Is it fraud ?

Taeman

My car had a warranty that I purchased along with breakdown cover from a well known company. When I did breakdown the mechanic drove my car to their approved repairers who diagnosed contaminated clutch fluid and so drained and replaced it. Both the breakdown technician and the garage both stated that they could find no evidence of fluid leaks anywhere. When the car was returned to me as being fixed and roadworthy it suffered a catastrophic breakdown the first time it was used which meant the whole clutch was contaminated. The garage said it wasn't anything they had done and the warranty company refused the claim as their assessor said that the part had been leaking fluid for 1000 miles so it wasn't a sudden breakdown but was wear and tear. On the assessor's report it shows that the garage have given a fraudulent claims date and recorded false mileage against the car. The report also shows that the warranty company give clear guidance as to what they expect the assessor's findings to be, ie. that I have a sudden breakdown warranty and that latent build up is unlikely. It appears to me that he should be able to decide for himself what the cause of the breakdown is. It is also clear that the assessor was not told of the work and inspections carried out on the car immediately before that breakdown. The garage claimed that the warranty company denied the claim before any inspection had taken place saying that the failed part wasn't covered under the warranty and yet it is not listed in the exclusions section of the warranty. How can you deny a claim for wear and tear when the part is not a wear and tear part and without any inspection having taken place ?
The garage kept my car for 3 weeks for a repair that would take any competent mechanic a maximum of 2 days to do. I rely heavily on my car to care for my seriously ill 81 year old father and couldn't do so for those 3 weeks and so when he got told he had cancer he had to spend 3 hours sat in a hospital corridor because I couldn't get to him.
I have asked the warranty company repeatedly why the fraud on the assessor's report has happened and why they allowed their repairers to backdate the claim by a week but they have just ignored me. I have tried using the companies in-house ADR Service to claim for the original repair being carried out without reasonable care and skill and proved that their approved garage are blatantly telling lies but they have just allowed their garage to swap one lie for another and declined my claim saying that the clutch was already leaking fluid the first time it went in so they didn't cause the second breakdown. Now I am left with having to take the garage to court but when you are having to tackle the breakdown company, the garage, the largest warranty company in the world and their ADR Service what hope do you have ? They all just cover things up and as this is their day to day job and I am just another customer for them to scam then the odds are stacked against me.

born_again

Why would a mechanic drive your car to the garage if you had one of the breakdown services cover?

Given you have not provided any car info. It's hard to say. Age & mileage & how long you have had the car make a big difference.

Clutch is a wear & tear part.

Sandtree

Could serious do with some extra spacing and clarification of when you talk about an "assessor" if that it the garage's person, the warranty company etc etc.

In this day and age in person inspections are relatively rare for many companies, especially if the garage in question is part of an approved network... some have delegated authority up to £X, many will use softwares to send estimates and images to the insurer/warranty company to assess. 

Some companies will give an indicative view based on initial information provided and that may be reaffirmed via an in person or remote inspection. 

2 days -v- 3 weeks depends very much on their availability of staff, parts etc... a catastrophic failure would suggest the car was unusable and so it could be it was sat there 1 week before they had capacity to look at it, then they had to get the warranty company's views. They had to get your instruction of what to do when the warranty declined cover. They had to order parts after the approach was agreed and delays on parts coming in is not new news to anyone these days. 

Ultimately nothing you have said suggests "fraud" but more likely a lack of understanding on your part on how the process works and maybe human error in terms of putting a date on a form. You mention the warranty company is subject to an ADR process and so no harm in following that if you feel your claim has been unfairly declined. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

OP I assume you didn't pay the garage so effectively don't have a relationship with them meaning responsibility is between you and the warranty company (it's then down to the warranty company to deal with the garage should they wish). 

Really I can only see you could have the car inspected independently, if in your favour send a letter before action and then go via small claims for any losses.  

Taeman

I did pay the garage. It went to them and they misdiagnosed what was wrong as contaminated fluid so fluid change wasn't covered under the warranty. When they returned the car to me it suffered a major breakdown causing £1000 damge. The garage didn't tell the warranty about what they had done. When I told them their repairers had committed fraud on the assessor's report they ignored me and covered it up.

Diamandis

It's quire hard to get a good grasp on this due to the way it's written. I think the most important thing though is to get your car looked at by someone independent and make sure you get copies of all the documentation from the garage and warranty company. 

Taeman

My clutch pedal stayed to the floor when I pressed it. The RAC czme to my house and inspected the car. He found no fluid loss. Hd said it would be quicker for him to drive the car to their approved repairers as it was only half a mile away. The repairers then did a more thorough inspection of the whole hydraulics and also found no fluid loss. That on the 5th of the month. The garage then drained and replaced what they said was contaminated fluid. I got the csr back on the 7th but didn't usd it until the 9th. It then stayed on my drive until 14th when I next needed it. The pedal again stayed down when pressed only this time ghe fluid had leaked out all over the floor.
This time ghey phoned it through to the warranty company backdating the claim date to 8th and not telling them the wofk they had done or the 2 inspections carried out. The 8th was 6 days before I knew it had suffered a major breakdown.
I did tell the warranty company myself the work had already been carried out 18 miles earlier by their garage but ghey didn't inform their assessor of that and neither did the garage. I only found out the claim had been backdated when I read the report. I think the garage had deliberately tried to get the claim voided as any claim has to be made within 7 days and they backdated it 8 days.
When I asked the garage why they kept.my car for 3 weeks for a repair that takes at most 2 days they said that the customer suspended work on the car when they phoned the claim ghrough and it was ddnied. They said ghe customer didn't authorise the work until 29th . The warranty told me to authorise it and pay for it on 21st which I did. The assessor went in on 22nd and said the fluid loss had been happening for the past 1000 miles and that I would have known. That is rubbish as there was no sign of fluid loss until their repairers messed with it.
When I used the RAC's ADR Service the garage changed their story from the customer suspending work to saying it was because of covd.
I believe that because the garage backdated the claim and both them and the wsrranty didn't disclose information to their assessor then that report is inaccurate and fraudulent.
They came out with a list of lies and I provided proof of it all but the ADR said it was losing fluid when it went in the first time so it wasn't a bodged repair.

Admiral_Barbarossa

The last car I traded in, the clutch and fly wheel were well used and on their way out! I traded it in as it was cheaper than a repair. I had out 125,000 miles on the car, and the clock was at 160,000. 

Unless you add information about the age of the car and mileage, people are not going to help you!