Is AA Warranty from Car Giant worthwhile?

maowang

I thought I would share my recent experience here.

I bought a 3 year policy from Car Giant in October 2008 when I bought my 2nd hand Chrysler Grand Voyager, and the £1000 premium gave me peace of mind on a £10,000 outlay on this vehicle. Recently, I came to make an enquiry as to a claim, and it appears the company is managed by Motorway Direct and that there is no way of performing the simple task of first getting in touch with them, save by email. I have done this and am waiting for a response, but obviously in the meantime it is urgent that I get the car repaired as soon as possible. Given my experience thus far, I imagine that this policy will prove disappointing and yet another thing to look out for in the future. IF I authorise a repair before they sanction it they will disallow it. Yet if I wait for them to get in touch, I will be without a vehicle for an indeterminate period, which is impossible.

When I called the number given in the policy booklet, ( 08454 74 74 04 ), I was on hold for over an hour, after which I hung up. At the beginning of the hold message another announcement says quite clearly that you can make an initial enquiry as to the validity of a claim on their website. However, after trawling around for some time, I could not find where to do this. And I would bet that a page if it exists at all, exists without any links to it, so you would have to guess the url to land there!

In the booklet it states under “How to make a claim” that “..You must contact Us in the first instance”. Yet this proves impossible. It is disappointing to discover that this is yet another scam where people's money is dishonestly taken and that there is no redress for the victims whatsoever.

Be warned! I will update as and when I have anything to report.

Flyboy152

maowang wrote: »

I thought I would share my recent experience here.

I bought a 3 year policy from Car Giant in October 2008 when I bought my 2nd hand Chrysler Grand Voyager, and the £1000 premium gave me peace of mind on a £10,000 outlay on this vehicle. Recently, I came to make an enquiry as to a claim, and it appears the company is managed by Motorway Direct and that there is no way of performing the simple task of first getting in touch with them, save by email. I have done this and am waiting for a response, but obviously in the meantime it is urgent that I get the car repaired as soon as possible. Given my experience thus far, I imagine that this policy will prove disappointing and yet another thing to look out for in the future. IF I authorise a repair before they sanction it they will disallow it. Yet if I wait for them to get in touch, I will be without a vehicle for an indeterminate period, which is impossible.

When I called the number given in the policy booklet, ( 08454 74 74 04 ), I was on hold for over an hour, after which I hung up. At the beginning of the hold message another announcement says quite clearly that you can make an initial enquiry as to the validity of a claim on their website. However, after trawling around for some time, I could not find where to do this. And I would bet that a page if it exists at all, exists without any links to it, so you would have to guess the url to land there!

In the booklet it states under “How to make a claim” that “..You must contact Us in the first instance”. Yet this proves impossible. It is disappointing to discover that this is yet another scam where people's money is dishonestly taken and that there is no redress for the victims whatsoever.

Be warned! I will update as and when I have anything to report.

OMG, please tell me you are not serious, a thousand pounds for a three year warranty??????????

This is CarGiant all the way though.

You need to write to them and ask them to resolve the matter within seven days, if you hear nothing from them, you must contact the FSO. In fact, I'd recommend contacting the FSO now anyway, as well as writing to the warranty provider. They may already have a file open on them.

Some years ago, it was mooted that caps were going to placed on the commissions paid on these products, I don't know if that ever went ahead.

mluton

Zach2k wrote: »

Hey mluton, is AA gold cover warranty same as AA 5 star warranty?

Because my EGR valve has packed up and I'm being told by AA that it's not covered under 5 star warranty

I paid a good amount for 5 star AA warranty at start of year. My engine started cutting of when I slowed down and after taking it to a Halfords AA autocentre, they 'diagnosed' it for £50 which they said AA may or may not give back and said my EGR valve now needs replacing. After 3 weeks Halfords got back to me and said AA say EGR valve isnt covered in the 5 star AA warranty

Now I know pretty much nothing about cars, stumbled across this thread after searching for EGR and AA, but it does say in the 5 star warranty under whats covered:

"inlet and exhaust valves"

Now the mechanic from the garage says the EGR valve (stands for exhaust gas regeneration valve) is the only exhaust valve that he knows of in my car and is baffled its not covered. I called AA up and the stupid lady keeps saying "well it says exhaust valves and not specifically exhaust gas regeneration valve" and then later 'the EGR doesnt fall under engine subheading anyway". I then spoke to the manager and he said the same thing.

I'm really disappointed with the AA, they just seem to be playing around with words. Even if 'exhaust valve' and 'EGR valve' are completely different things how can a 5 star warranty not cover such an item which I am told is in many if not most cars. I'm now going to have to fork out several hundreds it seems.

So far I have to agree with so many others when they say the AA warranty isnt worth the paper its written on.

No 5 star is a grade lower IIRC.

maowang

I did, in fairness, get a fairly swift response to my email:


Further to your email regard to a possible fault with your vehicle.

I can confirm you will need to take your vehicle to Halfords Autocentres our approved repairers your nearest one being;
Halfords Autocentre
Beckenham
91-99 Elmers End Road
BeckenhamBR3

Telephone: 0208 659 8926

You need to give them your permission to investigate the fault and find the cause of failure. (Costs of diagnostics are not cover by the insurance).

The garage should then telephone us to discuss their findings. They must not carry out repairs until we have given permission to do so by issuing an authority number.

Any further queries please contact our Claims Department 08454 74 74 04 one of our advisors will be able to assist.

Regards

Geoff Nolan

Customer Services

Mechanical Insurance Services
1 Waterside Court
Bold Street
Sheffield
S9 2LR
Please note that, in accordance with QAP 09-09, Motorway Direct plc may monitor email traffic data and also the content of email for the purposes of operational support, maintenance, security and investigative activities.

