Warranty Details for the Leading Power Tool Manufacturers - A Simple Guide
Power Tool Warranty & Service: An Honest Comparison of the Leading Brand’s After Sales Warranty and Service Support.
Considering a power tool purchase? New drill? New full cordless kit? New laser levels? We’re here to help you with our experience of selling power tools. Although we have our preferred brands, we want you to be satisfied that you’re making the right choice when it comes to purchasing your new power tools.
With that in mind, in this article, we’re going to compare the pros and cons of the warranty and after sales support of the leading brands of power tools available today.
Length of warranty
In the last 5 years or so every power tool brand has extended their warranty period’s and now 3 years is the most common on offer. Makita, Dewalt (cordless tools only), Bosch, Metabo and Milwaukee all offer a year’s warranty which can be extended to 3 years when the tool is registered on their websites:
https://makitauk.com/3-year-warranty
https://www.dewalt.co.uk/mydewalt
https://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/service/guarantee/information/
https://www.metabo.com/com/en/info/service/xxl-warranty/
https://uk.milwaukeetool.eu/header/service/warrenty-registration/
Hikoki offer a 3 year warranty as standard which can be extended to 5 years on their range of brushless power tools. Festool offer an exceptional 3 year warranty, 10 years parts guarantee and 3 years theft insurance as part of their warranty package. Paslode come with 1 year as standard which can be extended to 2 years.
https://www.hikoki-powertools.co.uk/service/register
https://www.festool.co.uk/service/warranty-all-inclusive
https://www.paslode.co.uk/register-my-tool/
When it comes to the leading laser level brands, warranties vary a bit. Imex offer 5 years on their top end rotary lasers, 2 years on their entry level rotary lasers, 2 years on their basic line lasers and 3 years on their 3D line lasers.
https://www.imextools.co.uk/pages/warranty
Leica offer a 3 year warranty on their Disto laser measures and their Lino line lasers and 5 years on their Rugby range of rotating lasers. The Rugby range also comes with the Leica lifetime ‘Protect’ warranty which is a no cost repair or replacement of all defect parts.
https://connect.leica-geosystems.com/disto-warranty
https://leica-geosystems.com/en-gb/services-and-support/product-services/protect-by-leica-geosystems
Laserliner offers a 4 year warranty which covers all the products in their range.
https://www.laser-liner.co.uk/about-us/4-year-warranty/
PLS Lasers come with a 3 year warranty across their whole range of products.
https://www.plslaser.com/pls-best-class-warranty/
What do the warranties cover?
As a general rule all warranties cover for manufacturing defects only and not defects caused by bad workmanship. However, with our experience of dealing with the main brand power tool manufacturers some can be more lenient than others and will repair some machines as a goodwill gesture even though the fault has clearly been caused by misuse. Two particular brands we’ve found are good at this are Makita and Festool. These two brands have stood out over the last 4-5 years at being outstanding at their warranty repair service. (For us at Millcot Tools anyway – other outlets may have other opinions/experiences with other manufacturers).
Are batteries covered by the warranties?
Makita batteries aren’t covered by their 3 year warranty so only come with a 1 year warranty, Bosch cover their batteries for 3 years as do Dewalt, Milwaukee (apart from their M28 batteries), Hikoki (from 4.0ah upwards), Metabo and Festool. Paslode cover their batteries for 2 years. Imex, Leica, PLS and Laserliner all cover their batteries (rechargeable) for the same period as the tools are covered.
Who carries out the warranty/service work?
Makita, Bosch, Imex, Hikoki, Festool, Metabo and Paslode all have their own in house repair centres so have direct control over who repairs their machinery. Milwaukee and Dewalt have a network of repair agents. Leica, Laserliner and PLS are serviced and repaired by the distributors of their products in the UK, a company called Tradesurvey.
Which brand should I choose?
Only you know what brands you prefer but we’ve tried to help you make the right decision in this article by discussing the warranty and after sales service of the leading brands of power tools. Maybe you have no budget and want a particular brand because their advertising appeals to you. Or maybe you want to feel comfortable that if you have issues with the tools the problem will be sorted quickly and efficiently. A brief overview of what we’ve covered off in this article is below:
Brand Warranty Period
Makita 3 years (excludes batteries)
Bosch 3 years (includes batteries)
Dewalt 3 years (includes batteries)
Milwaukee 3 years (includes batteries apart from M28)
Festool 3 years (includes batteries, 10 year parts guarantee, 3 year theft cover)
Hikoki 3 years (includes batteries)
Metabo 3 years (includes batteries)
Paslode 2 years (includes batteries)
Imex 5 years (rotary lasers apart from E60), 3 years (3D lasers), 2 years(line lasers)
Leica 5 years (Rugby lasers), 3 years (Disto & Lino range)
Laserliner 4 years (includes batteries)
PLS 3 years (includes batteries)