Hi all,

I’m purchasing a used car at the weekend, a 2005 ford focus 2.0tdci titanium with 62000 miles on the clock. The has been regularly serviced according to the stamps in the history book. It comes with 6 months warranty from the dealer, through AutoProtect. I was considering taking an extension on this warranty but a quick google reveals autoprotect to be quite dodgy and adept at wriggling out of paying out on warranty claims.

So I am considering purchasing an aftermarket warranty from someone else. At the moment i’m looking at Warranty Direct as they cover wear and tear items, they are a bit more expensive but not dreadfully so. I have seen mixed reviews of these guys, ranging from glowing reports that look like a salesman impersonating a customer, through more realistic sounding reviews where they have paid out but there were a few minor niggles along the way, to indictments of massive crookedness.

To be honest it seems that many of these warranty companies are crooks and I’m not sure whether to bother at all. The car is not hugely expensive at just under £5k, it’s not throwaway motoring but it’s not like I’m going to be paying BMW main dealer prices on any repairs if I have to get it fixed myself. I am concerned about a major failure like the turbo going bang, anyone got any idea on cost of a replacement turbo?

So I’m looking for your experiences. Aftermarket warranties in general and Warranty Direct specifically?

I’m also considering getting the ECU remapped by superchips using their bluefin device. I’ll drive it for a while first before I decide whether it needs it. If I got a warranty I would not be able to do this without invalidating the warranty. I would forego the remap if I was convinced that a warranty was worth the paper it’s written on.

Cheers,

Stu.

How much are warranty direct quoting? Last price I got was £500/year for a 2006 A4. Needless to say I didn’t go for it!

I imagine if you get the car re mapped without telling the warranty company and something went wrong and they could prove its re mapped then your up a creek. Mind you the blue fin thing is just plug and play once its uploaded with your car software so might not be able to detect anything.

Check out AA’s repair cover(if your a member). Up to 5 claims a year each claim has a £500 limit but that would cover most jobs. For about £70 a year + membership if not already with them.

Other than house insurance and car insurance I don’t insure anything. If I add up the insurances I don’t pay – 2 x pet, seperate bike insurance tto cover theft away from home, insurance for any appliances, etc etc I’ve got to be ahead overall.

As for cars, I bought my Mondeo at 3.5 years old. It’s now 10 years old. Nothing has ever gone wrong which a warranty would have covered.

As for covering wear and tear items. As these are going to need doing in every car they cover how can they make a profit except by charging more than the replacement costs?

Biggest plus of all – by self insuring I don’t have to deal with trying to claim cash from insurance companies!

Don’t do it pal. Warranty companies don’t make a profit by paying out!

Save the premium if you like until you have a nest-egg to cover any potential repair.

But, the car’s been looked after and it’s relatively new. It’s very unlikely anything will go wrong with it.

APF

Save the premium if you like until you have a nest-egg to cover any potential repair.

+1

Its not a rare incident like your house burning down costing 100k’s, your car WILL go wrong, sometimes it’ll be cheap, sometimes it won’t, just put the money aside.

A warranty company will just do the above, plus whack a percentage on top for their own profits.

Also, any warranty other than manufacturers tends to have lots holes.

I had AutoProtect with a used-car. They didn’t pay out, had to sue the trade seller.

I imagine if you get the car re mapped without telling the warranty company and something went wrong and they could prove its re mapped then your up a creek. Mind you the blue fin thing is just plug and play once its uploaded with your car software so might not be able to detect anything.

To be clear, I will NOT get the car re-mapped without telling the warranty company or my car insurance company. If the remap would invalidate a warranty, if I get one, then I won’t get it done.

The car insurance quote is about £20 extra per year with a remap, not too worried about that.

I’m erring toward just not getting one, they all sound well dodgy and I have money set aside to cover one off expenses no problem, but I’d rather have the peace of mind if any of the sods are reliable.

With a ford of that age and mileage I’d have thought a good warranty is exactly what you do want. A remap and no warranty will soon see off various bits of your clutch / engine / turbo.

Good luck..

If you do go for Warranty Direct (I have). Call them, ask for a quote and leave the conversation “undecided”. They will come back to you a day or two later with a better offer.

If you want an extended warrenty just agree the deal with the garage for whatever length of warrenty you want – if they want the sale they’ll probably only charge you the ‘trade’ price.

And if they don’t, walk – its not like its a rare car.

Spend your warranty money on keeping the car well serviced,with good quality oil.
Its pretty unlikely a turbo would go at that mileage and remapping i wouldn’t bother.
I have a 2.0 TDCi Mondeo and the powers plenty enough for me.

There is a 6 month warranty included in the sale and the dealer can extend that to 2 years with autoprotect for £395. He claims that this is the cost price to them as the dealer.
Autoprotect do not have a good rep though, so seems little point taking out a warranty with them just because they are available through the garage.

With a ford of that age and mileage I’d have thought a good warranty is exactly what you do want. A remap and no warranty will soon see off various bits of your clutch / engine / turbo.

What makes you say this?

Re-map may not be the best plan. I can re-think that idea, to be fair it goes well enough as is.

Personally I’d look at a warranty that specifically notes it covers the EGR/flywheel and other related gubbins on a diesel Ford that do go.

Is the mileage genuine? Less than average over 7yrs on a diesel? I’d personally just ring up a couple of those stamps and speak to service dept- pretend you are the original owner and querying what was done at the service, then drop in the mileage and if the service manager says ‘we have no record’…

you never know…it may be a bought ebay service book with stampset 😉

Warranty Direct definitely cover the flywheel, solid and dual mass are covered under the warranty.

I was quoted £400 a year for the big red skip… Considering the car only cost £1200, I told them to bugger off.