Evans halshaw guarantee

Golden_Glow90

I bought a car from an evans halshaw dealership a little while ago. I took out their premium guarantee too (although I am also still within the 3 month warranty anyway).

On Saturday, I couldn’t start the car. AA came out (breakdown cover from AA is also included in the premium guarantee) who said the car needed a new alternator. He jump started the car and followed us to the nearest evans halshaw. The service department was closed but the sales office said that I could leave the car there and call them Monday morning.

in the meantime I email pendragon but they only work Monday-Friday. I also phone them this morning several times (they open at 8am) but no one answers the phone. Same with the evans halshaw garage, the service department won’t answer the phone, the sales department won’t pass me over to the service department so now I have a car stuck at evans halshaw and no way of starting a claim to repair the car and no courtesy car either as that has to go through pendragon too.

What can I do here? Is there anyone else I can contact? I’ve had extended warranty with car companies before but it’s always been so easy to claim, I’ve literally taken the car to a garage and they’ve settled the bill with the warranty people. Why do evans halshaw make it so difficult?

diystarter7

Not just EH that take a long time to answer the phone it's many other dealers especially the servicing departments.
You need to phone and phone.

I've always said this that if you are buying a car/something else, try calling their customer services and see how long they take to answer the call gives you a head start just in case things go wrong.

ps - how long was you on the phone for? True that certain departments can't put call through as they are often not in the same place and they will only get what you get, ie no answer but they could email on your behalf.

Please keep on the phone, I can't see another alternative.

diystarter7

Btw, is a "courtesy car" included in the 3 months, or extended warranty?

Golden_Glow90

diystarter7 said:

Btw, is a "courtesy car" included in the 3 months, or extended warranty?

The extended warranty. I have tried a few times, the last time I called, I left it on speaker phone and it cut off after around 15 minutes 

Grumpy_chap

What level of AA cover was included?  Some cover levels include onward travel, which is how an out of hours hire car is provided.

Golden_Glow90

Grumpy_chap said:

What level of AA cover was included?  Some cover levels include onward travel, which is how an out of hours hire car is provided.

It does include onward travel but since we broke down at home, it just meant we could get a lift back from
the garage. The courtesy car is supposed to be via pendragon and says it won’t be provided until after the first 24 hours and not until work on the car is authorised 

Mutton_Geoff

If the fault is an alternator, then there should have been a warning light on some time before you broke down/couldn't restart whilst the battery was draining through lack of charge.

Best to call at 0800 on the dot, press six zeros to maximise the chance of getting through to a human. Or post on their Twitter account.

diystarter7

Golden_Glow90 said:

diystarter7 said:

Btw, is a "courtesy car" included in the 3 months, or extended warranty?

The extended warranty. I have tried a few times, the last time I called, I left it on speaker phone and it cut off after around 15 minutes 

Thanks
Yep, happens all the time with some other places ie ring and ring then cut off.
I hope you get through and its sorted or you get a car.

Golden_Glow90

Mutton_Geoff said:

If the fault is an alternator, then there should have been a warning light on some time before you broke down/couldn't restart whilst the battery was draining through lack of charge.

Best to call at 0800 on the dot, press six zeros to maximise the chance of getting through to a human. Or post on their Twitter account.

No warning lights but the AA came out and ran diagnostics and said it was the alternator 🤷‍♀️ I literally drove it off the drive in the morning so my husband could get his car out for work and then a few hours later went to drive it and it wouldn’t start. Not had any warning lights or problems before that.

I did eventually get through but told I have to agree to pay £120 for evans halshaw to run their own diagnostics and if they then deem it to be covered then they’ll repair it, it not I’ll have to pay the £120 then pay whatever it costs to repair on top. They also said they can’t provide me with a courtesy car as they don’t have anything available even though there’s nothing in my T&C to say anything about it being subject to availability, nor does it mention a diagnostic cost. Since they can’t even fit in to run the diagnostics until tomorrow afternoon, that’s another day at least without my car.

I would never purchase their warranty or a car from them again. 

Bigwheels1111

You only made one mistake, you purchased a car from Evens Halshaw.

diystarter7

Bigwheels1111 said:

You only made one mistake, you purchased a car from Evens Halshaw.

I bet you they are a lot better than many smaller dealers as you you dont have to deal with an owner and their family who feel the customers always wrong.

Re warranties, they are a minefield but look up MSE etc for best of the worst lot.

We have an extended warranty on a sports car that would be very expensive to fix, we paid close to 1800 quid for a 3 yr top notch warranty - I'm not sure I can name the co so i wont but we've not had to test them and hopefully wont but i am aware to a good extent what is covered and what is not and importantly the diagnostics i pay for then returned if fault found and or under warranty - we have also paid for a main dealer repair etc - its a piece of mind. However, its not right but a fact when your car goes wrong, especially on a weekend, you are often without a car/repair o courtesy car for around a couple of days at least.


since my second car I've always purchased from a main dealer and its worked for me. We often bought brand-new or a trade-in by a private person a car that was a 12 to 18 months old and smoke and smell free and nice spec

Every dealer has their positives and negatives but from the telly reports I've seen and seen many its often the msaller dealers that may sell a car with problems and not prepared to sort stuff out.  I've not tried smaller dealers but I'm sure there are some decent ones there as well.