Car warranties and how they work

chrisc

chrisc

Suspended / Banned
Messages
298
Edit My Images
Yes
I put this on a Skoda forum but thought i would put it up here as well to see what other peoples experiences where with other manufacturers.

So the story is i have 2010 octavia 1.6tdi bought last september from a main dealer which now has 30k miles on it with a full skoda service history. When i bought it part of the deal was 1 year skoda warranry and the sales man told me if anything major goes wrong with the car it will be sorted under the skoda warranty.
A few weeks ago a big vibration came into the clutch i got the car booked into the garage and today when i went back to collect the car the service manager told me i would have to book the car in next week for them to take the clutch out and send a report off to the warranty company i thought fair enough as they where sorting me with a hire car. Then he hit me with the bombshell that if the warranty refuse to fix the problem i would be charged for the work carried out to compile the report and putting the car back togather. This took me back a bit and when i questioned it i was told its in the T&Cs of the warranty.
Now from my point of few i dont understand why i shoud have to pay skoda to tell me if something is covered under the skoda warranty that came with the car i bought off skoda!! As regards to the T&Cs of the warranty i pointed out that they where send out after i bought the car and handed over my money.
I have a good mate whos a mechanic and hes told me he thinks its either a pressure plate or flywheel and these shouldnt give up after 30k miles.

My question is has anyone ever had any experience like this and what should i do??
 
Good luck getting warranty to pay out on anything clutch related.
 
Agreed, they will consider it a consumable matter rather than a fault. If it had a catastrophic failure then it might have been different but not from what you've described.
 
things that fail due to natural wear and tear are often not covered, this includes brake discs/pads and clutches, and probably dual-mass flywheels.

never assume what a sales person says as being the truth, ask to read warranty terms and it will say what is/isn't covered.
 
Points taken but why should i have to pay for the dealer to compile the report for the warranty company???
 
Is there any way of checking the mileage? It seems a bit low for the type of car. It could be another reason why there is an apparent failure.
 
Because I bought the car off them with the warranty included in the sale im looking to excuite the warranty I shouldn't be out pocket to be told if I can use the warranty that I have already paid for.
 
I should say I would understand this if it was a 3rd party warranty but its not I bought the car from a main skoda dealer with a skoda uk warranty included in the sale.
 
Dealers generally ship all warranties out to third party's these days. They have to get all work signed off before anything is done.

They were in the wrong saying it WILL be covered. If the warranty decide it's not within the cover then you will be paying.
 
chrisc said:
I should say I would understand this if it was a 3rd party warranty but its not I bought the car from a main skoda dealer with a skoda uk warranty included in the sale.
Click to expand...

Bear in mind that Skoda UK might not actually own the dealership, they may be simply a franchise, and even if they are owned by Skoda, the insurance side of it is in effect an entirely different company that will be underwritten by outside companies that specialise in this area and it will be their staff that ultimately decide if the failed part is warrantable or not.

Question for you to think about though, they strip it down and it turns out its not covered by warranty [clutch parts often aren't and certainly not at 30K unless catastrophic failure is obvious, they are generally wear and tear] - are you going to let them rebuild it again...or as its stripped anyway and you have to pay for that and the rebuild, are you actually going to pay for the repair to actually be done anyway? I know that sounds daft, but you would be amazed by the stories I know about first hand....
 
chrisc said:
Points taken but why should i have to pay for the dealer to compile the report for the warranty company???
Click to expand...
What you are paying for is for the dealer to diagnose the fault. Something that would need to be done anyway. IF and I mean IF it is a warrantable failure then this time may be covered, if not then as YV said, you would need to get it fixed anyway. Check the Terms as to what is covered and what isn't, so that you know what to expect.

99% of warranties on a used vehicle will be underwritten by a third party, even if bought from a dealer. My company for example provide the warranties for Toyota, Lexus, Honda, Vauxhall, Fiat, Alfa, Chrysler & Jeep (and that's just in the UK motor sector, don't get me started on the other countries and Divisions :p ). Aftermarket warranties typically cover "Sudden Mechanical Failure", however so do cover wear and tear, so again check the T's&C's.

Hope you get a satisfactory outcome, although as has already been stated, I'm not sure if you will. Although the mileage is low, it is 4 years old :(
 
Last edited:
indeed.

there are often odd conditions to the warranty.

for example the OH Clio broke down last week and it was under warranty. Turned out it was a problem with a dirty throttle body causing some sticking, warranty wouldnt pay to have it cleaned but they wouldve paid out if it needed replacing.
 
often also, depending on the warranty terms and level of cover they may have a cap on the financial contribution to the issue.

i think for example the warranty that was thrown in on my car had a £2000 limit (per claim) on clutch and flywheel work.
 
I would also say the DMF, as it is a very common fault on many models nowadays. Mine went a couple of years ago, but I had factored it into the purchase price. Fortunately my car had done around 100K miles and was well out of warranty. I had a replacement single flywheel clutch unit fitted by an independent firm who specialise in this work (about £450 all in - flywheel, clutch, release bearing, fully fitted), and I have done 30K more miles, and the vehicle is a lot smoother.
I am surprised that nobody has been able to help on the Skoda forum (Briskoda?) because this comes up on a regular basis. I understand that Skoda and VW will do single flywheel conversions if the DMF fails, and that some garages recommend it.
I think that the OP needs to get an independent engineers report, and then try Skoda again if it is the DMF.
 
