Unbelievable.....

[CycleSi]

Contacted my local Audi dealer (Amersham Audi - Wayside) today to enquire about extending the warranty on my 2002 S3 which runs out next month.

The bloke was very helpful and suggested I first talk directly to Audi and he would also email me prices/details about the warranty that the dealer itself was setting up.

Spoke to Audi and they quoted me an unbelievable £957 for one year.

Got home and sure enough the bloke at my local dealer had emailed me.

Compare these prices. A total no-brainer I think:

One year £599
Two years £749
Three years £899.

Seeing as I intend keeping the car, their 3 year deal works out at £300 a year which l don't think is too bad?

Any comments/thoughts?

 

[jcs356]

Approach someone like Warranty Direct directly. If the dealer is selling you a warranty they are pocketing some commission along the way. You should be able to cut that out by doing it direct.

IMO car warrantys aren't worth the money as wear and tear gets applied to almost everything you might have to replace. Your £899 in the bank for three years would be worth over £1k by the end and that would cover a pretty hefty one-off repair. I'd keep the money and take the gamble.

 

[AndyMac]

Just another tax on the stupid IMO.
Put the money in the bank.

 

[Dave B]

Bank it, every time i had to look towards the waranty on my previous car it wasnt worth the money it cost me they came up with every excuse in the book, as the others said put it in the bank a decent savings account can return 8>10% per annum that makes good growth and is less risky

 

[jonS3]

£900 for 3 years audi warranty? i'd take out that out straight away. it's piece of mind, plus if you come to sell it in 2 years, will make it worth a few hundred pounds more than others....

 

[marms]

Don't think that is for Audi warranty. It will be a third party warranty that will not be worth the paper it is written on.

They always include ridiculous conditions and normally limit each claim to a very low value. this basically makes it impossible to make a claim. Believe me, everything is wear and tear when it comes to claim time. My experience of any extended warranty have always been that they are simply not worth it.

 

[Clach]

I can say this without blinking an eye..do not take out the warranty!

Cycle, if you have taken care of your car then I would not worry. If it was a new used car bought privately, a year might be a good idea!!

 

[jonS3]

if it's a non-audi warranty don't bother, they are rubbish.....

 

[thebluebus]

I had a third party warranty on a previous car - came with the purchase.
But when I'd finished making my head swim by reading all the small print, it was a nonsense.

Any claim had to be ok-ed by them prior to work being carried out. Anything done to assess the problem prior to their ok wasn't covered.

 

[CycleSi]

It is Amersham Audi themselves who are offering the warranty.

Yes, it's not an official Audi UK one but it is through an official Audi dealer - surely that must mean something?

It's not so much the money but more that I want to be able to phone the Dealer and say I've got a warranty issue and they sort it, and not find it's either not covered or they say it's wear & tear and still not covered !

I just want nice, stress free motoring and I don't mind paying the equivalent of £300 a year to get that as long as most things are actually covered.

 

[rodenal]

The only thing you can do is look at the terms of the warranty and check it for yourself.

For what its worth i also believe that these warranties are a complete waste of money, and cover very very little. Better of saving the money, if the car's been looked after you wont/shouldn't have any major issues.

Even if you did, chances are your warranty wont fully cover the work, so what's the point?

 

[marms]

It is Amersham Audi themselves who are offering the warranty.

Yes, it's not an official Audi UK one but it is through an official Audi dealer - surely that must mean something?

It's not so much the money but more that I want to be able to phone the Dealer and say I've got a warranty issue and they sort it, and not find it's either not covered or they say it's wear & tear and still not covered !

I just want nice, stress free motoring and I don't mind paying the equivalent of £300 a year to get that as long as most things are actually covered.

Amersham Audi will not be providing the Warranty themselves. They will be sub contracting it to someone like Warranty Direct and then taking a margin on top of what they are paying. you would be better going direct to the supplier of the warranty and cutting out the middle man.

If you are intent on buying a warranty from them i would advise getting the policy document prior to handing over any money. Then carefully go through it to see what is and isn't covered. It is very unwise to assume that everything is covered. It wont be!

