Noble warranty

[hunttheshunt]

No doubt this has been covered before, but here's another opportunity for those in the know to look good!

The warranty on my 3R runs out in March. I have the option to go back to the supplying dealer for a 3rd party warranty at about £5-600 for a year.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I assume that the factory doesn't offer extended warranties.

As an aside, BMW offer a superb extended warranty scheme, but then again they do make one or two DM's!!

[gizard]

I have asked the factoru on numerous occasions about and extended factory warranty - and was told they were sorting it out but no one ever came back to me and since then my warranty has expired.

[joust]

AFAIK the third party ones are the only thing available.

I'm happy to say that even my old 2.5l (one very careful owner ) never needed any serious work, and I've yet to hear of anything serious that hasn't been covered by the inital 12 months.

However, given the cost of things, isn't £500 on a £50k car rather a bargin! I'd always get it "just in case".

J

[DanH]

Depends on the exclusions. 3rd party warrantys are often crap =/ Track exclusions, follow through failure exclusions, the ways they wriggle out of them are endless...

[mr2turbo300]

Mine came with one from Mole Valley (APS I think). In reality most things are excluded, however I think I will renew just to cover something very expensive happening. I can have a look at the fine print about track use if anybody is interested.

[hunttheshunt]

Yep been there. £500 isn't much per se, but we all know that some of these warranties aren't worth the paper their written on.

Perhaps the factory should look at these warranties as an extra source of income. I'm sure they could find someone to underwrite it and I for one would be willing to pay extra to have an official Noble Warranty.

There would be many benefits to all concerend, not least of which would be the positive effect on resale values!!

What do you think??

[m12_nathan]

I'd have one.

[joust]

hunttheshunt said:

Yep been there. £500 isn't much per se, but we all know that some of these warranties aren't worth the paper their written on.

WHy do you say that? Sure they have exclusions, and yes, they will wriggle, but if you follow the process, and are aware of the limitations, and want "serious" stuff covered, they my impression is that can be very useful it appears from reading general posts on PH about warranty claims.

There have been a few posts on other forums of people that have successfully claimed thousands on then.

J

[stuh]

joust said:

hunttheshunt said: Yep been there. £500 isn't much per se, but we all know that some of these warranties aren't worth the paper their written on. WHy do you say that? Sure they have exclusions, and yes, they will wriggle, but if you follow the process, and are aware of the limitations, and want "serious" stuff covered, they my impression is that can be very useful it appears from reading general posts on PH about warranty claims. There have been a few posts on other forums of people that have successfully claimed thousands on then. J

The problem with 3rd party warranties is that they don't cover known issues with a given model. The very reason you'd really want it!

Manufacturers warranty is what is needed. This has been under discussion with Noble as long as i can remember. I would happily pay extra for peace of mind years 2 and 3.

[joust]

It's bound to be economics.

Lotus, producing 1000's a year, don't offer a factory warranty, they have an "official factory" scheme, but they are underwritten by a third party (or were at least for the 4 years I had my Elise).

Even my BMW 3 to 5 year extension is done by a third party. OK, it has BMWs name on it, but it's still a third party document that you get with the exclusions - it's just that it's co-branded with BMW and is bought as a BMW part number on the dealers system, but it's still a third party working out what the risks are.

Manufacturers I suppose are there to make cars, not become actuaries , although of course most of Ford US's profits come from it's financing arm

J

[stuh]

joust said:

It's bound to be economics. Lotus, producing 1000's a year, don't offer a factory warranty, they have an "official factory" scheme, but they are underwritten by a third party (or were at least for the 4 years I had my Elise). Even my BMW 3 to 5 year extension is done by a third party. OK, it has BMWs name on it, but it's still a third party document that you get with the exclusions - it's just that it's co-branded with BMW and is bought as a BMW part number on the dealers system, but it's still a third party working out what the risks are. Manufacturers I suppose are there to make cars, not become actuaries , although of course most of Ford US's profits come from it's financing arm J

The BMW arrangement is different. Although anything after 3 years is underwritten by a 3rd party the fault diagnosis, assesment and point of contact is still BMW and they won't reject a claim on the basis of a known car fault. So to all intents and purposes the warranty is BMW. Normal 3rd party warranties require an independent inspection by an outside party and no work can begin until this had been signed off, which is a right pain in the..........

I think Noble would greatly enhance the value of new cars versus older models by instigating such a scheme. I'm sure most owners would happily pay a grand to get factory support years 2 and 3.






>> Edited by stuh on Tuesday 11th January 09:23

[DanH]

I totally agree Stu. Of course it would require the factory talking to an insurer to underwrite it (unless they are brave and want to take it on themselves!), but surely worth it on grounds of solidifying residuals.

[obes]

Agreed. In order to 'compete' in some of Noble's target markets, surely the warranty must be as good as the competitors ?

[joust]

stuh said:

The BMW arrangement is different. Although anything after 3 years is underwritten by a 3rd party the fault diagnosis, assesment and point of contact is still BMW and they won't reject a claim on the basis of a known car fault. So to all intents and purposes the warranty is BMW. Normal 3rd party warranties require an independent inspection by an outside party and no work can begin until this had been signed off, which is a right pain in the..........

