im 5 months into the policy. nothing is covered in the first 90 days of a new policy with them, im waiting for a phone call today from theire manager. the turbo blew into bits wear would be the bearings or seals failing, ive quoted theire wording on the policy and i wont let it drop

Edited by tazmania4580 on 10/08/2010 at 09:01

I too had a recent claim against my policy with WD. Not all plain sailing by any means. Eventually got my cheque. They are not as hot at handling claims and payment as they are when they are trying to sell you a policy. Complaints procedure pretty useless, their interpretation of a good level of service and mine are very different indeed. They caused me no end of problems when they took over 5 hours to approve a simple replacement part. By the time they authorised this the next day delivery cut off point was passed and I was left without a car for an extra 2 days, not good when it is a business tool. They refused point blank to accept they were slow or contribute to my transport cost which was caused by them. If I had the time I would have taken them to court, but maybe I will vote with my feet next time. WD need a good shake up and HJ might just be the man to do it. Best of luck with your claim. Concrete

The words you quote do not mention the intercooler so it isn't covered.

They're just the same as any other insurance - keen and quick to take your money while promising the earth, then mean, stingy, unhelpful, uncooperative and sometimes uncontactable when you want some of their money.

But here's a thought. Get hold of the Lucy girl and get her on the case. Of course, you'll be buying an insurance policy from her also, One of HJ's favourite people/company, fighting another of his personal favourites. Should be interesting.

Why do people waste money on such products they are insurance companies and such are there purely to rip the customer off.Garages hate them I know of two that will not touch a mechanical failure if it is to be paid for by an Insurance company they are late payers and try to barter the price down after giving the go ahead.

Tazmania4580 I have taken a look at your claim and the reasons we gave for the initial rejection were based on the observations of an independant qualified engineer.

The engineer confirmed there had been a failure (he found it was due to that the oil seals and main central shaft bearing within the turbo) and stated this failure was down to wear and tear. HOWEVER this failure had been further aggravated by the vehicle being driven on - hence it "blew into bits".

It was believed that the fault would have been present at the time of inception of the policy and would certainly have been manifesting itself within the first 90 days of the policy. This was the reason for the initial rejection.

As you mentioned previously you were unhappy with this decision and spoke to the complaints department here. They agreed that the problem was a wear and tear issue but due to the fact that there was no explicit evidence to prove that there had been a concern within the first 90 days we agreed to consider the turbo as the fault had occurred outside the 90 days (the 98th day).

If I am correct you believe that damage done to your intercooler should have been covered. The turbo's oil seals failed (resulting in the bearings seizing and it blowing to bits!) which in turn contaminated the intercooler. If you look at p9 section 13 failure of insured or uninsured parts due to contamination is not covered.

You should have already been made aware of all of this. We believe we have been fair thus far with your claim based on the facts we have seen.

Ha, surely the wear and tear of the turbo seals started the first time the car engine was started when brand new. How is an owner supposed to know when the wear is near critical upon purchasing a car? After all, isn't that why you have a 90 day period?

The WD website bangs on about other companies dubious use of wear and tear, and then have the cheek to use the same excuse with their own customers. Even worse, they're claiming wear and tear for 98 days previously.

The other great claim on the WD website is the use by other companies of 'weasel words'. Then they turn down a claim for the intercooler because they don't cover 'contamination' of an item, caused by the failure of an insured item. Weasel words indeed.

So the guy buys a car, without any knowledge that the turbo seals were going to let go in 98 days time, and buys the WD product to cover himself for most unforseen mechanical problems. 98 days later, said problems happen quickly and suddenly, and he then struggles to get the cover he thought he had purchased. Reluctantly they agree to the initial cause, but then resort to the small print to refuse payment for something else that came about as a direct result of the first problem.

Warranty Direct, why don't you just do the decent thing and pay to fix the guy's car properly and completely?

Is the intercooler damaged, or does it just need flushing out to remove oil?