Extended Warranties

[peteo]

I intend to keep my existing 05 plate Golf TDI for at least the next 6 years. Reading these forums, horror stories keep cropping up. One guy has been quoted £1,400 for a new ABS unit for example. Turbos are expensive and so it goes on.

Warranty Direct do a number of extended deals which you can take out privately. They cost around £20 to £25 per month.

Anybody gone down this route? Or am I best putting the same amount into an ISA and just hope nothing like this goes wrong until I have a grand or two in it?

[paul b]

I intend to keep my existing 05 plate Golf TDI for at least the next 6 years. Reading these forums, horror stories keep cropping up. One guy has been quoted £1,400 for a new ABS unit for example. Turbos are expensive and so it goes on.

Warranty Direct do a number of extended deals which you can take out privately. They cost around £20 to £25 per month.

Anybody gone down this route? Or am I best putting the same amount into an ISA and just hope nothing like this goes wrong until I have a grand or two in it?
Put the money in an ISA.

I've never taken an extended warranty out on any car I've bought.

Just carry on with the car, maintain it and service it on time, i.e. 10k intervals, I'm sure if you are on Longlife intervals it will bite you up the bum further down the line.

Turbos don't just fail. I bought my Skoda with a broken turbo, since then my van started to overboost. In haste I changed the turbo on my van, when the problem was a worn hose. Big mistake or what? Luckily I did all the work myself so had no labour charge to pay.

[wyatt]

The AA do an interesting scheme, you take out Breakdown Repair Cover (http://www.theaa.com/breakdowncover/brc_info.html) and the will pay up to £500 per repair. Friend of mine used his twice since he took it out and it has saved him alot of money.

Another option to an extended warranty.

[peteo]

Just a bit of an update. Spooked by the number of times my Golf was going wrong, I did opt for a Warranty Direct plan. I chose the option which allows you to use a main dealer which is a bit more expensive.

In April this year, the O/S front coil spring snapped. Bill was £189. Warranty Direct paid minus the £50 excess.

My ESP light has come on (again!). ABS pump problem. £399 (they use a repair kit now). Warranty Direct have agreed payment minus £50 excess.

So, as things stand, I've paid out £645 in premiums and got £588 in repairs. Less the excess, I'm £157 down on the deal but I still have cover until March 2012. As this car has required 8 non routine visits in 3 years to the workshop, there's a good chance I'll end up ahead.

I hope I don't because it's a pain having to keep taking the car in but, on the basis of my experience, I would take out an extended warranty on anything that wasn't Japanese.