Is it legal for a garage to offer a half warranty?

[ingenieur]

I'm not moaning. This is not my car. I'm not upset because I want to make a claim but I cant... It's not a personal gripe... I'm just wondering what peoples views are.

I bought a second-hand car for my parents recently and looking through the warranty I came across the following section:




The effect of this as far as I can tell is that this is half a warranty if either of the following are true, the car has more than 90,000 miles or is more than 9 years old.

The question for the hive mind... as far as I was aware motor traders are obliged to offer a warranty if they are a professional garage retailing second hand cars.

If they include this warranty with your purchase you are only getting half a warranty.

That looks a bit dodgy to me. Is it perfectly legally sound and if so then why do they stop at 50%, why not make the customer pay 90%?

[Dracoro]

Dealers aren't obliged to offer warranties (for used cars not in original warranty of course).

The warranties can have whatever conditions/exclusions etc.

The only real "legal" obligation is your consumer rights, i.e. fit for purpose etc. That applies regardless of any warranty.

[SuperPav]

As above, these aren't really warranties as much as just insurance policies. They can cover/exclude whatever the provider wants.

This does not affect your statutory rights...

[TA14]

As above replies. I often look at those as a warranty for the dealer: if the problem would have been covered under consumer protection legislation then the dealer gets some of his money back, if it wouldn't have been covered by CPL then the warranty co. can usually wriggle out. (OK, that's an over simplification but... )

[Panamax]

SuperPav said:

As above, these aren't really warranties as much as just insurance policies. They can cover/exclude whatever the provider wants.

This does not affect your statutory rights...

Yes, and by paying only part of the cost they keep premiums down while encouraging owners to look after their cars.

[stevemcs]

I think that's the company a dealer I worked at used, a 3 month warranty was around £50 a year one was around £80 plus vat cost to the dealer. 'We would sell the 12 month warranty for £99.

[Lester H]

My local independent for whom I worked part time stopped buying in warranties. There were so many loopholes and such a huge amount of small print that we got the flak when claims were not covered. Also like all these insurance policies for domestic stuff, they had a silver, gold ,then platinum level .Obviously at the time of a claim you never had the right level.( Just thinking about domestic heating boilers). We stopped offering them and just said we will repair a low cost car for a month and a dearer one for three. We lost out on one in ten by the way. Sadly another good family car lot, though basically a tyre place will not stock cars over 1k because there can be less comeback under fitness for purpose for age and price, etc.All this seems a bit petty in relation to a £2500 runabout but it won't be if you buy an ageing Bentley!

Edited by Lester H on Tuesday 1st March 19:41

Edited by Lester H on Tuesday 1st March 19:46

[Canon_Fodder]

The wording and tone of those T&Cs is repulsive and tells me all I need to know about Warranty Assist.

[The Rotrex Kid]

It’s called ‘betterment’

The warranty will fit brand new parts on the car so as it gets older/higher mileage you are expected to contribute as they are making the car better than it was.

https://www.money.co.uk/warranty-insurance/what-yo...

[TedStriker]

Warranties are usually sold by dealers so that consumers don't enforce their legal rights and claim against the dealer, who ultimately is responsible for at least 6 months.

Never really understood why buyers end up fighting a warranty company for something that the dealer has a legal obligation to fix themselves.

[ingenieur]

TedStriker said:

Warranties are usually sold by dealers so that consumers don't enforce their legal rights and claim against the dealer, who ultimately is responsible for at least 6 months.

Never really understood why buyers end up fighting a warranty company for something that the dealer has a legal obligation to fix themselves.

That's because the buyer doesn't know it's up to the dealer to sort it.

[Lester H]

TedStriker said:

Warranties are usually sold by dealers so that consumers don't enforce their legal rights and claim against the dealer, who ultimately is responsible for at least 6 months.

Never really understood why buyers end up fighting a warranty company for something that the dealer has a legal obligation to fix themselves.

Unfortunately ( and I think Bangernomics section of Autocar warned of this) some cynical garages merely buy at auction, vaguely spruce up a car and put it on the lot. They leave the almost inevitable teething troubles ( or worse) to the next owner to whom they sell a warranty. Now a seasoned PHtype will know what to look for and do a few basic checks, maybe with a more expert friend if the car is a bit unusual/ sporty. Fine. However would you want your daughter or indeed any " non savvy" person buying from such an outfit. Often these are larger outlets rather than small independents who are able to source local main dealer trade ins.

Edited by Lester H on Thursday 3rd March 10:17

[TA14]

Lester H said:

TedStriker said:

Warranties are usually sold by dealers so that consumers don't enforce their legal rights and claim against the dealer, who ultimately is responsible for at least 6 months.

Never really understood why buyers end up fighting a warranty company for something that the dealer has a legal obligation to fix themselves.

Unfortunately ( and I think Bangernomics section of Autocar warned of this) some cynical garages merely buy at auction, vaguely spruce up a car and put it on the lot. They leave the almost inevitable teething troubles ( or worse) to the next owner to whom they sell a warranty. Now a seasoned PHtype will know what to look for and do a few basic checks, maybe with a more expert friend if the car is a bit unusual/ sporty. Fine. However would you want your daughter or indeed any " non savvy" person buying from such an outfit. Often these are larger outlets rather than small independents who are able to source local main dealer trade ins.

Edited by Lester H on Thursday 3rd March 10:17

FWIW, for a bit of balance, I bought a sports car (TVR) with one of these warranties and the selling garage (a TVR dealer) was very knowledgeable/clever/inventive on how to make a claim and the best approach to take; I was amazed at how successful they were with claims.

[CarCrazyDad]

I'm pretty sure any fault within 6 months needs rectifying at the Dealer under the CRA2015 act ? So these warranties are sort of pointless

I never trust these third-party warranty providers!

[TA14]

CarCrazyDad said:

I'm pretty sure any fault within 6 months needs rectifying at the Dealer under the CRA2015 act ? So these warranties are sort of pointless

I never trust these third-party warranty providers!

I can't remember the correct phrase but basically the dealer is only liable for big faults that you wouldn't expect. So engine and gearbox would be covered but windscreen wipers are not. There's a lot in between which warranties should cover but they seem good at wriggling out citing small print. As an example I had a windscreen replaced; they were covered only under some circumstances.

[CarCrazyDad]

TA14 said:

CarCrazyDad said:

I'm pretty sure any fault within 6 months needs rectifying at the Dealer under the CRA2015 act ? So these warranties are sort of pointless

I never trust these third-party warranty providers!

I can't remember the correct phrase but basically the dealer is only liable for big faults that you wouldn't expect. So engine and gearbox would be covered but windscreen wipers are not. There's a lot in between which warranties should cover but they seem good at wriggling out citing small print. As an example I had a windscreen replaced; they were covered only under some circumstances.

Of course - wear and tear not included