What is a point in car warranty?

[Borys]

Have been in 4 garages, including Mercedes - all want me to pay first
Rung warranty people, they said they need to authorise repair before payout (which is normal procedure)
Garages don't want to call them, they say I pay first and claim from warranty
Total nonsense

 

[brucemillar]

Have been in 4 garages, including Mercedes - all want me to pay first
Rung warranty people, they said they need to authorise repair before payout (which is normal procedure)
Garages don't want to call them, they say I pay first and claim from warranty
Total nonsense

Garages do not want to phone warranty companies as the garage then gets tied to the phone arguing the claim on your behalf. That can (and does) take considerable time.

In my case:

Bank Holiday weekend. PS pump failed. New pump required. Phoned warranty company. Could not get through (multiple calls) had to go ahead with repair (new PS pump and labour) Claim declined because I had not phoned the warranty company. Showed the screen shots from iphone of calls to them.

"Our phone system was down for upgrade" You should have waited till after the bank holiday or you could contact us. Claim declined. Well done waranty direct.

 

[Borys]

Yep thats it

 

[Deadhead]

Garages do not want to phone warranty companies as the garage then gets tied to the phone arguing the claim on your behalf. That can (and does) take considerable time.

In my case:

Bank Holiday weekend. PS pump failed. New pump required. Phoned warranty company. Could not get through (multiple calls) had to go ahead with repair (new PS pump and labour) Claim declined because I had not phoned the warranty company. Showed the screen shots from iphone of calls to them.

"Our phone system was down for upgrade" You should have waited till after the bank holiday or you could contact us. Claim declined. Well done waranty direct.

B@st@rds!!

Well that's them off the list of companies that I'm ever going to give my money to then.


I really, really, really dislike snivelling, weaselling insurance companies.

 

[Charles Morgan]

I was saying only yesterday to a friend in the motor trade that the whole area of car warranty, gap, wheel and like products were going to be the next big hunting ground for the mis-selling brigade, once they have mined out all the ppi and endowment possibilities.

If you need to rely upon an older car a third party warranty is close to useless.

 

[BlackC55]

I don't do it that way.

 

[brucemillar]

I was saying only yesterday to a friend in the motor trade that the whole area of car warranty, gap, wheel and like products were going to be the next big hunting ground for the mis-selling brigade, once they have mined out all the ppi and endowment possibilities.

If you need to rely upon an older car a third party warranty is close to useless.

Charles

I agree with you here. My experience seems to be in a majority with warranty companies devoting time to declining claims as opposed to paying out on valid claims. Wear & Tear is a big get out followed closely by electrical issues (not covered, read the small print).

The percentage of claims against warranty (genuine or otherwise) must be relatively small against the warranties sold. I suspect that you will not find many poor warranty companies.

My friend (in the trade) refers to them as "get you of my forecourt companies" meaning it sometimes helps sell a car but rarely helps the owner or the trader when things go wrong. Invariably the warranty conpany will try and push all costs back to the trader or encourage the trader to help them avoid any pay out.

 

[Teflonso]

If insurance company refused to pay out because you could not contact them, due to a fault of their making, then unless this is covered in the very small print you have a case with the insurance ombudsman or even the small claims court.

Even if there is fine print covering an upgrade to their phone system, it might fit within the scope of law covering unfair contract terms. I speak as a non-lawyer, all liability for advice is limited to the price you paid for it (nowt).

I'd give it a punt anyway, the IO only costs the price of a stamp or an e-mail.

The other option is of course to ask the warranty provider where they want you to take the car. I had this with the SIL's Volvo - ABS control unit replaced by main dealer gets a 50% contribution by Volvo, but they still insisted on it going to Halfords for a full price part. Cost them more in the end.


.

 

[E270 Owner]

I turn warranty work away,
there's too many scams going on in my area
and checking out one customer from start to finish with a claim for warranty work can take 6-8 hours on average,
just not worth it for me as its bad enough dealing with the insurance companies directly I have contract work with,
it wastes hours and hours.

 

[John Jones Jr]

I've always maintained if the warranty policy & company are any good, they will firstly highlight what's not covered rather than what is. Lexus extended warranty was a classic example of how to do it, there never seemed to any ambiguity.

 

[mirras]

In the past I have complained to the Insurance Ombudsman about two warranty companies ( WD being one ) and both times my complaint ( justifiably ) has been upheld and they have had to pay out. I now run without any 3rd party warranties as they are not worth the hassle.

 

[jaymanek]

You have to know how to deal with them and how to word things in order to progress claims...

I can understand why garages dont like dealing with them, it can be a testing experience as its pretty much a full on interrogation.

 

[John Jones Jr]

You have to know how to deal with them and how to word things in order to progress claims...

That sort of defeats the point in having an extended warranty in first place. Nine times out of ten it should be just a straight forward case that the customer has a valid claim or not. End of.

 

[kianok]

Why not just self-warranty ?(AKA save some money each month)

 

[developer]

Just to specifically answer the title of the thread, I've claimed against the MB Tier One warranty on all of the 3 E Classes I've owned.

In each case, I've raised the problem with the dealer and they have done the rest, with no further input from me.

The point of the warranty is very clear under those circumstances.

 

[Borys]

Why not just self-warranty ?(AKA save some money each month)

How much you suggesting to put in a repair pot?

 

[kianok]

How much you suggesting to put in a repair pot?

How much are you paying for warranty cover?

I would think that a contingency of 80 quid p/m would b e more than enough.

 

[Rory]

In my case:

Bank Holiday weekend. PS pump failed. New pump required. Phoned warranty company. Could not get through (multiple calls) had to go ahead with repair (new PS pump and labour) Claim declined because I had not phoned the warranty company. Showed the screen shots from iphone of calls to them.

"Our phone system was down for upgrade" You should have waited till after the bank holiday or you could contact us. Claim declined. Well done waranty direct.

Well, their claims line isn't open at the weekend anyway (but then neither are most garages).


I made my first ever claim with Warranty Direct recently and it all worked OK.

The Mercedes dealer used an industry system called 1Link to contact them and ask for authorisation. It was broken road spring and WD queried whether it had broken due to corrosion. Dealer said no visible corrosion and WD authorised the claim. In practice it would have been tough to argue if they'd refused as the only reason springs break is due to corrosion.

They paid full dealer rate and list price for part, and I have zero excess and the betterment clause removed, so I got the full cost back.

Bit of a palaver to email off scans of the docs (but easier than posting them) and they paid quickly (but will only pay by cheque, for reasons which seem obvious to me).

 

[John Jones Jr]

so I got the full cost back.

Bit of a palaver to email off scans of the docs (but easier than posting them) and they paid quickly (but will only pay by cheque, for reasons which seem obvious to me).

Why should you have to pay first and then chase the warranty company for repayment? The whole point of a vehicle warranty is that you should never have to pay for a valid claim. A risky business, imagine if the car needed a new cylinder head or gearbox...

 

[Rory]

Why should you have to pay first and then chase the warranty company for repayment? The whole point of a vehicle warranty is that you should never have to pay for a valid claim. A risky business, imagine if the car needed a new cylinder head or gearbox...

So you have to keep in mind what these things are - they're not really warranties at all - they're insurance policies. Something breaks - you make a claim.

I suppose the dealer doesn't want to take on the risk of not being paid, plus you have to demonstrate that the car has been serviced and MOT'd for the claim to be valid.

WD say if you use an approved garage then they can be paid directly although I've seen comments that such garages are thin on the ground.

If the repair has been authorised then there should be no risk.