Welcome Car Finance

ispartacus75

Not sure whether this belongs here as my query isnt really about the loan portion. Anyway, here goes.

Bought a 2002 Focus from Welcome Car Finance in Liverpool last Sunday. The car and customer service were fine. We were asked if we wanted PPI and were told it was entirely optional. We didnt take it. However we did take the GAP insurance and Norwich Union mechanical warranty. And the warranty is the problem.

In the paperwork it says that the car has to be serviced as per the manufacturers guidelines, fair enough, and it has to have the cambelt dotn when its due, again fair enough. The trouble is we didnt get ANY service book/details with the car. we have no idea when it was last serviced. In addition the cam belt is due on 5 years/80,000 miles. Its now 5 years old and we have no idea if its been done or not. I have no problem with getting it done.

My question is will the lack of previous history void the warranty before I need to use it? I dont know if the car has missed a service and cant prove otherwise in the event of a claim.

What do you think? Should I look into cancelling the warranty?

System

ispartacus75 wrote: »

Not sure whether this belongs here as my query isnt really about the loan portion. Anyway, here goes.

Bought a 2002 Focus from Welcome Car Finance in Liverpool last Sunday. The car and customer service were fine. We were asked if we wanted PPI and were told it was entirely optional. We didnt take it. However we did take the GAP insurance and Norwich Union mechanical warranty. And the warranty is the problem.

In the paperwork it says that the car has to be serviced as per the manufacturers guidelines, fair enough, and it has to have the cambelt dotn when its due, again fair enough. The trouble is we didnt get ANY service book/details with the car. we have no idea when it was last serviced. In addition the cam belt is due on 5 years/80,000 miles. Its now 5 years old and we have no idea if its been done or not. I have no problem with getting it done.

My question is will the lack of previous history void the warranty before I need to use it? I dont know if the car has missed a service and cant prove otherwise in the event of a claim.

What do you think? Should I look into cancelling the warranty?

Hello

I bought a car recently from Car Giant and took the warranty (which I've already claimed on ) my car came with an incomplete service history.
In the T&Cs it stated that where the date of the last service was not known the car must be serviced within six weeks of the warranty commencement for it to remain valid. I had it serviced within the specified period and that's when they found a minor problem (still over 100quids worth!) and the warranty paid out no problem.

So check for a similar condition within your warranty T&Cs. If you can't find anything just call the warranty company and ask.

Regards
UNDERGROUND

CHR15

I think you will be very lucky to have a valid warranty.

Have a look at the log book and try to contact the previous owner.
If you succeed in contacting them you may be able to get a duplicate service record from whichever garage did the servicing.

If you can't contact them, I would speak to the warranty company without delay making a note of the date/time of call and the name of the person you speak to (in case they reassure you over the phone but later deny it in the even of a claim)

cooltt

Ok step away from the panic button, firstly go into any ford dealership and ask them to look on their database to see when and where it had it's last service with them. If it was a while ago it may mean that the last owner serviced it with an independant garage but there's nothing wrong with that.

There should have been docs with the car including the service book the company you got the car from are terrible at either forgetting to give it to you or informing you that there isn't one with the car. Since this is a common problem with these outfits you will need to servic the car within a reasonable time period after purchase and when you became aware of the missing information.

So service it asap with a reputable garage and keep the invioce they give you.This will validate your warranty because you will (in a court of law's opinion) taken reasonable steps to mainatin the vehicle as per your warranties T&C.

CHR15

I still think you will struggle, as far as the warranty is concerned, your car hasn't had a single service in 5 years.

Try claiming engine damage as it hasn't had an oil change since new!

It all hovers on getting the duplicate service record, without it, I reckon you are stuffed (despite any reassurance they may give you over the phone)

You will have to act fast though before the cooling off period ends and you lose money.

ispartacus75

We got it for 19.8% which we cant complain at given our poor credit history, however the car was a little overpriced to start off with. The trouble is that when you walk in the door at Welcome they already know you are pretty desperate in the first place.


Tomorrow morning I am going to contact Norwich Union to ask them about the validity of the warranty and contact Ford to see if they can trace a service history.

I cant yet contact the previous owner as we only got the car last Sunday. Welcome have sent off the V5 leaving us with the V5C so we dont yet know who the previous owner was.

What I am concerned about is that the sales guy must have known that they didnt have a service history for it, especially as he says he brought it in. He must also know Norwich Unions policy on cars without service histories. If Norwich Union say they will not honour the warranty he would have known this and would have knowingly mis-sold a warranty that he knew couldnt be claimed on. However, until I know anything from Norwich Union tomorrow this is conjecture.

Incidentally can they get into trouble for falsly claiming the car has had a 136 point check?

Radio controls functioning --- ticked. (The car didnt have a radio installed!)

k1mmie

When you received your warranty details, is there a limit on the maximum you can claim for should something need replacing?

ispartacus75

Just spoken to 'Terry' in warranty admin who explained that regardless of what has happened to the car before my ownership they expect it to be serviced within the manufacturers guidelines, so for my car 12,500 miles or 12 months FROM THE DATE THAT I PURCHASED THE CAR.

This sounds like an extremely relaxed attitude towards servicing of the vehicle, especially disregarding the cars previous lack of history.

k1mmie, I have yet to recieve the warranty certificate so only have the Welcome Finance pamphlet to go off, but in there it details a £1000 per claim limit and an agregate claim limit of the cost of the vehicle (£6350).

At this point we still have 23 days to cancel if we decide.

What concerns me is in the event of a dispute over what has been said above over servicing how can I possibly prove it?

nomoneytoday

I would get the car serviced straight away, and if any problems arise then deal with them now (within the 23 days)

k1mmie

We had a finance with Welcome for a car, they told us that the vehicle was covered for replacement of parts. The documents had to be chased up continuously and when they arrived there was a limit of £300 per claim. Unfortauntely we found this out whilst fully loaded in the car with three kids and luggage on our way to Spain (luckily this side of the water). The clutch just snapped. Had to have it collected and taken to a Chrysler dealer who confirmed that it had just snapped and that it was not wear and tear. However Welcome were not prepared to cough up (£800). We had to fight tooth and nail and then they finally agreed to pay the £300. Even the broker who sold us the policy said he was not aware that there was a limit and had never heard of £300 before. They also send pamphlets convincing you to take out the cover - claiming parts are expensive should they go wrong - this limit of £300 does not cover any major parts. SO just be careful that you have it in writing that it covers a higher limit. They are not true to their word with warranty and will question it all when it comes to a claim. So I would cover all your bets by servicing the car and doing as they ask, because at the slightest opportunity they will refuse.