Auto protect warranty - 14 day cancelling period

AlexHaden2010

Hi all,

I've just bought a 3 year old C3 Picasso, comes with the Citroen select warranty.

The main dealer offered an extended warranty on top of that for £599 for two years, giving me a total of three years.

I was happy to get that piece of mind, especially as it seemed at the time to cover all mechanical and electrical faults.

Lo and behold, when I finally get my hands on the policy document, it's a product by auto protect - premier plus.

Now I know all the horror stories, and true to form on reading the policy document, it's so ambiguous, so full of exclusions, it feels like I'm better taking that 600£ sticking it in the bank and using it to cover the cost of any problem in the 2 or 3rd year!

So, policy only starts today, so I have 14 days to cancel, but guess what? They don't make it easy to figure out how to do that!

Anyone know? Do I go back through the main dealer who is an auto protect partner, or do I go to auto protect themselves?

Any advice gratefully received!

Thanks in advance,

lpoollad_69

Hello,
I would like to start by informing as many people as possible to avoid Auto protect as they are a complete and utter scam as I will explain below.

I paid £971.88 for 3 years cover of “premier plus mechanical breakdown insurance” with AutoProtect for my range rover vogue as I knew if something went wrong it would be costly as I’ve owned one previously. This was purchased via my car finance provider “carloans4u”. I was informed that if anything happens to my car it will be covered (other than wear and tear i.e. tyres etc.) and the only thing I would have to pay for is diagnostics. My car has now been in the garage since the 25/02/15 (over 4 months) where it remains to this day.
On the 22/02/15 my car went into limp mode with a complete loss of power. I contacted Auto protect who advised me to take it to Halfords auto centre as they have an account with them and the job would be done quickly. I took it to Halfords auto centre and had it diagnosed (at a cost to me) as a turbo failure. Halfords then informed me that they couldn’t do the job as it was too big for them. I then contacted Auto protect to inform them and they said to take it anywhere as long as the garage is VAT registered. I then spoke to land rover to book it in with them yet there was a 2 week waiting list to have the car looked at and in addition to this you have to book a courtesy car 3 weeks in advance? Try and figure that one out! Therefore I booked the car in at a local land rover specialist to be diagnosed (paid for again by me). The reported again stated that the near side turbo had failed.
Auto protect then requested that the turbos were to be sent to their approved tester for them to be checked at my expense? I refused and told them that it had already been diagnosed at 2 independent garages to which they then agreed to cover the cost of the shipping and testing etc. A week later they informed me that the near side turbo was faulty and the off side turbo was fine. Therefore they were sending the working one back to us and replacing the near side turbo, which I thought great. Almost 2 weeks later the new turbo arrived and the garage began putting the car back together. Now at this point Auto protect informed the land rover specialist that they would only be paying/authorizing 7.7 hours labour as this is what it states in the glass guide. The land rover specialist informed Auto protect that it was impossible to carry out such works in such a time frame. Auto protect informed me that if I got written proof from land rover stating the job took longer then they would pay out for whatever land rover stipulate. I obtained written proof from land rover that the job takes a total 11.8 hours labour (£130 an hour plus vat, total £1840.80), now this took about a month as at first land rover didn’t want to give up this information as the car wasn’t in a land rover garage. This information was then sent to Auto protect and after reviewing it they still refused to pay out for the full job i.e. hours. They said some of the items on the job sheet that land rover where stating were required to be done/changed for a turbo refit were not required?!? Can you believe this, some kid in a call centre is claiming land rover are making jobs up! They continued to state they will only pay for 7.7 hours labour at £70 an hour plus the VAT, total £646.80 and not a penny more.
The land rover specialist then presented me with a bill for £1956.58 which included items such as oil etc. which the land rover quote did not include (hence the higher price). I then contacted Auto protect and I pointed out to them that items such as oil are also covered under the warranty, they then reluctantly agreed to pay for this. Land rover charge £108 to refill the oil, once this bill was given to Auto protect they then said and I quote “I can find oil cheaper than that” and began to google it! Yes I said googled it! He then informed me that he had found oil on the internet for £15. After nearly falling out of my chair laughing I informed him that I’m not putting cheap £15 oil into land rover. After going around in circles with him for an hour he said the most they can pay towards the oil was £50?
Therefore in total the job cost £1956.58
Auto protect paid me £720.34
Leaving me to pay £1236.24
Plus the cost of the original warranty of £971.88
Total cost to me £2208.12, this comes to more than what the job would have cost if I didn’t purchase the warranty in the first place.

