Hi All,
I haven't been around much recently as my Father has been very ill and sadly passed away a couple of weeks ago. However, I'm hoping someone around here might be able to help me out with an issue regarding an aftermarket warranty on my Mother's car.
As my Father's health deteriorated my Mum really needed a reliable car to get him to and from the hospital so she sold her lovely old Alfa and bought a very sensible 2006 Ford Focus Zetec. When she purchased the car she also purchased a 2 year extended warranty for additional peace of mind. The warranty was supplied by a company called Warranty Management Services (WMS) and its comprehensive, covering pretty much anything that isn't caused by normal wear and tear, it wasn't cheap, but my Mum absolutely needed peace of mind and that's why she purchased it.
Anyway, last week my Mum called me to let me know the car was making a funny grinding noise and she was reluctant to drive it. I popped over at the weekend and quickly diagnosed the noise as a failed power steering pump. I checked the warranty policy and noted that this was covered so this morning she took it to a very good local garage that I know and trust, they confirmed that it was indeed a failed power steering pump.
So far, so good.
Obviously, it is unusual to see a failure like this on a 4 year old Focus with less than 40k on the clock and further investigation revealed that a hose had perished, starving the pump of fluid and ultimately leading to it's failure, the fluid leak had also damaged some minor ancillary items, however, the leak was not noticeable, the fluid reservoir was still above the minimum mark and there was no obvious leak underneath the vehicle.
As the car was covered under warranty, the garage called WMS to get approval for the repairs, however they refused to authorise the repair. They told the garage that as it was just a hose that had failed they would only cover that, not the pump and not the ancillary items. They have justified this by saying that had the perished hose been replaced earlier then the pump would not have failed, in other words that the problem was caused by owner negligence. It doesn't stop there either, they don't actually cover hoses under the terms of the warranty but as a gesture of goodwill they will pay the labour costs of replacing the hose, that's £130. The total cost of the repair is £760. The garage did their best to argue the point and really pushed them hard but they refused to budge on this offer, in fact when my Mum spoke to the workshop manager he was really furious about the whole thing as he knows us well.
Now, my Mother has just been made a widow and my Father had been battling cancer for a number of years, due to this my Mother no longer has any savings, in fact they had to sell their house in France three years ago and last year they had to take out a mortgage on our family house. I'm not looking for sympathy here, just explaining that my Mother's financial situation is not great right now due to circumstance and whilst she is hardly out on the street she really can not afford to find £630 to repair a vehicle that is covered under warranty.
I think this is simply outrageous. The pump failed, it should be replaced under warranty, the fact that a perished hose ultimately led to this failure is irrelevant, there was simply no way to know by having a quick nose under the bonnet, even I didn't spot it when I had a quick look at the weekend and I'm pretty handy around an engine. The problem is, what can I do about it? My mother has turned to me for help and I am, in turn, turning to you guys. Does anyone have any experience with dealing with these aftermarket warranty companies? Do we have a leg to stand on here? Is there any way I can fight this?
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, thank you all in advance.
