If you’re in the market for a new pontoon boat or have considered purchasing a Barletta, you might have questions regarding the warranty. As a consumer myself, I’m going to guess that you’ve not read all of the fine print that’s come your way when purchasing a large item in the past.
Most of the time, the fine-print documentation that comes along with high-ticket items is hard to understand and boring to read. It can even turn into gibberish the more they try to make their point.
At Barletta, we believe that you should get the answers you seek without the hassle of parsing through the fine print and extravagant verbiage. You should feel confident that you know the ins and outs of what you’re getting when you buy a boat of any type.
Aside from having an understanding of the vessel itself, it’s just as important to understand the warranty that may or may not come with it. You have asked, so we’re going to answer. Here’s an easy explanation of Barletta Boat’s warranty.
What is a Warranty
First I want to discuss the makeup of a warranty to set the stage for what Barletta puts into its offering. This is the high-level view that I hope will help set your expectations of what a warranty is and how it should be used.
A warranty is not meant to cover a situation like this; you have a knife in your pocket and you sit down and accidentally slice the furniture open. It is meant to cover a bad seam in the upholstery that lets loose and opens up the cushion.
The sooner you can grasp that concept, the less of a surprise it will be if you have a warranty claim that doesn’t get accepted. The warranty is meant to cover issues that are out of your control.
Here’s another hard-fast rule, no warranty is truly unlimited, at least when it comes to high-ticket items that is. If you see that word, you might as well run. That’s like saying there is such a thing as a free lunch. Not true and neither is an unlimited warranty.
To round this off, I want you to have a good understanding of what a warranty is meant to do. It’s there to protect you and your purchase by covering the expense of fixing an item that broke when it shouldn’t have.
What does Barletta’s Warranty Cover?
There are all different types of warranties in the boating industry. Most brands make up their own set of rules based on the craftsmanship of their products and the integrity of the brand. Some include the warranty in the purchase of the boat and some offer it as an extra add-on.
Barletta Boats includes the warranty with the boat from the factory. The official title of the Barletta warranty is Limited-Lifetime Structural and 10 Year Bow-to-Stern Warranty. You don’t have to request or pay extra for this coverage, it’s automatically included with the boat.
The fact that the warranty comes standard is just the start. It’s also considered an industry-best warranty within the pontoon market. Barletta not only wants to welcome you to the family, but they also want to make sure you stay with the family.
Making sure you’re covered is not only the right thing to do but it’s also made easy by the quality and care that’s built into every boat. Barletta puts so much thought and effort into the craftsmanship of each boat that there’s no question when it comes to standing behind the product.
Not to mention, every single boat that’s built goes through a rigorous white-glove pre-delivery inspection process. That means our quality control team combs through a list of over 200 inspection points to make sure the boat is in top shape before it ships to your dealership.
Along with standing behind our build quality, we also want to make sure we’re standing behind our dealers. That’s why the Barletta warranty will cover 100% of your dealer’s labor rate. You’ll find that some brands will only cover a portion of the dealer’s labor rate.
Even worse, some brands will only cover parts with their factory warranty and the dealer labor rate is your responsibility. That’s not the case with a Barletta warranty because our philosophy is that if the dealer is taken care of, that will trickle down and benefit you, our Barletta family.
Now let’s talk about what the Barletta warranty consists of. There are three main parts, think of it as a warranty sandwich.
Bottoms Up
The lifetime structural section of the definition refers to every part that makes up the structure. This includes the chassis and all of its components. Barletta crafts the entire chassis in-house and stands behind it for the lifetime of the boat.
Structural refers to the railings, gates, channels, bimini frames, toons, keels, strakes, welds, transom, frame, and any other part of the chassis that’s built in the factory. Barletta takes a ton of pride in the chassis and it’s one of the main things that sets the brand apart from any other pontoon boat manufacturer.
These items are covered if there is a failure resulting from defects in material and/or workmanship under normal non-commercial use.