But wait the story doesn’t end there, it’s just getting started!

Once the car was put back together the land rover specialist called to inform me that the car was still in limp mode. They had no idea as to why this was and spent days on it double and triple checking they hadn’t done anything wrong. They then had auto tec come in and check the cables/signals in case that was at fault. They then discovered that the new turbo sent from Auto protect isn’t working as no electrical signal is being sent from the turbo back to the ECU. The land rover specialist contacted Auto protect to inform them and Auto protect simply said “strip it all down and start again”. The land rover specialist asked as to what they will pay for labour etc. as what they had paid for the first job didn’t cover the costs and the fact that this was now there fault they should be responsible to put it right. Auto protect said they will only pay what they had originally paid as this is all they are liable to pay. Therefore as to date my car is still in the garage being stripped down for the second time for the same job to be carried out twice on it.
Therefore in total the job cost £3913.16
Auto protect will have paid me £1440.68
Leaving me to pay £2472.48
Plus the cost of the original warranty of £971.88
Total cost to me £3444.36

At this point (11/07/15) the car has been stripped down for a second time and is in the process of having the turbo sent off to be tested again (the new turbo this is). Once tested and sent back the car can be put back together and hopefully I might get my car back after 5 months.
Of course I have taken legal advice and also have the financial ombudsman looking into this for me.
I have also spoken to Carloans4u as it was them who I bought the warranty from and they must know that Auto protect behave in this way as the first words out of his mouth was “contact the financial ombudsman”.
Please anyone who is thinking of taking this warranty on, don’t as it’s a con. They will also try and wiggle out of paying as they ask for all your previous service history including invoices and precious MOTs before authorising a job. If you don’t have this in place they won’t pay out, well a third pay out I should say. In addition to this they state in the warranty that they suggest your car is serviced every 6 months? These people are a joke and should be avoided at all costs.
I am now posting my experience on every review web site on google and also there twitter feeds etc.

lpoollad_69

Firstly if you bothered to read it you would see it’s not a rant it clearly explains my experience with that company. As you can see (if you bothered to read which I’m guessing you haven’t) the previous member was thinking about taking out warranty with this company, therefore I’m letting them know how poor this company is do deal with. Therefore if you don’t have anything constructive to say regarding the warranty get lost!

Nessun_Dorma

I would say that I don't see why you didn't just get Carloans4u to deal with it all, but that is kind of pointless.

I am sorry, your first mistake was buying a loan from them in the first place (because you didn't buy a car from them, you bought a loan). They are not a car sales organisation, they are a finance company, who use cars to lend money to, I am sorry to say, gullible people.

lpoollad_69

Nessun_Dorma wrote: »

I would say that I don't see why you didn't just get Carloans4u to deal with it all, but that is kind of pointless.

I am sorry, your first mistake was buying a loan from them in the first place (because you didn't buy a car from them, you bought a loan). They are not a car sales organisation, they are a finance company, who use cars to lend money to, I am sorry to say, gullible people.

Again yet another post from someone with nothing better to do with their day but sit on here and post negative reply’s due to not having a job.


Firstly it’s not a mistake buying a loan from them and why would it be?


Secondly no one is stating they are a “car sales organisation” other than yourself.


Thirdly this thread has nothing to do with carloans4u, therefore my advice to yourself like the previous idiot would be to read before posting.


Do you just sit there and reply to any and every post just to get you post ranking up? OMG how sad!

Nessun_Dorma

lpoollad_69 wrote: »

Again yet another post from someone with nothing better to do with their day but sit on here and post negative reply’s due to not having a job.


Firstly it’s not a mistake buying a loan from them and why would it be?


Secondly no one is stating they are a “car sales organisation” other than yourself.


Thirdly this thread has nothing to do with carloans4u, therefore my advice to yourself like the previous idiot would be to read before posting.


Do you just sit there and reply to any and every post just to get you post ranking up? OMG how sad!

You know what, if that is how you are going to engage with people, there is little point in anyone responding to your nonsense.

You know you c0cked up, when you took it away from the Land Rover dealer and that you should have checked with the repairers you eventually used, if they have an agreement with the warranty company. But you didn't and seem to want to blame people who point it out.

