Car Repair Under Extended Warranty

[James 1077]

The OH persuaded me to part with lots of cash when we bought our car for an extended warranty from Swann Insurance. I didn't want to due to past bad experience with this sort of thing in the UK (nothing being covered, impossible to claim etc); but, as those who know me will appreciate, I try to keep OH happy all the time so we spent the cash!

Anyway the worst happened and our central locking system went on the car! I gave the insurers a call about who to take it to and they said "anybody you like!". So we called our local Devonport mechanics who suggested a company called Milford Auto Electrical in Wairau Park. Phoned them up and took the car to them the next day.

On Tuesday night I received a message from the company saying that the central locking was fixed (and Swann were happy to cover the cost) but there were worse problems and the whole computer needed to be replaced. So another call from them to Swann the next day and they got on with replacing the computer.

Anyway, the long and short of it is that the car's electicals work perfectly now (so to Milford Auto), Swann Insurance have covered the lot without me having to make a claim and talk to anyway myself as the electicians do all of that directly (so to them), and the total cost of the repairs come to more than the cost of the warranty with another 2 years to run on it (so to OH!).

So if you are thinking of getting an extended warranty with your car I can say that, for these guys at least, it is easy to claim and they pay out without a fuss!

[JandM]

I always suspect those things, too, but in this case, congratulations on having money well spent!

[bilbo baggins]

Yes found exactly the same with an extended warranty but maybe they have improved in recent years! Just wish I had one for my Audi A3 as a couple of months ago the engine management system failed and it turned out one of the engine valves had exploded. Never happened before (apparently) but unfortunately it meant all 16v had to be replaced. I was so annoyed and upset as the bill came to 2500 pounds. This is a 2005 supposedly quality car with 37000 miles on the clock so hardly high mileage. After much discussion and many phone calls they agreed a token good will discount but I have to say it left a bitter taste! Would have been covered under extended warranty but isn't this always the way. So glad yours was and sorry to rant on but it was just so much money when we are trying to save up to get to NZ.

Car runs fantastically well now though and not having it for 5 weeks proved we could manage with 1 car and 2 bicycles! Another car user bites the dust.

Happy motoring everyone
Bilbo

[richard]

The NZ warranty companies do seem happy to pay out, infact insurance companies in general seem pretty good. My wife's car had a new water pump fitted because the old one was weeping and my Jag needed a new ball joint last year. I assumed that was wear and tear but asked the dealer if there was any chance it would be covered by warranty and he said it would so they arranged everything for me.

Being a Jaguar, you can't just buy a ball joint, you have to buy a complete suspension arm so the bill would have been over $1200!

Having said that, I went for a different warranty (with State) when the first 3 year one expired but they now seem to have reasonably large excesses, $500 for European cars. Unfortunately, when the water pump and thermostat both needed replacing in January I ended up with a bill for over $900 because the failure of the parts were, in theory, unconnected so the excess applied twice.

[James 1077]

Having said that, I went for a different warranty (with State) when the first 3 year one expired but they now seem to have reasonably large excesses, $500 for European cars.

That is the same with Swann - $500 excess for European cars. I think it is the fact that they are designed to be difficult to fix and the parts are expensive. I overheard one of the electricians at Milford having a moan about it taking 30 minutes to change a light bulb on some "French heap of ****" due to having to remove half the car's bodywork to access the right place!