Without paying the £1000 a year that Audi offer you are not likely to get the kind of service you are describing. Even with the genuine Audi scheme, wear and tear will still be an issue.

£300 a year will not buy you the kind of guarantee you are looking for I'm afraid.

Good luck with what ever you decide to do.

 

[CycleSi]

Thanks for all your views/opinions.

I have decided not to bother with a warranty and invest the money in case anything happens in the future.

 

[T11OM F]

From a ex car salesman.. "Warrenty is just a piece of paper....."

At Citroen Sales school... hahaha.. We were told its like one of those pointless cirtificates you get off the net. Looks good, but pointless....

 

[AndyMac]

It amazes me that people think they'll get any sort of cover for £300 a year.
Warranty is just like car insurance, but the huge difference is that most people don't have accidents, whereas most people will make a warranty claim every year, be it something small like a broken glovebox hinge or something major like a cambelt failure. Either way a glovebox replacement from Audi is about £400, whereas a DIY fix is less than a fiver. If pretty much anything goes wrong on the car you're looking at £300 from Audi to fix it with the rates they charge, so how on earth anyone expects to get their claim honoured especially if it's something big beggars belief.
How do you think these companies make any money? - by weaselling out of absolutely everything they can under wear & tear. A car is a machine - pretty much every element of it can & will be classed as a wear & tear item.
Couple that with the frustration of having to deal with an insurance company and all that that entails when your car is off the road with a fault that could be resolved in a matter of hours if you pay as you go.
Total waste of money + the added frustration of feeling totally cheated when they refuse a claim - bargain, where do I sign?

 

[Perplexer]

Audi quoted me £700 to extend my warranty on my 02 S3. I did not extend it.

 

[cadders]

Hi, regarding warrenties I would say be guided by your gut feeling as to how reliable your car has been.

Like many here I have had experience of third party car warrenties and IMO they are not worth the paper they are printed on.

Shortly after buying my A4 (just under 3 years old at the time, and bought from an Audi dealer as an Approved Used car so came with 12 months Audi warrenty) the multitronic ECU failed. I called the dealer fully expecting the 'usual' fob off. I couldn't have been more wrong, my car was collected within the hour, I had a replacement car within 2 hours and my car was repaired with no quibbles and at no cost to me.
In the remainder of the warrenty period the car broke once more (ECU settings) and I had to call out Audi-Assist a further 3 times (faulty brake light switch, cracked fuel filter and cam lifter sensor). As Audi rarely seem to have parts in stock my car spent 8 weeks off the road in my first 12 month of ownership.

Now, I am not at all happy that a car I bought primarily for it's reputation for reliabilty should turn out to be a lemon.

But the fact remains that all of these issues were fixed at no cost to me and I have had loan cars supplied to me within 3 hours each time. I have guesstimated that if I had pay for the repairs myself (obviously not at an Audi dealer) then it would have cost me around £1500. But the killer would have been hiring a car whilst mine was off the road. I need to travel 100 miles a day, I have no access to another vehicle and public transport is a non-starter for my route. I could easily have spent another £2000 in hire cars during this time and I certainly wouldn't have been trundling around in decent cars. In total I have done over 4000 miles in the loners, mileage that I have not put on my car.

So when it came time to renew the warrenty, it was a no-brainer for me. I renewed. I was not happy about having to shell out over £800 but the alternative was to change the car, something that would cost me lots more; frankly money I don't have at the mo.
Two weeks later, car broke down again, fuel sender / pump this time, two weeks off the road and a new A6 2.7TDI Avant as the loner this time

So, the purpose of all this is to let you know, I have comprehensively field tested the Audi warrenty and so far it has not been found wanting. But it should be fairly obvious that for me the decision to take out a warrenty was pretty clear cut as my car has proved troublesome.

If your car has proved generally reliable, I would put the warrenty money in an account and save it for any repairs. If you get no probs you've then got a nice little pot towards your next car