Third Party Warranty Claim - Thoughts?

[SWoll]

All,

OH's 57 plate 525i Touring has been having an issue with poor running first thing in the morning for the past couple of weeks. Started off as just an annoyance but has got progressively worse to the point where the battery light is coming on due to the tickover dropping so low and vibrations through the car are ridiculous.

I have a warranty with one of the third party providers (no names yet) and as the car was due in for a service asked the BMW dealer to run some diagnostics to see if they could find a fault. I had confirmed with the warranty co. in advance that if a fault was found the cost of the diagnostic would be covered by them as part of the repair.

Basically, BMW have confirmed that the ignition coil on one of the cylinders is knackered and needs replacing, a process that also requires a software update applying so the new part is recognized and functions correctly.

Warranty co. are currently only willing to pay for the new coil and refusing to pay for either the diagnostic or software update.

No happy about this at all, have e-mailed their customer services team with a complaint and I am now awaiting a response.

Any thoughts? Anyone had issues like this before?

[Bish]

I suggest you read the small print on your warranty docs. A lot of them tend not to pay for diagnostic work.

As for the software update there is not a chance that will be covered......well by the people I use anyway as it has nothing to do with the initial fault on the car.

[SWoll]

Bish said:

I suggest you read the small print on your warranty docs. A lot of them tend not to pay for diagnostic work.

Specifically asked about the process before booking the car in though and told that the diagnostic cost would be covered by the warranty if a fault was found.

Bish said:

As for the software update there is not a chance that will be covered......well by the people I use anyway as it has nothing to do with the initial fault on the car.

BMW are telling me that without the software update the physical repair to the vehicle will be pointless as the car will not pick up the replacement part and will still not fire correctly. Therefore surely it is an integral part of the repair that needs doing?

[Deva Link]

If it's a decent warranty company then they'll pay up eventually. Is it one that's promoted by a TV personality or supported by a particular car magazine? If so, complain to them too.

[Snowboy]

Did you get the diagnostic charge agreement in writing?
How about the name of the person who agreed and the time of the call?

If not I'm afraid you may be a bit buggered.

[surveyor]

SWoll said:

Bish said:

As for the software update there is not a chance that will be covered......well by the people I use anyway as it has nothing to do with the initial fault on the car.

BMW are telling me that without the software update the physical repair to the vehicle will be pointless as the car will not pick up the replacement part and will still not fire correctly. Therefore surely it is an integral part of the repair that needs doing?

That would by my arguement.

[SWoll]

Deva Link said:

Is it one that's promoted by a TV personality or supported by a particular car magazine? If so, complain to them too.

I'm sure i don't know what you are talking about

Thanks for the replies so far guys. One of those situations that when you're involved sometimes common sense can go out of the window so just wanted to sanity check and make sure I wasn't being unreasonable.

I have complained to the cutomer services dept and am awaiting a response. They seem to be very big on "keep the customer happy" mentality and selling the USP of "covering everything" so hopefully will get some joy.

[Deva Link]

SWoll said:

They seem to be very big on "keep the customer happy" mentality and selling the USP of "covering everything" so hopefully will get some joy.

The thing is, all these warranties promote "peace of mind" - if you get a lot of hassle when you claim then they become pointless.

[Antimus]

SWoll said:

Bish said:

I suggest you read the small print on your warranty docs. A lot of them tend not to pay for diagnostic work.

Specifically asked about the process before booking the car in though and told that the diagnostic cost would be covered by the warranty if a fault was found.

In that case, as they record all calls, they should have a record of that conversation, just challenge them and say you were promised it.

As for the software update, no idea