the President to look like the big man who made an opponent bend to his will. It may open the door to a trade deal, which the Trump administration will be able to sell not only as one of the promised '90 deals in 90 days,' but a victory. The Canadian concession is small. But if there's a trade agreement in the coming weeks, it could allow the MAGA mediasphere to proclaim that Mr. Trump has once again demonstrated his unparalleled negotiating genius and power, and used it for the benefit of an American industry. That's the best version of how this story ends. Canada gets what it wants, which is a trade deal that largely maintains the one agreed under the last Trump administration: the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). And Mr. Trump gets what he wants, which is the appearance of dominance and the impression that he won something. But negotiating with Mr. Trump is like a bottomless box of chocolates: There's always something else. And something else after that. Canada made a concession that it was almost certainly prepared to concede, but what did it get in return? Are there more demands that Mr. Trump will pull out of his hat, as he's been doing since before his inauguration? We've faced tariffs based on an imaginary flood of cross-border fentanyl; demands for more military spending; tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum; and now this insistence that Canada rewrite domestic tax law. Any more bonbons down there? The President was on Fox News on Sunday, once again railing against supply management, and claiming that Canada is 'very nasty to deal with' and that 'they cheat' on the USMCA. And of course we should be the 51st state because 'Canada relies entirely on the United States.' Until a few years ago, retailer L.L. Bean had a lifetime return policy: You could return anything, forever. Like the customers who abused that policy until it had to be ended, Mr. Trump has taken this approach to the USMCA: I signed on the dotted line, but I can un-sign at any time. With threats and tariffs that violate the terms of the agreement, he has started ripping it up. And he has given every sign that he wants some tariffs to remain, even in a post-USMCA deal. The best Canada can do is what Prime Minister Mark Carney's government is trying to do: Keep calm and carry on. Focus on the things we control, like our own economy, our own ability to get things built, our own capacity to strengthen relationships with more reliable partners. Meanwhile, it's Canada Day – the day when the United Province of Canada, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick joined together in Confederation. Canada was not created in 1867. It was expanded and improved. Improvement and expansion continued in the years and decades after. We've had an evolving and continually progressing political system, unbroken by successful domestic revolution or foreign invasion, since 1763. Ours is one of the world's oldest and most stable polities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, people and businesses in Quebec put up signs that read: Ça va bien aller. It'll all work out. Even with that guy in the White House, ça va bien aller. We always find a way. Happy Canada Day.
