GoCar Warranty

tanahmed

Hi,
took out a 4yr car warranty about 2yrs ago, car has developed a fault with the electric windows (2nd claim - a previous claim amount 6 months ago was refused as part not covered!!) - not a massive bill but as I had a warranty I asked the mechanic if he could find out if covered. It is but before getting authorisation asked to supply proof of service and last 2 MOTs to cover for the period that covers the warranty. Provided the info. Warranty company have refused the claim and advised the warranty is void. On the last page of the 14 page policy document there is a clause advising that on the date of inception of the policy I had to have an MOT that had at least 3 months left to run. Unfortunately the MOT at the time only had a month and was renewed on the anniversary of the MOT without problems. According to the claim handler I am not entitled to a refund. Does anyone have any advise on what if anything I can do?

thenudeone

Make a formal complaint and stick to your guns, then to the Financial Ombudsman if necessary.

If they are claiming that the policy was void from inception (i.e. it never legally existed) because the conditions were never met, then they MUST refund your premium - they cannot keep a premium on a voided policy.

tanahmed

I have called them to complain and was advised "a manager" would call back. This was on Thursday. I'm not sure that they will so will have to make a complaint in writing. I was told on the phone by the claims adviser that the reason for this clause is to prevent people taking out a policy before MOT renewal date to claim for works to get the car through an MOT. I have not done this - the car has passed it's MOT on each and every anniversary with no problems. He further advised that I had taken out the policy on line and that the requirement was clearly stated. I've since gone on the website and made a dummy applications -
1 - enter vehicle reg
2- choose type of cover
3 - choose payment method
4 - tick box to confirm t&cs

It is an extremely quick process and no other questions asked.
the t&cs contains 3 docs - with the requirement of having at least 3 months remaining on the MOT within one of the docs.

Will my argument fall down based on me not reading through all the T&Cs on the online applications?

Lum

So that's basically a clause to exclude 25% of all claims they will ever get. Further proof that all these third party warranty companies are scum.

However I'd suspect (note: I'm not a lawyer or a financial advisor) that this will work out the same as the more well known mis-selling scandals (e.g. PPI) you have been sold a policy that you could never use.

Will probably have to go to small claims court to get your money back though.

gilbert_and_sullivan

[QUOTE=tanahmed;63010129 I've since gone on the website and made a dummy applications -

It is an extremely quick process and no other questions asked.
the t&cs contains 3 docs - with the requirement of having at least 3 months remaining on the MOT within one of the docs.

[/QUOTE]

Thats a surprise, they make giving them money for nothing (except expensive bog roll) a quick and easy process, well well.

I too would be making a small claim, they can't have their cake and eat it and thats exactly what they have done.

tanahmed

Good news (touch wood) I managed to speak to a manager in the claims department. I told him the clause was unfair and that the requirement was not clearly stated on the website. I further advised that my understanding for the reason for the clause as advised by the claim handler was to prevent people claiming for repairs to get a vehicle through an MOT. This was clearly not the case as I could demonstrate my car passed an MOT test on each and every anniversary without issue. He said he would discuss this with the underwriter. He called me back and advised that they will reinstate the policy and asked for the garage to resubmit the claim for authorisation. I still have my fingers crossed until we get the authorisation and the invoice paid. Who knows what might come out of the woodwork!! I am more and more convinced that the best thing to do is set aside some money for car repairs, if not used then great, but better than the gamble with the warranty companies!