Warranty Direct

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_Leg_

Original Poster:

2,798 posts

210 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
Today I have taken out a Warranty Direct warranty on my 458 Spider to start in June. The car turns 4 in June and has covered 19,000 miles. I've had it from new.

Warranty Direct have recently changed their website and the way they quote. They told me that analysing their last few years of claims led them to conclude that higher mileage cars are a significantly higher risk than lower mileage yet before the recent change it made less of a difference to the cost of their policies.

I was expecting them to treat my car as high mileage but in their eyes it's low mileage.

I've taken the following:

Their core warranty
Safety System Protection
Emission System protection
Multimedia System Protection
250 xs
Unlimited labour rate

So, basically the best policy they offer. They've dropped all the old 'luxury' descriptions and now just have the core policy and the 5 options I list above.

How much has it cost me? £1004.

You can pay over 10 months too if you want, no additional charge. They even quoted me just under £2600 for a 3 year warranty, which I could also pay over 10 months if I wanted.

I've been through their policy and I've been through the policies for the Ferrari warranties (I have factory on my speciale and power plus on my F12) and it seems to cover more than anything but factory warranty.

They seem to have a good reputation and were recommended to me on here. Hopefully I'll have no need to test that but if I do, I'll report back.

Just thought y'all might be interested in the changes they've made. Oh, they don't bother with an inspection any more either, it's all on an insurance style declaration now.

Edited by _Leg_ on Tuesday 1st May 22:22

JohnG123

622 posts

129 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
Wow......
My 458 spider is 5 years old in November and at present has done 17000 miles.

They have quoted me around the £4000 figure......

My Ferrari warranty runs out in November.

_Leg_

Original Poster:

2,798 posts

210 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
JohnG123 said:
Wow......
My 458 spider is 5 years old in November and at present has done 17000 miles.

They have quoted me around the £4000 figure......

My Ferrari warranty runs out in November.
When did you get the quote? They've reviewed how they quote very recently.

JohnG123

622 posts

129 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
Early in January.... as you say just done it again now coming out at £1525.00 with ALL options and uncapped labour rates.
Like yourself would value feedback on anyone who as used them. Certainly a big saving on the Ferrari power warranty I as thinking of using for a few years.

Warranty are even better value in you go for 3 years cover.



RamboLambo

4,843 posts

169 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
Do they do McLarens ?

_Leg_

Original Poster:

2,798 posts

210 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
RamboLambo said:
Do they do McLarens ?
Yup, McLarens, Lada, Moskvitch...

;-)

MitchT

15,788 posts

208 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
_Leg_ said:
Oh, they don't bother with an inspection any more either, it's all on an insurance style declaration now.
The cynic in me says that this is so they can wriggle out on a technicality if you need to claim, not something they could have done when the onus was on them to inspect the car and record the relevant facts. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Superleg48

1,524 posts

132 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
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Still do not offer warranties for Lamborghinis. Given the VW Audi provenance, huge leaps in build quality and long term reliability is very the last 10-15 years and the fact they do cover Ferrari, plus quite a list of utter ste marques (Dacia, Perodua, Cadillac, Daewoo...) I do not really understand why.


Sarnie

8,025 posts

208 months

Tuesday 1st May 2018
quotequote all
RamboLambo said:
Do they do McLarens ?
No................

F355GTS

3,721 posts

254 months

Wednesday 2nd May 2018
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WD have a very good reputation on the Discovery forums, I have a policy with them on my D4 and will talk ot them when my FF warranty expires next Jan thumbup

_Leg_

Original Poster:

2,798 posts

210 months

Wednesday 2nd May 2018
quotequote all
MitchT said:
_Leg_ said:
Oh, they don't bother with an inspection any more either, it's all on an insurance style declaration now.
The cynic in me says that this is so they can wriggle out on a technicality if you need to claim, not something they could have done when the onus was on them to inspect the car and record the relevant facts. Hopefully I'm wrong.
I've just received an email from them requesting copies of the car's service history.

It seems that they rarely found issues on low mileage, well maintained cars so inspections were deemed unnecessary.

Any insurance is a risk I guess. Any contract is really. Contracts aren't guarantees, simply something to argue over if there is a dispute.

Only one way to find out. Hope I don't have to! I'm comfortable that WD are a good, honest company though and their policies seem good to me too. I'm going to add my F12 when the time comes too. Given Ferrari's top warranty, that is closest to this cover, is a good £4k plus I'm also putting 3k a year into a repairs pot per car in essence so I think it's a good balance.


PrancingHorses

2,714 posts

206 months

Thursday 3rd May 2018
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I have used them numerous times on my now sold DB9, Q7, Granturismo MC Shift and various BMW X5s....always paid out with the highest amount paid over 12 months being £7000 on the Q7 due to various suspension issues and engine issues!

