Extended warranty

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Wed 16 Feb 2011 01:55
Extended warranty - newman

Hi,

My dad bought a car recently (59 plate) and the standard manufactuer warranty balance of 3 years / 60,000 miles applied. However, as part of the deal we agreed that this be extended to 5 years / 100,000 miles in line with current new car promotions.

After purchasing, we noticed no extended warranty docs. We requested this, and finally it came in post. After looking at it deeper, it appears this extended warranty is not the same as the manufacturers one (many items are excluded, appears that one claim can be made, and requires servicing the car at the individual dealership we bought car from). This is of course not what we agreed to, and does not seem practical nor fair.


I have written to the dealer, firstly outlining my concerns. They called me back, and gave me some reason, I asked them to write to me with this, so that we have things in writing. No response. So I wrote a second letter asking for the response which was promised and gave a 2 week time frame to reply within. This has now passed.

What should I do? A proper manufacturer compliant extended warranty is approx £900.

What more do I need to do, to get the dealer to play ball? It is clear they are trying to avoid the issue.

Thanks for any help.

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Wed 16 Feb 2011 05:08
Extended warranty - LucyBC

If the warranty is "given away" then it can contain more terms and inclusions.

They are often a method to extend servicing leads - as you say by locking you into dealer servicing and oftwn with more restricted terms.

These cases are largely about information. You should have been told what you were getting before you "bought" into the deal and hence may have some recourse.

My own view is that warranties sold by the likes of Warranty Wise and Warranty Direct are generally much better (and certainly more flexible regarding servicing and repairs) than those offered by the manufacturer.

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Wed 16 Feb 2011 11:27
Extended warranty - newman

I had the sales manager go through a very extensive checklist of what the car had and didn't have which included the question of 5 year extention. It is stated clearly on the document he provided that this will extend the 3 years to 5 years / 100,000 miles and no more was said on the matter. Because this 5/100,000miles is now the benchmark for this manufacturer, I had no reason to think it was anything other than a true extension.

I think I will call the dealer and write one last time. Am I correct in saying that if I wish to take this through the small claims court, I would now be in a position to do so?

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