Warranty small print.is it late?

sam1970

I am collecting a 6 months old car I bought from the dealership next week. At time of buying I managed to get 70% discount on a two years extended warranty which will stert after the remaining two and a half years manufacturer warranty expire. Tonight I sat reading the warranty policy, and I know I should have done that before buying it, and I noticed this statemet:

"Servicing carried out at any garage, which does not hold the relevant vehicle manufacturer franchise, will invalidate this warranty"

I was always under the impression that servicing at VAT registered garage will not invalidate warranty as long as it uses original parts!! Have I been screwed here as I was planning not to pay expensive dealers service costs?

Nearly_Old

Difficult to be 100% certain without seeing the whole document but on the details provided - yes it looks like it's franchise dealer servicing or no extended warranty. I'm basing this on the fact that this is a specific term in the T&C's for the extended warranty that you would be bound by.

Servicing at a VAT registered garage using original parts will not invalidate the remaining manufacturer's warranty.

sam1970

thanks..but if i use another garage even during the manufacturer warranty term, they might invalidate the dealer cover after that..Arrgh..I should have known there will be a catch

Nearly_Old

sam1970 wrote: »

thanks..but if i use another garage even during the manufacturer warranty term, they might invalidate the dealer cover after that..Arrgh..I should have known there will be a catch

Apologies that my reply could have been clearer as yes if you use a non-franchised garage for the remainder of the original warranty then the extended warranty would never become active. Unfortunately there usually is a catch with offers from main dealers and some of them are not that easy to spot.

As you haven't picked the car up yet perhaps you could go and give it a thorough inspection - there could be a stone chip or two?

sam1970

Thanks for the advice...after reading further down the booklet I just found that the policy is provided by a company called car care plan. The dealer never mentioned that and they gave me the impression that it was provided by the manufacturer/dealership as it is a major dealership. Can I cancel?do I legally have 14 days cooling off period? I am angry as I paid the full price of the car and instead of a discount on the price they tried to sweeten the deal by giving me 70% discount on this warranty which will propably cost me more in dealership service costs and eventually might not pay when claiming

Hintza

You should have 14 days cooling off on the warranty. But if I remember correctly you actually started your haggling after your contract to purchase had been agreed.

sam1970

I agreed to purchase the car at the asking price without any dealer extras(GAP insurance,supaguard..etc). They wanted to complete the sale before the end of january because of their targets while I was not in a hurry as my bank loan was not ready yet. To convince me to speed up the sale they offered 70% discount on a two years extended warranty which i think now was not as good as I thought

fivetide

The warrenty might be a good one, just the terms to keep it valid aren't!

Have a look at what is/isn't covered and the price then see what warrentydirect would have cost for the same thing. that will tell you if it is worth throwing back at them or not. They'll have made some comission off it anyway I don't doubt.

5t.

Strider590

Win win for the dealership then, they get to charge extortionate prices for servicing, in the knowledge your stuck with them.

sam1970

I checked Warranty direct, whom I dont trust anyway as I had a bad experience with them, and they are asking for £1250 for the equivalent warranty (I paid £500 for mine). I think my options are:
1- Cancel the warranty as I am still within the 14 days period. In that case the dealer has got all he wanted (paid the asking price, sold within his target time frame without giving me any discount in return) and save myself the exaggerated costs of dealership service. I doubt very much the dealer will offer me anything else as I paid them in full.

2- Keep the warranty and service the car at the dealership and hope that the warranty will pay if needed to compensate for the service costs.

Any advice please?

fivetide

Ask for a 10% discount as a 'loyal' customer on servicing? That might save the £750 difference to warrenty direct?

5t.