It turns out that the next date they can see me is in 11 days time, when I will have to pay £50 for them to examine the car and inform AA warranties what the trouble seems to be, only then to wait and see whether the repair is authorised. I am in the meantime going to take it to an authorised dealer.

Yes, I am sorry to report the price was £989, comprising of £439 "Five Star Service", £160 "£1000 claim limit", £90 "Turbo Charger", £90 "ABS" £90 "Air Conditioning and £120 "Catalytic Converter!

Zach2k

maowang wrote: »

I did, in fairness, get a fairly swift response to my email:


Further to your email regard to a possible fault with your vehicle.

I can confirm you will need to take your vehicle to Halfords Autocentres our approved repairers your nearest one being;
Halfords Autocentre
Beckenham
91-99 Elmers End Road
BeckenhamBR3

Telephone: 0208 659 8926

You need to give them your permission to investigate the fault and find the cause of failure. (Costs of diagnostics are not cover by the insurance).

The garage should then telephone us to discuss their findings. They must not carry out repairs until we have given permission to do so by issuing an authority number.

Any further queries please contact our Claims Department 08454 74 74 04 one of our advisors will be able to assist.

Regards

Geoff Nolan

Customer Services

Mechanical Insurance Services
1 Waterside Court
Bold Street
Sheffield
S9 2LR
Please note that, in accordance with QAP 09-09, Motorway Direct plc may monitor email traffic data and also the content of email for the purposes of operational support, maintenance, security and investigative activities.

It turns out that the next date they can see me is in 11 days time, when I will have to pay £50 for them to examine the car and inform AA warranties what the trouble seems to be, only then to wait and see whether the repair is authorised. I am in the meantime going to take it to an authorised dealer.

Yes, I am sorry to report the price was £989, comprising of £439 "Five Star Service", £160 "£1000 claim limit", £90 "Turbo Charger", £90 "ABS" £90 "Air Conditioning and £120 "Catalytic Converter!

It's nice they responded to your email fairly quickly, but the truth of it is that the above is simply details of their procedure.

The crux of the matter is whether AA will actually authorise your claim once your problem is diagnosed (which for my car took all of 30 seconds using a machine and £50 from my pocket which I will never see again) and from my experience and from what I am now reading all over the internet AA will use every trick in the book to worm their way out of authorising your claim.

In my opinion a driver is much better of saving the several hundreds they splash out on these AA 'warranties' and the additional 'diagnostic' costs and instead simply take their car to a trusted local garage when something goes wrong.

It's easy to think well this warranty will save me hundreds should something go wrong whereas in reality if they refuse your claim - which they seem to have done to many genuine, trusting customers who put good faith in them, then not only are you stuck with paying all the costs for your repair but you then realise you wasted hundreds on top buying these so called '5 star warranties' from supposed reputable companies like AA.

Flyboy152

maowang wrote: »

I did, in fairness, get a fairly swift response to my email:


Further to your email regard to a possible fault with your vehicle.

I can confirm you will need to take your vehicle to Halfords Autocentres our approved repairers your nearest one being;
Halfords Autocentre
Beckenham
91-99 Elmers End Road
BeckenhamBR3

Telephone: 0208 659 8926

You need to give them your permission to investigate the fault and find the cause of failure. (Costs of diagnostics are not cover by the insurance).

The garage should then telephone us to discuss their findings. They must not carry out repairs until we have given permission to do so by issuing an authority number.

Any further queries please contact our Claims Department 08454 74 74 04 one of our advisors will be able to assist.

Regards

Geoff Nolan

Customer Services

Mechanical Insurance Services
1 Waterside Court
Bold Street
Sheffield
S9 2LR
Please note that, in accordance with QAP 09-09, Motorway Direct plc may monitor email traffic data and also the content of email for the purposes of operational support, maintenance, security and investigative activities.

It turns out that the next date they can see me is in 11 days time, when I will have to pay £50 for them to examine the car and inform AA warranties what the trouble seems to be, only then to wait and see whether the repair is authorised. I am in the meantime going to take it to an authorised dealer.

Yes, I am sorry to report the price was £989, comprising of £439 "Five Star Service", £160 "£1000 claim limit", £90 "Turbo Charger", £90 "ABS" £90 "Air Conditioning and £120 "Catalytic Converter!

Wait a minute....you were charged a thousand pounds, for a warranty that has a thousand pound claim limit? :eek:

What is the Five Star Service?

From what I understand, they cannot restrict you to a specific repairer. I think a call to trading standards is in order.

mluton

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Wait a minute....you were charged a thousand pounds, for a warranty that has a thousand pound claim limit? :eek:

What is the Five Star Service?

From what I understand, they cannot restrict you to a specific repairer. I think a call to trading standards is in order.

It haso be one of there authorised repair centes I believe.

Flyboy152

mluton wrote: »

It haso be one of there authorised repair centes I believe.

From what I undertsand, they can't insist on that.

ghaffa11

Hi - I have bought 3 cars from car giant in the past and never taken the warranty. How old is the car? Is the manufacturers warranty still valid?

I bought a 1 year old VW polo from them a while back, they tried to sell me their warranty and I found out the VW warranty was still valid!

Flyboy152

ghaffa11 wrote: »

Hi - I have bought 3 cars from car giant in the past and never taken the warranty. How old is the car? Is the manufacturers warranty still valid?

I bought a 1 year old VW polo from them a while back, they tried to sell me their warranty and I found out the VW warranty was still valid!

I hope that has rung some very loud alarm bells about their trading practices.