Did your aftermarket third party warranty pay out?
Poll: Did your aftermarket third party warranty pay out?
Total Members Polled: 28
Discussion
Prompted by a thread on third party warranties here in GG I thought it would be interesting to see with a simple YES/NO poll just what proportion of PHers warranty claims have actually been settled.
Note that I'm asking this about THIRD PARTY warranties only, the sort you get with a used car from an independent dealer or that you buy yourself from a company. I'm not asking about the extended warranties that you can get from an actual franchised dealer, eg Toyota, BMW or a Tier 1 Mercedes jobbie, as these appear from anecdotal evidence to be a different animal. The used car warranties seem to have ever exclusion under the sun covered off nicely, so I can imagine claims can be stressful.
Best not name names either.
Note that I'm asking this about THIRD PARTY warranties only, the sort you get with a used car from an independent dealer or that you buy yourself from a company. I'm not asking about the extended warranties that you can get from an actual franchised dealer, eg Toyota, BMW or a Tier 1 Mercedes jobbie, as these appear from anecdotal evidence to be a different animal. The used car warranties seem to have ever exclusion under the sun covered off nicely, so I can imagine claims can be stressful.
Best not name names either.
Moderator edit: no naming and shaming
Petrus1983 said:
I’ve never had one - the last car I bought the dealership said they offered their own as they were so fed up of them not paying out and still fixing the problems as a goodwill exercise, so effectively paying twice. Will be interested in the result.
This is why I set the poll - I'm very interested to know the results, especially when you read the Ts and Cs and exclusions. It's pretty well everything. If payouts exceed 50% I will be genuinely surprised, I reckon it might be more like 30%.There's probably no better place to ask than this forum.
From my experience they are not really worth it.
Firstly it really doesn't cover anything of any use. Most parts that break will be wear and tear and those that aren't are few and far between.
In my experience I had bought the car. Waterpump had done 10k. They said it's a wear and tear part. I had to argue and state what waterpump would wear away that bad that after 10k and 1 year of use. Took me 2 weeks of arguing before they agreed to pay out.
You have to make sure the car has all the service stamps and isn't missed.
To top it off is trying to find a garage that will do the work and want to be paid by the warranty company. That's the hardest part. I phoned 5 garages to do one job I were trying to get done by the warranty company. Not one would do it. So I bought the parts and did the job myself in the end. Luckily it weren't a difficult or expensive (cost me about £30) but it shouldn't have cost me anything.
Firstly it really doesn't cover anything of any use. Most parts that break will be wear and tear and those that aren't are few and far between.
In my experience I had bought the car. Waterpump had done 10k. They said it's a wear and tear part. I had to argue and state what waterpump would wear away that bad that after 10k and 1 year of use. Took me 2 weeks of arguing before they agreed to pay out.
You have to make sure the car has all the service stamps and isn't missed.
To top it off is trying to find a garage that will do the work and want to be paid by the warranty company. That's the hardest part. I phoned 5 garages to do one job I were trying to get done by the warranty company. Not one would do it. So I bought the parts and did the job myself in the end. Luckily it weren't a difficult or expensive (cost me about £30) but it shouldn't have cost me anything.
Dog Star said:
The used car warranties seem to have ever exclusion under the sun covered off nicely, so I can imagine claims can be stressful.
This ^^^.IIRC the warranty offered with my daughter's car cost £100 and had a £500 claim limit and a huge list of get-out clauses. There might even have been an excess to pay.
We had a six-month one provided by the selling dealer (can't remember which warranty company they took it out with) when we bought the Octavia and as far as I know they paid out for a new low-pressure fuel pump when it starting flagging up an error. However, I didn't go straight to the warranty company, I went back to the dealer and told them to sort it so I don't actually know that it was paid via the warranty.
I wouldn't pay for one myself.
I wouldn't pay for one myself.
Edited by kambites on Monday 12th December 15:29
Very well know and heavily promoted warranty company refused ~£2k payout. The primary reason given was that their 'independent' (yeah right) engineer assessed there was no fault, despite the presence of warning light, fault code and franchised main dealer diagnostics, with the car being inspected at said main dealer with a Master Technician describing the fault and work needed. Claimed their 'independent' inspection would stand up in court. Absolute disgrace and blatent lies.
They did pay a portion in the end when I went public on Trustpilot, but only on condition I tore the review down. I didn't want to do this, but not a trivial amount of money so caved. Manufacturer paid the rest as goodwill.
On further research it seems these companies pay small claims no bother, but anything into four figures they're looking for every reason not pay out. I bought warranty for those big bills, so given the number of escape clauses they have I'll not be bothering again.
They did pay a portion in the end when I went public on Trustpilot, but only on condition I tore the review down. I didn't want to do this, but not a trivial amount of money so caved. Manufacturer paid the rest as goodwill.
On further research it seems these companies pay small claims no bother, but anything into four figures they're looking for every reason not pay out. I bought warranty for those big bills, so given the number of escape clauses they have I'll not be bothering again.
Edited by AdeOlly on Monday 12th December 15:44
It was a long time ago but I did get a payout when I bought an imported celica from a dealer. The gearbox seized within a fortnight.
The warranty company kept ignoring me and fobbing me off and finding ways to not pay up, so I pestered the dealer so much that he gave me the CEO’s number. After I pestered the CEO for long enough, I ended up with a 250 quid contribution to make me shut up and go away.
