AA warranty

[scoletti]

problem with car warranty not paying for mechanical breakdown.

[scoletti]

I bought a 7 year old Alfa Romeo 6 months ago

 

I bought mechanical breakdown cover with AA warranty in addition to roadside assistance, but they refusing to pay for damage caused to the car due to oil filter which may have not been fitted correctly despite it being serviced 6 months ago. Initial inspections show that the oil filter was leaking.

 

Also AA wont pay for the diagnostic costs, which means everytime a customer makes a claim, they have to pay for hundreds of pounds in hourly rates to find the fault which caused the breakdown, and the AA wont pay for this. This means if they turn around and say the faulty part isnt covered then i'm left with a bill just for inspecting the car without it even being repaired, and the AA just walk away. If i knew the policy was like this i wouldnt have purchased it at all, and believe i was mis-sold the policy.

 

If you purchase car warranty cover, just like any other cover, how do you know which part is likey to break, especially if you're not a mechanic, with the all the terminology they use in the handbook. If you buy cover, is it not reasonable to assume that all the parts in the car would be covered. Instead they cover the parts which they know do not break as often, and find other parts to blame instead which arent covered.

 

I am left with a AA Warranty which is of little use to me, since i will never claim on it (still have 18 monthly payments to go), this is because it is too expennsive to find out whats wrong with the car, as the warranty company require a detailed report of the fault, which costs hours of mechanic's time. The whole point of the buying the policy is that you are covered in the event of a breakdown and the repairs are covered, so no large garage bills.

 

The other thing iscan i pursue the servicing garage for fitting the oil filter incorectly, and send them the bill for a new engine.

[Conniff]

How were you sold the policy scoletti, what did they say to convince you that you should have it?

 

They never cover parts that wear like brakes, clutches and exhaust and will find any excuse they can to not pay out just like all insurance companies do.

[scoletti]

I bought the warranty overt the phone.

 

I was convinced by them that my car would repaired in the event of a claim of the covered part. Now i'm not a mechanic, and simply a lay person with a car, the policy manual list a lot of car parts, which i dont necessarily know much about.

 

It would be reasonable to assume that the car would be covered for a mechanical breakdown, thats what the policy is there for. I dont expect worn parts to be replaced, like brake pads etc, but my engine has to be replaced, due to an small part in the engine system that isnt covered and failed. I didnt even know that part existed, never mind if i was covered for it. Why is it not reasonable to assume the whole engine is covered rather than a handful of miscellaneous parts. I cant predict which part will break!

 

The other issue is, i wasnt made aware that they dont cover the diagnostic costs, i.e. the hourly garage time spent inspecting the car to simply find the fault. They dont just want a guess at finding the fault, they want to strip the car down to find the fault, which is going to cost over a thousand pound in hourly rates. If they find the part which failed and it turns out to be not covered, they simply walk away, leaving me with a engine scattered over the garage floor, and a huge bill. Thyerefore the warranty isnt worth anything, as you have to pay hundreds if not thousands t o find out if the failing part is covered thus defeating the point of having having mechanical breakdown cover!

 

They dont tell you this before you purchase the policy.

[Conniff]

Then in my personal opinion, it was mis-sold and you should put in a claim for reimbusement of the cost, but not just yet.

 

So what exactly went wrong with the car and under what circumstances?

[scoletti]

I was driving on motorway when i noticed blue smoke coming out of exhaust, i pulled over onto hard shoulder and started to get dashboard warning lights, 'engine fault' etc.

 

car was towed to Nationwide, which is the preferred garage for AA Warranty, they rejected the car saying they didnt have the skill or know how or time to deal with this repair. But they did say it was dut to lack of oil in the car. But there are many reasons why there is a lack of oil? (the engine was topped up and checked before starting a 210 mile jorney). To find the exact fault the engine is having to be striped down by an Alfa Romeo specialist who charges more per hour. But i had no choice to have it towed to somewhere else who knows about Alfa Romeos, infact it's nearly double the rate of nationwide garages. The Alfa specialist isn't keen on stripping the engine, becuase it wont necessailry prove anything, as it's still a guess as to which part failed, even if the engine is stripped down. All that is known is what damage has been caused. Nobody knows which part failed first!

 

I'm waiting for a phone call tomorrow from the garage to tell me the bad news or good news, i expect it to be bad, as a large claim like this, i'm expecting the loss adjuster to wriggle his way out of liability. The loss adjuster is visiting the car/garage to insect for himself.

 

What should i do, and why do you suggest i wait Conniff?

[Conniff]

They can't reject the claim yet as it hasn't been shown what failed. Until that has been satisified, they are still responsible.

 

Blue smoke. As you probably know, blue smoke is oil burning. If they need to strip it to find the cause, they must be suspecting rings, a damaged piston, or the head gasket blown.

You didn't say if it has a turbo, but I would suspect no as that would be the first thing they would check.

 

Oil filter leaking. You say topped up as well as checked before your journey, was the oil level low?

That would mean loss of oil so shouldn't blow blue smoke.

 

Did the low oil warning light come on?

 

Did you have any knocking or heavy rumbling when it happened?

 

What is the exact date you purchased the car scolleti?

