What is an Extended Car Warranty?

Is Every Extended Car Warranty the Same?

Unfortunately no. Many companies offer extended car warranties but the difference in cover between the plans available varies significantly.

Some warranty plans available in the market only cover you for a set list of items on your car, when you bear in mind that there are over 5,000 parts in a typical car, a list of 150 items is not comprehensive at all.

Who pays the repairs?

A lot of warranty companies are simply selling someone else’s plan and taking a commission. Not only does this increase the cost of the plan, but the repairs are likely to be paid out by a 3rd party. Warranty companies that administer their own repairs are more likely to want to keep you happy and prove to be more reliable and speedy when processing and paying out repairs.

Warrantywise administer all their own repairs and when you call our repairs department you will get through to one of our dedicated repairs handlers based in the UK.

Parts, Labour and other Expenses.

When it comes to paying out a repair for a part on your car, many warranty companies have tricks to make sure they don’t have to give you the full amount of said part. For example, many plans have Betterment Clauses in them, which means that a company will only pay out a limited percentage of a part depending on the age and mileage of your vehicle.

Even if the warranty company you are dealing with say they cover all parts of your car, don’t assume that they also cover the labour costs and other expenses. Over the last few years, the labour costs at garages in the UK has risen significantly, hourly rates at main dealers can range from £70 to £200 and many warranty companies make little or no provision against covering your labour costs at this level. Equally, when you break down you can incur costs for recovery, hotel or travel expenses and whilst many warranty companies cover you for these things, the amount you can recoup is usually far less than the actual ‘real’ cost.

Warrantywise always covers you for 100% of the cost of replacing parts following a valid repair and offers cover for labour costs from £35 to £200 so you can choose the exact level of labour you want to cover. No matter if you have a Fiat or Ferrari, you can rest assured you will be fully covered if you decide to take the car back to the main dealer for repairs, so long as you have chosen the correct labour rate. We also pay a ‘real life’ amount for breakdown, car hire, hotel and travel expenses if you need them. Please refer to your plan for the actual repairs limits.

Weasel Words.

Perhaps the most dangerous part of any extended car warranty are the ‘Weasel Words’ that many warranty companies include in their plans. Weasel Words mean ‘you pay’ and it is well worth checking the Warranty Plan carefully for any of the following phrases:

1. Betterment: This occurs when the warranty company believes a part you need will improve your vehicle’s condition or increase its value. It’s how they get out of paying for expensive parts such as an engine or gearbox, leaving you with a large proportion of the cost of repairs, meaning ‘You Pay’. Often this is shown as a sliding scale of how much is paid out in comparison to how many miles your vehicle has done.
2. Consequential Damage: This is where a covered part suffers a failure as a result of another part failing which is not on their list of parts. You think you’re ok, because a listed part has failed, but you end up paying because the fault was caused by a part which was not listed.