Audi and Warranty Direct Warranties

Freefall

Looking at various warranties for a 3 year old A6 I am getting.

I appreciate that whenever this comes up (and I have read a lot of posts tonight) that everyone gives there two pence with their Opinion BUT very few people can speak from personal experience.

Does anyone have any experience of:
- Audi's own extended warranty?
- Warranty Direct (especially if anyone has experience of them paying out).


Cheers

uknick

Unless there is a huge difference in the overall price I'd always go for the official warranty. I say overall price because you may have to factor in the fact the official warranty insists you service the car at a franchised dealer. There may also be some restrictions on what modifications you can make to the car.

Since 2002 I've had official VW and Porsche extended warranties on my cars and whilst not the cheapest available they do give peace of mind. Both have paid out without any issues. My experience is that official warranties do not have too many exclusions apart from the obvious wear and tear items.

Having said that always, always, always get a copy of the T&C and read thoroughly before buying the warranty. This may well be blindingly obvious advice but you'd be surprised (or maybe not) at the number of people who buy blind and then moan when the failure is not covered.

Gloomendoom

Freefall wrote: »

Looking at various warranties for a 3 year old A6 I am getting.

I appreciate that whenever this comes up (and I have read a lot of posts tonight) that everyone gives there two pence with their Opinion BUT very few people can speak from personal experience.

Does anyone have any experience of:
- Audi's own extended warranty?
- Warranty Direct (especially if anyone has experience of them paying out).


Cheers

No experience of the Audi warranty but direct experience of WD.

A direct and frustrating experience. Save your money or go for the manufacturers extended warranty. They usually cost more but are more likely to pay out.

Swings and roundabouts.

smjxm09

Is the Audi extended warranty through a third party insurance company? I know Mercedes take this path even though it appears to be them that is providing the warranty. Also more importantly does the warranty cover wear and tear excluding the obvious things like tyres and clutch linings. As most faults could be put down to wear and tear the warranty could be worthless.

Freefall

smjxm09 wrote: »

Is the Audi extended warranty through a third party insurance company? I know Mercedes take this path even though it appears to be them that is providing the warranty. Also more importantly does the warranty cover wear and tear excluding the obvious things like tyres and clutch linings. As most faults could be put down to wear and tear the warranty could be worthless.

It is through Audi Financial Services (used to be through Mobillike MOB). So it is a finance comapny but under the VAG banner.

I have spend several days researching WD warranties and some ppl on forums are saying that they are paying some not (issues tend to be pre-existing issues and where the policy is not the full LuxuryCare package so WD require the Engine to be stripped down).

My worry with the Audi warranty (which is about double the VAG price) is what would they class as wear and tear. This seems to be a vexed issues with all extended warranties and they all seem to have different takes on what this encompasses. Some EW companies seem to think anything is wear and tear ("ohh the Engine stopped working, must be gradual XXXX has worn down, that is wear and tear") whereas with a manufacturer warranty you would hope they would player fairer (image to protect, etc).

However, it is still dificult to know where they draw the line? Serviceable items are obvious W&T (and indeed excluce). But what about suspension bushes? That is clearly a bit more difficult. Hence why I was asking what ppls experience was

Freefall

Gloomendoom wrote: »

No experience of the Audi warranty but direct experience of WD.

A direct and frustrating experience. Save your money or go for the manufacturers extended warranty. They usually cost more but are more likely to pay out.

Swings and roundabouts.

What was the story?

Freefall

uknick wrote: »

Unless there is a huge difference in the overall price I'd always go for the official warranty. I say overall price because you may have to factor in the fact the official warranty insists you service the car at a franchised dealer.

I think Audi are quite generous, allowing you to go outside the network. But I would just, for safety's sake use the dealer service plan.

uknick wrote: »

Since 2002 I've had official VW and Porsche extended warranties on my cars... Both have paid out without any issues. My experience is that official warranties do not have too many exclusions apart from the obvious wear and tear items.

Good to know. Where do they draw the line?

uknick wrote: »

Having said that always, always, always get a copy of the T&C and read thoroughly before buying the warranty. This may well be blindingly obvious advice but you'd be surprised (or maybe not) at the number of people who buy blind and then moan when the failure is not covered.

True but I am sympathetic to consumers who should be entitled to assume that the representatives of a regulated business will give a full and frank explanation of the key coverage and exclusions on the policy.

uknick

Freefall wrote: »

Good to know. Where do they draw the line?

I can't really comment fully on this as I haven't spent time comparing all the official against after market warranties. However from what I heard, one area they differ with regard to the Porsche warranty regards is what causes a component to fail. The official warranty covers failure unless you have abused the part, say thrashed an engine past the redline consistently.

The aftermarket warranties tend to disallow failures due to design faults. Touchwood I've not experienced this yet, but some 911 owners have found their engine failures aren't covered. Google 911 997.1 engine failures to find some examples.

There are also stories where the after market warranty won't cover subsequent loss, i.e. your water pump fails causing the engine to overheat and warp the head. The warranty will cover the water pump but not the head issues.

With regard to the wear and tear items I found the official warranty tends to fully list the items excluded. Some aftermarket ones are more vague.

Freefall wrote: »

True but I am sympathetic to consumers who should be entitled to assume that the representatives of a regulated business will give a full and frank explanation of the key coverage and exclusions on the policy.

I can't disagree with this in any way at all, but unfortunately that is not the way of the insurance business. Plus, some people are their own worse enemies. How many people do you know who never read the summary terms of insurance, let alone the very small print.

uknick

Freefall wrote: »

However, it is still dificult to know where they draw the line? Serviceable items are obvious W&T (and indeed excluce). But what about suspension bushes? That is clearly a bit more difficult. Hence why I was asking what ppls experience was

Things such as suspension bushes, whilst considered wear and tear item, can be a grey area depending on how old they are when they fail. People have been able to get "goodwill" gestures from dealers if their cars have been kept in the official network for servicing.

I've had switches, shock absorbers, suspension ball joints and air conditioning radiators replaced under the extended warranty on my current car without any argument. These items were done at about 36k miles and 5 years old. I also had the clutch pedal switch replaced when the car was at 50k and 6 years old.