Car Giant Warranty

Julianobaptiste

Hi

Has anyone else had experience of Car Giant (White City) and the warranty they sell?

I purchased a car from them and in the interests of keeping our potential motoring costs down we purchased their 3 Year Premier Cover (through AA Warranty). We were told by the salesman that this warranty was the best around and that it covered Everything apart from tyres, brakes, exhaust and servicing! This is the only reason we purchased the car from them.

Low and behold the first time the car breaks down we take it to an AA registered garage to be told that the problem would not be covered on the warranty and that we would have to pay. With a young family the car is essential to we had no choice but to pay for £300 to fix the car. Add this to the worthless warranty (£649) we are nearly £1000 out of pocket with a car we only chose because of the warranty!!

I have contacted Car Giant telling them that they have missold me the warranty. They told me they were not interested in my claims.
I then contacted the Financial Services Ombudsman who took the case on. Car Giant's reply to the FSO was to say that it is a guarantee and not a warranty or insurance and therefore the FSO have no business writing to them.
This is despite all their paperwork and marketing being covered with AA Warranty logos. My policy is an AA Warranty Guarantee and infact in email correspondence to Car Giant they refer to the product as an insurance.

The FSO are now not sure if they can help. Does anyone have any advice on where to turn next?

Thanks

forgotmyname

What was the actual fault?

What car is it?
Cars age, Mileage, Purchase price. When did you purchase it? How long after purchase did the fault occur?

A lot of people tend to refer to used car warranties as hamster bedding. Because you may as well shred it and use it for that purpose.

The chances of them paying out is low.

Unless you want cover for parts that do not break or wear out.

You dont need to give exact dates prices. But time between purchase and breakdown maybe helpful.

bigjl

I would never buy any aftermarket warranty, or mechanical breakdown insurance.

That is the worst thing about buying from CG after you have bought your car you get the hard sell on the day you come to collect the car.

Though the fault can't have been that serious if it cost £300 to fix.

Or is this just a trolling post hoping to create a we hate Car Giant thread.

We won't know till the OP says what is wrong with the car.

AAW-CS

Hi,

My name is Anne Chadwick, I am the Customer Service Manager at AA Warranty. If you have a problem, query or complaint I'd be more than happy to look into it for you.

If you could email us on:

customerservices@aawarranty.co.uk

Providing your name, postal code and vehicle registration number I can then look at your account and provide you with a response.

Alternatively you can call us on 0114 263 7730.

Kind regards,

Anne Chadwick

forgotmyname

Seems someone cannot read the forum rules.

Ask permission 1st...

Julianobaptiste

Our car is a 59 plate Mondeo, purchased 8months ago with 68000 miles for £6995.00. The fault occurred after about 7 months. The problem was with the alternator and alternator pulley.

My issue isn't if they sold me a car not fit for purpose as we have been really happy with the car. My issue is that they pushed and pushed the warranty, saying that it covered everything except "tyres, brakes, exhaust and servicing" so we purchased it thinking we had piece of mind for three years. This wasn't the case!

When we told Car Giant we were not happy they told us to put it in an email to them. Their reply was to say they considered the matter closed!
Then I contacted the Financial Services Ombudsman who were more the happy to take the case on, they wrote to Car Giant.
Car Giant's response was that it is a guarantee not a warranty and therefore no financial body should pursue them.
I believe we purchased a warranty and have paperwork to support this, however if the FSO won't help where can I turn for help with this missold product.

Many thanks.

forgotmyname

Wear and tear items im afraid. At 8 months after purchase you may struggle to get a free repair.

27col

Since when have you ever believed what a car salesman told you. It would have been better to have put the warranty money into an account ready for when it was needed. Personally, I would not ever buy a breakdown warranty on any item. There are too many ways for suppliers to wriggle out of them, as you have found.
I am not sure what they mean when they say that it was a guarantee. A guarantee of what exactly?

nobbysn*ts

forgotmyname wrote: »

Wear and tear items im afraid. At 8 months after purchase you may struggle to get a free repair.

A 4 year old Mondeo, and an alternator is a wear and tear item? You must be a car dealers wet dream. To the op though, read the last page of the warranty, if it's insurance, it'll have the complaints procedure there normally. If it's not insurance, and they referred to it a insurance, report them to the fsa for mis-selling.

forgotmyname

Yes 4 years and almost 70,000 miles worth of wear and tear. Ive known alternators fail in younger cars at lower mileages.