Dealers dodgy tactics when making a warranty claim

[Homer]

Recently I have had cause to take my car to the dealer as there was an issue with the car that I believed should be covered under warranty, however when I took the car to the feckin dealer the woman at the service desk said that they can look at it but if it is found that it is not in fact covered by warranty then I will need to pay to have it fixed and for labour... I have had this said before with a different car, I guess its a tactic that they use to discourage people from making warranty claims.. Anyone else had to deal with a similar situation when making a warranty claim? Thanks

[stealthwolf]

Just get them to call you before they work on it. They should know whether it'll be covered and if not, an estimate of the cost.

[MAT ED30]

Dealers get money for the work from head office so works work for em as it's better to have a car in the grg for work than have a tech stood around doing nothing. Trust me worked for stealers for years

[Horatio]

I had problems with my high pressure fuel pump. They gave me a quote for a replacement and labour. I asked them to check to see if it was covered under the extended warranty. The upshot was they told me it wasnt, i asked them to check and it was covered. they had to replace the fuel pressure sensor as well they bodged the first attempt at replacing the HPFP. Fingers crossed so far. Good luck, stick to your guns. Call UK VW Customer Services.

[JackG]

Sounds to me like she had a bad attitude

[andrewparker]

Sounds to me like she had a bad attitude

Really? Or just informing their customer of the process?

I'm beginning to think this place specialises in over reacting!

[Andy]

Thing she was just  informing you that if it isn't covered under warranty you will have to pay

[ub7rm]

Agree with the above.  The used car warranty has a lot of exclusions as I found with my wife's polo.  If they have to strip something down to find a fault and it turns out not the be covered by the warranty you have to pay for the labour to get that far.

I actually found my dealer was pretty good at putting my case forward to the warranty company and managed to get things which were strictly speaking not covered by the warranty done FOC.  But they did make me aware, and I accepted, that if the warranty co didn't pay I would be liable.

The used car warranty is a third party warranty and not that great as there are a lot of exclusions - not your dealers fault.  Its in their interests to make it a warranty claim as they'll make more monies that way after all...

[stealthwolf]

You do realise that not everything is covered by warranty? This is particularly important around "consumables" or things which would ordinarily be replaced/sorted by the owner eg lights, tyres etc. Also, if it's something that has been damaged/caused bythe owner, it won't be covered.

Having said all that, I had an issue with my clutch. One dealership rang me to say they couldn't replicate it and wanted to charge me upfront for the cost and would refund if somethig was found. Took it to another dealership and they diagnosed the fault through what I told them without looking at the car, ordered the part in and booked in the car. Didn't have to pay a penny (other than petrol to get to/from there!).

[Starshaped]

Why would dealer have any tactics to discourage a warranty claim? if it is 3 year VW warranty they get paid by Volkswagen for fixing it,if its an extended warranty they quote the extended warranty company and if its covered they again get paid for fixing it,if its not covered who is going to pay? it's quite a simple process really.

[perky85]

I have worked for dealers & the reason that you get the response you did is that VW HQ could turn round & say no.

So when you go to dealer for warranty work, the dealer will inform you that you may have to pay to have the work done if HQ refuse the claim. The dealer is just covering themselves for the eventuality.

I have seen it where the dealer accepts the job under warranty, then Hq refuses & don't want to pay, then the customer is informed that they must pay, these leads to no-one wanting to pay & bill gets left with the dealer.

[JJ]

I took my car to Solihull VW to get some bits done under warranty but they didn't want to know (the guy didn't even leave his desk to come and look at my car) so I took it to Listers in Stratford upon Avon who couldn't have been more helpful and agreed to all my warranty requests on the spot.  If you don't get anywhere with one dealer, try a different one.       

[stealthwolf]

My experience above was with the same dealers JJ!

[af1]

I took the car back to the garage shortly after I bought it cause the aircon didn't work... 6 months ago they agreed to fix it under warranty, I even had it booked in.. He'll, I even took it to them but each time I call them they are waiting for the part!?

I'm fed up with it...