3rd party warranties?
Author
Discussion

Blakeatron

Original Poster:

2,567 posts

203 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Just about to buy a second hand Velar, its got full LR service history but I am buying from a large, multi branch independent garage.

They are offering their own 3rd party warranty that seems to cover most areas except bodywork for approx £700.

A quick google and a warranty wise full coverage pack is £1000 per year.

I am always wary of these warranties trying to get out of everything, and with the velar not having the best reputation I would like to be covered, and advise?

Not getting the Velar is not an option as it’s for my wife and after spending 4 days test driving around 15 different cars this is the only one we have decided on!

eltax91

10,769 posts

236 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Spent £1000 on a motor way warranty for my disco 4. It was a 3 year warranty.

Successfully claimed for 2 things. One a door actuator and the other was the front suspension arms. The actuator was £150 and they signed it off without blinking. The arms was a battle and they offered me half as a goodwill gesture because they setup my policy incorrectly at inception, so in normal situations wouldn’t have let me claim. That was £450.

They knocked back claims for handbrake mechanism, steering wheel squab and air suspension, all which ram to many thousands. Basically they will always give you a fight for the decent bills.

In my opinion, if it’s not manufacturer backed extended cover, don’t bother. Put the cost per year away as your fighting fund

Debaser

8,560 posts

291 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Don’t bother, it won’t pay out when you need it to. They’re all crap.

Trevor555

5,523 posts

114 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Buy from a LR dealer and get their warranty.

KTMsm

28,982 posts

293 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Essentially buying from a DECENT dealer you have a 6 month warranty from them, by law

Whether you'll get them to do much is a bit of a lottery but it is with a warranty co. too

interstellar

5,085 posts

176 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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I wouldn’t bother. Oem or not at all.

Griffith4ever

6,993 posts

65 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Well, as always , there are two sides to every story. I had an Autoguard warranty on my R8 for two years. Cost me £1500 ( car came with 6 months and I added 18 more for £1500).

Made two claims, one for a door lock mechanism, and one for a fan issue, with the latter involving quite a big tear down and a new fan controller (expensive).

They paid with zero quibbles. It certainly helps to have a good garage that can be bothered to supply the correct paperwork and follow the insurers procedure to the letter. Mine did.

Warranty paid for itself, and gave me two years peace of mind.

Trevor555

5,523 posts

114 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Griffith4ever said:
Well, as always , there are two sides to every story. I had an Autoguard warranty on my R8 for two years. Cost me £1500 ( car came with 6 months and I added 18 more for £1500).
What's the claim limit?

Would it be enough to cover an engine failure on a Velar?

archie456

522 posts

252 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Allianz Assistance provide the 'insured warranty' for BMW and 'extended warranty' for Mercedes, as well as a number of other manufacturers.

They will sell a warranty directly for most other common vehicles.

The BMW insured warranty has is a limit on individual claims, I suspect the others will be similar.

I have no connection other than being a customer via BMW.


Griffith4ever

6,993 posts

65 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Trevor555 said:
What's the claim limit?

Would it be enough to cover an engine failure on a Velar?
£10,000 per claim. I went into that with my eyes open.

Basically, if I had a catastrophic engine failure it would not have covered the repair (let alone a replacement!) but then I took the view that it had had 10 years to explode, and had managed not too so far , and , if you want to cover every eventuality, buy a new car, not a used one. Even then, you are only covered for so long.

I've bought many many cars and never needed a huge repair. Even my Disco 3, whilst expensive to run, didn't blow up (lucky me, based on a mate's experience with a failed turbo), but then it was a £14k car at the time, so I wasn't expecting miracles.

