Warranty....?

[redleicester]

Chap, flicking back through past threads, there seems to be as little faith in warranties as there in in TVRs!

As you know, I'm hunting for the right Cerbera at the moment to replace my 98R Chimaera. The Chim has had a trouble free 10,000 miles, and I never bothered putting a warranty on it.

However, with all the tales of cams, engine rebuilds, broken suspension etc, I'm tempted to seach out a warranty for my new car. The car would be anything between a 96-99, around £16-18k value, and I'd be looking at 12,000 miles + per annum.

Any recommendations of companies to persue, or any to avoid? Would any warranty in the world cover and engine rebuild / replacement?

TIA

[simonsparrow]

I've got the AA warranty, which covers you for up to £500 if your car breaks down and they can't fix it. Was about £50 for the year, but has already paid for itself with an O2 sensor.

I've no experience of the 'big' warranties, but hopefully some others will reply.

[arcbeer]

I have a Car Care Plan warranty with mine that you can only get initially through a dealer (I've checked that it is transferable as I'm now looking to sell my car). Only had to use it once to replace a cat, no problems (impressed that it covered cat's in the first place). Seems very comprehensive. I think it's worth it just for the peace of mind.

[satman]

Give James Agger a call, he should be able to help you
07970 530890 or www.jamesagger.com

[TVRWhoa]

HL Gorner's sold me a Cerb with a RAC warranty which seems very comprehesive after just to weeks they've replaced the clutch (£1200) with no quibbles - so they're a thumbs up from me !

[pilmar]

I agree to a thumbs up for RAC warranty. New starter motor with no questions.

[longbow]

I got the AA one too, but upped the claim limit to £1000, max 3 claims per year. Its only £99, and as its a big well known company I can't see them being difficult. One condition is you need to take breakdown cover with them to get it, but hey, small price to pay for all of that. If your looking at a Cerb in the 17k region, try to get one thats had all of the major issues ironed out already such as cams and clutch - that what I did!

[redleicester]

Sounds good Longbow, I'm with the AA and due a renewal this week anyway.

AA/RAC etc only seem to cover low cost (limit £1k or so) - is there no one that'll cover more? I seem to remember some that'd cover half the car's value as a max per claim.... trouble is I can't remember who!

[easto]

I think some of the warranty companies only cover for half or the initial cost of car if it is less 'x' amount of years old. Think it might be 5 y.o

[redleicester]

Okay, how does this sound?

What is Covered - Platinum car warranties

These car warranties and commercial vehicle warranties cover:

Labour Costs
Parts Cost
Recovery to the garage (maximum £65.00)
Car Hire (If the repairs exceed 8 hours)
VAT

The maximum amount that each car warranty, or commercial vehicle warranty claim can be is set by the policy limit (e.g. £1000),

During the life of the policy you can make numerous warranty claims that can total up to the value of the car, but individual car warranty & commercial vehicle warranty claims cannot exceed the policy claim limit.

More details of the Platinum car warranty and commercial vehicle warranty details are listed here: -

Component Cover - The following components are covered against Mechanical Breakdown (as defined elsewhere in this warranty document) of those items listed below.
Please note that parts not listed are specifically excluded.

Engine

All components contained within the cylinder block and head including pistons, rings, crankshaft, big end bearings, manifolds, rocker assembly, timing chains, timing gears, distributor drive.

Turbo Unit

All components including inlet and exhaust turbine shafts, bearings, bushes, wastegate devices. Turbo cover ceases at 7 years or 80,000 miles (whichever comes sooner).

Gearbox

All components contained within either manual or automatic transmissions including gears, bearings, clutches.

Clutch

All components including clutch plate, clutch cover, thrust bearing and or release bearing. Limited to one clutch repair during the warranty duration.

Differential

All components including gears, pinions, bearings, shafts.

Drive Shafts

All components including propshaft, drive shafts, C.V. joints, couplings.

Brakes

All components including servo units, cylinders, valves.

Steering

All components on steering systems including power steering units, rams, pumps, reservoirs, steering box.

Suspension

All components including control arms, bushings, ball joints, pins.

BEARINGS

All components including wheel bearings, seals, hubs, flanges, where mechanical breakdown has occurred causing sudden stoppage of their function.

Cooling System

All components including radiator (excluding external damage), matrix, water pump, head gasket, thermostat.

Ventilation

All components including heater assembly vents, tubes, controls.

E.C.U.

All components including solid state control units, triggering units, distributor, coil.

Electrics

All components including motors, solenoids, relays, alternator, starter motor, switches, computers.

Fuel System

All components including fuel pump, carburettor, sender units, gauges, air flow meters, accumulator fuel distributor, regulators.

Air Conditioning

All components including compressors, pumps, reservoirs.

Locks

All components including regulators, handles, locks, catches (excluding accidental damage).

Seals

All major oil seals and gaskets.

Casings

Casings are covered if they have been damaged by any of the listed parts.

In Car systems

Satellite Navigation (if advised fitted at the time the car warranty is purchased)

Exclusions

Cylinder head cracks, damage caused by frost, overheating or as a result of a lack of anti-freeze, all normal maintenance items such as but not limited to plugs, points, filters, breather valves, valve cover, gaskets, plus parts. In car entertainment systems.

___________________________

With a 4.2 Cerb under 10 years old, and under 40,000 miles, that works out at £265pa with a £1000 per claim limit, or £603 with £2500 per claim.

OR, 36 months cover on the same two limits are £652 or £748 respectively - the latter sounding like rather good value - £250pa for three years!

