£999 3 yr extended warranty - worth the money ?

[gatvol]

WIth my cali, I was offered a 3yr AA backed warranty which extends the overall vehicle warranty out to 6yrs

I have never bought an extended warranty before as I just think they are generally a rip off that people get commission for selling you

However, recently I know guys hit with CRAZY :censor :censor bills for minor repairs to German cars. Recon alternator for an audi A6 diesel estate - £500. Rear shocker for a merc cl - £800. Water pump for audi s5 £200 plus 6 hours labour. Engine fan unit for audi s5 inc fitting - £850.

Bills like these are really getting us upset. Thus when VW offered me a 3 yr warranty extension for £999 that is AA backed, rather than dismiss it out of hand, I thought I would give it some thought.

Superficially this looks like good value to me as German cars are so complex nowadays that part and labour costs are simply frightening and very often you can't buy aftermarket bits - the manufacturers have you cornered and all you can do is try to save labour

Any thoughts pls ?

 

[swigle]

I opted to buy the extended warranty.

Reasons:

- Seems a reasonable price.
- The Cali is a complex beast, it's not just a car; the are a lot of electrics that might go wrong.
- I intend to keep the van for 5+ years so I want the peace of mind that most things are covered for the duration of my ownership.

 

[Iain&Shani]

Interestingly this is the first vehicle we have bought where we weren't offered any warranty extensions or service deals.

On current usage the Cali tells us service in just over two years.

 

[Martin]

Has anyone had a quote recently on an extended warranty?

 

[MichaelB]

Interesting.... When I was buying our Cali I asked about extended warranty. The VW one that covers everything the orginal warrenty covers was £1,500. At that price I will put the money to one side and fund repairs myself. If someone said I could have a warranty to cover the whole van for £999 for 3 years I will bite their hand off. I think I would be warry though of what it covers. I suspect it will be like insurance. Few policies will cover the camper eliments and from what I understand these are the bit that are the most costly and mose likely to go Pete Tong.

I'd be really interested in others peoples experiance of extended warranty for the Cali

 

[calikev]

That's what Alex has said in the past extended warranty will not cover the roof fridge and all the other expensive camping items I dought if it will even cover the aux heater :doh

 

[Stu]

The VW Commercial site directs you to -

volkswagencvwarranty.co.uk

Where you can get a quotation.

If you have an existing Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Assured Used Warranty or a Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles New Vehicle Warranty you can renew your policy online here. As with any warranty, not all repairs and parts are covered so please check the policy handbook for full details.

Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles Extended Warranty is underwritten by AGA International SA and sold and administered by Mondial Assistance (UK) Limited who are Registered in England No. 1710361. Registered Office: 102 George Street, Croydon CR9 6HD.

Policy Handbook

First thing I notice is an individual claim limit of £2500.

I don't think this is legal -

The continued validity of your insurance is dependent upon you having the insured vehicle serviced by Volkswagen Assured Van Centre in
accordance with the manufacturer’s specifications.

EU Motor Vehicle Block Exemption Regulation

What Is Not Covered?

All bodywork, glass (including heated), seals (including but not limited to water ingress), wardrobes, cupboards and curtain rails

Interior and exterior trims (including fabric, curtains, upholstery and cosmetic finishers)

So it would appear it's more suited to the true commercials rather than the Cali which IMHO is a leisure vehicle. That said for £333 per year (if the £999 is a relative price) then I think it's worth it and I think it includes the RAC Europe cover too.

 

[choplee]

I never got the offer ,but maybe the extended warranty they will offer me when the cali goes in for 2nd service just before the 3yrs ends. :?: :?:
this could be an interesting thread though it would be worth people letting us know if they have used their extended warranty card...The work they wanted done and if it ended up being under warranty and the VW love they got from their dealer ... :doh :laugh2

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

With the VW extended warranty the claim limit of £2500 will also be including VAT and normally has a £75 excess.

with the RAC warranty you need to check whether the camping electrics are covered, or if it is just the vehicle electrics. Also see what sort of labour rate they pay as you would probably be making up the difference between what the dealer charges and what the RAC pays. Make sure it covers consequential damage as well, we had one customer recently with a Touran where a fuel pump was not covered by the warranty as it was consequential damage of the failed part as their policy that they had bought did not cover this.

My advice would be to stick £1500 away in a bank account just in case.

cheers

 

[KernowLad]

With the VW extended warranty the claim limit of £2500 will also be including VAT and normally has a £75 excess.

with the RAC warranty you need to check whether the camping electrics are covered, or if it is just the vehicle electrics. Also see what sort of labour rate they pay as you would probably be making up the difference between what the dealer charges and what the RAC pays. Make sure it covers consequential damage as well, we had one customer recently with a Touran where a fuel pump was not covered by the warranty as it was consequential damage of the failed part as their policy that they had bought did not cover this.

My advice would be to stick £1500 away in a bank account just in case.

cheers

Definitely agree. The one time I DID get an extended warranty, I may as well have flung £50 notes into a river.

These "warranties" are never like proper manufacturers ones (even when offered under their name!) - they are "insured warranties" needing an excess and in 99% of cases, MUCH more restricted than "proper" warranties.

Manufacturers warrantys are there to help sell cars.
Extended warrantys are there simply to make money.

 

[danny13]

Did anyone decide to splash the warranty cash? Any feedback on whether Cali goodies are covered?

 

[timhutch]

The Devil's in the detail with all of these things.