Sheepshanks

41,215 posts

149 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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I know you can’t buy it now, but the WarrantyDirect policy I had for 4 yrs on a Merc covered wear and tear which came in handy a couple of times. The dealer told me MB’s warranty wouldn’t have covered those things.

jimbo761

507 posts

112 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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3rd party warranties seem to get very negative commentary on here - there was one a couple of years back with a BMW M5 IIRC that tried all kinds of underhanded behaviour to avoid paying. Would suggest the manufacturer one is probably the only one worth going for, and let’s face it LR doesn’t have the best reputation as far as reliability goes.

SteveR1979

601 posts

171 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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archie456 said:
Allianz Assistance provide the 'insured warranty' for BMW and 'extended warranty' for Mercedes, as well as a number of other manufacturers.

They will sell a warranty directly for most other common vehicles.

The BMW insured warranty has is a limit on individual claims, I suspect the others will be similar.

I have no connection other than being a customer via BMW.

I have the same on my BMW, but I am finding that dealers are less helpful, or the warranty co are less willing to pay out compared to 10 years ago.

MesoForm

9,839 posts

305 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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I’m no insurance expert but aren’t these products regulated the same as a normal insurance product so they’re only allowed to keep selling it if customers are claiming?

emperorburger

1,484 posts

96 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Third party warranties are a crap shoot and when they leave you lumbered, you will be wondering why you didn't try a little harder to convince the other half that a Kia Sorento or Hyundai Santa Fe was the sensible choice.

Good luck with the Velar, I think they look ace but I wouldn't touch one without a main dealer warranty.

LooneyTunes

9,466 posts

188 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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Trevor555 said:
Buy from a LR dealer and get their warranty.
The LR dealer warranty on pre-owned cars out of initial warranty is operated by a separate company who will wriggle like you wouldn’t imagine. Don’t expect help from LR either. They will hide behind the fact that, even though a dealer supplied the LR branded warranty, it being a separate company.

And you won’t get a decent (if any) courtesy car either, even if yours will be off the road for months.

emperorburger

1,484 posts

96 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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LooneyTunes said:
Trevor555 said:
Buy from a LR dealer and get their warranty.
The LR dealer warranty on pre-owned cars out of initial warranty is operated by a separate company who will wriggle like you wouldn’t imagine. Don’t expect help from LR either. They will hide behind the fact that, even though a dealer supplied the LR branded warranty, it being a separate company.

And you won’t get a decent (if any) courtesy car either, even if yours will be off the road for months.
Rule of thumb is that if you don't want unexpected big bills then buy/rent new or do the same with a secondhand vehicle that has a healthy balance of its manufacturers warranty.

LooneyTunes

9,466 posts

188 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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That sadly doesn’t work if you want a vehicle that is out of production… and, in any event, shouldn’t be necessary as you should be able to have a reasonable expectation that a main dealer will stand behind the quality of an approved used car.

They sorted it in the end, but I know of others who have run into similar problems with the approved used warranty from LR.

archie456

522 posts

252 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
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SteveR1979 said:
I have the same on my BMW, but I am finding that dealers are less helpful, or the warranty co are less willing to pay out compared to 10 years ago.
No problems so far, had 1 claim for a turbo actuator so far which was no quibble with the dealer. But there are limitations and exclusions in the policy.

When I had a CSL my local dealer would replace anything under warranty, and was keen. I had an alternator fail, and when I picked it up they had indeed replaced the alternator, but had changed the diff seal and fitted new rear springs as well.

emperorburger

1,484 posts

96 months

Sunday 19th February 2023
quotequote all
LooneyTunes said:
That sadly doesn’t work if you want a vehicle that is out of production… and, in any event, shouldn’t be necessary as you should be able to have a reasonable expectation that a main dealer will stand behind the quality of an approved used car.

They sorted it in the end, but I know of others who have run into similar problems with the approved used warranty from LR.
Third party warranties are nothing more than insurance policies. Manufacturers should stand behind the warranties they offer on approved used vehicles and the after sales service you receive should be akin to buying the vehicle new. It seems Toyota have realised this and are standing behind their products with their 10 year warranty extension, however I don't know how this is working out for owners making a claim.