Hmm.... I'm not sure if you read the "blown up" thread that was on PH some time ago. I met the chap at VMAX and he had to threaten, and start proceedings, to take them to court over it.

Also, from my expierence of the Lotus warranty, as you say, the latter was the case.

That was my point. The bigger the market, the better actuarial view that will be given (my friend is an actuary partner for KPMG). Micro markets (in the scheme of things) like Noble he has explained to me aren't good from a risk/reward basis, so from my chats with him I think the "estimate" of £1k for one like the BMW is people having rose tinted glasses on????

The dealer supplied ones like I had for the 2.5 seem to be a good compromise. If there had been any problems MV would have arranged for the inspection et. all, and so although not "factory" backed, they are certainly dealer backed in that the sales of goods/services act responsibilities lie with the person who sold it, not the underwriter.

J

[stuh]

joust said:

stuh said: The BMW arrangement is different. Although anything after 3 years is underwritten by a 3rd party the fault diagnosis, assesment and point of contact is still BMW and they won't reject a claim on the basis of a known car fault. So to all intents and purposes the warranty is BMW. Normal 3rd party warranties require an independent inspection by an outside party and no work can begin until this had been signed off, which is a right pain in the.......... Hmm.... I'm not sure if you read the "blown up" thread that was on PH some time ago. I met the chap at VMAX and he had to threaten, and start proceedings, to take them to court over it. Also, from my expierence of the Lotus warranty, as you say, the latter was the case. That was my point. The bigger the market, the better actuarial view that will be given (my friend is an actuary partner for KPMG). Micro markets (in the scheme of things) like Noble he has explained to me aren't good from a risk/reward basis, so from my chats with him I think the "estimate" of £1k for one like the BMW is people having rose tinted glasses on???? The dealer supplied ones like I had for the 2.5 seem to be a good compromise. If there had been any problems MV would have arranged for the inspection et. all, and so although not "factory" backed, they are certainly dealer backed in that the sales of goods/services act responsibilities lie with the person who sold it, not the underwriter. J

Anecdotal stories are all well and good but i just go on my own personal experiences. I've had an M3 and warranty issued were dealt with completely without quibble. My current M5 recently ate it's clutch and flywheel - nothing to do with my driving style honest and it was out of BMW warranty but covered by a 3rd party, the AA. The AA rejected the claim on grounds of wear and tear but BMW agreed that on a 20k mile car that this was unacceptable and picked up the bill.

My 14 month M12 had it's MM ECU spontaneously combust, taking the loom with it. Noble agreed to share some of the parts cost but i still ended up with a bill of several grand, even though it's a known issue with the 2.5 cars.

When i spoke to the dealer about getting an M400 i pushed for a 2 year warrany but they wouldn't do it, so saw no benefit of buying new, as i can get the same car 12 months later for 25% less and have the same level of warranty cover..........zero.

I agree that a small company like Noble can't give unlimited milage, 3 year warranties like the majors but i see absolutely no reason not to offer an underwritten scheme. As Obes says, if they want to play with the big boys thet have to be prepared to back their product.

[TONY3R]

I've had loads of warranties on cars in the past and can honestly say you would be better off putting the £500-£600 notes towards a problem as and when it might occur as I found it to be too much of a battle getting payment.

Their will always be a small print loop hole get out argument on their half... but hey, why be surprised they are a type of insurance company.

[lucozade]

I would really like to read some comments from the factory on this one. My dealer explained that a warranty would be available at the end of the first year. If it's really as bad as what people think then I'm not going to be a happy person at all. I ain't buying a warranty that ain't worth a toss.

Any comments micknall ?

[lucozade]

lucozade said:

I would really like to read some comments from the factory on this one. My dealer explained that a warranty would be available at the end of the first year. If it's really as bad as what people think then I'm not going to be a happy person at all. I ain't buying a warranty that ain't worth a toss. Any comments micknall ?

[micknall]

I'm a little confused about what your dealer has actually promised. At this stage, the factory has no plans to introduce an extended warranty that runs beyond the first year of the car's life. As far as I'm aware, most of our dealers offer insurance policies which extend beyond the factory warranty, but these are not linked to Noble Automotive Ltd.

Simon Hucknall
Press Officer
Noble Automotive Ltd.

[lucozade]

micknall said:

I'm a little confused about what your dealer has actually promised. At this stage, the factory has no plans to introduce an extended warranty that runs beyond the first year of the car's life. As far as I'm aware, most of our dealers offer insurance policies which extend beyond the factory warranty, but these are not linked to Noble Automotive Ltd. Simon Hucknall Press Officer Noble Automotive Ltd.

to clear up the confusion and avoid a call from my dealer !

Simon, I was told at time of sale that a warranty would be available to me when the factory one runs out. That's fine. But if it really is useless I'm concerned about spending any money on one.

Would be nice if the factory did do a warranty. I'm sure plenty of us would take it up. Jeez even TVR had an extended factory warranty which covered everything. I paid £1300 for mine last time round. Didn't stop the engine going bang but then it did cover me.

I'm sorry, I think I've just said something positive about TVR !