[Learn more about the build quality of Barletta Boats here: How Barletta Pontoon Boats are Built (Step by Step)]
Please remember, if you run into your dock and dent your toon, that is on you. Do not expect the warranty to cover that bill. Barletta will stand behind the product because we know the quality that goes into the build. In that case, if something goes wrong unexpectedly, you should talk to your dealer about utilizing the warranty.
The Next Layer
This is where the word limited comes into play. Something many don’t realize is that the deck that sits on top of the chassis is a separate component altogether. Barletta uses a marine-grade plywood deck that is constructed externally.
Meaning, Barletta doesn’t make plywood decks. The manufacturer of this decking offers a 25-year warranty. So, the middle of the warranty sandwich and the limited verbiage is referring to this 25 years of coverage for the deck specifically.
Top if Off
The final piece of this warranty is the 10-Year Bow-to Stern part. This includes everything that sits on top of the plywood deck aside from the structure. Starting with the vinyl flooring, everything above board is covered by Barletta for 10 years.
There are a plethora of components covered here which are; flooring, furniture, helm, canvas, electronics, and mechanics. Barletta will cover those items for 10 years regardless of the component manufacturer warranty.
What that means is, if the stereo manufacturer offers a three-year warranty, Barletta will go above and beyond that and cover it for 10 years. This is a game-changer as Barletta doesn’t make the stereo itself, but they’ll stand behind it because it’s the right thing to do and we believe in the parts that we choose.
The company chose to offer this 10-year coverage because even though most of these components are not made in-house, we want you to know that we have your back. We are selective in the brands we include on each boat for this reason.
This also takes the guesswork out of contacting each component manufacturer yourself. If there’s an issue with your GPS, you contact your dealer and they handle it from there. You don’t have to chase down the manufacturer of that GPS system to make a claim. There’s one exception to this rule, and that’s the engine.
Engine
This may seem preposterous but you should view the pontoon boat and the outboard motor you purchase as separate entities. For that reason, the engine will come with its own warranty from the engine manufacturer.
Engine companies rely on us as boat builders to provide the boat, we need them to provide the power. The makeup of an engine requires a completely different set of skills than the manufacturing process of the boat itself.
That’s why as boat builders, we won’t touch the service side of things for the motor. Now, at Barletta, we will never leave you hanging if there’s an issue that’s keeping you from the water. We will work with the dealer to make those connections and see that your engine needs are handled with care.
The Secret Ingredient
As I just mentioned, Barletta will never leave you hanging. This starts with our customer service team and reverberates throughout the entire company. From the top-down, treating Barletta owners like family is ingrained in everything we do.
There’s no task or issue too big or too small for Barletta to see through. This pertains to the warranty that comes with every boat we build. Our service team is dedicated to making sure you never miss time on the water due to waiting on a service claim.
We’ve got a dedicated team that works with your dealer to resolve issues that might arise. There’s also a team that will step in and give even more support to the dealer by working with you both at the same time.
This is a screenshot of an actual comment a Barletta owner posted on the Barletta Facebook Owner’s Group. This is one of the hundreds we get throughout the year who are in awe of the service our team provides.
This is the secret sauce that you won’t find at just any pontoon manufacturer. We encourage you to seek out Barletta owners and ask them about their experience, the proof is in their feedback.
Pair that with an industry-best warranty and the quality craftsmanship of these pontoon boats and you’ve got more support than any other brand offers. The Barletta warranty is so much more than words on a piece of paper.
Activate your Warranty
The best piece of advice I can give you when it comes to using your Barletta warranty is to register your boat through the dealer as soon as you take possession of it. This is how the warranty is activated and Barletta will need this registration if you ever have a warranty claim.
The warranty starts when the registration is submitted. From there, if an issue does arise your first course of action should be to contact your dealer’s service center. Almost always, the service techs will need to get their eyes on the issue before it can be deemed warrantable.
