I noticed in another thread that someone (I think carlt) suggested considering buying a warranty when buying a car if the car did not come with one. This seems like a potentially fair comment, given that repair bills could be significant if a major part goes pop. The ones I've had a quick look at seem to come in at about £300 for a year. Is this reasonable, and are these policies any good?

An important question for me would be what happens if, say, the exhaust manifold goes but the car is still driveable, or the turbo starts smoking? Does the mechanical failure have to actually KO the car - ie breakdown? Or is an arguement along the lines of 'part X is clearly FUBAR'd, my garage agrees with me on this, so please cough up for the replacement part and the labour involved' likely to be accepted by the insurer?

Does anyone have any recommendations on good companies to consider.

If anyone is knowledgeable in this area, my question is a similar one.

Are the 6-month warranties that most dealers seem to offer on 2nd hand Coupés worth much? I mean: do they usually only cover repairs if the car is KOed or do they provide the wider kind of coverage that leisuresuitlary gave an example of. Also, generally, do you and/or the car have to traipse back to the dealer - if you bought it from one 200 miles away?

Thanks for your help.

Becksie

warrantydirect are always recommended.

I wouldn't trust an insurance policy off a trader because in my experience of other cars its very difficult to get anything out of them.

Stick the money you would have spent on a warranty in the bank (or get the car properly serviced).

I agree save the money...

I got a new Thermostat with my dealer warranty but nothing else (manifold for example). Getting a healthcheck on the car at a specialist (Powerfiat or Motormech for example) is also worthwhile.

John

You could be better off just sticking the money in the bank. I have a Warranty Direct policy on my coupe, have had for 5 or 6 years now, and I've never claimed. It costs me about 20 quid a month, so I could have saved a fair bit by now!! But I'm willing to bet the minute I stop it something will go bang! (Although that's unlikely as it hasn't moved for about 3 months!).

I guess it's like all insurance (except car) where it's a question of how much risk you are willing to take. I've been lucky, my coupe has only needed regular service items, and nothing has broken in the time that I've owned it. Bloody unreliable these fiats.

I got hold of an RAC warranty with my car when I bought it, 3 years 5* cover for £620 or so. In over 2 years of use it's paid out for a new radiator, and a new oil cooler, the bills for which were approx £600 (rad done by fiat, oil cooler from Powerfiat).

My advice: read the smallprint on any warranty you purchase. My RAC policy is very strict on the service history your car has. If you have a full manufacturer service history (which my car has - all Fiat stamps in the book) then it's fine (and they have asked for proof of this from me when claiming). Otherwise, you need your car serviced every 6 months/6000 miles from a VAT registered garage. You can't be out more than 30 days or 1000 miles from the service interval either. Most warranty companies have age/milage limits on cars they cover also, so if you have an old coupe, you may not be able to get full cover for it.

End of the day, for £620 I was fully covered for pretty much any mechanical failures on my car for 3 years, and as I had a Full Fiat service history I was confident they'd pay out for a claim, and they have done. If your car has a varied history, then I'd stay away from the mainstream warranty providers (RAC/AA etc...) and maybe look at warrantydirect etc... (if they still cover coupes). At £300 a year though, I may be tempted to just keep £300 a year in a bank account as said above. If you're not confident you'd get a payout (read the smallprint as I said above - and compare what they require to what you have with your car - before taking a warranty out) then I also wouldn't bother.

^ agreed. However any dispute over a warranty on a car that at least 7 years old when you buy it could be messy. In the above example you paid £620 to cover approx (so far) £600 of work? So going by your example you claim for £300 / year. If you need to claim next year you you benefit otherwise its evens..?

I'd be tempted to spend the money on a really good pre-purchase check..but even that wouldn't cover everything. I didn't spot burned valves on mine..mega money.

Need to do the sums carefully before buying. Bit like the 'extended warranties' offered by Hixon's/ Craplin's etc on electrical goods. Very specific, lots of get out conditions etc and normally a complete waste of money.

for me it's been a good move, as I've received £600 worth of payouts in 2 years, and any more if anything else goes wrong in the last year of cover. If it cost £300 a year though, I'm not sure if I would've taken the plunge, £200 a year was reaching my limit. And my point above was - I was pretty sure I'd be able to get payouts if stuff did go wrong (I was confident there wouldn't be any/many coverage issues, as my car was low milage, 5 years old, with full Fiat history).

But - for someone with a car with compromised history, maybe after trying to claim once they would be told: "you car missed xyz service on xyz date, hence it's not covered" or something similar, and there's no refunds with any of these policies. They'll put you on cover and take your money, but it's down to you to prove to them your car fits all the criteria set out to be covered. So for a 9 year old coupe with 100,000 miles on the clock and a varied service history, I'd be dubious that you could get a warranty firm to pay out. IMO - These warranties are designed for cars that have just come out of their manufacturer warranties (or are say a few years out of a 3 year manufacturers warranty) and want an alternative means of cover, hence why they ask for full service histories etc... if you've got a well maintained car a bit older than 5-7 years, and it's got gaps in its service history, I'd just be very very careful that your car fits the requirements set out by the warranty co before parting with your hard earned.