Dealer offering warranty for £260 a year? Help appreciated
Dealer offering warranty for £260 a year? Help appreciated
Author
Discussion

Holmsey7

Original Poster:

8 posts

Wednesday
quotequote all
This is covered by RAC, and has a labour rate of £60.

I have no clue if this is good.

Car is 2017 Seat Leon with 37k

A more experienced voice(s) would be appreciated.

joropug

2,928 posts

207 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
I had an RAC warranty on a bmw 520d for a year included in my purchase - how much comes as standard and how much are you actually paying for? i.e. another 6 months?

You have some consumer rights for issues in the short term worth googling.

I claimed twice on my RAC warranty, the first time was for a NoX sensor and labour, it was £650 - it was covered, but, i think the supplying dealer which was large intervened as they were on the hook for it under the CRA as the fault first appeared within 24 hours but didnt reappear for a couple of months.

When i had a DPF sensor go and repaired at 364 days (yes a day before expiry!) they said they dont cover exhaust sensors. They were excluded, i was bang to rights, but i argued on the phone it was an engine sensor incorrectly, knowingly, and that it should be covered as they previously covered the NoX sensor - 30 seconds later they actually agreed to fix it! The labour rate was capped so i had to pay the difference as i had it done at an RAC approved bmw specialist.

I had two succesful claims, and the process was quite straight forward, but maybe the first one influenced the second being covered. Either way it was an item listed as covered, it gave me some reassurance it was an ok warranty. I was lucky to have it covered i think.

Have a google at RAC approved garages near you, as you'd need to take it there. Diagnostics weren't covered.

Holmsey7

Original Poster:

8 posts

Wednesday
quotequote all
I get a year free and this is for an extra year.

He stated all components were included.

Not sure its worth it tbh.


Virtual PAH

79 posts

2 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Read the small print. They typically exclude 'wear and tear' and anything they can argue was pre-existing (even if not known at the time of sale), making it a battle when it comes to claiming for anything expensive enough to bother claiming for.

So many of these third party warranties are crap and not worth paying extra for, many decide to put the money aside towards a repair fund instead. Some of the better warranties allow them to be extended rather than having to buy the additional year(s) up front, though often those are with main dealers selling approved used vehicles.

Consumer rights mean the dealer is on the hook for the first 6 months and often have to get the warranties to cover themselves (see 'Chops Garage' on YouTube for how he deals with this) so even if the warranty is one of the few worth having they're just offloading the cost to cover those initial 6 months.

I'd take the initial year if already included (the dealer is unlikely to offer a reduction in price by taking it off as it's not in their interest unless they're already making over book profit on the deal) and hope never to have to try using it.

Dynion Araf Uchaf

4,945 posts

241 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Try and find an indie repairer that’ll work for £60 ph ?
You may find it hard to even make a claim because no one will want to do the work.

Holmsey7

Original Poster:

8 posts

Wednesday
quotequote all
Virtual PAH said:
Read the small print. They typically exclude 'wear and tear' and anything they can argue was pre-existing (even if not known at the time of sale), making it a battle when it comes to claiming for anything expensive enough to bother claiming for.

So many of these third party warranties are crap and not worth paying extra for, many decide to put the money aside towards a repair fund instead. Some of the better warranties allow them to be extended rather than having to buy the additional year(s) up front, though often those are with main dealers selling approved used vehicles.

Consumer rights mean the dealer is on the hook for the first 6 months and often have to get the warranties to cover themselves (see 'Chops Garage' on YouTube for how he deals with this) so even if the warranty is one of the few worth having they're just offloading the cost to cover those initial 6 months.

I'd take the initial year if already included (the dealer is unlikely to offer a reduction in price by taking it off as it's not in their interest unless they're already making over book profit on the deal) and hope never to have to try using it.
It is indeed an approved used car, but has to be purchased before collection. Which is interesting

Trevor555

4,887 posts

102 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Holmsey7 said:
I get a year free and this is for an extra year.

He stated all components were included.

Not sure its worth it tbh.
All components included?

Get that in writing from him.

normalbloke

8,208 posts

237 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Not worth a jot. Unless it’s honoured by the manufacturer, they’re generally regarded as a tax for the stupid. Almost anything you try and claim for they will attempt to wriggle out of, and generally make it as hard as possible for you to successfully make a claim.

valiant

12,662 posts

178 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Holmsey7 said:
It is indeed an approved used car, but has to be purchased before collection. Which is interesting
If it's approved used then why aren't you getting a manufacturer backed one as matter of course?


