AA extended Warranty BeWare!

Xpro

I decided to write this post to make all those thinking of buying or having an AA extended motor warranty.
This warranty is not worth the paper is written on before you spend your hard earned cash.
As sceptical as I was, I went ahead and purchased the warranty when I got my new car.
They offer 3 type of warranty. Silver, Gold and Platinum.
I opted for platinum warranty.
My car was a BMW 520D.
The issue I had was the car some 6 months later suddenly lost power on the motorway and stopped running. First I tought it was the chain that snapped.
After getting it towed, it was established that high pressure fuel pump failed and sent all the metals shavings into the fuel system, damaging 4 injectors in the process.
It was a hefty bill, considering my car was just over 3 years old and had less them 60k miles.

After some back and forth with the dealer, eventually AA sent their assessor to inspect the vehicle.
2 weeks later AA denied the claim saying thats a common fault and this issue must’ve been there before, therefore they don’t cover gradual failures.
There was nothing wrong with the car, it started fine, ran fine, all till of the sudden stoppage.

After doing some internet research and million of 5 star reviews, I figured out this was nothing but a scam.
Also the dealer informed me that any car they had issues with AA warranty, theyd only cover 1 out 10 if the bill was less then couple of hundred quid.
So next action for me will be legal and hopefully I’ll be able to recover some of the money for the repair.

And If you’re thinking you’re covered with their Top Tier platinum warranty, be assured they’ll have an excuse not to pay.
BeWare

User1998

Its the dealer you should be going after not the AA. You bought the car from the dealer not the AA.

Lenar3556

He could go after both

colm reilly

First thing ,you bought a 3 year old car from a garage /dealer ,what warranty did you get ?

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122915521#Comment_122915521

Not if it’s stated in the terms & conditions what’s covered and whats not

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122915569#Comment_122915569

Presumably a 12 month AA warranty

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122915591#Comment_122915591

I haven’t looked at the terms, but surely there it scope to challenge the nature and manner of failure asserted by the AA rep.

I’d add them as a defendant initially at least. They won’t want the publicity.

colm reilly

You need to go after the dealer /garage .

Gumbo

Sorry you’re going through this OP. I’d chase it further with the dealer depending on when you bought the car.

For arguments sake, I Have a 2 year AA warranty on a 191 520d at the moment. Bought the car this month 2 years ago.

Last month the light switch failed and the Nox sensor went. Symptoms was an EML and the head lights flickering and acting strange when in auto mode.

Dropped car over to third party BMW specialist in Sandyford and both items replaced FOC under the AA warranty.

Found it great and a hassle free experience.

Hellrazer

Ive posted for years about this - Even linked to some of the warranty dealers manuals.

Third party warranties arent worth the paper they are wrote on.

They will always , always find a way out of paying out for expensive repairs.

The smaller stuff like @Gumbo you`ll find they cover without question. But when it comes to major work they will always question it.

Seth Brundle

So if the OP has something from the AA that confirms they won't cover the repair under warranty because of a pre-existing fault then the OP can use this to pursue a claim against the dealer who sold them a car with a pre-existing engine fault

goochy

Proving that if you are buying a decent car you need a proper dealer warranty

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122917161#Comment_122917161

Sounds like i was lucky then, but it was the guts of €1000 fix.

Gumbo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122917397#Comment_122917397

Thats a good way of wording it !

coylemj

That type of extended warranty is a dream sell for a dealer. They get commission on the sale and they can fob the customer off when there's a fault - 'claim it under the warranty'.

Think it's called something like 'win-win'.

What cracks me up is this, from the OP …

Also the dealer informed me that any car they had issues with AA warranty, theyd only cover 1 out 10 if the bill was less then couple of hundred quid.

Would that be the same dealer that took his money for an extended warranty - that he knew was worthless?

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122921538#Comment_122921538

Its not really a win win. A warranty can cost anywhere from €150 to upwards of €1000. If a dealer pays that and the car is perfect its a loose for them as they would have been better warrantying the car themselves. A lot of dealers will also help the customer out if the warranty company denies a claim

Kimbot

Doesnt extended warranty only cover engine and gearbox?

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122921660#Comment_122921660

No, depends on the warranty

coylemj

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122921639#Comment_122921639

The OP paid for a 'platinum' warranty which it's safe to assume cost more than whatever was being offered as standard. And the dealer would have been paid commission on the sale.

There's a number of things we dont know, maybe the OP can enlighten us…

1. What was covered by the platinum warranty, over and above the gold and silver options?
2. Was there a standard warranty that did not cost any extra money i.e. what warranty was that dealer offering by default?
3. Did the OP challenge the dealer as to why he took money from him for the 'upgrade' to a platinum warranty when he (the dealer) knew it wasn't worth the paper it was written on?

Mad_Lad

I'm glad I bought the 2020 Kia cee'd because I still had 3 years warranty when I bought it.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122924911#Comment_122924911

Will you ever shutup about your Kia nobody cares. Stop making every thread about you and your bloody Kia

pale rider

in the past maybe, from dealers I know they are concerned about the complexity of some modern cars and the price of many parts needed in the event of s fault.

I can understand that but the warranty must be good, in this case it was brutal, that said the case is against the dealer.

slideaway

The fine print is key. I've no experience of AA but have of others including car protect and UK warranty direct (when they operated here) when needed work on an M3 (throttle actuators etc) and no questions asked claims totalling 4k covered over the years within their set down parameters (excess etc). The work was done with a main dealer and took a few mins to get approval after speaking to the dealer.