Is It Worth Buying A Warranty For A Used Car?

[Atari Boy 11]

I have a 2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee and I am considering buying a warranty for it as repair bills can be expensive being a 4x4 and there is quite a lot of kit to go wrong. Being a Jeep, it is not what I would call built proof although it does have a Merc diesel lump.

 

Has anyone bought such a policy and claimed on it? If so, would you buy another?

 

Many thanks

[hexhamstu 9]

My brother bought an audi with warranty, the water pump went making the cambelt slip bending the valves. He never got a penny from the warranty.

[welshpug 1,622]

I wouldn't have bought a JEEP from a friends experience of them and reports from trade articles DOH!

 

the merc diesel lump itself is fine, jsut everything bolted to it has its faults, even in a merc.

[Atari Boy 11]

I bought the Jeep because it was offered it a very good price but as I said in my OP, I am not expecting it to be faultless Welsh. Saying that, last week with all the snow I was quite smug in my heated leather seats, it was very capable.

 

Anyone else got any experience from an aftermarket warranty?

[Masekwm 2]

If it's FSH and you intend to have it serviced then the AA do an addon that covers repairs, my friend used it for HGF on his Elise.

[pugdamo 111 2 Cars]

I work for a main dealer and we have a few customers in with non-franchise warranties and they are normally pretty rubbish,they dont tend to cover wiring faults,water ingress or anything due to wear and tear,for example we had a car in and it had revved off due to turbo failiure,the engine had seized so was pretty screwed,they wouldnt pay a penny,said it was due to wear and tear on the turbo,the car had done about 70k,not what i would call astronomical mileage.

If you get one read the paperwork very carefully before paying any money.

I personally wouldnt bother.

[Tom Fenton 1,525]

From what I can gather they really are a bit of a con, and as said above will do anything to get out of paying if possible. Personally I make sure my cars are well serviced, belts etc are done when needed and then take any major expense on the chin.

 

I also think its worth some internet research to see if there are any common faults and if there is anything that can be done to help prevent them.

[Richie 32]

I must admit i don't trust these people who sell warranties. Just something about them i dont like. Sorry no experience on them at all just my me and my gut's opinion

[mr_exe 1]

In short No. There is often a limit on how much you can claim, often a limit on the number of claims you can make and you may have to pay the first so much of any claim, assuming what you are claiming for is actually covered so I would keep the money in your pocket, and put into the repair pot when its needed.

[boombang 2]

I bought a Jeep Cherokee, and similarily bought a warranty as knew they can cost a bomb. Had issues with clunking of the rear axle.

 

The warranty would only cover a somewhat minimal hourly rate unless I used their approved place, and once they'd done the work the fault turned out to not be covered as was under "wear and tear". Reading further into the warranty and pretty much nothing was covered, they had a get out clause for everything.

 

Eventually got the car back having been forced to pay out. The approved place also damaged the vehicle and stuck a fair few miles on it. Turns out the place repairing it was linked with the place I sold it, both of which were being investigated by trading standards - obviously I was just unlucky and you can't assume this would happen to you!

[Veero 1]

It's like buying extended warranties on new electrical equipment, ie it's a con. Most warranties on used cars will be so vague or so specific in their clauses that only once in a blue moon will they actually have to pay for anything. I was offered an extended warranty on the Bongo I bought but when I read the terms and conditions decided not to touch it as it barely covered anything at all. Even major engine failure would have been only partly covered even if it blew up 2 yards from their forecourt.

 

With electrical goods such as tellies etc it's a massive con. Items are covered by law for 12 months. Shops would have you believe that if it goes pop a day after the 12 months you would need to pay for repair or replacement. Bull. Items need to be "fit for purpose" and noone spends £400 on a telly for it to last a year. The same sort of thing applies to even used cars. You may be able to argue it wasn't fit for purpose even with a used car bought from a dealer if it goes pop shortly after, but generally extra warranties aren't worth the paper their written on, unless they are comprehensive but generally no dealer in their right mind would offer something that covered most eventualities.

