Gavaldon V. Daimlerchrysler Corp‪.‬

The Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty Act (hereafter sometimes the Act or the Song-Beverly Act), Civil Code section 1791 et seq., *fn1 provides, in section 1793.2, subdivision (d)(2), that when a manufacturer does not repair a motor vehicle to conform to an express warranty after "a reasonable number of attempts," the buyer may opt to have the item replaced, or may return the item and obtain restitution for its cost (hereafter sometimes the replacement/restitution remedy). In the present case, the trial court found that plaintiff Rosemarie Gavaldon's Dodge Caravan minivan was substantially impaired because of a defective transmission that defendant DaimlerChrysler Corporation and its representatives (hereafter DaimlerChrysler) had been unable to repair after numerous attempts. The court found that the defect arose after the expiration of Gavaldon's 3-year/36,000-mile warranty. Nonetheless, the court concluded that Gavaldon was entitled to section 1792.3, subdivision (d)'s replacement/restitution remedy because the transmission defect was covered by Gavaldon's 7-year/70,000-mile service contract, and that, for purposes of the Song-Beverly Act, a service contract was a type of express warranty. The trial court therefore awarded Gavaldon the purchase price of the vehicle, minus the value attributed to its past use (see § 1792.3, subd. (d)(2)(C)), for a total of $13,623.63, plus attorney fees provided under the Act. The Court of Appeal disagreed and reversed the trial court's award. Gavaldon's petition for review calls on us to decide whether a service contract is an express warranty within the meaning of the Act. We conclude that it is not.