I had an 'Audi' extended warranty on my Q7 that cost £120/month that was the same spec as the Audi original warranty (ie covered all parts with no limits), and apart from a little delay in approval of one claim, was seamless with the original warranty. I came out about even after a couple of years, even with only sensors being replaced. If anything had gone properly wrong, this could have saved me thousands.

I got a quote from two third party suppliers, and neither would cover the complex systems (nav and comms) for more than a £500 claim. The cost of this was £5-600/year.

If the £999 price has an individual claim limit of £2500, IMHO its not worthwhile. Have a look round at the marketplace BUT READ ALL SMALL PRINT CAREFULLY.

 

[BMVS-Camper-Hire]

We are an RAC Warranty dealer if anyone wants a quote, and this doesn't tread on SMG's toes.

 

[danny13]

We are an RAC Warranty dealer if anyone wants a quote, and this doesn't tread on SMG's toes.

I'm lead to believe the VW extended Warranty is just a rebranded RAC policy, I wonder if there's a difference in cover.

I'm guessing a number of T5 GP Cali's will be starting to hit the 3 year mark so hopefully someone can provide some feedback soon :cool

 

[danny13]

My advice would be to stick £1500 away in a bank account just in case.

Alex, is that recommendation just to put money aside or to do both (cash+warranty)?

Very little feedback coming back as to how useful the extended VW warranty is.... is it the same type of policy VW put on assured used vehicles?

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

The VW extended warranty is by the same company that do the assured warranty. Without looking through the policy documents they will be similar, but maybe not exactly the same.

I'm not sure how much of the camping side of things it will cover, and the limit is £1500 per claim including VAT. It will be a personal decision, and there are pros and cons to the extended warranty.

As has been said they are an insured warranty and not the same as manufacturers warranty and not down to the dealer to decide whether or not something is covered by warranty once over a value of £250 including VAT.

Cheers

 

[sebking]

I've just had a quote for £1041 for year 4 (yes one year) from VW. It doesn't cover the cali bits or roof as far as I can tell but for interest I'll call them to confirm.

Anyway that's one hell of a lot of money for a year. Warranty direct came in at £850.

So looks like I'm going to open a cali account and stick £1000 in it for repairs instead.

Both warranties have a limit and I think and excess anyway. Local dealer has a discount scheme and if something big goes wrong I'll shout at VW and get a contribution (fsh, expensive vehicle, have another new VW on the drive and five previous)

Seb

 

[AndyFromTheBrac]

It's getting near the time for me, so I thought I'd just throw my VW quote into the mix.

Unlimited mileage for one year is an eye-watering £1509. I can reduce by selecting the 15,000 mileage cap, which drops it to £1119. That's with a £75 excess, with a £200 excess, it drops a further to £966

There is also a £2500 per-claim limit, so I presume if I had some kind of major failure it wouldn't cover it all anyway? (£2300 total if the larger excess is used)

She did say that it covered "everything which was factory-fitted on the vehicle" (including the roof). Then again she originally quoted me £380 before realising it was a commercial vehicle and then "oh yes it's a bit more expensive" came the sheepish reply.

The quote from the new handbook seems to confirm anything factory-fitted;

"You are covered for the cost (limited to parts and labour inclusive of VAT) of repairing or replacing factory-fitted components that have suffered a sudden electrical or mechanical failure occurring within the area of cover and during the period of insurance"

but excluding;

"All bodywork, glass (including heated), seals (including but not limited to water ingress), wardrobes, cupboards and curtain rails"

 

[slowcoach65]

I had an extended warranty for my Jeep - every claim I made was turned down! Mine certainly was not an extension of the original warranty. I would invest the £1000 for a rainy day.

Andy

 

[briwy]

The latest Which magazine has a piece on extended warranties and basically says not to waste your money as there are so many gets outs. Much better to stick the cash you would have paid in the bank just in case.

 

[Meoncoast]

I think it is about time VW offered a much extended warranty over their 2 years how many other dealers offer 3 years 60k miles and a few now offer 5 years I am sure KIA offer 7 years
Given the price VW are charging for year 3+ they do not seem to have much confidence in their products. My Cali due to its complexity will be serviced at a main dealer while I can afford it the one thing I would have liked when I bought it would have been a VW warranty in line with other brands. Come VW trust your product and gives longer cover

 

[Shaun]

Just something to throw in the mix,
I have had my 180ps 2012 cali under three weeks now, last weekend we got to limp home. :evil:
The van has covered 6500 miles from new and I've done a couple of hundred only and yesterday it was "dismantled" to have a new Turbo fitted, which was a full days labour plus turbo.
My take on the build quality of these VWs now days you don't want to know

In 18 years of owning a 1960s version of this vehicle i broke down once :clap , in 18 days of owning this i have already had a breakdown.
Does not bode well people

 

[Ambler]

I think it is about time VW offered a much extended warranty over their 2 years how many other dealers offer 3 years 60k miles and a few now offer 5 years I am sure KIA offer 7 years
Given the price VW are charging for year 3+ they do not seem to have much confidence in their products. My Cali due to its complexity will be serviced at a main dealer while I can afford it the one thing I would have liked when I bought it would have been a VW warranty in line with other brands. Come VW trust your product and gives longer cover

Are you saying the warranty on a new vehicle is only 2 years?

 

[gatvol]

The build quality is a total joke. Even worse than a range rover p38 with
air suspension. You will get used to visiting the repair dept.

I can't believe that vw will extend the warranties on their cars unless they radically re-engineer them and return to building them properly. A 5 year warranty on all VAG group cars would kill VW right now as VW sources too many crappy parts from the lowest cost manufacturers

 

[Meoncoast]

2 years is a typo it is 3

But in should be 5 years