Extended car warranty

simonmills86

Good morning,

I purchased a second hand car for approximately £19,000 in October 2022. As part of the sale, the salesman advised taking out a 'lifetime warranty' package for £800 supplied by the used car garage themselves. Given that I work with second hand parts for the car manufacturer in question and wanted to protect my investment in case anything went wrong, I thought this was fairly sound advice.

Approx. 11 months later the door locking mechanism no longer works and it appears the vehicle needs a new actuator/latch. I made several attempts to contact the dealership by phone and email and on the fourth or fifth attempt over a number of weeks finally managed to get in contact with the person responsible. They speculated that the door latch would not be covered under 'wear and tear' - I disputed this as it was a known fault with the vehicle and the warranty package itself cites a "customer review" (likely fictitious) praising a complete door lock repair covered under the same guarantee.

Several weeks later I contacted the company again after hearing no reply, this time with a slightly less patient approach and received a call from the branch manager the following day. They changed the reasoning completely and claimed they were unable to authorise the repair because I had exceeded 12,000 miles per annum.

I checked the warranty documents again and lo and behold I had invalidated the warranty - not by a few miles but by a few thousand. My mistake, however I did try and suggest that the package was knowingly not suitable given the sales person knew how far I was travelling each day to work. They had mysteriously left only weeks after purchasing the car from them. These things happen but not the best reflection of the company perhaps(?)

Anyway, having checked other extended warranty packages in the market (for example manufactures new car warranties) I note that most of them have a defined period or mileage (for example 5 years or 60,000 years - whichever comes first). I am yet to find one that offers a 'lifetime' guarantee that you can invalidate in the first year on the basis of high mileage (despite the fact that the repair isn't either wear and tear or mechanical). In theory if I only drive the car 8,000 miles over the next 12 months on a 'pro-rata' basis the car would be eligible for repair next year. This doesn't seem like a particularly solid policy agreement and I'm annoyed at myself for ever agreeing to the package as it is literally throwing £800.00 to the wind.

Does anyone have any advice on how I should approach it further? I have argued that I felt that the policy was mis-sold and requested to downgrade the warranty to a one-year package - effectively terminating the cover as of October and receiving a refund of half the cost of the lifetime package but they are so far unmoved.

If the customer service had not been so poor and non-existent I would have probably taken this one on the chin but my frustration has lead me to challenge the contract/policy as not being fit for purpose. Not to mention £800 on top of a £19000 car should 'probably' on the basis of good customer service if nothing else, authorise a £150-£200 job on a door that won't lock.

Does anyone think I have grounds for recompense or am I ultimately fighting a losing battle?

I presume in the consumer rights world, proving 'mis-selling' would be difficult but if anyone has any advice as to how to proceed I would be eternally grateful.

Thanks,
Simon

Aylesbury_Duck

To me, the critical point here is whether the door latch problem has arisen through wear and tear.   I'd suggest it has, and that makes all the other stuff irrelevant.  If the warranty terms exclude items that have failed through wear, then I don't see you have a good case.

However, I agree that a £200 job on a £19k car bought just under a year ago might be done as a customer service gesture by a decent dealer keen to retain your custom for services, MOTs and potentially a new car further down the line.

TELLIT01

It would seem the OP has signed up to an extended warranty without first checking that it would suit their needs.  They claim that the salesperson knew what mileage they did but that really is irrelevant, it's the purchasers responsibility to check that any insurance/warranty or any other service they purchase is suited to their requirements.

Many extended warranties have a list of exclusions which is longer than the list of items covered.

HillStreetBlues

TELLIT01 said:

It would seem the OP has signed up to an extended warranty without first checking that it would suit their needs.  They claim that the salesperson knew what mileage they did but that really is irrelevant, it's the purchasers responsibility to check that any insurance/warranty or any other service they purchase is suited to their requirements.

Many extended warranties have a list of exclusions which is longer than the list of items covered.

Not if OP wants to claim back the cost of the warranty.
If the salesperson knew it wouldn't be suitable then it's been mis-sold.

jlfrs01

3rd party after-market warranties are notorious, all the ones I've ever taken out have had a very long list of what parts are covered and what aren't with umpteen clauses.

The OP stated the failure of the central locking mechanism is "a known fault with the vehicle". Perhaps one course of action would be to contact the vehicle manufacturer and ask if they have a recall notice on the vehicle because of this issue, if not then given it's a known fault, are they able to arrange for repair at an approved dealer as a goodwill gesture? I would scour the internet for evidence to back this up with beforehand and actually, it could be used as a stick to go back to the garage with, particularly if they are an authorised dealer for the brand in question.

simonmills86

jlfrs01 said:

3rd party after-market warranties are notorious, all the ones I've ever taken out have had a very long list of what parts are covered and what aren't with umpteen clauses.

The OP stated the failure of the central locking mechanism is "a known fault with the vehicle". 

Sorry I should have worded that better.

A common fault with the vehicle is more accurate. (I work in aftermarket parts for the manufacturer in question and there's a long backorder of this particular part)

I can (and will) remedy it through the help of someone I work with who said last week they'll have a look at it and all it'll likely cost me to put it right is a six-pack of beer.

But obviously that doesn't help any potential future warranty claims or the fact I've shelled out £800 for a warranty that is about as useful as Stevie Wonder's reading glasses.

You live and learn, I guess.

HillStreetBlues

You do need to find out the reason it's declined.
If it was because overmileage and they knew that would be the case then claim the £800 back.

Grumpy_chap

HillStreetBlues said:

You do need to find out the reason it's declined.
If it was because overmileage and they knew that would be the case then claim the £800 back.

Assuming the OP can prove that the individual who recommended this level of warranty cover did know about the OP's mileage being far in excess of the warranty cover limitations.

If that was all a verbal discussion with an individual who has left the business, proving things might be very difficult.

The OP has not said how they paid for the car, but if it is on a PCP-type finance with a mileage, say 24k miles per year, and the warranty is limited to 12k miles per year, that would be a significant and obvious mis-match and might be the sufficient way of demonstrating the sales-persons knowledge.

simonmills86

Grumpy_chap said:

HillStreetBlues said:

You do need to find out the reason it's declined.
If it was because overmileage and they knew that would be the case then claim the £800 back.

The OP has not said how they paid for the car, but if it is on a PCP-type finance with a mileage, say 24k miles per year, and the warranty is limited to 12k miles per year, that would be a significant and obvious mis-match and might be the sufficient way of demonstrating the sales-persons knowledge.

I took out a loan for the purchase so unfortunately don't have that particular card to play.

Appreciate the suggestion though.