Warranty Direct?

Bradmax57 · 13 Apr 2013 at 23:10

I know they have been mentioned before but just after any advice wether positive or negative regarding Warranty Direct

I recently purchased a 2006 BMW 330D M Sport Auto. I bought it from a trader so technically got no warranty. I started to look into aftermarket ones as I wouldnt be able to get a BMW one.

Warranty direct have thrown up two choices

Extra Care with 100% Parts (upto value of car) and 100% Labour (upto £200 per hour) for either £600 for one year or £1000 for 2 years

or

Extra Care Lite for 60% parts and 100% labour for £135 a year, the only thing being is that the car has to be recovered to garage to qualify

Both have £50 excess the first has no limits to claims and the lite 5 claims (I doubt i would be making 5 claims a year)

trying to weigh up the pro's and cons of both and would welcome any suggestions.

I'm thinking along the lines of say for example the auto transmission packs in, it would be fully covered on the extracare cover technically but on the lite id have to pay 40% of the cost which is likely to be a lot more than the full cover costs.

Maybe i'm being paranoid but it could be worth it for the peace of mind, although I need to know wether the dealerships are happy to deal with them directly first otherwise it would be a total waste.

Mackass · 13 Apr 2013 at 23:14

Why can't you get the BMW Warranty?

I am paying around £43 a month for my BMW Comprehensive Warranty with zero excess sub 60k miles, and I bought my car privately.

Jono8 · 13 Apr 2013 at 23:17

Unless they have changed things, even with extracare you will have to pay a parts contribution for betterment. On a 2006 with under 80K miles they will pay 70%.

The whole "has to be recovered from a garage thing" sounds a bit rubbish. So your car basically has to be undrivable for them to even start to think on paying out???

I took out an extracare policy with them knowing full well that these warranty companies can be a nightmare. It was however only ~£250 for 13 months cover and they cover for wear and tear after the first three months. I haggled for ages and brought them down about £150 (NEVER take their first quote) and got all their extras chucked in aswell (airbags e.t.c)

It might be money down the drain but it is a little bit of peace of mind. If it was as much as the £600 they quoted you i would have just saved the money and crossed my fingers.

-Mike- · 13 Apr 2013 at 23:26

My clios cambelt slipped and I had a WD policy. Hire car cover isn't included as it might seem.

It took them over a week to get an engineer out to authorise the claim for new valves, leaving me without a car for the week. Why? Because the job doesn't take more than eight hours to complete, so whilst I had no car for almost 9 days, they wouldn't cover a hire car at all.

You also do have to make a parts contribution based on the mileage as has been said.

Bradmax57 · 13 Apr 2013 at 23:32

The quote i had removed the parts contribution, so it was 100% parts and 100% labour on the full extracare cover

Bradmax57 · 13 Apr 2013 at 23:33

Mackass said:
Why can't you get the BMW Warranty?

I am paying around £43 a month for my BMW Comprehensive Warranty with zero excess sub 60k miles, and I bought my car privately.

My car has 80k so it wont qualify

Dandle · 13 Apr 2013 at 23:37

You would be better off putting the monthly premium in the bank rather than paying WD. At least then you will have something towards the repair instead of them wriggling out and you having to pay anyway. They have far to many loose exclusions to get out of claims and they aren't afraid of using them. I was without my car for three weeks fighting them and in the end gave up when BMW offered to cover the parts.

pepsilol · 14 Apr 2013 at 00:47

On my LS430 they paid for a PCV, some sensor, a wheel bearing and 2 lambda sensors in 1 year between 71k - 82k.

Everything was at a Lexus dealer apart from the bearing.

They paid upfront for the dealer jobs. They gave a cheque for the bearing.

No hassle. The bearing was making some noise, took it do an indy, indy called WD, they gave the go ahead and all was sorted.