After your post I took a look and they seem to have now simplified the warranty grading system. I have a 12 month warranty with them on my 458 which cost more than twice what you paid (took out in March) - I am paying in 4 instalments to will call them to see if I can save money by cancelling the existing policy and taking out a new one so thanks for the info!

JohnG123

622 posts

129 months

Thursday 3rd May 2018
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Good to hear from an existing customer, with no complaints.
I will definitely be looking at getting a warranty for my 458 spider of them in November when mine runs out.

BobTurner

392 posts

209 months

Thursday 3rd May 2018
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Would be interesting to know if they cover the leaking damper issue and whether they accept a service history from a specialist rather than a main dealer as part of their pre-warranty diligence....

PrancingHorses

2,714 posts

206 months

Friday 4th May 2018
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BobTurner said:
Would be interesting to know if they cover the leaking damper issue and whether they accept a service history from a specialist rather than a main dealer as part of their pre-warranty diligence....
Shock absorbers are covered...wear and tear is covered too - so can't see how they would wriggle out of it...should be OK. A leaking damper is due to premature part failure.

jdwoodbury

1,343 posts

205 months

Friday 4th May 2018
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I will be using them when my Range Rover warranty runs out next June...I have heard good things from other sources.

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Friday 4th May 2018
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PrancingHorses said:
BobTurner said:
Would be interesting to know if they cover the leaking damper issue and whether they accept a service history from a specialist rather than a main dealer as part of their pre-warranty diligence....
Shock absorbers are covered...wear and tear is covered too - so can't see how they would wriggle out of it...should be OK. A leaking damper is due to premature part failure.
Do the dampers still work when the leak?

WD changed hands a couple of years ago and the original founder is no longer involved and I got the impression things had changed. I used them for a few years on a Merc with very few claims (paid without issue) and then they suddenly dramatically increased the premium.

Biggest issue I had was the paperwork was rubbish - they'd randomly change extra cover options, increase the excess and betterment figures, decrease mileage etc etc and I had to go back several times at each policy renewal and get them correct.

BobTurner

392 posts

209 months

Friday 4th May 2018
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
PrancingHorses said:
BobTurner said:
Would be interesting to know if they cover the leaking damper issue and whether they accept a service history from a specialist rather than a main dealer as part of their pre-warranty diligence....
Shock absorbers are covered...wear and tear is covered too - so can't see how they would wriggle out of it...should be OK. A leaking damper is due to premature part failure.
Do the dampers still work when the leak?

WD changed hands a couple of years ago and the original founder is no longer involved and I got the impression things had changed. I used them for a few years on a Merc with very few claims (paid without issue) and then they suddenly dramatically increased the premium.

Biggest issue I had was the paperwork was rubbish - they'd randomly change extra cover options, increase the excess and betterment figures, decrease mileage etc etc and I had to go back several times at each policy renewal and get them correct.
"wear and tear" is covered?!

(I was told leaking dampers is an MOT fail)

Sheepshanks

32,530 posts

118 months

Friday 4th May 2018
quotequote all
BobTurner said:
"wear and tear" is covered?!

(I was told leaking dampers is an MOT fail)
Depends how much they're leaking.

You might be OK if it's an MOT but the biggest issue with these kinds of insurance warranties is that something has to cease to function - so the damper has to stop working as a damper. The big difference with WD is they cover it if the failure is due to wear and tear. However things aren't covered simply because they don't work quite as well as you'd like them to.


The other thing I'd mention, and maybe this has changed since I took my policy some years ago, but the OP mentioned a lot of optional cover items. It used to be standard practice to get a quote off the WD website and then a day or two later they'd call and throw everything at you if you'd sign up. I got all the optional covers included, the waiting period waived (although the car was coming off manufacturer warranty), no excess and no betterment. They also increased my annual mileage from 12K to 24K.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Friday 4th May 14:55

_Leg_

Original Poster:

2,798 posts

210 months

Saturday 5th May 2018
quotequote all
Sheepshanks said:
BobTurner said:
"wear and tear" is covered?!

(I was told leaking dampers is an MOT fail)
Depends how much they're leaking.

You might be OK if it's an MOT but the biggest issue with these kinds of insurance warranties is that something has to cease to function - so the damper has to stop working as a damper. The big difference with WD is they cover it if the failure is due to wear and tear. However things aren't covered simply because they don't work quite as well as you'd like them to.


The other thing I'd mention, and maybe this has changed since I took my policy some years ago, but the OP mentioned a lot of optional cover items. It used to be standard practice to get a quote off the WD website and then a day or two later they'd call and throw everything at you if you'd sign up. I got all the optional covers included, the waiting period waived (although the car was coming off manufacturer warranty), no excess and no betterment. They also increased my annual mileage from 12K to 24K.

Edited by Sheepshanks on Friday 4th May 14:55
They only offer a standard 'core' policy plus three options now.