Are warranties a scam?
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Discussion

PurpleMoonlight

Original Poster:

22,362 posts

188 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
My colleague has just agreed to buy a 3 year old VW Golf 2.0 TDI form a VW main dealer. It's done 60,000.

She was sold an AA warranty for £399.

It seems to me that she is paying to cover the dealer for their legal obligations under the SoGA, at least for the first 6 months anyway.

Incidentially, they charged a £75 admin fee for the purchase. Don't we love that scam .....

Si_man306

531 posts

216 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
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Sounds like she needs to learn to haggle wink

mrmr96

13,736 posts

235 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
PurpleMoonlight said:
It seems to me that she is paying to cover the dealer for their legal obligations under the SoGA, at least for the first 6 months anyway.
I expect the warranty will cover significantly more than the SOGA so you're not comparing like with like, are you?

PurpleMoonlight

Original Poster:

22,362 posts

188 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
Si_man306 said:
Sounds like she needs to learn to haggle wink
Funny you should say that. She did quite well actually getting £9000 part exchange on her car when Parkers says it is only worth £8500. I had discussed it with her as she got well shafted last time she bought a car, and she knew her aim was a cost to change of £1000 on a £10,000 sticker price.

In the end the car she bought was up for £9990 and her cost to change was £1200 including the warranty, the admin charge and 6 months road tax (£57).

Kentish

15,169 posts

265 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
If it helps; I know the AA warranties are pretty good as the cover is done very differently to most warranty companies.

AA cover a fixed amount against a repair bill which is quite fair IMHO.

Better than going through all the T&C's and exclusions on most policies to discover that in effect it covers next to bugger all!

nickfrog

25,459 posts

248 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
mrmr96 said:
PurpleMoonlight said:
It seems to me that she is paying to cover the dealer for their legal obligations under the SoGA, at least for the first 6 months anyway.
I expect the warranty will cover significantly more than the SOGA so you're not comparing like with like, are you?
Not sure. For starters, if a fault is deemed as existing at the time that the AA insurance/warranty contract is taken, then the warranty won't cover it whereas SOGA will.

A lot of dealers sell or include a warranty to protect themselves against SOGA claims as most consumers don't understand the difference. In other words, if the warranty excludes something they think they're no other recourse.

SeanyD

3,457 posts

231 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
The AA warranty, assuming its the same as the Parts and Labour cover, is actually pretty good, I've claimed successfully and know others have too. £500 limit per claim, only thing to note is you HAVE to call the AA out first before taking it to a garage for repair.

ging84

9,548 posts

177 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
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the "Gold" warranty that was included with my car was on my invoice for £399 and had a total claim limit for £1000 so if it was really sold for that amount no one would buy it. I assumed it is some form of tax scam to lower the margin made on the car, but the warranty seems to be VAT rated so i don't really understand it

Terminator X

20,977 posts

235 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
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Yes. When I looked in to it the warranty paperwork was virtually useless + you know they will never pay out on a claim THAT'S WHAT THEY DO mad

TX.

CampDavid

9,145 posts

229 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
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People who think they know about cars and then refer to Parker's for valuations always tickle me

onesickpuppy

2,672 posts

188 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
PurpleMoonlight said:
My colleague has just agreed to buy a 3 year old VW Golf 2.0 TDI form a VW main dealer. It's done 60,000.

She was sold an AA warranty for £399.

It seems to me that she is paying to cover the dealer for their legal obligations under the SoGA, at least for the first 6 months anyway.

Incidentially, they charged a £75 admin fee for the purchase. Don't we love that scam .....
Ah, the magical, mystery, free, inclusive, 3 or 6 month (depends who you ask), SoGA FREE warranty that the dealer MUST provide?

Her AA warranty will be even better.

ETA: I'd have told them to ram their £75 admin fee though smile.

PurpleMoonlight

Original Poster:

22,362 posts

188 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
onesickpuppy said:
Ah, the magical, mystery, free, inclusive, 3 or 6 month (depends who you ask), SoGA FREE warranty that the dealer MUST provide?

Her AA warranty will be even better.

