Don't sign up for aftermarket warranty companies

[TDCTDI]

Don't ever sign up or pay for one of those "aftermarket " warranty companies. PERIOD! Tell your kids not to, tell your family not to, tell your friends not to. They're not worth the paper they're written on. If the company doesn't go out of business before you can claim on it, they'll try to find some way to weasel out of covering repairs.
I felt I had to rant about this because of the latest one to screw a customer. The engine failed due to lack of oil pressure 19 days after he purchased the vehicle from a used car lot. The warranty company's first angle out was "pre-existing condition" , their final angle out was since it could not be proven that the engine failed due to an oil pressure issue then they would not cover it. The cams are blued & galled, the timing chain broke due to a failed tensioner (they shatter if they get loose due to no pressure.). Yes, it bent valves too. The warranty company requires that the customer does the repairs necessary to prove that the oil pump caused the failure. Not a sludge issue, not a clogged pick-up tube, the clown even suggested a bad pressure sensor.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Zundfolge1432]

I had exact opposite experience using a company that worked together with my credit union at work. I bought the warranty to cover repairs for a truck I bought for my Dad , yes he's an old guy and does not wrench on cars anymore. He had no problems using the warranty. Another time I was offered a warranty through a third party directly from Toyota. I wished I had purchased it later after a 700 dollar catalytic converter went south. My advice don't throw the baby out with the bath water, deal with reputable sources. To make a blanket statement saying they are all bad is not correct.

[TDCTDI]

They're not in the business to lose money, what did you pay for the warranty vs how much did they pay to cover the repairs? There's a good chance you could have paid for the repairs 2-3 times for what you paid for the policy.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[KTPhil]

Small Claims Court may be an answer. In California, for example, it's like $75 to file and you can go for damages as high as $10K now. Just filing on them may get them to the bargaining table.

[TDCTDI]

[TDCTDI]

The poor kid is in the Navy too, I told him to contact JAG if he couldn't get anywhere with the dealer or warranty company.
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Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[KTPhil]

A friend had a bad experience, but this is about 20 years ago.

His Saturn blew an engine and he had bought the extended warranty. It was even within the base manufacturer's warranty! They tried to pass it off as lack of maintenance. This guy did his own oil changes every 3K and they then tried to challenge him to produce receipts. He had many, but not all (Who does when you buy in bulk?) So several of us dug out OUR receipts and gave them to him to fill in the gaps.

Then they tried to blame each other... Saturn said file a claim with the extended warranty folks, and vice versa.

Finally, I went to a DIFFERENT Saturn dealer, at lunch when the regular counter guy was out, and the nice naïve secretary showed me their TSB book (all paper back then) after I lied and said I had an appointment with the service guy to look at them.

I found out there was a TSB about the plastic buttons used to set cam endplay having a habit of disintegrating and trashing the whole engine as the pieces fought each other. I quick made a copy and bugged out.

When the friend showed it to HIS dealer the guy got all red-faced and demanded to know where he got it. He just said "I have my sources."

Next day he got a call from a zone manager (who had been ignoring HIS calls) volunteering a brand new engine.

It shouldn't take this kind of effort...

[Zeen]

Agreed, don't do it. Insurance is about pooling risk, a group of people each pay a small amount in to a pool that pays back if a rare, catastrophic event happens. For providing this service, the insurance company makes a nice profit. For your house, you have to do it, the price of replacing the house is just too high (and the mortgage company insists on it). Auto collision as well, if you buy new-ish cars. But for everything else, you should self-insure. You might take an occasional loss, but over a lifetime, things average out, and you keep the profit that would otherwise go to the insurance company.

When it comes to car extended warranties, where you add the huge margins they earn and fat commissions they pay to the sales people, along with the bullshit they put you through to file a claim if they are even still in business, it's a no-brainer.
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The consequences of your decisions should not be confused with fate.

[notchback]

[TDCTDI]

There's quite a few health insurance policies that aren't worth the paper they're written on either. I went to the ER with a shard of metal in my eye, by the time an intern saw me, it had worked loose . The insurer tried to deny the claim saying it was a pre-existing condition.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Zeen]

[Zundfolge1432]

[TDCTDI]

Hey Zundfolge1432, what was the cost of the warranty policies that you purchased vs the repairs that they covered?
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Zundfolge1432]

[TDCTDI]

Your cats should be covered by the manufacturers warranty, dictated by the fed gov for 8 yrs/80,000 miles, I don't know if yours qualifies but I thought I'd give you the heads up, several of the dealers try to sweep it under the carpet until it's out.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[Cusser]

I never buy any extended warranties; these are big moneymakers for companies that sell them, so the odds are overwhelming in their favor that they will come out ahead. This goes also for TVs, etc. Consumer Reports and similar advise against buying such warranties too.

Local radio mechanic says he has to fight with such companies to get stuff covered, like a cooling repair may be considered not covered because a transmission service was not done.

Better off to put such funds matching the cost of such warranty into a separate bank account.
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1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297

[TDCTDI]

[Zundfolge1432]

[Zundfolge1432]

EPA federal law says 8 years or 80k miles. Truck was just over 8 with 94k. I'm aware of the consumer reports article we are long time subscribers. Not everything is black and white in the two instances of buying extended plans I bought one and they made a few hundred. Next I didn't buy and it would have paid, these are real world experiences, mine. Not some bullshit one size fits all statement. Let your conscience guide you, older folks seem to know the value of insurance, for my 89 year old Dad I'd do it again, he's worth it.

[KTPhil]

I did have an added warranty help me on my Prius. The HID headlight bulbs and controllers had problems that took a while to become apparent. Replacing both sides was a cost of about $2200. It was covered, making my investment worthwhile. I don't remember the amount, but something like $500 seems about right from memory. It wasn't the hybrid system, it was all the electronics that scared me into it.