Extended Warranties

[teknobod]

After trawling through the numerous posts about extended warranties, one thing still bothers me :-

"wear and tear"

This seems to be a "get out" clause in all policies.

How do you prove whether a part has failed due to a defect or wear and tear?
ie Turbos
If the oil seals or bearings go (which I presume are the commonest failing components) surely the warranty company is going to try and say the failure is due to wear and tear, therefore getting out of making a payment.

I'm sure if you went to Audi they would not say that the Turbo should last x years, as they would then open themselves to claims from owners who have suffered "premature" failure, when all servicing has been carried out by main dealers.

Hence this allows extended warranty companies (both Audi and 3rd party) to avoid paying out on large claims, and all policies also dictate that the owner is responsible for covering any costs for work carried out not covered under the warranty eg diagnostic work or identifying faulty parts.

I may be in a minority here but I cannot afford to be throwing good money into a warranty that is not worth the paper it is written on.

I too have been offered a warranty from Warranty Holdings for £250/£350 (silver or gold cover) which on paper looks fantastic (maximum claim limit is purchase price of car!) but you will always hear from people who have had problems claiming and not from successful claimants.

Any help here would be most appreciated. [img]images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]
It is always best to have the peace of mind that any expensive failures can be covered by warranty.

Cheers

Andy

[fade2grey]

after spending a long long time looking at different warrenties & talking to Audi I ended up plumping for cover from warrenty direct - ~£350 for a year & includes wear & tear. The down side is that it has a claim limit of £5k. Swings & round-abouts [img]images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Cheers,
A

[Carps]

Do Warranty Direct havce restrictions on labour fees ? RAC won't pay more than £45 an hour, so if you wnet with them your only option would be back street garages, as I think that is even out of AMD/QST labour rate.

I just made a warranty claim with Audi, and there was no hassle at all. All the work done by Audi, using genuine Audi parts. Total bill over £3.5k, and they even discounted that for the warranty company.
I certainly feel it was worth £760 for the warranty in the first place.

[fade2grey]

Scarily enough.. Warrenty direct covers main dealer rates.. you have the option of an easy life by taking it to an approved (unipart) centre or a place of your choice - they are happy to pay main dealer rates with no rate cap but you do need approval before any work goes ahead & they don't pay for any investigation work beforehand. To be fair, I've not yey had a need to claim so we'll see if they pay up when the day comes but on face value they look good & responded well to several queries via email before I took the cover out.

As for Audi warrenty, there was a HUGE list of things it didn't cover when I went through it with the mechanic - in the end he said he couldn't recommend it over a 3rd party cover - 70k miles\5 years is £1100 a year.. ouch. For it not to cover the things which go most - eg exhaust manifolds, wear & tear etc. If it was only about £6-700 I would probably consider it, but not when I can get 3rd party cover for 3 years for less cash.

Like I say though.. we'll see if they pay out [img]images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

A

[lellaS4]

Hi All,
I can tell you from previous experience, that most Warranty Holdings policys are barely worth the paper they are written on, sorry.
I have an extended Audi main dealer warranty and it is underwritten by Ion (I think that was their name) I spoke to them direct and thay will even replace the discs and pads if they fail under certain mileage.
Go back to your dealer and quizz them about why they are putting a Warranty Holding policy on the vehicle (I dont believe they are the recognised Audi underwriters)
But to be honest most dealers dont give a s**t. Good Luck!

[wazza]

Welcome here John [img]images/graemlins/thumbs.gif[/img]

[JohnW]

Just thought I'd add to this post, as I am about to extend my warranty.

Rang Guildford Audi and it is £600 incl if extended within warranty, or 755 if outside warranty.
If outside then they want to do a vehicle check, and will do one of these free of charge if it is within warranty.
I guess this might be the price difference above.

I queried the need for this check if the car has FASH anyway. I'm awaiting an official reply but unofficial reply was "its free, so why wouldn't you want it ?"

Fair comment, but I wonder if they have my interests in mind, or looking for warranty work... [img]images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

If the official response is any different I'll be sure to let you all know [img]images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[JohnW]

Oh deery deery me [img]images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Right, quick update:

The V5 for my car shows it was reg'd 5th December 2000, but
the Audi records show 30th November 2000

This means if I want to extend my warranty today (1st Dec)Audi say the original one has expired, meaning I need to pay an extra £155 for an inspection [img]images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Fortunately for me if I fax them a copy of my V5 they will 'correct' their records.

If the car is still within warranty the inspection is not needed (which is as I suspected the difference in price).

I would therefore suggest anyone wanting to extend their warranty should either not leave it to the last minute like I did, or make sure Audi have the correct reg date for your car ! [img]images/graemlins/24430-audibash.gif[/img]

Here's hoping I actually read my V5 correctly at the weekend... [img]images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[Jon]

luckily the person who bought mine originally extended it to 2005! [img]images/graemlins/clap.gif[/img]

[Hopsta]

Is the extended warranty limited by mileage at all or is it purely 12 months unlimited ? mines due in about 600 miles !!! [img]images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Graham

[JohnW]

I beleive it is 12 months or 20k miles, just as the first 3 years are 36months / 60k miles.

I'll check it when I get the paperwork...