Extended Warranty Insurance - How much!!!!

mountainman · Jan 29, 2015

I have just been on to the VolksWagen warranty site to extend my warrantee as the van is coming up for 3 years old. The quote was £1500 for a single year extension. Either this is completely ridiculous or we are all to expect major component failures in year 4. I have one airbag replaced thus far under warranty and the van is booked into Benfield for paint blistering. So yes, things are going wrong! but....

Can this warranty extension possibly be worth it?

Bramco · Jan 29, 2015

In a word - nope! Especially if you have had the van from new, have had it serviced on time etc.

For the last 15 years when I was still working I had the option of having a lease vehicle or taking an allowance. I took the allowance and purchased cars that were 3 or 4 years old coming off lease with a full service history - kerching! Never had any major problems and also mainly had high spec vehicles at about half price or thereabouts. (Dancing banana needed here!

)

I would sell them when things started to go wrong. Had one SAAB 9000 for about 8 years before it needed a cylinder head gasket and the alarm system started to fail amongst other things.

Although obviously given over the time I only had a few vehicles mine is a very small sample. Might be interesting to know from other members how many faults they have had in years 4, 5 etc. of ownership. I'll bet it's not many.

Meoncoast · Jan 29, 2015

This topic has been discussed a few times. We we in a position to buy the van outright (approaching 3 years old this summer) Over the 3 years have set up a repair fund, VW wanting £1500 for year 4 just as well put it into your own repair pot. I also feel a major fault VW may well offer a good will payment towards repair - Our peace of mind is in our own pot rather that insurance pot.
In the past we have changed our cars every 3 years but even with the good resales of the Cali given the price of replacement which seem to have gone up so much it the past 3 years we have decided our van is a keeper.

zisdorf · Jul 17, 2016

I'm in Germany, and it's 1800EUR for another year.
4 years old, 50k km without any issues so far -- do you all think the warranty is worth that cost?

Before you answer: I'm actually the 3rd owner already; I am not a "car guy" and don't want to have to deal with any issues; plus, I dont really speak much German (certainly not any car-specific terms) so any issue could result in a real language challenge. And it seems that unlike in the UK, its actually directly from VW here (not from third party supplier) and doesn't seem to have that 2500 pound claim limit. Ok...now what's your answer?

Annik · Jul 18, 2016

This forum is living proof that things do tend to go wrong as soon as you hit year 3! Anything major is going to be expensive on the Cali and VW know that, this is why the extended warranty is now over £1500. I just buy £1500 in premium bonds each year and thankfully I have never had to touch it and I have also won 2x £100 in the past two years.

WelshGas · Jul 18, 2016

Annik said:
This forum is living proof that things do tend to go wrong as soon as you hit year 3! Anything major is going to be expensive on the Cali and VW know that, this is why the extended warranty is now over £1500. I just buy £1500 in premium bonds each year and thankfully I have never had to touch it and I have also won 2x £100 in the past two years.

I would take issue with your statement . If anything it is the reverse. The Forum has 7000+ members, not all have problems post 3 years and in fact people tend to post on a Forum when they have a problem and don't if everything is OK. How many Californias have been sold and what proportion of owners post on here. A very small percentage. Things can go wrong and it is interesting that those who do post about a problem have often done a low annual milage.

AlisonF · Jul 19, 2016

Annik said:
This forum is living proof that things do tend to go wrong as soon as you hit year 3! Anything major is going to be expensive on the Cali and VW know that, this is why the extended warranty is now over £1500. I just buy £1500 in premium bonds each year and thankfully I have never had to touch it and I have also won 2x £100 in the past two years.

I don't know about things going wrong after 3 years, but I do know that the extended warranty is NOT £1500 if you buy it within the first 3 months of delivery of a new vehicle (more like £300+ for an additional 2 years depending on the mileage you expect).

Keith Smith · Jul 19, 2016

AlisonF said:
I don't know about things going wrong after 3 years, but I do know that the extended warranty is NOT £1500 if you buy it within the first 3 months of delivery of a new vehicle (more like £300+ for an additional 2 years depending on the mileage you expect).

