Extended Warranties for A4

[Red 2]

Still 6 months away from our private A4's 3rd birthday but I've started looking around at extended warranties.

Audi offers a rather expensive policy, no surprise there but quite a few have poiinted me towards Warranty Direct who also offer a warranty that allows Audi dealers to be used.

Anyone else out there looking?

[vwawudi]

Not got my car yet but already been thinking about this. My intended A4's 3rd birthday will be 1yr and 9 months before my finance agreement runs out so thinking of getting a warranty then or selling and settling.

Is Warranty Direct any good? Not read any personal experiences yet. Maybe VWAF owners would be so kind....

[Kojak]

I contacted warranties direct about a previous car and it seemed an almost non quibble policy covering wear and tear of components priced to a level you choose.

Whether it would actually prove to be non quibble I don't know.
The other thing is they didn't stop pestering for months after my initial contact with them despite requests for them to stop.

[Red 2]

Autocar/What Car seem to make occasional approving noises of Warranty Direct but their used car guru also writes for WD on their website so make up your own mind on that one!

They do tend to 'follow up' enquiries at regular intervals but with a price half that of Audi but still allowing all repairs to done by Audi dealers, I am tempted.

Hanging on to our A4 which is a lovely car with 100% reliability to date but Audi repair costs can be eye watering, hence the thought to spend the £370 on a warranty.

[coylemj]

I bought a new car a few years ago and before the manufacturer's warranty expired I enquired from the dealer as to buying an extended warranty which was mentioned in the owner's handbook. The sales guy who sold me the car 11 months earlier laid it on the line: what you're buying is an insurance policy, I will get commission, the sales guy in the insurance company will get commission and the insurance company will make their margin, work it out for yourself if it's good value for money. I took the hint and kept my money which in hindsight was the right move, I sold the car as a five year old and it never gave me a minute's trouble.

Viewed purely as a gamble, the odds are stacked against you because there are too many snouts in the trough, you're better off taking on the risk yourself.

[kodkod.84]

I extended my warranty with Warranty Direct and have had to make a claim recently due to a failed turbo.

They were to be fair very good, the fault got logged by Audi on the one-link system which I believe is used by car insurers and the like, the only problem is it takes an age for the ball to get moving.

I was constantly on the phone as a go-between between the Audi dealer and WD, I think their claims dept is very small as I spoke to the same 3 people each time I called.

They insist on sending an inspector for high value claims and his decision is final so I had the car sat in the garage for ages worried they were going to find a get out clause not to pay. When you make a claim you shell out your own cash once it is approved and then WD send you a cheque back. It is done on mileage so the higher your cars mileage the less they pay- I got 100% labour refunded and 80% parts.

I think the Audi Warranty is a bit more expensive but I was told repairs are authorised a lot quicker by the Service Manager.

[Kojak]

Excellent information ...thanks for sharing!

[Red 2]

Thanks for the useful info. Premiums are something like £370 for WD (Premium franchised dealer option) and £800 for Audi! Food for thought....

[VAGMAN54]

only writing with my experience with wd.....gearbox problem caused by other factors,gearbox was removed and sent for strip and quote on repair,wd sent an assesor and he said "wear and tear"not covered by them my argument it was not wear and tear it was caused by other factors..........they would not move on there assesement(a totaly wrong onein my opinoin and the gearbox specialists opinion)......but still wouldnt budge dispite my customer paying lots of money for it the money was wasted.....they have now changed the car and warranty company....they now have a skoda and have paid the extra for a skoda warranty in my opinion only the best way to go as i think the assesors of other companys are.......guesstimated cowboys who aint got a clue what there looking or talking about.....i have proved it...........so be carefull.............

[skymaster]

I too an extremely cynical about these warranty companies... they are as someone pointed out, just an insurance company. We all know very well that one big part of the insurance industry is the practice of wriggling out of as many claims as you can... and this is no exception!

I have had two such warranties and had to make fairly large claims on both. A flywheel on one, and more recently a new camshaft and fuel pump. Both times they gave the dealers merry hell in trying to authorise the claim. They use the good old 'wear and tear' for almost anything it seems.

You could actually argue that anything that goes wrong with a car is 'wear and tear' because ultimately everything will wear out and stop working one day... so it's a silly argument... it's when they start using the wear and tear argument on turbos and camshafts on cars with 60k on the clock that it gets very annoying!

You need to read the small print carefully and ensure someone experienced and switched on deals with them to authorise the claim...