Warranty - Options

[TQS]

Hi - just wondering but is anyone considering renewing their warranty?

Mine's a Jan '02 and I renewed last year for £500ish which more than paid off (ARBs, new Dashboard which would have cost over £600 itself!) but i've been quoted around the £870 mark for a further year which is more than i pay for insurance. I'm fully aware of all the pros and cons of having/not having a warranty on the A3 but am just wondering what the alternatives are to the Audi Approved option as this seems a little pricey!
Can anyone advise on their experiences with any alternatives? I remember someone suggesting warranties online a few months back but I'm sure 3rd party warranty providers can be a bit sticky when it comes to paying up.

Oh yeah, mine just hit the 40k miles mark last week... ta

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/beerchug.gif

 

[evotista]

TQS,

You might want to check out the tt forum for some insights into warranties

eg

TT thread on warranties

I'm sure AndyMac will be along soon, but to me it seems that all 3rd party warranties whether they're a good company or not, are really starting to tie down to a huge extent what is covered and what is not. On the tt forum warranties online is popular...avoid warranties direct...however i'm with AndyMac in that I'll "save" £800/600 a year, but in my head allocate that money to one side on the understanding that if something major goes, i''ll have a headache to sort it out. However the use of good independent garages, scrappies, ebay etc most parts can be sourced way cheaper and installed way cheaper than official warranty routes...just you have to do the legwork if the /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/swear.gif hits the fan.

For me though, i'll think i'll prefer this than fighting with a warranty company over what is and what is not covered, because you can guarantee they'll fight to get out of any major cost items, or if not only cover the parts costs and not the labour and investigation time required.

All IMHO

HTH

Evo

 

[imported_monkeytrousers]

I agree with evotista.

I am now out of warranty and prefer to take repair bills on the chin. I have never tried a third party warranty, something inside me says I would end up arguing about whether something is covered or not (I have no evidence this would be the case, but these things are actually insurance policies and not the same thing as a manufacturer's warranty).

 

[god_thats_quick]

I was looking into this after the big bill I had, and to be honest it seems if things go really wrong there's a limit on the cover anyway that won't cover the whole cost of a new engine etc.

I decided that most are not worth the paper there printed on... much like almost any warranty!

 

[madvw]

my audi warranty will cover total claims (i.e. parts + labour) upto the purchase price of the car per year, so £18k.

considering i've claimed over £800 in 6 months, its been worth it in my case.

 

[TQS]

Cheers for the reply - those TT boys seems to be a little bit obsessed with warranty chat - not surprising really with so many expensive niggles that can go wrong.
I think for the £800 that Audi are charging i'll deffo give them a miss and for the sake of £275 the Warranties Online option is probably worth considering and i'll just have to hope that anything they don't cover that goes wrong costs me less than £500!

 

[AndyMac]

Have to agree with Ben, warranties on a car after 3 years are just money for nothing. You're really only covering yourself if something huge happens like a cambelt and I know of at least 2 people where the warranty company weaselled out of those claims as well even though the belts were within the mileage recommendations. One guy I know ended up with his car off the road for 9 months while he pursued the claim and ended up taking them to court.
Just not worth the additional delay & expense IMO.
Just looking at both our Audi's we would have paid out over £5k on warranty cover over the last 5-6 years and the only job that possibly would have been covered was a leaking steering rack, which I imagine they would put down to wear & tear, as they could with practically any claim.
What's next buying a warranty for your warranty in case it doesn't cover a claim?