Warranty Holdings (Again)

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Tue 4 Feb 2003 17:43
Warranty Holdings (Again) - rg
Hello Folks,

Lots in the archive about these people. Most of it not good.

Here's something else...

Leaking radiator on XM. New 40K ago. Nope, not covered. "Wear and tear." Corrosion, they say. (how else can a radiator fail?)

Spheres. Ruptured membranes rather than slow loss of performance. Nope. Wear and tear.

My Cit specialist is puzzled as to how the only way for the item to fail (corrosion, component failure) is not covered.

With both these issues, it is "clear" in the small (and large) print that they are covered. I checked this out at length before paying out for the cover.

But only on /their/ terms. (i.e. not at all.??)

It seems that the issue is "sudden failure of a part" It has to happen and strand you. At which point, no doubt, (cynical mode on) they will say that it was not maintained satisfactorily.

I hate this stuff. Do you?

Any idea how I should proceed? One archive posting says take it up through the selling dealer who will take it up with the rep.

Any other ideas?

rg
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Tue 4 Feb 2003 18:45
Warranty Holdings (Again) - Pat L
Rob

I never place any store by these 'warranties' on used cars, because they're basically insusrance policies. When buying used from a dealer I would rather forego the alleged warranty for a discount/decent price and take the risk! You've got reasonable free cover for 3 months from a dealer anyway, haven't you?

It's a bit like these extended warranties with electrical goods which the shops are desparate to sell you because they get commission and you probably won't need to claim.

The main dealers' warranties may be be better but how much extra are you paying for the peace of mind? (quite often a mark up of £000s). I'd prefer to pay less and put the money aside to cover any faults.

Pat
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Tue 4 Feb 2003 19:17
Warranty Holdings (Again) - M.M
Rob,

These warranty folks in general are a pain. I was helping a contact out the other month after some problems. The cooling system was fully covered in the big print but the small print excluded any claim that *included* overheating.

Bet they don't get many cooling system claims reach the payout stage then??

David
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Tue 4 Feb 2003 22:05
Warranty Holdings (Again) - teabelly
If they say certain items are covered and then exclude any possible way they may fail then you could mention it to the office of fair trading as it could be considered to be an unfair contract term. Your local trading standards may be some help too.
teabelly
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Tue 4 Feb 2003 23:45
Warranty Holdings (Again) - DavidHM
I agree. And the CAB. The fact is, if they include it in the big print and then write it out in the small print, that's got UCTA written all over it. Depending on how bothered you are, a small claims action might be worthwhile. It's quite unlikely they'd even bother defending it.
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