ST4 said:
It'll be the dual mass fly wheel. These can and do fail often with low miles. Hopefully that is the problem as it should be covered.
Click to expand...

Dual mass flywheels do tend to go at low mileage, I've known them at 23000 miles on a BMW! A word of caution though, they are often considered failure due to wear :(
 
IIRC if you buy a brand new car, the first two years are covered by manufacturer's warranty and the third year is dealer warranty.

It doesn't surprise me that your car, now being over the 3 year limit has a dealer-warranty (as opposed to manufacturer warranty). This will be more limited than a manufacturer warranty.

Having said that, I had a problem with my VW that I'd bought brand-new. During the 2nd or 3rd year of ownership (can't remember exactly when), I had a problem when the clutch pedal stuck to the floor. Didn't quite realise as I was on a exit slip road off the motorway and trying to accelerate from a junction. Ended up having to lift the pedal up manually. Got to my destination and let things cool down and everything seemed okay. Took it to VW who said they couldn't replicate the fault but they'd have to get to the clutch and gearbox to investigate. If there was a problem, they'd fix it FOC. But if there was no fault, I'd be liable. For that, they wanted £400 up front.

About six months later, it repeated itself so I took it to a different dealer where a passing mechanic diagnosed the problem, the part was ordered and the car was fixed three days later. Even got a courtesy car for free.
 
viv1969 said:
Good luck getting warranty to pay out on anything clutch related.
Click to expand...

Audi replaced the clutch on my A4, it had gone in for a fuel sensor issue (under warranty too) and while they were checking it they noticed the clutch was worn more than it should have been so replaced it free. Car was less than 2 years old though at the time.

neil_g said:
Dealers generally ship all warranties out to third party's these days.
Click to expand...

Not too sure about that, I've had a couple of things done under warranty on an A4 and an A3 and they were done at the Audi dealer in Preston. May depend on the manufacturer I guess. The Audi dealer had an observation type area where you could watch the mechanics work on your car if you had nothing better to do!
Got a Nissan now but not had anything done under warranty on that so not sure what Nissan do.
 
Basically you are making a claim against the sales of goods act, not a claim on the warranty. You have protected rights under the sales of goods act. Look up your rights on which, they also have draft templates. PM me with you contact details if you require further information as it's to much to type.
 
I'm afraid I don't think it's a breach of the Sale of Goods Act that a four year old, 30,000 mile car is now suffering a clutch vibration, ten months after it was purchased second-hand.

Warranty and goodwill [maybe even both ways] will probably obtain a much happier outcome!
 
I have to disagree, regardless of age if the fault occurs within the first six months the fault is deemed as present at the time of sale with the emphasis on the seller to prove to the contrary. As the purchaser has had the vehicle over 6 month the purchaser has to prove that it is unreasonable for such a fault to occur, taking into account the price paid, the length of time owned and other factors.

In this instance to have owned a car for less than a year (even though 4 years old) it is reasonable to expect that, given the mileage covered and the fact that it has full service history, for the clutch to not have failed, clutch plates worn yes but the dual mass flywheel failed no. That is the point I would use to get recourse from the garage. OK they may not make a 100% refund but should take the factors into account.

I have recently just been given the full price paid back for a vehicle purchased from a garage using the sales of goods act. It was more than 4 years old and had £75k miles on the clock. There was a couple of faults but the main being a DMF problem.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all your comments i feel like the sales man lied to me when i bought the car but you live and learn.
 
Car salesman in lie shocker...

All they want to do is sell the car and as many add ons as possible.. The truth is largely irrelevant.


chrisc said:
Thanks for all your comments i feel like the sales man lied to me when i bought the car but you live and learn.
Click to expand...
 
Unfortunately I have to agree with Yves Geza, DMF are unfortunately now a wear and tear item as is a clutch. Trying to get anything under the Sale of Goods act is going be unlikely, I think a combination of goodwill and possibly warranty would be the best option. I lot will also depend whether it is a Self funded warranty (dealers own money) or Mechanical Breakdown Insurance
 
I had an Octavia 1.6 TDI from new and it was a sweet running engine for most of the time. It had an EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) problem while under warranty and regularly had a DPF (diesel particulate filter) problem, including the day after a run of 180 miles at a steady 60. Since the recommendation is to give then a run of 10 minutes or more at above 40mph when this happens, clearly it was a design or operational fault for me. The DMF flywheel issue of the OP also seemd to be present, although it never actually failed. I really liked the car, but felt obliged to trade it in at 4.5 years old with 50k on the clock. I bought a low mileage 3 year old petrol Toyota which still has 2 years warranty left, but feel cheated by the Skoda/VW/Audi diesel experience.

On a side note, this month's Which? magazine is highlighting that those who have disconnected/bypassed their DPFs will have an automatic failure at MOT from now on, which could mean quite a lot of money being spent to get cars back to spec again. :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top