Quickie question: MSErs experience of car warranties

PhylPho
PhylPho Posts: 1,443
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Our Qashqai is coming up to 3 years old. It's never had a thing wrong with it and annual servicing has cost just £99 a year as part of the original PCP deal. We do less than 8k a year, own the car outright -- we paid 50% of the deal value up front then cashed in the contract six months later to refinance from the bank at a lower rate, best way of handling these PCPs -- and intend to keep the vehicle for a further two years.

Question:
Manufacturer warranty expires in a fortnight's time so it's going to be a case of either asking for a continuation from Nissan UK or going to one of the third-party warranty outfits of the kind Quentin wotsisname keeps touting.

Just wondered what experiences, if any, other MSErs had had in regard to vehicle warranties, both cost as well as cover, and if there's any particular insurer they might recommend? Thanks.

Comments

  • wgl2014
    wgl2014 Posts: 1,144 Forumite
    Personally I wouldn't bother with a non-manufacturer backed warranty.

    Find out how much the Nissan one is and decide if it's worth paying for or if you could put the money in a savings account instead and use for repairs if they are needed.

    Bear in mind that on average the cost of a warranty will be greater than the payouts or else they wouldn't make any money.
  • motorguy
    motorguy Posts: 22,452
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    wgl2014 wrote: »
    Personally I wouldn't bother with a non-manufacturer backed warranty.

    Find out how much the Nissan one is and decide if it's worth paying for or if you could put the money in a savings account instead and use for repairs if they are needed.

    Bear in mind that on average the cost of a warranty will be greater than the payouts or else they wouldn't make any money.

    +1

    I'd run with the manufacturer one, or not at all.

    Third party warranties arent generally worth the paper they're written on.

    Manufacturers have a vested interest though in keeping you "in the fold" therefore their warranties tend to be better value overall.
  • PhylPho
    PhylPho Posts: 1,443
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    edited 11 July 2018 at 3:55PM
    Thanks gang. I'm going to ask our Nissan dealer -- from whom we bought our car -- what can be offered for 24 months' warranty, and also if we can negotiate a service deal for the next two years, too.

    I've done some quick shopping around on the 'Net and have ignored all options other than the most comprehensive. For 24 months cover, Warrantywise wants £927.42; WarrantyDirect wants £588; Click4Warranty wants £360.51; and MotorEasy, £590 (this last conditional upon repairs being done by a 'MotorEasy Network' garage and me volunteering £25 to the cost of a claim. Specifying 'own garage' for repairs considerably increased the cover premium.)

    Warrantywise's quote appears to have been tailored by Quentin Wilson to Alice's car in Wonderland. WarrantyDirect seemed more sane but -- bizarrely -- the insurer treats "steering" as an additional cover option, whereas in all the dozens of cars I've ever owned, steering has, for some reason, been an integral element of the vehicle. Bit like an engine.

    Click4Warranty doesn't resonate at all: I have an aversion to contractors with numbers stuck in the middle of their names (irrational, but no matter.) MotorEasy struck me as the best, largely because I've read Honest John's column for years and he endorses that particular insurer.

    There's also the consideration that he's infinitely preferable to Anthea Turner, who WarrantyWise caused to appear on my screen and thus terminated any further interest: if I'm to pay £400 celebrity endorsement commission then for that kind of money I want no less than HM The Queen.

    MotorEasy also offers a service package based on Nissan manufacturer specs and at £126 including car collection and return seems worth keeping to hand when negotiating with my own Nissan dealer. Finally:

    Nissan UK's website publicises "Nissan Care", a warranty for all Nissans up to 3 years old starting at £210 for 12 months / up to 60,000 miles. No other details are provided so I'll see what the dealer has to say. I'm obviously not going to mention the MotorEasy quote but will be bearing that circa £300-a-year warranty charge in mind seeing as how the £210 quoted on that Nissan page will as like as not apply to a Micra.

