posted 01-07-2014 10:29 AM ET (US)        

The promotion is described on the Yamaha Marine website at

http://www.yamahaoutboards.com/current-promotion?origcmp=& cmp=EOC-20140106_0

The five-year warranty protection plan offer consist of a three-year limited warranty that is normally already included with a Yamaha outboard engine and an additional two years of coverage under an arrangement known as a Yamaha Extended Service contract or Y.E.S. contract, except in the state of Florida, which apparently has some state laws that force Yamaha to offer customers there a five-year limited warranty.

The alternative choice is a credit of $125 to $2,000, varying according to the horsepower rating of the purchased engine, which can be used to purchase other goods or services from the Yamaha dealership. A table (on the above linked webpage) shows the ten tiers of credit amounts available with various engine horsepower.

Curiously, the offer applies only to newly purchased engines which were manufactured by April 2006 or later. At first it seems paradoxical that one could purchase a "new" Yamaha engine but the engine having been actually made eight years earlier. This may be a reflection of the discontinued use of model-year designators for Yamaha outboard engines. Apparently some "new" engines in the Yamaha dealership inventory might be more than eight years old. They are excluded from this offer.

The offer is also withdrawn for customers who are commercial, camp, resort, rental, promotional, demo, government agency, competition, tournament or sponsorship customers. In other words, only good old recreational boaters can take advantage of this offer.