Car Warranties, worth buying please?

hethmar

Son is buying a car nearly 2 years old - manufacturers warranty runs out March 2011 and the VW main dealer is offering to extend this for a further two years from that date for £690. I guess it would give peace of mind but seems a lot.

I have seen adverts somewhere for other companies given warranties for cars. Are they worth having, I think the AA does one?

elektra-2007

I took out an MOT Gaurantee for £75 from Vauxhall, i found it covers most stuff, when my car failed due to a wheel bearing it was sorted out at no cost to me. I think id have a look online at you sons model of car and see if anyone has had problems when the warranty has run out. I have known cars at 3 years old where engines have gone or other major things, but I dont think its common. Also check what is covered with the warrenty and compare with other warrenties. Good Luck

Exemplar

The VW warranty will extend the manufacturers warranty for 2 more years, £690? go for it, that represents stunning value if you break it down. Also dont forget that other warranties will onoly cover certain things. An example is (having worked in the trade selling Smart cars and others!) that most aftermarket warranties dont cover blown turbos etc. Also they tend to have a limit on the reapirs of say £250 therefore if teh repair is £800 you have to find £550........ Doesnt take a genius really. Good luck, hope you never have to use it but I would like the peace of mind of having all repairs being done in a VW dealership.

thescouselander

It could well be worth it. I was speaking to a colleague in work about just this yesterday. He took the same deal on his Golf and has had nearly £2000 worth of work done on his car under the warrantee due to a number of faults including a Turbo failure and a problem with the cylinder head. So in his case it proved to be good value.

AdrianHi

If it is a Pssat or Golf that sounds like decent value and worth going for to keep costs predictable, especially if your making loan payments at the same time. If it's a smaller cheaper car that price is starting to look a bit high.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

If you don't have faith that a two year old car won't break down, then don't buy it. Warranties profit the seller, not the buyer.

thescouselander

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

If you don't have faith that a two year old car won't break down, then don't buy it. Warranties profit the seller, not the buyer.

Can you think of any car that will definitely not break down? I cant - surely it is worth trying to mitigate the risk of an expensive repair bill - the only question is whether the cost of that mitigation is going to be value for money.

Its like insurance - you pay hundreds of pounds per year and most of the time never get any benefit but its not money wasted because you'll be glad you had it if something happens.

jamjampick

some garages I've spoken to say they're not worth it by any means but I'm no expert...and they were indie garages

Inactive

The OP's Son could probably buy a brand new Kia ( 7 year warranty ) or Hyundai ( 5 year warranty ) for less money than a 2 year old VW.

Sadly new VW's are not made of the same stuff as the old ones.

davidlizard

We bought a second hand car (2 yo) from a private dealer last year. After around 500 miles and a month later, the cylinder head went.

Warantee refused to pay out as it was a "condition that existed when we purchased the car".

However we did have redress against the dealer with the sales of goods act etc, and we had put the deposit on the credit card so they were able to advise.

To cut a long story short, the dealer immediately (and to their full credit) sorted the problem out for us but they called in an independent expert to look the car over whilst it was being repaired to determine if it was a pre-existing condition, and therefore whether the warrantee company paid up or the dealer.

So warrantees may not always provide peace of mind, and there are obligations on the dealer under SOGA.

thescouselander

I think the thing to be aware of is that not all warrantees are equal - a lot of the 3rd party warrantees aren't worth the paper they're written on and don't cover a right lot. On the other hand the extended warrantee you can get from the manufacturer (which is what I think the OP is talking about) will be very comprehensive by comparison.