The bill was about 800 quid I think - to swap in a secondhand box, as no one would touch a rebuild “because grey import”. That tells you how long ago it was
I was on £7.50 an hour st the time and thought I’d been pretty hard done by - but looking back I think I did well to get a penny out of the b
ds.
The warranty company kept ignoring me and fobbing me off and finding ways to not pay up, so I pestered the dealer so much that he gave me the CEO’s number. After I pestered the CEO for long enough, I ended up with a 250 quid contribution to make me shut up and go away.
The bill was about 800 quid I think - to swap in a secondhand box, as no one would touch a rebuild “because grey import”. That tells you how long ago it was
I was on £7.50 an hour st the time and thought I’d been pretty hard done by - but looking back I think I did well to get a penny out of the b
ds. Yes, my air conditioning compressor packed up on a used Suzuki Swift around 8 weeks after I bought it.
I didn’t pay a penny for its replacement at a Suzuki dealer, the car was bought at an Indy. The Suzuki dealer did all the leg work too. I now have a good relationship with them and I’ve had my Swift maintained by them ever since.
I didn’t pay a penny for its replacement at a Suzuki dealer, the car was bought at an Indy. The Suzuki dealer did all the leg work too. I now have a good relationship with them and I’ve had my Swift maintained by them ever since.
My two brief experiences with 3rd party warranties.
1) 19 years ago I purchased an MR2 from a volvo dealers (I was 18 and stupid). The car came with an AA warranty and it's cylinder head promptly cracked a few weeks later and needed a fair bit of engine work. Garage did a report sent it all off but wash brushed off as ware & tear so zero pay out.
2) Last year we purchased a Focus ST and a few weeks after purchase the GPS failed. Took it to Ford who confirmed the modual and wire loom needed to be replaced. The warranty company would only contribute a certain level towards the labour charge (about 40%) and wouldn't cover anything relating to wires so only the £50 modual. Had I gone ahead with it I would have been left with a bill for £200 to pay out. In the end I fixed it with an ebay GPS modual for £12.
1) 19 years ago I purchased an MR2 from a volvo dealers (I was 18 and stupid). The car came with an AA warranty and it's cylinder head promptly cracked a few weeks later and needed a fair bit of engine work. Garage did a report sent it all off but wash brushed off as ware & tear so zero pay out.
2) Last year we purchased a Focus ST and a few weeks after purchase the GPS failed. Took it to Ford who confirmed the modual and wire loom needed to be replaced. The warranty company would only contribute a certain level towards the labour charge (about 40%) and wouldn't cover anything relating to wires so only the £50 modual. Had I gone ahead with it I would have been left with a bill for £200 to pay out. In the end I fixed it with an ebay GPS modual for £12.
I was clueless when buying first car and we got ripped off for used car warranty at big motoring world. £3k for 3 years on a 3 year old diesel car with 13k miles.
Had a few claims on it which they did pay but cost of those jobs didn't come close to what we paid for it and was a bit of a hassle for shop to deal with them. Was a steering rack amd gearbox mechatronics controller replacement. About £800 and £400 each apparently.
Wouldn't bother again.
Had a few claims on it which they did pay but cost of those jobs didn't come close to what we paid for it and was a bit of a hassle for shop to deal with them. Was a steering rack amd gearbox mechatronics controller replacement. About £800 and £400 each apparently.
Wouldn't bother again.
Edited by 457892345 on Monday 12th December 17:43
Had an RAC platinum warranty provided with a Jag F Type for 12 months.
Refused several claims (basically everything apart from the engine being destroyed was excluded). Managed to get £250 for a replacement water pump out of total repairs of circa £2,000
Would not pay for a 3rd party warranty, personally. Some manufacture warranties seem to be OK.
Refused several claims (basically everything apart from the engine being destroyed was excluded). Managed to get £250 for a replacement water pump out of total repairs of circa £2,000
Would not pay for a 3rd party warranty, personally. Some manufacture warranties seem to be OK.
Not myself but a friend.
Took out warranty on a Vauxhall Astra circa 2015 model.
And some aspect of gearbox failed, apparently a common issue after reviewing. Sadly there was a clause to effect of common know failures not covered. I think he had it 4 weeks from a large used car dealership.
Ended up selling and making pretty big loss due to insufficient funds to repair it.
I understand wear and tear on brakes, suspension, clutch etc. but internal engine and gearbox issues especially automatic gearbox’s how can they be refused?
Engine I get poor lubrication from a less sympathetic driver can be argued, that’s the issue, if there is one element of user error it’s worth a lot of money for the warranty company to challenge the claim. In the end they are there to make money, sadly I think this is typically the first priority, numbers are king.
Took out warranty on a Vauxhall Astra circa 2015 model.
And some aspect of gearbox failed, apparently a common issue after reviewing. Sadly there was a clause to effect of common know failures not covered. I think he had it 4 weeks from a large used car dealership.
Ended up selling and making pretty big loss due to insufficient funds to repair it.
I understand wear and tear on brakes, suspension, clutch etc. but internal engine and gearbox issues especially automatic gearbox’s how can they be refused?
Engine I get poor lubrication from a less sympathetic driver can be argued, that’s the issue, if there is one element of user error it’s worth a lot of money for the warranty company to challenge the claim. In the end they are there to make money, sadly I think this is typically the first priority, numbers are king.
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