What do you think of the inclusions / exclusions? Seems like most things are there, but is there anything Ive missed? Steering rack for example!

[J_S_G]

Is "Platinum" the fake company? Thought there was a post on one of the Tiv forums in the last couple of months "outing" some such bunch of cowboys that're even less likely to pay out than the usual ones!

[redleicester]

J_S_G said:

Is "Platinum" the fake company? Thought there was a post on one of the Tiv forums in the last couple of months "outing" some such bunch of cowboys that're even less likely to pay out than the usual ones!

Naah, it's the list from the company you just emailed me about, and for their "Platinum" cover as opposed to the lower grades

[J_S_G]

redleicester said:

J_S_G said: Is "Platinum" the fake company? Thought there was a post on one of the Tiv forums in the last couple of months "outing" some such bunch of cowboys that're even less likely to pay out than the usual ones! Naah, it's the list from the company you just emailed me about, and for their "Platinum" cover as opposed to the lower grades

Ah, in that case... it's as good as you'll get for the money (other than possibly the AA one). Any better, and you're talking £700 a year for something more "reputable" - am just a bit dubious about getting £700 PA, every year, through on a warranty!

[tvrinbfg]

Car Care Plan aren't covering TVRs any more.

Is the "Platinum" warranty from Motorplan? If so, they're the old Warranty Holdings people (better the devil you know?) and their "platinum" scheme is about the best around.

The warranty market is due for a big shake up wef 1 Jan 05 with dealers supposedly needing to be FSA registered to supply warranties. This registration costs dealers £0000s and sales staff need to go on a course (more £000s), so it will be very interesting to see what hapens next year......

[plug]

My warrenty (motorplan, top cover)covers all the engine components including cams and followers, but when I tried to claim for worn followers after 17000 miles they refused giving that it was due to normal wear and tear. They also do not cover for gradual breakdown or deterioration, or any parts that fail due to inherent design faults. So as far as I can tell they could refuse any claim if they wanted to. They did however pay for a new slave cylinder when the clutch failed.

[J_S_G]

plug said:

My warrenty (motorplan, top cover)covers all the engine components including cams and followers, but when I tried to claim for worn followers after 17000 miles they refused giving that it was due to normal wear and tear. They also do not cover for gradual breakdown or deterioration, or any parts that fail due to inherent design faults. So as far as I can tell they could refuse any claim if they wanted to. They did however pay for a new slave cylinder when the clutch failed.

"Sudden, unforeseen breakage" I believe is the clause. And their definition of "breakage" is definitely NOT the dictionary definition... having found that out from experience. Whereas you and I would class a biro as "broken" that leaks ink all over the place because of the "ball" in the tip being fscked, they'd call it "worn". Spent over 6 hours on the phone using the biro analogy...

Came to the conclusion you will NOT get a several £k rebuild out of them. Best sticking to clutch, gearbox, electrical, etc. claims and accepting that TVR engine shoddiness is your own responsibility to sort out with the factory. (To be honest, if my S6 engine goes again for any of the common reasons, I'll take the factory to court, and know I'll win... it's just the hassle of doing it)

[gazzab]

dont bother.
If you are buying a 'cheap' cerbera to run on a budget then a warranty isnt going to protect your wallet.
Buy a cerb and use indies to keep running costs down.
Dont line the pockets of insurance cos.

[redleicester]

Thanks for the replies chaps, and thanks for the tip off JSG. The company is at www.warrantyworks.co.uk

Why does everyone get on the "running a TVR on a shoestring" soapbox so often?! I've spent over a grand tidying up little issues in the three weeks since I bought her.... and am planning a damn sight more too!

Gazzb - I'm not trying to run her on the cheap, I just have a bun in the wifes oven, and if I can take the heat off for a year with the little bills, then the bigger ones will take care of themselves.

[J_S_G]

gazzab said:

dont bother. If you are buying a 'cheap' cerbera to run on a budget then a warranty isnt going to protect your wallet. Buy a cerb and use indies to keep running costs down. Dont line the pockets of insurance cos.

I understand the sentiment here. But warning people off warranties entirely, whether or not the numbers stack, up isn't very objective...

Expecting, and counting on any warranty that's only cost you a few hundred quid to pay out on a multi-thousand pound engine claim is, possibly, foolish. Especially if that's the only way you think you can afford to run the car.

However, with warranties going for £700 for three years, you'd be very hard pressed NOT to make one more than pay for itself... £250 a year and you're quids in. So, a starter motor one year and a clutch slave cylinder another, and you're already likely to be breaking even, not to mention any electrical problems, gearbox issues, REAL engine detonations (as opposed to any well known issues that they can blame the manufacturer for/premature wear issues), etc.

Buying the same warranty for a Toyota or a Honda might still be foolish, but I've yet to fail to come out ahead over the policy term on a more "characterful" car.

[gazzab]

It is a simple formula - warranty companies are there to make a profit. So most punters will not be quids in.
My engine needed a complete rebuild and the warranty co wriggled out of it.
so my £700 only got me one starter motor.
So it is an objective statement.
If you are the sort of person that buys every policy going ie dental ins, medical ins, critical illness cover, personal injury etc... then I would say get a warranty. If you are the sort of person who is less worried about this, then save your money.
There are too many people who dont get paid out.
Most punters will not financially benefit from a warranty. It is simple economics. Warranty companies are trying to make a profit.
I know someone who was the finance director for a wtty company. Strangely enough he was very well off.