When you travel around the country hauling a boat and fishing for a living, it’s super important that your boat runs well. One of the things I do to make sure of that is to follow the regular maintenance schedule for the motor, but even then I’ll occasionally encounter an issue with my 250 hp Yamaha V MAX SHO four-stroke outboard. When I do, it’s nice to have a strong warranty to fall back on. All Yamaha outboards come with a limited warranty for pleasure use—two years for two-stroke models and three years for four-stroke models.
The reality of a warranty is that it’s the cheapest “assurance” you’ll find for your outboard motor. There are over 2,000 Yamaha service dealers in the U.S., so whether you have problems at home or on the road, your warranty can be used at any of those dealers.
When you purchase a new boat, the Yamaha Dealer will fill out the warranty information on line, and Yamaha will send you a Factory Warranty Card. Warranty coverage is found on the back of your dealer manual, and if at any time you want to know how much time you have left on your warranty, just call the Yamaha Outboard Customer Support line at (866) 894-1626 and give them your Primary Identification Number (PID). If you don’t have your warranty card, you can find the PID number on the port side of the engine.
The PID number is all you need if you ever have a warranty problem, so if you break down when you’re traveling, even if you don’t have your warranty card with you, it’s right on the side of your engine. The Yamaha Dealer can look up the number and verify your warranty coverage and then do the work. It’s really that easy.
There’s a lot of peace of mind that comes with having your engine under warranty, so I tell any friends that get a boat that they should not only immediately check the warranty, but also purchase an extended warranty that will cover the engine for major problems for a longer period of time. The more warranty time you have on the motor, the longer you’re covered for major repairs. The warranty is also a major selling point if you decide to sell your boat at a later date.
Anyone looking to purchase your boat doesn’t know how you’ve run it, but they do know they’re covered for any major warranty issues down the road. That’s a big deal to just about anyone buying a boat. And if you buy a used boat that’s under its original factory warranty, you can still buy an extended warranty as long as you take it to a Yamaha Dealer and have the motor inspected and the warranty transferred beforehand. The extended warranty program is called Y.E.S, or Yamaha Extended Service, and comes in 12, 24 and 36-month coverage. So if you have a four stroke like mine, you can add three more years to the warranty, and have six years of warranty coverage, which is pretty nice when you fish a lot like I do.
If you ever decide to sell the boat, take it to your local Yamaha Dealer to be inspected. Most people who purchase a used boat want to have a mechanic look at the motor and verify that it’s in good working condition and hasn’t been abused. Your Yamaha Dealer will not only verify that it’s in good working order, but also do the warranty inspection and transfer the warranty over to the new owner, so you kill two birds with one stone.
I can’t think of a worse environment to place a mechanical tool than fresh or saltwater (well okay; maybe freezing saltwater), so I’m always amazed that outboards hold up as well as they do. We can’t control all the elements we expose our motors to, but we can control how its treated and maintained…and that’s big-time important. Keeping up with regular maintenance and adding Y.E.S. coverage means if things go bad, there’s a strong warranty behind your engine to help cover the costs of repair.
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