Vauxhall lifetime guarantee scam

Flyboy152

jase1 wrote: »

If you inferred that from my words, then I apologise for confusing you.

I will rephrase my point for the benefit of those who do not understand:

If you take the total number of cars that Vauxhall sells, and subtract from that value*:

1) the cars that are resold after three years due to their being fleet sales;
2) those private buyers who keep their cars for three years or less, or drive more than 100,000 miles in a short period;
3) those who buy their cars from brokers who are selling the cars as pre-registered at a substantial saving

you end up with a figure that is much less than 50% of the total cars sold by Vauxhall.

Comparing that with the like of Hyundai's warranty. Because the Hyundai warranty is completely compatible with (1), (2) and (3), far more of Hyundai's cars sold (expressed as a percentage) are covered under their expanded warranty package, even if on paper it is shorter.

So, in other words, the cost to Vauxhall for their package is much less than that to Hyundai due to the wording.

Of course, if you are a Vauxhall customer who isn't covered by the above, then you're getting a good deal.

Where are your numbers?

jase1

Numbers?

http://www.carpages.co.uk/vauxhall/vauxhall-sales-07-01-11.asp

In December 2010, Vauxhall sold 16,548 cars in total, of which 11,796 -- 71.28% -- were sold to fleets.

Now unless you are going to try to argue that it isn't the case that most of these will be sold on after three years -- this figure on its own makes the point. Less than 29% of Vauxhall's cars are sold to private buyers.

But let's assume that not all fleet cars are sold after three years. That would mean that even if every single private buyer kept their car for longer than three years, and every single one of those bought their cars from a main dealer, 30% of the fleet sales would need to be kept longer than three years just to be assured that 50% of Vauxhall cars are covered to the full extent by this warranty.

Inactive

mikey72 wrote: »

"The Lifetime Warranty is dependent on an annual visit of the vehicle to a Vauxhall Authorised Repairer who will activate and validate the warranty extension for another year starting from the 12 month period from registration or anniversary of registration.


Annual activation and validation of the lifetime warranty cover is also dependent upon the confirmation that the vehicle has been serviced in accordance with the manufacturers recommended servicing schedule. Vauxhall may request details of this service history at any time during the warranty period. "


Doesn't seem an onerous condition.
I'm sure Hyundai and Kia warranties insist on maintaining the service record as well.

But it makes no mention of any imposed charges for this " annual visit ".

thenudeone

Flyboy152 wrote: »

You are kidding me, aren't you?

In the last two years my vauxhall (now 5 yrs old) has required work costing over twice that amount, most of which was covered by a warranty (though not Vauxhall's).

The car before that had a diesel pump fail - parts alone were £1700.

Of course my car may have nothing wrong with it for the next two years.

As I have temporarily lost my crystal ball, I have to make a decision based on my judgement about the likelihood and cost of future repairs.

Why do you think I'm kidding?

Flyboy152

thenudeone wrote: »

In the last two years my vauxhall (now 5 yrs old) has required work costing over twice that amount, most of which was covered by a warranty (though not Vauxhall's).

The car before that had a diesel pump fail - parts alone were £1700.

Of course my car may have nothing wrong with it for the next two years.

As I have temporarily lost my crystal ball, I have to make a decision based on my judgement about the likelihood and cost of future repairs.

Why do you think I'm kidding?

I am not saying that having a warranty is not worth it for the piece of mind, I was more shocked at the price. There are far more inexpensive warranties on the market, that would give a similar, if not better, level of cover. Six hundred and fifty-nine pounds for two years is very excessive. That's twenty-seven pounds a month.

thenudeone

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Six hundred and fifty-nine pounds for two years is very excessive. That's twenty-seven pounds a month.

Nearly all of the other warranties I looked at were cheaper but all of them covered far fewer components, had more exclusions, and/or excluded consequential losses (so if a minor part failed and damaged the timing belt which wrecked your engine - tough!).

Could you suggest a better one?

Kilty_2

Flyboy152 wrote: »

I am not saying that having a warranty is not worth it for the piece of mind, I was more shocked at the price. There are far more inexpensive warranties on the market, that would give a similar, if not better, level of cover. Six hundred and fifty-nine pounds for two years is very excessive. That's twenty-seven pounds a month.

There are far more inexpensive warranties on the market that are not worth the paper they are written on.

Yes Auto Protect, I mean you.

If the £659 warranty in question is the Vauxhall NetworkQ Extended Warranty which is AFAIK underwritten by Vauxhall themselves and includes stuff like brake and clutch linings then it isn't as bad as it seems.

jase1

thenudeone wrote: »

In the last two years my vauxhall (now 5 yrs old) has required work costing over twice that amount, most of which was covered by a warranty (though not Vauxhall's).

The car before that had a diesel pump fail - parts alone were £1700.

Ouch.

And here's me getting annoyed about having to pay £200 to get a cambelt replaced.

I think you've been very unlucky. I can't remember the last time a car of mine went bang so expensively. Maybe this time is your turn to be more fortunate?

ukjoel

Flyboy152 wrote: »

No, when the block exemption rules changed in 2001, that ended the ability for warranty providers to dictate where cars were serviced (as long as it was a VAT registered repairer and they used OE parts), regardless of whether it was a dealer or manufacturer supplied warranty.

Afraid your wrong. Work in the industry and until 2 weeks ago I would have said you were 100% right.

This warranty is different as its neither from manufacturer or dealer. This means they can make it non transferable and also can ensure the car is serviced at a franchised vauxhall dealer to keep it valid.

Vauxhalls strategy here is based on 2 things. The first is that nowone keeps a car more than 5 years so hence the warranty will expire when car is sold and secondly they will make so much money from servicing the car they can afford to cover the warranty.

They already got stung once when trading standards told them to stop calling it a lifetime warranty as it wasnt (only 100k).

mikey72

jase1 wrote: »

Ouch.

And here's me getting annoyed about having to pay £200 to get a cambelt replaced.

I think you've been very unlucky. I can't remember the last time a car of mine went bang so expensively. Maybe this time is your turn to be more fortunate?

Very unlucky.
My Vauxhall is seven years old, it's had a crank sensor, a battery, and a thermostat.
It needs an exhaust now, and a couple of brake lines for the mot.
And it certainly isn't well looked after.