Is AA Gold Warranty at Car Giant worth it?

jimjames

forgotmyname wrote: »

Yes, components wear.. But that wont be covered by the warranty either. Yes it does leave parts uncovered its a used car and you expect it to be in a used condition. But again the warranty wont cover those.

Exactly the point.

You expect to have to pay to maintain your car. Paying for a warranty that is unlikely to cover most maintenance items just seems like throwing money away.

Insurance companies are not charities, they are out to make money from you.

BadgerSwift

I bought a VW Sharan from Car Giant last Thursday. It is 3 years and three months old so just outside of VW's warranty. In advance of buying it I called the VW warranty line but as it has had an out of warranty gap they view it a little differently to someone just extending the manufacturer's warranty. They made clear that they would not cover any conditions deemed to be pre-existing and they also made clear they would not cover the first month and I think they said they would not cover wear and tear. Consequently I took the 1 year AA Gold Warranty from Car Giant for £499.

The next day I took it to Citygate VW for a full service as it was due and I wanted some peace of mind. As luck would have it (!) the front suspension console bushes were split (not a breakdown but would be an MOT failure.) The bill was going to be £480 for that repair. VW thought it would not be covered under a warranty as it was a wear and tear item. I called the AA Warranty line and they said they would cover some of the cost of the repair, but because their cover provided for an hourly labour cost of £48 (from memory) and Citygate charged £120 per hour (from memory) that I would have to pay the difference in labour rate for the 2.5 hour job. They paid £280 and I paid £200.

I thought that was fair enough. I wanted it fixed while it was in the franchised dealer rather than taking it away and booking it into a Halfords Autocentre (which would have charged £50 to diagnose the problem anyway.)

If I had bought the VW used warranty I would not have been covered at all.

Car Giant sold me the car for a lot less than any other advert I saw, including the price of the warranty, so even though I had a shock the next day I am still happy I went to Car Giant and happy with the AA Gold Warranty. I still have 12 months' cover and the net cost to me is now £499-£280=£219.

BeenThroughItAll

BadgerSwift wrote: »

I bought a VW Sharan from Car Giant last Thursday. It is 3 years and three months old so just outside of VW's warranty. In advance of buying it I called the VW warranty line but as it has had an out of warranty gap they view it a little differently to someone just extending the manufacturer's warranty. They made clear that they would not cover any conditions deemed to be pre-existing and they also made clear they would not cover the first month and I think they said they would not cover wear and tear. Consequently I took the 1 year AA Gold Warranty from Car Giant for £499.

The next day I took it to Citygate VW for a full service as it was due and I wanted some peace of mind. As luck would have it (!) the front suspension console bushes were split (not a breakdown but would be an MOT failure.) The bill was going to be £480 for that repair. VW thought it would not be covered under a warranty as it was a wear and tear item. I called the AA Warranty line and they said they would cover some of the cost of the repair, but because their cover provided for an hourly labour cost of £48 (from memory) and Citygate charged £120 per hour (from memory) that I would have to pay the difference in labour rate for the 2.5 hour job. They paid £280 and I paid £200.

I thought that was fair enough. I wanted it fixed while it was in the franchised dealer rather than taking it away and booking it into a Halfords Autocentre (which would have charged £50 to diagnose the problem anyway.)

If I had bought the VW used warranty I would not have been covered at all.

Car Giant sold me the car for a lot less than any other advert I saw, including the price of the warranty, so even though I had a shock the next day I am still happy I went to Car Giant and happy with the AA Gold Warranty. I still have 12 months' cover and the net cost to me is now £499-£280=£219.

Good old Car Giant eh?


If I'd bought that car, without a warranty, I'd have been expecting them to fix that anyway, since the car had been sold with a fault.


But I'm glad you signed up to the forum to resurrect a month-old thread and let us know how great CG have been.

Herzlos

Catbells wrote: »

I've just bought a VW Golf 1.4 automatic with 25000 miles from Car Giant. Is it worth the money to take out the AA Gold warranty ranging from 1 year = £449 to 3 years = £749.