[MrG 3]

unfortunately Jonny I would agree with the above. I had a warranty on one of my cars that was sold to me by the dealer (good dealer has to be said) but I really struggled to get anything sorted, they were happy to sell it to me but when I claimed they wanted it proven to have been serviced at a main dealers (not the one I bought it from etc etc) and although the dealer who sold me the car did the repair in the end (prop bearing) he soon relinquished the warranty service at that time for another.

 

Basically the way I see it, a used car over a certain age that cannot be backed up with a full service history from a supplying dealer is a risk, you have to weigh up the possibilities of it going wrong, and then hope for the best!

 

The only warranty I've ever stood by knowing that things would have been corrected was the original BMW one supplied with my M3 all those years ago.

[jeremy 68]

In contrast I had a good experience with a warantee (sp), however I think it very much depends on the wording used by the garage supplied to the warantee(sp) when the vehicle is in parts.

 

Basically I bought a 1988 Saab 9000CDI auto with less than 60K with full main dealer service history. The car at the time of purchase would have been around 9/10 Years old and the auto box went. It went to the auto box repair specialist who stripped it down and discovered what looked like a plastic washer which had gone from being about 12mm thick to 6mm thick and then broken into three. The gearbox specialist said it could be down to wear and tear however due to the low mileage they would just report that it was down to mechanical failure of a part. What the warantee(sp) company did not know was the car was constantly changing gear as lived most of its life in London traffic. Maybe I was one of the lucky ones as otherwise the bill would have been well over £1K.

[StuF215 1 1 Cars]

My mum bought warranty for her used Mitsubishi L200 53 plate.

 

I was driving it when the engine failed! Ouch I thought. After an inspection the warranty company had it repaired at a mitsubishi dealer at their cost the bill came to just shy of 5K!!! Pretty much a fully rebuilt engine.

 

My mum was made up she had the warranty let just say, she didnt pay a penny!

[ravydavy 0]

the warranties are a con stay away. as for the jeep. ive had both the 2.5 diesel and the 4 litre straight six with gas conversion. both s*it hot and really reliable. paintwork stops good and are loaded inside with nice leather. i know loads of people who have has these with no probs. bargain.

[boombang 2]

as for the jeep. ive had both the 2.5 diesel and the 4 litre straight six with gas conversion. both s*it hot and really reliable. paintwork stops good and are loaded inside with nice leather. i know loads of people who have has these with no probs. bargain.

Unless you need a new alternator for the 2.5 & can't find one in any breakers

[ravydavy 0]

Unless you need a new alternator for the 2.5 & can't find one in any breakers

DB auto electrical at sheffield can re-con any alternator going. within 24 hours. And i mean anything. And from experience i don't put 2nd hand starters or alternators on cars. its ok for a get going fix but not in the long haul....

[Have-a-go-al 0]

I would save the money you would spend on warrenty incase something does go wrong, In my personal experiance with them they arn't worth the paper they are written on.

 

Allan

[Steve.C 0]

I had a '93 plate 2.5 sport (petrol) jeep for a couple of years and put almost 40k miles on it, only problem I had during ownership was the need for a new radiator!

 

As for aftermarket warrenty... I would keep my money! as already mentioned a lot of stuff isn't covered or has get out clauses, for example, the cambelt snaps and 'fubars' the engine you will most likely find only the cost to replace the cambelt is covered!

[Atari Boy 11]

UPDATE: It works! The power steering pump died on me a few weeks back, apart from a £50 excess they paid out in full.

I have quickly p/x'd the car against another car that came with a 'full' warranty however which must say something.

[dave_gti 0]

Maybe a stupid question, but whats the difference between parts failing and wear and tear?.

 

I mean if any part fails, you could class it as wear and tear so where do they draw the line between part failure and wear and tear?

[Atari Boy 11]

I'm not too sure. I do know that when filling in the claim form, I was advised by the garage to use the term fail and never talk about wear and tear.