ETA: I'd have told them to ram their £75 admin fee though smile.
Where did I mention that the dealer had to provide a free warranty, or any warranty for that matter. I referred to their legal obligations under the SoGA.

As far as I am aware pretty much anything that went wrong on the car within the first 6 months would be deemed to be present at the time of purchase, and so be down to the dealer to repair/replace. So the warranty is likely to only be usefull from month 6 - 12, and even then there appears to be a possible claim limit of £1000. Not a particularly good isurance for £399 if you ask me.

GC8

19,910 posts

221 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
CampDavid said:
People who think they know about cars and then refer to Parker's for valuations always tickle me
People who dismiss PPG out of hand tickle me. Remeber that PPG was published by the same people who published CAP!

mrmr96

13,736 posts

235 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
PurpleMoonlight said:
Where did I mention that the dealer had to provide a free warranty, or any warranty for that matter. I referred to their legal obligations under the SoGA.
When you implied that the cover from SoGA and AA warranty was equivalent.

Here in fact:

PurpleMoonlight said:
It seems to me that she is paying to cover the dealer for their legal obligations under the SoGA, at least for the first 6 months anyway.

SeanyD

3,457 posts

231 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
PurpleMoonlight said:
Where did I mention that the dealer had to provide a free warranty, or any warranty for that matter. I referred to their legal obligations under the SoGA.

As far as I am aware pretty much anything that went wrong on the car within the first 6 months would be deemed to be present at the time of purchase, and so be down to the dealer to repair/replace. So the warranty is likely to only be usefull from month 6 - 12, and even then there appears to be a possible claim limit of £1000. Not a particularly good isurance for £399 if you ask me.
Might want to check what the claim limit means, often its the maximum per individual claim, with a fixed number of claims allowed per year, NOT the maximum they'll cough up full stop.

If its £399 for the full 3 years, then it could pay for itself many times over.



PurpleMoonlight

Original Poster:

22,362 posts

188 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
SeanyD said:
If its £399 for the full 3 years, then it could pay for itself many times over.
It's just a 12 month warranty according to the dealer purchase document.

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

296 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
SeanyD said:
...I've claimed successfully and know others have too...
Terminator X said:
Yes. When I looked in to it the warranty paperwork was virtually useless + you know they will never pay out on a claim THAT'S WHAT THEY DO mad

onesickpuppy

2,672 posts

188 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
PurpleMoonlight said:
onesickpuppy said:
Ah, the magical, mystery, free, inclusive, 3 or 6 month (depends who you ask), SoGA FREE warranty that the dealer MUST provide?

Her AA warranty will be even better.

ETA: I'd have told them to ram their £75 admin fee though smile.
Where did I mention that the dealer had to provide a free warranty, or any warranty for that matter. I referred to their legal obligations under the SoGA.

As far as I am aware pretty much anything that went wrong on the car within the first 6 months would be deemed to be present at the time of purchase, and so be down to the dealer to repair/replace. So the warranty is likely to only be usefull from month 6 - 12, and even then there appears to be a possible claim limit of £1000. Not a particularly good isurance for £399 if you ask me.
mrmr96 said:
PurpleMoonlight said:
Where did I mention that the dealer had to provide a free warranty, or any warranty for that matter. I referred to their legal obligations under the SoGA.
When you implied that the cover from SoGA and AA warranty was equivalent.

Here in fact:

PurpleMoonlight said:
It seems to me that she is paying to cover the dealer for their legal obligations under the SoGA, at least for the first 6 months anyway.
What he said ^. I don't think you are quite grasping the difference between your right under the SoGA and a proper warranty.

PurpleMoonlight

Original Poster:

22,362 posts

188 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
quotequote all
onesickpuppy said:
What he said ^. I don't think you are quite grasping the difference between your right under the SoGA and a proper warranty.
Please enlighten me.

What would the warranty cover that the SoGA wouldn't (for the first 6 months)?

singlecoil

35,861 posts

277 months

Wednesday 3rd April 2013
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PurpleMoonlight said:
she got well shafted last time she bought a car,
I hadn't realised that dealerships were now providing that 'service' as well.