Sprry not 100% sure whats meant be the last paragraph?

Clutch slipping/failed is a bit vague. If it's slipping because of wear possibly caused by driver abuse earlier in the car's life then the warranty will probably not pay. But might there be a mechanical fault in which case they should pay I would have thought. I don't know how you prove it without some dismantling.

That's the whole point about things like this, without dismantling the full cause can't be known, by then the gearbox is out and the car immobile in a workshop bay.

The dealer says its worn out through bad driving practice, or damage (ie pressure plate or DMF overheating through abuse) has been caused by bad driving practice, if the cars in bits the owner is over a barrel, to take the car elsewhere is a major headache, most likely require the gearbox refitting to get the car ouf of the workshops and onto a trailer, the customer will be presented with a bill for all of that labour.

That's why i said above to get indy quotes beforehand, hopefully the car is not dismantled yet so the OP can still opt indy if they wish, by now maybe the OP has a gut feeling one way or t'other which way this is heading listening to the service desk operative.

We had a similar situation with a family Golf, still under approved used warranty but i noticed a badly scored rear disc first time i laid eyes on it after a few months ownership, now the dealer might have stumped up but seeing how reasonable our indy's quote was for new rear discs and pads compared to the dealer price if warranty denied (friction parts seldom covered), the family made a decision to get them changed by our indy, they were visiting and our indy fitted them in that afternoon as a favour...as everyone here has already guessed it was a seized rear calliper due solely to the standard non existant dealer brake servicing on this apparently fully serviced low mileage just over 3 year old car....not having the necessary software to disengage the pointless electric park brake it wasn't a job i could do.

Handily family has since then discovered a small VW specialist walking distance from their house, so all care for the car is now in their reasonably priced hands.

When I bought my RAV 4 last May I didn’t notice the clutch was getting stiff until I had driven it for a day after buying it.

The dealer tried to persuade me that it was normal for the marque being 4WD but I took the car back after the second day and asked for a refund.

We. Eventually came to an agreement to split the cost of the replacement 50/50 , but when I found that the scheduled replacement time was 10 hours I can understand their reluctance .