Bradmax57 · 14 Apr 2013 at 00:54

Dandle said:
You would be better off putting the monthly premium in the bank rather than paying WD. At least then you will have something towards the repair instead of them wriggling out and you having to pay anyway. They have far to many loose exclusions to get out of claims and they aren't afraid of using them. I was without my car for three weeks fighting them and in the end gave up when BMW offered to cover the parts.

is that from experience or speculation?

-Mike- · 14 Apr 2013 at 01:01

Dandle said:
You would be better off putting the monthly premium in the bank rather than paying WD. At least then you will have something towards the repair instead of them wriggling out and you having to pay anyway. They have far to many loose exclusions to get out of claims and they aren't afraid of using them. I was without my car for three weeks fighting them and in the end gave up when BMW offered to cover the parts.

Bradmax57 said:
is that from experience or speculation?

I'd say from what he wrote... its experience

Dandle · 14 Apr 2013 at 01:11

Bradmax57 said:
is that from experience or speculation?

From experience. The first BMW dealer I went to didn't even want to take the job on once I mention WD and when they failed to pay out then I took it to another dealer where they again refused to payout.

Maccapacca · 14 Apr 2013 at 04:15

From experience WD is less peace of mind and more of a gamble, they will wriggle and squirm not to pay out of any claim and the betterment payments plus excess means what you get back is less than you hope.

-westy- · 14 Apr 2013 at 04:21

Bradmax57 said:
My car has 80k so it wont qualify

AFAIK you can still get a BMW Insured Warranty for it, it'll just cost more.

Here you go.

thekhalida1 · 14 Apr 2013 at 07:30

Stay away from them. Trust me

Locky · 14 Apr 2013 at 08:50

Don't give these crocks any money, they're scum and 9 times out of 10 rob you.

pepsilol · 14 Apr 2013 at 11:12

What the fudge is so diffucult about dealing with this company.

Keep a full service history with a VAT registered garage.

Keep an MOT,

Claim on items that are specifically in the handbook for the cover you have chosen.

When you suspect an issue you raise the ticket with them first, tell them you are now taking it to the garage. They will wait for the garage to call them.

Take the car to the garage, tell them youre with WD, garage will talk to them, confirm the issue and the part is covered and done. Finished.

I found it incredibly easy, the previous owner also found it incredibly easy for the other 4 claims.

[TW]Fox · 14 Apr 2013 at 11:44

Dandle said:
You would be better off putting the monthly premium in the bank rather than paying WD. At least then you will have something towards the repair instead of them wriggling out and you having to pay anyway. They have far to many loose exclusions to get out of claims and they aren't afraid of using them. I was without my car for three weeks fighting them and in the end gave up when BMW offered to cover the parts.

I have to completely agree with Dandle. I was once an advocate of WD following a few simple no hassle claims but in the end my experience of them mirrored his.

The problem arises when something complicated goes wrong where it isn't clear what the fault is. If your widgit quite obviously breaks and the cover lists widgits then its plain sailing but many failures, especially with more complex cars, are not this clear cut.

Dave L · 14 Apr 2013 at 12:17

Bradmax57 said:
Maybe i'm being paranoid but it could be worth it for the peace of mind, although I need to know wether the dealerships are happy to deal with them directly first otherwise it would be a total waste.

You won't find all dealerships will deal with these crooks directly, you'll have to do the legwork and pay the invoice after they have authorised the repair. They (WD) will reimburse you.

Bradmax57 · 14 Apr 2013 at 13:39

-westy- said:
AFAIK you can still get a BMW Insured Warranty for it, it'll just cost more.

Here you go.

Thanks for that, not as bad as I thought £737 for a fully comprehensive cover with £100 excess

-westy- · 14 Apr 2013 at 19:14

Bradmax57 said:
Thanks for that, not as bad as I thought £737 for a fully comprehensive cover with £100 excess

Given the positive experience that many people on this forum have had with the Insured Warranty, I'd be going with it tbh. WD seem to have quite a few exceptions, whereas the BMW Warranty seems to cover most eventualities.

Warranty Direct?

Tea Drinker