Stick the £749 in a savings account and use that to pay for any repairs. The odds are that anything you claim for will be regarded as wear and tear and therefore not covered anyway. £749 should cover a fair amount of repairs at your local independent.

OddballJamie

BadgerSwift wrote: »

I bought a VW Sharan from Car Giant last Thursday. It is 3 years and three months old so just outside of VW's warranty. In advance of buying it I called the VW warranty line but as it has had an out of warranty gap they view it a little differently to someone just extending the manufacturer's warranty. They made clear that they would not cover any conditions deemed to be pre-existing and they also made clear they would not cover the first month and I think they said they would not cover wear and tear. Consequently I took the 1 year AA Gold Warranty from Car Giant for £499.

The next day I took it to Citygate VW for a full service as it was due and I wanted some peace of mind. As luck would have it (!) the front suspension console bushes were split (not a breakdown but would be an MOT failure.) The bill was going to be £480 for that repair. VW thought it would not be covered under a warranty as it was a wear and tear item. I called the AA Warranty line and they said they would cover some of the cost of the repair, but because their cover provided for an hourly labour cost of £48 (from memory) and Citygate charged £120 per hour (from memory) that I would have to pay the difference in labour rate for the 2.5 hour job. They paid £280 and I paid £200.

I thought that was fair enough. I wanted it fixed while it was in the franchised dealer rather than taking it away and booking it into a Halfords Autocentre (which would have charged £50 to diagnose the problem anyway.)

If I had bought the VW used warranty I would not have been covered at all.

Car Giant sold me the car for a lot less than any other advert I saw, including the price of the warranty, so even though I had a shock the next day I am still happy I went to Car Giant and happy with the AA Gold Warranty. I still have 12 months' cover and the net cost to me is now £499-£280=£219.

So they tucked you up for £499 then within 24 hours the car needed a service and another £480 spending on it to make it road worthy and you're happy about this?

Herzlos

That's a good point. Why didn't Car Giant give it a service and a new MOT?
If it was going to be an MOT fail the day later, Car Giant should have replaced it for you warranty or not.

BadgerSwift

So, I received a call from Car Giant this morning as I mentioned the issue with the front suspension console bushes on the survey they ask buyers to complete. They asked me to send them a copy of the quote I had received to repair the bushes and they would decide whether to repair the bushes themselves or pay for the dealer to do it.

I explained that I had already had them fixed by the dealer and that the AA had covered £270 of the cost leaving me about £220 out of pocket. He asked me to email them the documentation and called me back within the hour to say they would send me a cheque for £200.

I have to say, I am very happy about that, but looking at some of the negative responses my previous post received I guess no one else would be.

BadgerSwift

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Good old Car Giant eh?


If I'd bought that car, without a warranty, I'd have been expecting them to fix that anyway, since the car had been sold with a fault.


But I'm glad you signed up to the forum to resurrect a month-old thread and let us know how great CG have been.

Apparently they would have fixed it if I had brought the matter to their attention (see my other recent post) which I was not expecting.

Interesting comment you make about me resurrecting a month old thread. It was the most current thread I could find and I only bought my car a few days ago. I didn't think it was worth starting a new thread on something that had been recently discussed. Anyway, I'm glad you're glad: whatever makes you happy.

OddballJamie

How convenient of them. I am puzzled why they called you when walking across the showroom floor would've been cheaper.

BadgerSwift

OddballJamie wrote: »

So they tucked you up for £499 then within 24 hours the car needed a service and another £480 spending on it to make it road worthy and you're happy about this?

They sold me a warranty for £499 which covered £270 of the cost of the repair. The warranty is still good for the next 12 months. The equivalent VW warranty would have paid out zip as it would have been in the first month of ownership, pre-existing and probably wear and tear.

The car was due a service which I knew when I bought it. I factored that into my purchase decision. The car was roadworthy, and the MOT is not due until the end of 2015, but split bushes would be an MOT fail.