 

I suggested waiting until the fault is acertained as it may be covered and as you said you have had the car 6 months, you can't automatically take it back to the dealer and get him to fix it.

 

The first checks shouldn't need any disassembly, things like compression checks etc; can say a lot.

 

Was it Nationwide who said the oil filter was incorrectly fitted?

Have you noticed any oil where you usually park?

 

It's interesting that Nationwide turned it away as not having the expertise. Forgive me for saying this, it's not meant how it might sound, but an engine is an engine and in the basic sense, what you have is not really any different to Heliouks 1909 Gladiator he posted in his first post. What they really meant was that yours probably has a million bits to remove before they get to the engine proper and they couldn't be bothered with all that as their lack of knowledge on that particular car means they won't be able to stick to the recommended time scale so it would cost them money they couldn't claim back.

 

I'm getting your thread moved into the motoring section scolleti.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Conniff

[maroondevo52]

Thread moved

[Conniff]

Thread moved

 

Tkns, I'll make sure your noted in despatches and get your bonus paid on time.

[maroondevo52]

[scoletti]

The car isnt a turbo.

 

It was a little low, but still oil in there, so just topped up to the right level, but Alfa Engine's use more oil for some reason, and need regular checks on the oil levels etc.

 

When i slowed the car down, i heard rumbling and the car was a little juddery, as if i was about to stall.

 

The car bought middle of november, and bought privately not through a dealer, and had it serviced, and cambelt changed a month later in december.

 

Yep Nationwide reported problem with the oil filter seal.

 

I dont park in same place at home, as i dont have driveway, so i park on street, havent noticed oil leaks though.

 

Well, not sure what nationwide were playing at, they rejected the car for whatever reason, which caused a delay in concluding my claim, and another week without a car. Strikes me as rather odd if they are the preferred servicing/repair company for AA Warranty.

 

I believe i have honoured my side of the contract, the car is serviced annually, maintained, and camblets etc changed as required. The car is all above board. So i think AA should honour their side, and not try to wriggle out of it, it's only circa £1500 claim for them!!

 

If need be i'll have to pay myself to get the car on the road, and be mobile again, and pursue a refund/damages via another avenue.

 

I do believe i was mis-sold the policy. I wouldnt purchased it knowing what i know now.

[Conniff]

What is the exact model and engine size?

[scoletti]

its an Alfa Romeo 147 2.0 Lusso (2003)

 

why do you ask?

[heliosuk]

Very important scoletti as we know what we are dealing with. For a start Nationwide are now actually the AA/Halfords I think so I'm pretty sure we can look forward to more complaints on this forum!!

 

My best guess at this moment in time is that the oil filter put on by the servicing garage is the wrong one. It might be listed in the parts book as correct but I have seen this somewhere before.

 

The problem is that ( and as it happens was highlighted on another Alfa engine) the oil pressure relief valve in built into the filter on genuine articles or vice versa. I would suggest that you stop all work and recover the last filter on the eningine should you need it.

 

The failure mode is consistent with your description. The blue smoke will be an indication of the pistons failing, possibly due to lack of lubrication. It all ties up without getting too technical at this time of night.

 

Conniff, can you look at these issues in your spare time with regards to wrong filters on Alfas???

 

Sorry for request. Delayed flight home!!!

[debhen]

Hi

 

Sorry to jump in but my son is currently battling a similar problem with the AA while trying to claim through his AA breakdown repair insurance. There have been a number of rude, unhelpful and conflicting conversations with the AA over the past couple of days and I now despair of getting any support from them. My understanding of the insurance was that it paid up to £500 per claim for a maximum of 5 times per year (unlike the AA warranty) but the AA are doing all they can to avoid paying and are proving difficult to reason with.

 

Has anyone else had problems with them under this cover please? I am rather worn down by it today and cannot see why we paid for this insurance in the first instance (from November 2008) if they treat us so poorly when we try to claim for the first time.

 

Thanks

[buzby]

Has anyone actually READ their T&C's? A fault with an oil filter is not covered (it is a consumable) and is explicitly mentioned. A recent court case against them was lost, the car's cam belt snapped unexpectedly (this in itself IS covered), and having been towed in for repair, they agreed to the £80 charge for a replacement belt. However, the damage to the engine as a direct result of the belt snapping was in excess of £2,800 in parts and labour, and was NOT.

 

The relative term was they they were not rewsponsible for 'consequential' issues, only the primary cause of the fault - which is why they paid out for the cam belt alone. Often, it is far better to put the money you WOULD have paid to a warranty firm, as this is simply an insurance policy, nothing more.

[Barron]

I am posting this months after the initial conversation but if any one else is still looking at this I just wanted to say that today my aa insurance claim was rejected and I will not be recieving any of the potential £500 towards getting my alfa romeo 147 engin fixed due to a fault with the oil system thingy (not sure of the proper word!).

 

They have been a nightmare and we've spent so long on the phone to a number of different people all telling us something different and conflicting with each other. Plus they never phone back when they are supposed to!!

 

It's a hopeless system!

[buzby]

Sorry to hear that, but vehicle warranties are legendary for not providing policyholders with the cover they imagined. A valuable lesson, if a disappointing one.

[Barron]

Certainly is, and makes me feel better to learn I am not the only one!!