hyphen

I've just received a renewal notice for the "Subaru Proven Renewal Warranty" Package for another year - Cost £465

Has anyone ever had to use this service? Is it worth the money?

The reason I ask is that we also have AA cover which is £300 cheaper for the same service, but I have heard that if your Scooby goes wrong there is generally very little the AA or RAC can do at the road side beacuase of the complexity of the engine etc

Does anyone have any experience to contradict this?

Should I take the Subaru Cover or just stick with the AA cover?

The Subaru cover appears to include "comprehensive cover in the event of mechanical or electrical failure of all factory fitted components. Parts and labour charges are included too an n o mileage limitation applies." - presumably this means I don't have to pay if anything goes wrong...?

Sounds very good, but is it worth it? I've had nothing go wrong in the last year, and I've never seen a scooby broken down...

andys

I extended it on my MY00 and was glad I did. I have just had to have a new short engine as the shells gave up on the big end. It saved me 1,000s of pounds.

sKunk

There is a significant difference between a warranty and an AA roadside assist.

pmarch

In answer to Hyphen's questions and concerns which echo mine, I will soon be facing the same dilemma with my MY01 WRX. Should I renew the Subaru Proven Warranty or not? My wife thinks we should go back and restore our AA+Relay but I have said we need to take a considered view. I have not had to call Subaru Proven yet and on the face of it, it's a lot of extra money to spend each year - but who knows what is round the corner.

We would really appreciate the pros and cons. and any owners anecdotes as to AA/RAC versus Subaru Proven. Thanks in advance.

hyphen

I appreciate there is a difference between the two, the Subaru warranty includes the roadside assistance in the price, but I'm still sceptical about paying out £465 and then nothing goes wrong with the car...
I know it's like an additional form of insurance, but it's not compulsory like motor insurance, so I wonder if it is really worth it?

Obviously in Andys case it was, but how likely is such a scenario?

I assume that regular servicing etc, and the replacement of worn parts are not covered, so is there a benefit of this extended warranty? If for example I put the car in for it's usual service and the garage discovered that the power steering motor was faulty, would that be covered by this warranty?

If so, then it seems well worth it, but if not... I guess I need to read the small print

Andys - not sure I fully understand what happened to your scooby, but in my limited experience scoobies seem very reliable, how did your "shells give up on the big end"?

andys

To give you an idea, my car has done 60,000 miles. Never had a problem or driven it hard. Then one day out of the blue engine started making a horrible noise. Called the Subaru assistance and they arrived in 20 minutes. The diagnosed that shell around the crank shaft bearing had broken up in the engine. The car was recovered to dealer. The warranty company then paid for me to have a hire car until the dealer had a spare loan car. The engine was removed, striped down to confirm the problem. A new short engine was ordered and the fitted.
All this caused me next to no inconvenience and cost me nothing.
I would imagine if I had just AA relay cover that I would have had to sell the car and take the hit as the cost to fix it would have been huge.
At the end of the day it's a piece of mind thing but I was glad I took it out.

scooby808

My scooby is 3.5 years old (MY00 classic with 75K on the clock)when they offered extended warrenty for £400 odd quid, the first service after renewal the MAF sensor went. They changed under the extended without question. Saved about £120 in total on that alone.

Dont know what else might go on a car that has quite high milage for the years??

Brian the Sn@il

if you have no mods and the car is standard its well worth it !!!

bluenose172

iTrader: (2)

That £465 is for an extra 2 years. It's well worth it as it is comprehensive and is as close as your going to get to having a 'new' car warranty. I extended mine for the same price, the 5th gear went a couple of months later. Taking the extended cover saved me well over £1000 - no brainer!!

hyphen

Thanks to all for your comments - it seems like Sod's Law applies here - if I pay the money chances are nothing will go wrong, but if I don't then it'll all go horribly wrong...

I think I'll bite the bullet and pay the money for peace of mind if nothing else

Cheers

speedking

This thread covers the same ground, and I stand by what i said then:Do you really believe that this is done out of the goodness of subaru's heart?

sKunk

So you are saying that because Subaru make a profit then it can't be good value to the consumer?

Does that mean that you consider nothing in this life as good value if someone makes a profit from it?

davedipster

Good call.

Dipster

[Chris]

Well so far under my extended warranty I have had 2 wheelbearings and the clutch replaced. So that is over £1,500 of work for just £500

Hmm now let me think. Do I think it is good value.....

speedking

sKunk, no I'm not saying that. I bought a car on which Subaru made a profit, we're both happy.

What I am saying is that on average you will be better off putting your money in the Building Society and covering repair costs yourself.

Would you run a scheme where the payouts plus administration costs exceeded the receipts? Neither would Subaru.

Even in my example above the Building Society makes a profit from your money

Depends how much you're prepared to pay for 'peace of mind'. Do you think that the Subaru tyre warranty is good value? How about paying British Gas £15/month to look after your central heating. Compound all these payments and you can save a deal of money

Sideways

Plus if you decide to sell the car while its still under warranty its an excellent selling point thats worth that much alone. People will know that there's nothing wrong with the car and even if the engine blows up on them they're covered.

Jas

[Chris]

and now that I've found out there is an alarm upgrade to stop the interferrence I will be adding that to the 'Warrenty list' too.

boomer

I just got my letter from IM through today for the "Subaru New Car Extended Warranty package" for my MY01/51-plate UK purchased saloon (avec PPP).

Choices were...

12 month, sub 60,000 mile - GBP 313
24 month, sub 60,000 mile - GBP 539
12 month, unlimited miles - GBP 560
24 month, unlimited miles - GBP 1012

Luckily i am in the low mileage bracket, so i will almost certainly be taking up the offer (which includes Subaru Assist, plus some tacky Thomas Cook voucher).

I recall hearing that others have paid in the GB400-s for a two year extention, so have prices gone up or is there a weighting factor (e.g. PPP)?

mb

boomer

speedking,

you potentially have a valid case, until you introduce "The Sale & Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations, 2002" act!!

This states (at least according to Which?) that "You have the legal right to: Choose repair, replacement, partial or full refund, or compensation if a fault appears within 6 years (5 years in Scotland) and it is reasonable for goods to last that long."

So, rather than get into prolonged legal ****e, IM get a few bob out of the customer, and promise to fix things without a fight. That's their things, not, as in the case of BG, owt that you decide to cover!!!

mb

2000TLondon

Just renewed my warranty on '98 Turbo. Had car fourteen months, renewed original warranty when I bought it off friend, had few jobs done last year no hassles or trying to get out of paying.... Paid £450 odd again this year and will pay again next year if I can.... The European roadside assitance is worth a few bob and the security of the warranty is well worth paying for, anything non-consumable is covered, I believe, which is amazing for a 6 year old car I think.