Are you sure that is right? When I bought my Cali in March from Hereford (it was a new car they had in stock) I asked about buying a warranty and was told that it was only an option if you specified it when the the vehicle was ordered and I would have to buy an extended warranty when it was 3 years old.

calimera · Jul 19, 2016

Keith Smith said:
Are you sure that is right? When I bought my Cali in March from Hereford (it was a new car they had in stock) I asked about buying a warranty and was told that it was only an option if you specified it when the the vehicle was ordered and I would have to buy an extended warranty when it was 3 years old.

That is correct ,we bought 2 year extended warranty after we bought the new Cali . The key was that it was requested within 3 months after delivery.

https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/aftersales/warranties
Look down the page.

pjm-84 · Jul 19, 2016

Also recently been told about this which my selling dealer forgot to mention, although I don't believe it was available on the 2015 late T5.

Keith Smith · Jul 19, 2016

calimera said:
That is correct ,we bought 2 year extended warranty after we bought the new Cali . The key was that it was requested within 3 months after delivery.

https://www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk/aftersales/warranties
Look down the page.

Arh, that is just so annoying, the salesman was adamant that I had to wait for three years to get the extended warranty and now it's 4 months old I'm too late.

AlisonF · Jul 20, 2016

Keith Smith said:
Arh, that is just so annoying, the salesman was adamant that I had to wait for three years to get the extended warranty and now it's 4 months old I'm too late.

I had a similar issue with my sales guy and so reported it to VW and got it sorted (within the 3 months). I think it's worth following up with a complaint to VW and explain the situation. You might get it sorted.

Loz · Jul 20, 2016

There is often confusion at the dealers over warranty, If you want VW Factory extended warranty on a Touareg for example, it has to be purchased at time of order as they get built on the porsche line.
I enquired at order time with the Cali and was told there was no Factory extended warranty option at order time, but clearly, as stated in the link above, it can be extended after delivery.

So for Clarity;

VW Warranty
Is the 3 years you get with all new vehicles

VW Factory Extended Warranty
Is a 1 or 2 year extension of the above
Must have been purchased within 3 months of the initial warranty has ended.

VW Extended Warranty
Is resold by a dealer, is purchased after the above finishes and is administered by Allianz in the UK
Normally offers a greater level of cover than 3rd party warranty and more integration with the dealer network (= less hassle)

3rd Party Warranty
Sold by Warranty Direct, warranty wise and others after the initial warranty expires

Keith Smith · Jul 20, 2016

AlisonF said:
I had a similar issue with my sales guy and so reported it to VW and got it sorted (within the 3 months). I think it's worth following up with a complaint to VW and explain the situation. You might get it sorted.

A BIG BIG thanks to Mountainman for starting this tread, Alison for letting me know about the warranty and Calimera for the link to VW warranty. Just been on to Lewis at Hereford, I'm 20 days over the limit, but he has been in touch with customer services and they are going to waive the 3 month period and let me buy the extra two years for £320. A fantastic result!

Seems they have changed the warranty system and not let the sales staff know, so others may be caught out.

T6 CFO · Jul 20, 2016

Keith Smith said:
A BIG BIG thanks to Mountainman for starting this tread, Alison for letting me know about the warranty and Calimera for the link to VW warranty. Just been on to Lewis at Hereford, I'm 20 days over the limit, but he has been in touch with customer services and they are going to waive the 3 month period and let me buy the extra two years for £320. A fantastic result!

Seems they have changed the warranty system and not let the sales staff know, so others may be caught out.

Well done.
Checked my sales invoice and that's the one I have listed. £320 + vat £384

Mike

calimera · Jul 20, 2016

Keith Smith said:
A BIG BIG thanks to Mountainman for starting this tread, Alison for letting me know about the warranty and Calimera for the link to VW warranty. Just been on to Lewis at Hereford, I'm 20 days over the limit, but he has been in touch with customer services and they are going to waive the 3 month period and let me buy the extra two years for £320. A fantastic result!

Seems they have changed the warranty system and not let the sales staff know, so others may be caught out.

So pleased for you Keith.

This forum is so good . We learnt about the warranty from the T6 thread on here. The dealer never mentioned it.