Your Car's Extended Warranty

About

Your Car's Extended Warranty also known as "We've Been Trying To Reach You About Your Car's Extended Warranty" refers to a robocall trend in the U.S. where phone scammers repeatedly call trying to trick people into renewing their car's warranty. Although these types of phone scams have been occurring in the U.S. since 2007, references to them within memes started on Twitter in late 2016.

Origin

According to an NPR^[1] interview from April 2021, phone scams about "your car's extended warranty" started in the United States in 2007. A company called US Fidelis started a robocall campaign in 2007 that was legal but deceptive. Within the fine print of the extended warranty contract they offered was a clause that exempted US Fidelis from paying for a car's repair in the shop. US Fidelis preyed on people who answered the robocall and signed the contract without reading all of the fine print. If these people knew better, they would've known that only a manufacturer of a car can sell a warranty.

The first reference to these types of robocalls within memes started on Twitter in late 2016. On December 13th, 2016, Twitter^[2] account @animals_advice posted the first known instance. Their tweet (shown below) received one like over the course of five years.

Spread

More Twitter users brought attention to these robocalls going into 2017 and 2018. On July 21st, 2017, Twitter^[3] user @ludwigwx tweeted the second-known reference. His tweet (shown below, top) received three likes over four years. On June 18th, 2018, Twitter^[4] user @akawhitebeyonce posted a tweet (shown below, bottom) that received 17 likes over the course of three years.

Starting in late 2018, image macro memes referencing extended warranty phone calls appeared in more abundance on Instagram and Facebook. The first known image macro (shown below) was posted to Instagram^[5] by @ellie_yabish_aka_elegance on October 6th, 2018. However, @ellie_yabish_aka_elegance is most likely not the original creator of this image because it's a Facebook text post. The original Facebook poster, however, is unknown. @ellie_yabish_aka_elegance received roughly 650 likes over the course of three years.

On November 7th, 2018, Facebook^[6] page 94.9 The Bull posted a meme using the I Will Find You And I Will Kill You format. The meme (shown below, left) received roughly 6,800 reactions over the course of three years. On October 23rd, 2021, Redditor xotic_illusions posted a meme to r/mildlyinfuriating^[7] (shown below, right) that received 566 likes over the course of two years.

Going into 2020 and 2021, more memes appeared on Reddit, among other platforms. In general, more and more Americans received extended warranty phone calls in 2020. As evidence of this, USA Today^[8] reported that auto warranty robocalls were the top call complaint filed by consumers in 2020. One of the places where a lot of these frustrations manifested was in subreddits like r/Scams^[9] and r/OkBuddyRetard.^[10]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References