I’m picking up a new (to me) car bought privately at the weekend, and was wondering whether to buy a warranty from an aftermarket company? Has anyone ever done this and do you think it was worth it for piece of mind?

I’ve only ever had the free crap ones they sometimes provide which aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. When I dissected my last one I think it boiled to the fact that only the actual engine block was covered in the deal (?)
The alternator went pear shaped about a month later. Not covered.
Be careful.

I’ve got an aa warranty, replaced the alternator and battery, and repaired the immobiliser totalling £800(it was 2 separate jobs) they paid up no trouble at all,thoroughly recommended!

My wife’s old car came with a 3 month AA one, they replaced an electric window switch (window went down and wouldn’t come up again) and alternator with no fuss or hassle.

The last one I got bundled with a car, didn’t cover, among a myriad of small print, anything electrical! And it was the ‘platinum’ version. And it was void from the start as the car was missing any record of its first service five years earlier.

The last time we were bartering for a car, the dealer was trying use the warranty as a selling point, he wasn’t very impressed when I said I’d leave the warranty in return for a discount, it probably costs him a tenner to bundle it in.

I imagine the AA one is miles better.

Had one with autoprotect bundled in with a 3 year old car a few years ago. 6 months after I bought it the ABS collar split (£250ish I think) and they refused to pay up as it had corroded so was wear and tear. 6 months after that something else broke (forget what) and they weaseled out of it on some technicality – I would never buy one or consider one bundled in with a deal as worth anything.

Most are crap. Another trick is for them to say that the car needs stripping down in quite a major way to diagnose a fault, but if they then say it’s not covered, the strip down and rebuild costs are yours….

They tend to not cover anything that is likely to break and tell you your car is not covered owing to high /wear mileage (they still happily take your cash off you in case you don’t claim) Though I am sure if you check there must be ok ones. Last one I looked at covered sod all really.

Blimey AA one is only £100 a year

I rarely spend more than £100 on repairs (excluding maintenance and genuine wear and tear items).

Just remember their not warranties but an insurance policy , full t&c should be on line to check before you buy.

a mate had a clutch done on his aa warranty thing. not sure if they still cover to that level, was a few years back

It does rather depend what the car is. For example Porsche do their won extended warranty that covers everything other than obvious wear and tear items (brake pads/discs, shocks, clutch, tyres, fluids).

That said it does cost about £1200/yr and you have to jump through numerous hoops to get the warranty in the first place and have nothing on the car that’s not OEM … but then POrsche repairs can be expensive.

Mate had a BMW warranty, extendable too, when he had his M3 V8. Repairs for the 2 1/2 years of ownership was £35k !!! . He paid £1500 for the annual premium and £75 a time it went in. He said he would have been bankrupt if he didn’t. He has now sold the car and breathing a sigh of relief.
We have a Volvo warranty with ours until the middle of the year and its interesting what people make of warranties. Warranty Direct is ‘supposed’ to be reasonable according to people on the Volvo forums and the AA is good according to people on the Lotus forums.

When I bought my current car (from a local s/h dealer) I got a one-year warranty as a part of the deal – not free, as I wanted it adding before we even discussed money. So no real idea of the ‘price’.

Getting it all-in means for me that any issue I just leave with the dealer and let them deal with the warranty company etc. I’ve used it twice, once when the windscreen wiper unit failed and the second time for an ABS sensor.

Both times had no trouble at all.

Thrustyjust – Member
Mate had a BMW warranty, extendable too, when he had his M3 V8. Repairs for the 2 1/2 years of ownership was £35k !!! . He paid £1500 for the annual premium and £75 a time it went in. He said he would have been bankrupt if he didn’t. He has now sold the car and breathing a sigh of relief.
We have a Volvo warranty with ours until the middle of the year and its interesting what people make of warranties. Warranty Direct is ‘supposed’ to be reasonable according to people on the Volvo forums and the AA is good according to people on the Lotus forums.

@Thrustyjust,
^^^Out of interest was this Sam L**ton?^^^

I thought my V6 4Motion Golf was expensive in repairs, cost me the same in repairs as it did to buy it once the 3 yr warranty ended!

THey cant be good value assuming the company selling what is actually an insurance policy wants to make a profit.

The question is more about your attitude to risk as at an indivdual level they range from being a total waste to saving you alot of money. Its all in the lap of the gods and the car you buy

Bit of a thread resurrection, but we’re looking at a 5 year old car with many bits (turbo charger, supercharger, dual mass flywheel, auto gearbox etc.) that it’d be nice to have covered. I’d assumed that they’re a scam but the extra cost doesn’t seem much- £100 a year for full engine and electrical cover.

I’d not consider it if we were buying a dead basic manual, but is it worth it for something with all these extra liabilities?

Don’t know if it’s still the same but you needed to call out the AA breakdown to make use of the AA warranty plan, preventative warranty claim due to mechanical knowledge (i.e. changing the breaking part before it trashes something else) was not covered unless you called out the breakdown service and the guy agreed with you. Think it used to be limited to £500 max a claim as well.

My official Mercedes extended warranty cover for our C-Class is about £50 a month and covers everything with no excess. Only costs seem to be an upfront payment to assess the problem and make sure it really is a warranty claim. That is £115, which you get back if the claim is validated. We haven’t had to use it so far. It isn’t cheap but better than a multi thousand pound bill if something expensive lets go.

Previous BMW extended warranty changed broken rear springs with no fuss.

these storys just make a new dacia seem ever the more appealing.

basic & shite but at least repairable without a second mortgage or being bent over a barrel.

35k in repairs to keep an m3 on the road…. i suspect it would have been found burning out side the dealership long before it reached that value in repairs if it was mine.

Bought a 2nd hand BMW from a dealer came with 12month warranty, they replaced brake caliper, rear suspension mount and swirl valve (WETI?) no questions.

Bought a used Honda off a dealer. Came with a Honda warranty. 11 months later cylinder head cracked. The warranty paid out over £3k worth of work. Perhaps the official dealer ones are better than the aftermarket…

My Passat came with a 3 month dealer warranty (AutoProtect branded).
Boot catch broke, fixed at VW. dealer, cheque arrived in the post 3 days later.
Only vaguely amusing thing was that they only cover an hourly rate of £25… luckily it was a quick fix!

payed 650 quid for one for 2 years worth of cover. My Alternator broke 2 months later and they covered the £630 quid it cost to fix. So not to shabby.

Another aspect of car ownership that makes splashing £250-£300 a month on a brand new warrantied lease car appealing. Single payment, no pissing about. Car breaks – back to dealers. Simple.