    Your kind advice here is much appreciated, especially as our Nissan dealership is pretty darn good: great staff, and they did us as fair and honest a deal as any to be found when it came to our original Qashqai purchase and its subsequent servicing. Thanks again.


    PS; Have just located the full Nissan tariff online at the helpful Blackshaw's Nissan dealership in Alnwick: £297 for 12 months if at time of cover issue, vehicle is less than 3 years old, or £399 for 12 months if at time of cover vehicle is more than 3. Ours is in the former catgegory -- for two more weeks, anyway.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189
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    Option 3 - "self-insure".

    Any aftermarket warranty is based on simple maths.

    premiums in = claims paid + admin costs + sales costs + tax + profit


    If that didn't hold true, then the companies wouldn't be offering them. So it's a gamble - is your car going to be significantly less expensive and more unreliable than average?

    If you think it is going to be, then perhaps a better choice would be to sell it.
  • PhylPho
    PhylPho Posts: 1,443
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    Thanks, Adrian. I've long taken the view that cars are like people. As time has gone by, they've generally lasted longer. Unlike people, they're generally better, too. But both the inanimate and the animate are inherently fallible: the potential for failure, minor or catastrophic, always exists.

    My motoring goes back to the days when a heater was an optional extra and the most useful accessory for my Ford Anglia 105E was a large heavy hammer which I could use, and did so frequently, to slam into the car's underside so as to free up the starter motor. In between 3,000 mile services. By contrast: my Qashqai auto is pure sci-fi. Works perfectly. A hammer never came with it, and isn't needed, but then, nor did a crystal ball. I have absolutely no idea if a failure will occur when or why. But it might.

    As that's a risk, it's therefore -- to me -- like any other risk. All of which I insure against. I've paid buildings and contents home insurance for 46 years and never made a claim but that doesn't mean I should stop now. Same with travel insurance, and every other kind of insurance.

    So. Now I have a investment of many £000s sitting on four wheels and the risk of that investment needing servicing with additional monies isn't one I find sensible to make, because whatever gets chucked into a car moneywise yields no ultimate return. I know from experience exactly how the insurance industry operates and no, I don't object to it profiting from running risks I myself do not financially want to take.

    So long as I'm not subsidising the likes of Anthea Turner then I'm doing fine, and especially if in this instance I can secure a Nissan-backed warranty for my particular Nissan vehicle. The price though, as with everything I buy, has to be right. :)
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189
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    PhylPho wrote: »
    As that's a risk, it's therefore -- to me -- like any other risk. All of which I insure against. I've paid buildings and contents home insurance for 46 years and never made a claim but that doesn't mean I should stop now. Same with travel insurance, and every other kind of insurance.
    The difference is that those insurances will pay out on a claim that you cannot possibly hope to realistically afford to self-insure.

    Think of this more akin to mobile phone insurance. Or PPI...
    So. Now I have a investment of many £000s sitting on four wheels and the risk of that investment needing servicing with additional monies isn't one I find sensible to make, because whatever gets chucked into a car moneywise yields no ultimate return.
    Fine, but read the exclusions VERY carefully - not least because as a car ages, most failures can be taken as wear and tear, which is always excluded. Then look just as carefully at the claim procedure, and what authorisation a garage needs in order to do the work, and what the claim limits and excesses are.

    The way they make the sums add up is by restricting the "claims paid" part of the equation.
  • JP1978
    JP1978 Posts: 527 Forumite
    Only one choice - AA Breakdown cover with hire car add in and Breakdown repair cover. Cost about 25 a month all in. You will probably need AA cover anyway (unless you have a limited policy with your bank).

    The BRC pays up to 500 per incident caused as part of a breakdown with a 35 excess. As I!!!8217;ve said before, had a seized calliper part paid for and 500 quid towards an £829 bill for an EGR valve - had 3 days car hire while it was been repaired too.

    For the cost per month, hopefully be able to afford to still self insure for the bigger issues if any - or its saving for your next car.
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