Perhaps this might be a salutary lesson for anyone who thinks they are buying cars from a dealer, when they are really buying money from a finance company. If you want to buy a car from a business, go to a proper dealer, not a money lender.

lpoollad_69

Nessun_Dorma wrote: »

You know what, if that is how you are going to engage with people, there is little point in anyone responding to your nonsense.

You know you c0cked up, when you took it away from the Land Rover dealer and that you should have checked with the repairers you eventually used, if they have an agreement with the warranty company. But you didn't and seem to want to blame people who point it out.

Perhaps this might be a salutary lesson for anyone who thinks they are buying cars from a dealer, when they are really buying money from a finance company. If you want to buy a car from a business, go to a proper dealer, not a money lender.

Again you haven’t read or you are unable to understand the post correctly.


Firstly the car was never at land rover and it doesn’t state anywhere it was therefore how did I and I quote “you took it away from the Land Rover dealer” when it wasn’t there to begin with??


Secondly the garage did have an account with auto protect yet this particular job was too big for them carry out once they had diagnosed it. It only went to this garage as auto protect told me to take it there.


Thirdly, I’m guessing you are either 12 years old or have a mental capacity of a 12 year old as you don’t understand what is being said. The car was purchased from, and I quote “business, go to a proper dealer” and carloans4u simply lend you the money to purchase the vehicle. Therefore your quote makes no sense?


Therefore again you have made no positive replies other than due to being bored and jobless you have made a pointless reply in the effort of gaining more posts, well done you are now up to 1,635 post which I’m guessing have also all been pointless posts.

lpoollad_69

Nessun_Dorma wrote: »

You know what, if that is how you are going to engage with people, there is little point in anyone responding to your nonsense.

You know you c0cked up, when you took it away from the Land Rover dealer and that you should have checked with the repairers you eventually used, if they have an agreement with the warranty company. But you didn't and seem to want to blame people who point it out.

Perhaps this might be a salutary lesson for anyone who thinks they are buying cars from a dealer, when they are really buying money from a finance company. If you want to buy a car from a business, go to a proper dealer, not a money lender.

In addition to your post I don’t want anyone to post/reply to my post, I simply posted my experience or the benefit of “AlexHaden2010” who began this thread looking for advice on whether or not to use Auto protect.


You don’t work for auto protect by any chance do you as you seem to have the exact same attitude as the staff at the auto protect call centre ha-ha.

Joe_Horner

Really interesting discussion, guys, but not much use to the OP!

Just had a look at their site and they really haven't made it clear how to use the cooling off period (or even that it exists!), have they?

Best bet would be to give them a call (01279 456 500) and tell them what you want to do, then be prepared to stick to your guns while suffering them trying to obfuscate and bluff their way out of allowing you to. If it goes on too long, just offer to refer them to the FCA for trying to deny your rights

lpoollad_69

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Really interesting discussion, guys, but not much use to the OP!

Just had a look at their site and they really haven't made it clear how to use the cooling off period (or even that it exists!), have they?

Best bet would be to give them a call (01279 456 500) and tell them what you want to do, then be prepared to stick to your guns while suffering them trying to obfuscate and bluff their way out of allowing you to. If it goes on too long, just offer to refer them to the FCA for trying to deny your rights

Thanks Joe for offering some advice unlike the previous serial posters.


I’m posting my experience here which reflects hundreds of others customers dealings with this company so people can save their cash and put it to one side to pay to have their car fix in the future if needed. auto protect will not pay out and if they do it will be a tiny % of what the actual cost is and to even get this the amount of hoops you have to jump through it diabolical.

yenool

My experience is these car warranty companies (customer protect gold warranty in my case) make it as slow and difficult to claim as possible. They insist you use a large VAT registered garage for repairs, but will not pay a labour rate that covers what these kind of places charge. Basically they insist you use champagne level of service but only provide you with a lemonade budget.

Then as the lpoollad_69 found out they will insist broken parts are sent away for inspection (delay tactic) and then insist on providing the replacement parts which in my case were of of poor quality.

They also do not pay for diagnostics or jobs that need to be done to fix the original fault. So if part A fails and as a result causes damage to part B they will only pay for part A. - Would you ever buy home insurance that paid for your burst pipe to be fixed but not for the damaged furniture or appliances? Madness.

I firmly believe these insurance based warranties serve only 3 purposes. 1) To enable the dealer to wriggle out of their SOGA responsbilities if something major goes wrong in the first 6 months. 2) To give the customer a false sense of trust when buying the car. 3) To make money for the dealers / insurance company.

They certainly do not provide peace of mind for the customer.