Once you make contact with the dealer, it’s your responsibility to get the boat into their possession for the service appointment. Every dealer is different with this process and some might even offer dockside assistance.
If you talk through these types of scenarios when you initially take possession of the boat, you should know exactly what to do when the boat needs service. This is where building that relationship with your dealer pays off too.
The quickest course of action that will get your boat in the shop and on its way to being repaired is to work directly with your dealer. Complaining on Facebook or calling the factory will only drag out the process.
Second Owner Warranty
Now that you know the details of Barletta’s warranty, let’s talk about what happens if you buy the boat used. As I mentioned, everything below the deck is covered for the boat’s lifetime, the decking itself is covered for 25 years, and everything above that is covered for 10 years no matter what the warranties are for the individual components.
If you buy the boat from the original owner that makes you the second owner. In that case, the warranty is transferable to you. We’ve made this process super easy. You can have the servicing dealer transfer the warranty into your name.
We also offer a warranty transfer portal directly on the Barletta website. You will need to provide the HIN for your boat along with basic contact information. You must transfer the warranty within 30 days of buying the boat from the original owner.
Depending how long the first owner had the boat, determines what’s left of the warranty. The limited lifetime portion of the warranty which covers the deck down can be used for a maximum of 10 years. So, if the first owner had possession of the boat for one year, the second owner will get nine more years out of that portion of the warranty.
For the 10 year portion that covers everything above deck, the second owner will get what’s remaining of the warranty for five years. So, if the original owner had the boat for two years, the second owner will have that coverage for three more years.
No matter what, Barletta wants to make sure you’re covered. With this transferable warranty, the best dealer network in the industry, and a first-class customer support staff at the factory, even a gently used Barletta will be supported like family.
Timing
No matter where you’re at in your Barletta ownership journey, I want to help set the expectation for timing when it comes to warranty claims. Just because an issue should be covered, doesn’t necessarily mean you have to run to the dealer immediately.
Remember that in peak season, the service center at your dealership will be at its busiest. If an issue arises, first ask yourself, does this need to be fixed immediately? Next, call your dealer and discuss the issue with them.
Say you’ve got a bad seam that’s coming loose and it’s the middle of July. You can still be on the water using your boat with this type of problem. My recommendation would be to report this to your dealer immediately, but schedule the repair for the fall so that you’re not taking time away from the water.
In some cases, this may even benefit you as replacing furniture is not as easy as replacing a faulty light. The replacement furniture will have to be ordered from the factory and you can expect a wait time of weeks or even months depending on the supply chain and shortages that could be happening.
Now if your engine is dead in the water, that’s an issue you want to have serviced no matter what time of year as that will keep you from using the boat. You should expect that issues like these will be a priority to the dealer’s service team during peak season.
If you do want to get the boat into service right away, the specific issue will more than likely dictate how long your wait time will be. If it’s a common part that your dealer could have on hand like a bilge pump, your boat may be in the shop for a shorter amount of time than if the part that needs to be replaced has to be ordered from the factory.
Keep all of these factors in mind, especially during boating season. If you can avoid having your boat sit in the shop during peak season, I recommend going that route.
Luckily, Barletta’s service team is quick to respond and has an impeccable reputation for turning over warranty claims and getting parts shipped to the dealerships in record time. So if you have to take your boat in for service, rest assured that Barletta will do everything they can to support the claim.
Barletta Has Your Back
When owning any big-ticket item it’s important to remember that things can happen and issues can arise. It’s the nature of owning a man-made product. That’s the reason Barletta puts so much integrity behind the factory-direct warranty.
Not only are you getting an industry-best warranty with the boat standard, but you’re also getting an entire team supporting you from Bristol, IN who will work with your dealer to make sure you don’t miss any time on the water.
With a Barletta warranty, you’re getting so much more than a piece of paper that talks about what’s covered and for how long. When you buy a Barletta, you join a family and this team will not let you down.
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