They're the only ones worth bothering with.

Is it a different make normally sold from a franchised dealer (like a ford dealer selling a Citroen) or same make as the franchise?

Holmsey7

Original Poster:

8 posts

Wednesday
quotequote all
valiant said:
If it's approved used then why aren't you getting a manufacturer backed one as matter of course?


They're the only ones worth bothering with.

Is it a different make normally sold from a franchised dealer (like a ford dealer selling a Citroen) or same make as the franchise?
Is a lookers seat dealership selling a seat.

Dont know why they go with RAC.

s p a c e m a n

11,424 posts

166 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
Try and find an indie repairer that ll work for £60 ph ?
You may find it hard to even make a claim because no one will want to do the work.
Yep, you'll have to cover the rest of the labour rate even if you manage to break something that doesn't count as 'general wear'.

valiant

12,662 posts

178 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Holmsey7 said:
Is a lookers seat dealership selling a seat.

Dont know why they go with RAC.
This is the proper approved used package from Seat and what you should expect.

https://www.seat.co.uk/used-cars/overview?idcmp=se...

Holmsey7

Original Poster:

8 posts

Wednesday
quotequote all
valiant said:
This is the proper approved used package from Seat and what you should expect.

https://www.seat.co.uk/used-cars/overview?idcmp=se...
Indeed, but they have also offered an extra year on the warranty for the stated costs etc

Pica-Pica

15,482 posts

102 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Virtual PAH said:
Read the small print.
Otherwise known as 'normal print'.

Holmsey7

Original Poster:

8 posts

Wednesday
quotequote all
valiant said:
This is the proper approved used package from Seat and what you should expect.

https://www.seat.co.uk/used-cars/overview?idcmp=se...
Indeed, but they have also offered an extra year on the warranty for the stated costs etc

Triumph Man

9,193 posts

186 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
On RAC warranties - when I had my Land Rover's engine rebuilt, the guy told me that the RAC tend to pay out, but not to high values. For example, he said that if (as in my case) the oil pump failed and killed the engine, the RAC warranty would pay for the oil pump, but nothing else.

Robertb

2,912 posts

256 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
I had a cheapo warranty with my Merc CLS.

The blind spot radar packed up, £600 fitted.

To my amazement the warranty company paid up no quibble.

Phateuk

831 posts

155 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
We had similar when buying an AUC VW from franchised dealer, one year standard approved warranty. I was negotiating for more than that and they threw in an additional year, but this was with a 3rd party and not part of the approved used warranty.

I accepted anyway as it was "free" but as others posted above, I wouldn't have paid anything for it as almost all 3rd party warranties are not worth the money.

Inbox

614 posts

4 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
Try and find an indie repairer that ll work for £60 ph ?
You may find it hard to even make a claim because no one will want to do the work.
This, depending upon where you are as you might not find anyone whose hourly rate is acceptable, is the £60 per hour including or excluding VAT?

You also need to consider what the warranty actually covers, the issue here is on an 8 year old car you are in the grey area where a failure has be obvious i.e. a sudden failure as a lot will be classed as wear and tear which isn't covered.

I'm not seeing much value in the warranty due to limited labour rate so anything above that will cost you and a lot of faults on an 8 year old car would be wear and tear and not covered.

RedLightGreenLight

36 posts

42 months

Wednesday
quotequote all
Inbox said:
Dynion Araf Uchaf said:
Try and find an indie repairer that ll work for £60 ph ?
You may find it hard to even make a claim because no one will want to do the work.
This, depending upon where you are as you might not find anyone whose hourly rate is acceptable, is the £60 per hour including or excluding VAT?

You also need to consider what the warranty actually covers, the issue here is on an 8 year old car you are in the grey area where a failure has be obvious i.e. a sudden failure as a lot will be classed as wear and tear which isn't covered.

I'm not seeing much value in the warranty due to limited labour rate so anything above that will cost you and a lot of faults on an 8 year old car would be wear and tear and not covered.
This…. The RAC warranties I have had on cars even supplied on a my 2021 main dealer approved used Seat Ateca (used as my daily run around and bought just over 3years old), has lots of limitations and exclusions as covered on the other posts including wear n tear