Advantages: repairs paid for
Disadvantages: costs of maintaing your vehicle

...and warranty. Most manufacturers state that you do not have to have your servicing carried out with them to keep your warranty intact, however genuine manufacturer parts must be used and the service must be carried out by a VAT registered company. If genuine parts are not used then you run the risk if invalidating your warranty. For example, a 2 year old car, requires brakes, non genuine brakes are fitted. This would indicate that if a defect within the braking system occured and was as a result or worsened by the non genuine parts fitted then your warranty on the braking system would be invalidated. It wouldnt invalidate your whole warranty however. Extended warranty companies can be very sly at times. Before buying a policy check what items are covered and more importantley what items are NOT covered. A good thing to also check is their claim... Read review

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Advantages: Provide a little relief for worriers
Disadvantages: More often than not, no extended warranty is needed.

...warranties – often problems occur on computers due to dirt. A simple clean can alleviate many problems. Additionally, problems occur when parts become lose, or minor parts break. Most of these parts can be secured or replaced at minimal cost. · The retailers reduce the price of the PC to a bare minimum and generally make more money on warranties and additional software. It is in their best interest to sell you warranties, and generally isn’t in your best interest. I am sure there are those of you out there who want the added relief that an extended warranty supposedly gives, however in my opinion, if you want this relief, the best way is to get a maintenance contract with a local computer company. Often it will be far cheaper and the company will offer better service as they wish to retain your custom for all computers you have over... Read review

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Advantages: Piece of mind
Disadvantages: Network Garage

...A really good experience. I have taken out a 2nd policy with Warranty Direct for my new car. I had an Omega 2.6 V6 which I took out a £290 gold cover policy. After a few months of ownership the car was using coolant and white smoke appeared. I took it to a network garage Nationwide Autocentre (more about this later) and WD took care of the whole bill, £1000. I had problems with Nationwide Autocentre, wrong information i.e. items not covered by warranty when they were, time delays, but no problems with WD. In fact a chap from Warranty Direct rang the garage up and gave them a piece of his mind and soon after my car was ready. Hence now I have a new car I am taking out a new warranty through this company. They were really good with my previous car problems and sorted them out efficiently, how many companies can you say that about... Read review

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Advantages: None
Disadvantages: Appalling customer service

...Dabs customer service is APPALLING - probably the worst I have ever experienced in 11 years of internet shopping. I bought a monitor from them with a 36 month warranty. After 24 months the monitor developed a fault, so I contacted them via their website to request a repair or exchange. The orders history section did not recognize the warranty period and so I had to send an email to customer services to register a warranty claim. After 2 weeks I have still not had a reply from Dabs. I also contacted the manufacturer Digimate, who confimed the warranty was 36 months but otherwise did not respond to my messages. Both companies are now being reported to Trading Standards, and I fully intend to sue Dabs in the small claims court. My advice is simple: do NOT buy from Dabs. Shop anywhere else, but avoid Dabs at all costs! They want your... Read review

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Advantages: comfortable drivers seat
Disadvantages: its an off the road Renault literally !!!! no engine

...Hi Having bought a 'quality' used Renault Laguna from a Renault dealer with a 12 month Renault warranty, I was a bit surprised when after 1o months of use the engine seized, no problem I thought it'll be sorted out as its still with a warranty.. How wrong I was, despite the fact that I have looked after the car, depite the fact it was checked before I went on the journey despite the fact the I was driving in a proper manner and despite the fact that I am registered disbled and the car is also registered as being owned by a disabled person, predictably Renault didn't want to know They tried to fob me off with lame excuses like ... the dealer was a Franchise garage, well the car was second hand, er we don't issue the warranties its a private company..well hang on Renault...... I bought the car froma reputable Renault Dealer... Read review

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Advantages: Can save you considerable amounts of money on repairs
Disadvantages: Easy to get conned. Read the small print carefully.

...a repair carried out 3 days before it expires, any work done may only be covered for the remaining 3 days of your original warranty period. Check also that NEW and not refurbished parts are used in any repair as these should always carry their own 12-month warranty, although getting proof regarding their purchase/fitting can be difficult. Watch out for the Money Back offers you get with some warranties, i.e. those deals where they claim to refund your money if no claim is made during the warranty period. My experience with these is that you have to register your warranty and file certain paperwork within a 30 day period. With these proof of posting is also no guarantee that you have complied and often the companies will deny ever having received your paperwork. Send it recorded delivery, at least that way they have to sign for it and you can... Read review

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Advantages: Nice car shame about the company
Disadvantages: Dont trust them

...I own a 3 year old Peugeot and as part of the 12 month warranty I have on it (I bought it second hand a year ago) I have to get it serviced at the local Peugeot dealer. I phoned up and asked about the cost of servicing and almost fell of my chair when I was told £470, then I was asked how old it was, or more precisely weather it was more than 4 years old. So I lied……. Terrible….. but the cost of the service went down to £140!!!!! I asked what caused this and the guy said “Peugeot are worried about the amount of people who stop using Peugeot service centers as soon as the warranty has expired”. He went on to tell me that there is no difference in the service other than the price. So if your Peugeot is due for a service, lie about its age and you’ll save yourself over £200! Onto the warranty, you... Read review

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Advantages: Easy To Use Website
Disadvantages: Faulty Goods, No Back Up, Rude Management

...been broken so it was no longer under warranty (I had never opened the system - I never had it long enough to mess around with) and to get the system back I had to pay £60. This I refused to do and contacted my credit card company who took the dispute up for me. There was then a few phonecalls from a guy called Paul who is high up in the company I believe who told me that if I paid the £60 he would then "try" and get the money refunded. This I refused to do. He then wrote a letter to the credit card company, who forwarded it on to me, containing numerous inaccuracies and a lot of bending of the truth. It was at this point I discovered that the system wasn't even with Aria and the onsite warranty wasn't with them but at no point had I ever been given details of the company who owned the warranty or how to contact them. The dispute goes on... Read review

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Advantages: Can get excellent bargains from them.
Disadvantages: Extended warranty mania.

...This is just to clarify a few suspisions floating around the Ciao website as regards extended warranties, particularly their treatment at branches of Currys. I am a former member of staff and dare not say too much as a gagging clause is built into our contract, but especially for you ... Extended warranties are the holy grail in Currys. It does not matter if you made a £5000 sale for your company, if you did not get extended warranty, it ain`t worth nothing. Both products and warranties are sold according to target, but the warranties create greater commission and are worth more to individual sales staff and the company as a whole. New staff are trained in a technique called looping and are given stock responses to every single objection to warranties possible. You are not even safe if you are an electrical engineer by trade... Read review

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Advantages: Peace of mind, can last for three years
Disadvantages: Expensive, get out clauses

...& rely on the 'extras' to make their commission. Those extras include finance, GAP, accessories & used car warranties. At the point of sale you get little time to study the terms of the warranty & it is best to ignore what the sales staff are telling you & study the terms at your own leisure at home. You don't need to buy a used car warranty at the time you buy the car; you can if you want purchase it direct from the company at any time within reason. Of all the used cars I have purchased in the past I've never had a used car warranty, but as an ex-mechanic it really didn't matter. If you're not technically minded a used car warranty becomes more important. However, I used to see on a daily basis how things went wrong from the 'other side of the fence' when I worked at a busy dealership. It soon became apparent to me what goes wrong... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful