Richard F

.... are REALLY good.

I have a cautionary tale for anybody thinking of a claim under a third party warranty, like with an import. (Apologies in advance cos this goes on a bit)

My STi developed a leak in the pinion oil seal (on the front of the rear diff) which was diagnosed by Pete at ScoobySport. While I was there he rang the warranty company who eventually agreed that it would be claimable but I'd need to give them a ring when the car got to the repairing garage. Unfortunately, Pete couldn't get hold of the guy who does stuff for him so I found another garage. I got the car there and they set to work whilst I went outside to ring them up.

On the phone, the guy said that they needed to speak to the mechanic about the problem. He wasn't interested (told me that warranty companies are a pain in the @rse and never pay out). The warranty guy said that they had to speak to him because they might have to send an assessor out. I said "well you'd better be quick cos they're in the middle of it".

I rang the company back when the job was done because the mechanic then agreed to speak to them. When I did that they said:
"Hang on, the job's done?"

"Yes"

"You shouldn't have done that - that was unauthorised so we won't pay out."

"That's cobblers. What if I didn't tell you the job was done, merely half way through?"

"That would have been ok"

That's the basic summary of the conversation. It involved a bit more arguing on my part but it seems the golden rule is, don't believe a word anybody from a warranty company tells you until you have the claim reference. Even though the part had failed and had to be replaced and would have been claimable, because I didn't ring them before the car was re-assembled it was disallowed.

Total @rse. They suggested that I could be defrauding them so they had to speak to the garage before the car was re-assembled. Obviously there's nothing I like better that to have my car in bits for the sake of a £3.67 part so I can understand that. The other good bit was that the 2nd guy read out the log of my earlier call which was subtley different from what was actually said. Superb! Anyway, be warned...

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

Richard

Which Warranty company is this?

Ro.

MorayMackenzie

Yes Richard, come on, "Name and Shame" them!

Richard F

Well it was Warranty Holdings (one of the biggest I believe). To be fair (not that I feel fair), the terms and conditions state that a repair must be authorised before it's carried out but they gave the verbal suggestion that it would be. They make no mention of not rebuilding but being able to dismantle etc. It wasn't a particularly large bill but if the diff had failed then it would have been which concerned me a bit. What they were saying was that a garage would have to dismantle your car, wait for an assessor to turn up and then rebuild it which isn't really practical for most garages.

Anyway, I'm glad that I knocked the warranty back from 3 to 1 year to save me some money when I bought the car.

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

Richard

I too am with Warranty Holdings (Double gold diamond encrusted platinum edged all bells & whistles policy)- for 3 years.
Cost me a bit for "peace of mind" & you are not the first I have heard to complain about them. Makes me wonder if I am with the right people.
Mine was supplied with the car (import) via an authorised Subaru Dealer - so any claim I would make is through the dealer - I am hoping this makes it more likely that any claim I make will go through fine.
Maybe "hoping" is the word....

Ro

lee_m

I used to have a Peugeot 405 (to my shame) for a short time. It was less than 2 years old and I bought a Golden B***cks Warranty Holdings policy to go with it.

Had to make a few claims - head gasket gone, solenoid on fuel cap and collapsed bearings on steering column. Turns out YES always get permission first, check the labour rate too. They would not pay main dealer rates (on the first occasion head gasket) and I had to go to a nominated (really small back street car breakers type) garage. They did a fair enough job but WH would not pay for the solenoid because it was REPAIRED and not REPLACED.

Bizarrely enough they did pay main dealer rates for the steering column (I think I kicked up a fuss) but wanted the part retained for inspection.

The worst thing is they may ask for a major component to be stripped down (i.e head off motor) only to then reject your claim on a technicality. This leaves you with the full cost of repair (scary if a main dealer!)

My overriding memory was deal very carefully. Try to get authorisation in writing - it's inconvenient but a lot less hassle than trying to sort it out when your car's in bits!

That reminds me, with all these telephone based companies, it's about time we started recorded conversations as they do! rant rant rant....

Richard F

Yeah, I don't think this would ever put me off buying an import again (assuming they still make it through the SVA) but in future I'd personally go for no warranty whatsoever. As it is I got £500 off the car for reducing it to only 1 year which isn't too bad. I guess the point of my first post was to say if you've got a 3rd part warranty be VERY careful how you claim on it but if you haven't and you're thinking about a grey, don't bother. True a new gearbox or whatever is expensive but if they can use one or more clauses to wriggle out of anything then what's the point?

Anyway, my next port of call is going to be to try and get hold of this supposed transcript and if it's different from what I said (unfortunately for them I have a very good memory) then I'll take it up with them...

Incidentally, I did actually try to get it done through the dealer but they didn't want to return my phone calls which is why I went elsewhere. See, good service all round

DavidG

Remember this thread next time there's a debate over the cost of P1 vs Sti, UK car vs import etc, where those favouring the import route make light of the peace of mind that some get from the 3-year Subaru warranty that comes with the UK cars. I'm not saying those people are wrong, and there are plenty of other factors to be taken account of, but it seems to be always assumed that the insurance-based warranty that you can buy for an import is just as good as the Subaru warranty. I know some people have had bad experiences with dealers but given the choice between a Subaru dealer and a backstreet car breaker I know which I'd choose.

R19KET

When I had a problem with my clutch (10K mls) I spoke to WH, who agreed it would be covered under the terms of the warranty, subject to it being faulty, and not abused.

It was found to be faulty by the garage, who phoned WH for authority to procede. Total about turn !!!, tried to use every clause they have, until I ended up speaking to the marketing, and customer services managers.

If you read the clauses, there is one to cover EVERY eventuality. So I asked them under what circumstances I COULD make a claim. After a pause, I was told that I seemed to be in a "grey" area, yer, right !!!!.

So I stated that they had sold me a product that was unfit for it's intended purpose, and they agreed !!!!!. They refunded my premium !!!!!.

I did some digging, and found out that they only tend to payout to the dealers who sell their product. This info came from a dealer friend who had a "chat" with his WH rep.

I bought direct, so have no leverage.

I was also told by the WH manager, that they had had several "foney" claims (from rally cars !!!) and also some hefty claims on blown engines (STi5's) and were starting to look at the Scooby claims very closely.

If anyone wants the name and tel.no. of the guy I spoke to, I'll dig them out, and maybe you too could get your money back.

WH have a terrible reputation, the way their policy is worded means that they pay out purely at their own discretion, and not based on validity of a claim. My advice would be, to ONLY buy a warranty from a large dealer, with lots of clout.

As for a P1, I could still replace, and modify the engine, and still have change on the difference.

Mark.