Car Warranty

redatkins1

We bought a 53 reg MG with 24,000m on the clock and knowing that the head gasket might fail at some time and the garage dealt with warranties and assured us the gasket would be covered we went ahead and paid £395 for 2yrs cover. We read the small print and understood wear and tear, neglect and over heating wouldn't be covered but felt confident none of this would apply as we would keep a careful watch on the oil and coolant etc.
At 38000m it has failed and according to the assessor this is due to general deterioration commensurate with the age of the vehicle. It is 18m older than when we bought it. Could we argue that the policy was missold to us and that in theory everything would be deteriorated due to age and therefore not covered??
We feel ripped off and will never ever buy this type of insurance again

thenudeone

The "Wear and Tear" exclusion usually applies to items which gradually deteriorate over over time, perhaps because of friction caused when parts constantly move against each other.

Head gaskets don't "wear out". They are firmly clamped between the bottom and top half of the engine and don't move. If they start to let fluid (oil or coolant) seep through to somewhere it shouldn't be, that is a failure, not "wear and tear".

They are usually covered by a decent warranty.

My Vauxhall extended warranty (managed Car Care Plan) has just paid for a head gasket failure (including head skimming) on my 7-year old Zafira, without question (although they did send an assessor to check)

I'd progress this further if I were you, making a complaint if necessary. Unfortunately there's a lot of poor warranties about, which you don't find out until you try to claim.

forgotmyname

Its 9 years old and its a common failure on those engines so i wouldnt have expected them to pay out.

Everything deteriorates with age but lots of cars out there that are much older with headgaskets intact. Just not many with that engine.

Its more of a design failure than wear and tear.

Plenty of reviews online saying these warranties are not worth the paper they are written on. Got a hamster? Shred the paperwork and use it for bedding.

Thats about its sum value.

Foxy-Stoat_3

Bought a warranty and got told by salesperson that a specific part would be covered, warranty not paying out for one reason or another.....I see nothing unusual here.

I would ask a local garage to test all components, water pump, radiator, radiator fans working, hoses, leaks, correct coolant mix and thermostat and go back to the warranty company stating that all components are in good working order therefore there should be no reason for the HG to fail or deteriorate.

You would reasonable expect a normal engine to do more than 38,000 miles on one headgasket. Obviously you knew that they had a weak headgasket anyway due to asking about it when you bought the warranty. Unless the car was a bargain price, I would of priced in a HG in the purchase price and not bought the warranty for this precise reason.

Good luck with getting this fixed.