Frank McAuley Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 My Autotrail will soon loose its warranty cover and I am pondering as to the wisdom or otherwise of extending "its cover". To be fair it has not been troublesome - minor probs ,yes- but I have not been impressed with Autotrail's passing of responsibility to an insurance comp,viz M B & G ( I think). Their response has been anything but impressive hence I wonder does the experience in this site have any knowledge of a "decent" extended warranty? I appreciate there is a risk/threat scenario here BUT the slightest "dig" seems to cost a fortune to have rectified - usually by replacement! :'( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulmold Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Save your money and put it towards repairs if needed. Any extended warranty will be an insurance backed one and totally worthless - everything is 'wear and tear and not covered'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docted Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Frank sorry to say most of what Paul says is true. If you were to decide to go ahead ask to see policy first before payment of any monies and read it carefully if in doubt take another adult with you and get them to read it also. You have not said what the "warranty " is for is it vehicle, conversion or both; regardless these insurance policies are fraught with wear and tear clauses. The motor trade has policies for vehicle side but these will insist on a full service history some even by a franchised garage. Take great care of your money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 If you needed further evidence that warranties are a waste of money please read this..... Nick's Tuesday essay: We had a call just after Christmas from a guy who new one of our customers and he was having trouble with his motor-home. It does not matter what vehicle it was but it was a 2011 registered coachbuilt and it was bought 6 months previously as a used vehicle. He was sold an RAC 'Gold' warranty for about £300 and since it had covered only 21,000 miles at the time and had just been serviced by the supplying dealer he felt pretty secure in his purchase. When he called us, he was having the machine recovered because it had lost power and was making a lot of noises and had called the warranty firm and been told that it was up to him to find a garage that could deal with it. He had to get it examined and then the garage would have to call them to discuss the claim. I was very wary of having to deal with a warranty firm due to past experiences but he sounded desperate and I wanted to help him so he brought it in to us. It was obvious from the outset that the turbo had failed and had consumed oil at a very high rate although it did not become an over-revving self-destructing engine bomb that we have seen before. There was a lot of knocking coming from the bottom of the engine and it was looking very much like the damage would be terminal. After lengthy conversations with the warranty firm (who were NOT the RAC at all, but an underwriter that supplies warranties to several firms) they asked us to ask the owner if they would pay us to remove the turbo and they would get it collected and tested. The warranty firm would not authorise or pay for any investigative work; this would be borne by the customer. The repairs, and only the repairs would be authorised by them if the damage was covered by the warranty. We had a call a week later to inform us that the turbo had failed and was not covered by the warranty; therefore they would not be paying anything at all for the repairs. The customer had conversations with the dealer that they had purchased the vehicle from and also got nowhere. He ended up finding a garage in the North that could pick it up and fit a new engine for about £2000 which in the end was more like £2800 but they had him over a barrel by then..... In summary; The vehicle had only covered 3,000 miles in the 6 months since it was purchased. There had been no requirement to carry out any service work in that time and the customer had paid £300 for a warranty that had an excess of £50 and a maximum claim limit of £1000 during the warranty period. (Not per claim; TOTAL!) Warranties are a complete and utter rip off. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER pay for one and if one is offered for free; be very aware that the service requirements and hoops through which you would have to jump in the event of any kind of claim are just not worth it. The policies are written in such a way that it is virtually impossible to make a claim and the service requirements are so convoluted in order to trip you up. As has been said above; keep the money and put it towards future maintenance needs. Maybe one in 100 vehicles needs major repairs and it would be comforting to know that you would get some help in such a situation but the simple fact is that you won't. Just because the warranty appears to be backed (or fronted) by a reputable organisation like the RAC means nothing. Don't do it! Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest pelmetman Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 That's you crossed of the RAC's Christmas card list (lol) (lol) (lol) (lol)........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank McAuley Posted April 3, 2014 Author Share Posted April 3, 2014 Tyou for advice. Nick, with ref to your most helpful contribution : would you class an official Fiat Extended Warranty as a minefield too ! I have now shelved the idea of habitation insurance after a nasty experience! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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