second hand car warranties who should I go for?

einalem

I've seen warranties i.e. tesco where you pay so much a month and if something goes on your car they repair it
i want to get one i've got a 03 fiesta with 65k miles so its not dead new
i want a really comprehensive one to cover me for most things so i don't have big reapir bills if the car goes

can anyone recommend and trustworthy companies apart from the tesco one?

cheers melanie

gilbert_and_sullivan

I wouldn't waste my money on one of these, the number of times they'll find a cop out to avoid paying out is appalling.
Far better to find a good trustworthy mechanic or small independent garage, and have your car regularly serviced and inspected with the money you save.

Don't know anything about the tesco warranty, i wouldn't give them any custom if my life depended on it.

Motmac

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

I wouldn't waste my money on one of these, the number of times they'll find a cop out to avoid paying out is appalling.
Far better to find a good trustworthy mechanic or small independent garage, and have your car regularly serviced and inspected with the money you save.

Don't know anything about the tesco warranty, i wouldn't give them any custom if my life depended on it.

I agree.we used to do work for a car supermarket and they sold the AA cover.i used to try and claim for work needed on behalf of the customer and they made it almost impossible.when we did manage to get them to pay for something,it was always a fraction of the total bill and the customer had to stand the rest.the level of cover was irrelevant.the dealer binned them off in the end because of all the complaints.
At the end of the day a car can break down no matter what,but to lessen the odds of this happening then regular servicing is the way to go.dont skimp on this and it should serve you well.

Lum

Most of the warranties out there are a con with so many get-out clauses it's unbelievable.

For example I read the T&Cs for one recently, and in the engine section it covered "all lubricated moving parts". So if you kill a big-end or a camshaft you're covered but if you blow a headgasket, which is a much more common failure and expensive to fix, you're on your own.

I was caught out exactly once. I bought a Subaru Legacy from a 4x4 dealership and was sold a warranty where the transmission isn't covered if it's a 4WD vehicle. Their definition of transmission included everything between the wheel hubs and the gearbox, including the gearbox itself.

"Fortunately" it was the engine that went in that car so they had to actually pay out, but even then it was a con as they insisted that the garage doing the work dismantle the engine and have the failed parts out for their assessor to inspect. The cost of doing this ate up half of the claim limit and I still had to pay for the replacement engine. Saved about £500 though. Oh wait, no I didn't, the warranty cost £500

Low claim limits seem to be a common get out clause. The last car I bought was a 16 year old car I had imported from Japan, the importer tried to sell me a warranty, but the claim limit reduced as the car aged and was £250 for my car, this includes a £150 excess meaning the most they ever pay out is £100.

In conclusion, pretty much all the warranty companies out there are scumbags and you'd be better off paying the warranty fee into a high interest savings account.

smcaul

Forget them, look at how much you would pay for one and put that money in a savings account.

We inherited a top range warranty with our car, it was with Olympic Warranties, when a brake calliper failed (note failed not seized) they said it was age related!!! I did point out that the other 3 were perfectly fine, they stood their ground, I took them to the small claims court and they settled before it actually got heard.

The lot of them are scumbags.