Ram’s New 10-Year Warranty Will Last Almost As Long As It Takes You To Pay Off Your Truck

We’re still a couple weeks away from seeing official Q2 numbers, but through Q1 of 2025, Ram wasn’t just in third place among full-size trucks, it was in a distant third place. Like, “barely beating the GMC Sierra by only a handful of units,” third. Year-over-year sales were also down nearly 12%, which is never a good sign. The line is only supposed to go up, never down. Now, Ram has a new plan to turn things around with a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty on 2026 model year trucks and vans. Nice. 

Of course, Ram is basically copying off some of Hyundai’s old homework that it found stuffed in a drawer upstairs, but if an automaker wants to offer a better warranty, we sure aren’t going to complain. For comparison, Ford offers a five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty on the F-150, while Chevrolet offers five years and 100,000 miles. So if you want a full-size truck with the best powertrain warranty, Ram’s now the brand to buy. Electric vehicles aren’t included in the new warranty, though, so if you have your eye on a Ram Promaster EV, the powertrain warranty is still eight years/100,000 miles.

EVs aside, the other asterisk on the new warranty is that it only applies to the original owner, so if you buy a 2026 Ram used, it doesn’t sound like the warranty will transfer with the truck. Plus, it doesn’t apply to fleet sales. Still, for a lot of buyers, a 10-year/100,000-mile warranty on the engine, transmission, transfer case, driveshafts, differentials and axles probably sounds like a pretty sweet deal. 

The bad news is, the reasoning Ram gave for offering a longer warranty is pretty concerning. Engines aren’t necessarily blowing up or anything like that. Instead, Ram says it’s because buyers are all financing their new trucks for so long, their warranties are running out before they finish paying off their trucks. That isn’t conjecture on our part, either. It’s right there in the press release, with Ram CEO Tim Kuniskis saying:

Everything is more expensive, and trucks are certainly no exception. Truck buyers are financing purchases for longer periods of time, with nearly 80% of new truck loans exceeding five years. Our customers are making a long-term investment in Ram, and with America’s best full-size truck limited powertrain warranty, Ram is making a stronger and longer commitment to our customers.

Yes, at this point, Ram claims only 20% of truck loans are five years or less. As long as everyone pays their loans in full, that’s great news for Stellantis Financial, but the number of Americans who are behind on their vehicle loans is currently even higher than it was before the Great Recession. That doesn’t make Ram’s longer warranty a bad thing, but it’s definitely worrying that so many people are taking out 84-month loans to pay off their trucks. Especially with another recession looming and employment prospects uncertain, while Republicans continue their trade war with the world and CEOs salivate over the possibility of using the plagiarism machine to replace workers. 

It would be great if someone could flip a switch that magically improved our economy and drastically improved wages across the board, so new vehicles were actually affordable for the average person, but that isn’t happening. Instead, the best thing you can probably do is simply not take out an 84-month loan on a new truck, even if it now comes with a 10-year warranty. Trust me, you really don’t need a new truck that badly.