warrantydirect.co.uk

I had intended to trade my VW Passat in December 2011 but couldn't find anything that I liked at the right price. It was 4 years old. The car was great and the mileage still good so I decided to keep it a while longer. My son suggested taking a warranty, and after some research I took one with Warranty Direct. At the time I wondered if I was just giving money away for nothing.

After only having the warranty for about three weeks, I broke down a long way from home. I made arrangements for recovery and reported my plight. After quite a lot of exchanges between my garage and WD, they rejected the claim on the basis that wear and tear was not covered for the first 90 days. I was disappointed as I considered that I had had an unforeseen mechanical failure. I was cynical about whether my warranty was worth the paper it was written on, so imagine my surprise when I got a call a couple of weeks later to say THEY HAD REVIEWED THEIR DECISION and they were going to pay the claim. This claim covered the cost of the warranty.

This month (May), I had another breakdown. I was recovered again and this time I was advised that my ECU had failed - a big price tag! The garage contacted WD. Again after a bit of to-ing and fro-ing and a lot of diagnostic information being sent and questioned, WD agreed to pay the claim. Subsequently, when the new ECU was installed, a further fault was discovered with the accelerator sensor (requiring a whole new module). WD immediately agreed to cover this too. My total bill was almost £1500.

Thank goodness for Warranty Direct and Green Flag (my recovery people). Although my confidence in my car has been shaken a bit because of two breakdowns close together, the car is driving better than ever and I have the confidence to keep it, knowing that my warranty is very much worth the paper it is written on. Of course, I'm hoping I don't have to bother them again!

My only criticism of the warranty process is the time taken to assess and agree/decline a claim. I understand the reasons of course - they need to ensure that claims are genuine - but when you really need your car and there are no courtesy cars available, any delay in the decision making process is an inconvenience. However, I'm still very grateful to WD for dealing in a positive way with both of these claims and I would recommend them based on my experiences.