Do you have a policy with Car Care Plan (Skoda) or CSMA Club Car Warranty Care Plan? Read this

[m0bov]

Following on from their refusal to cover my timing tensioner failure, I took up the case with the financial ombudsman (FO). During the process Skoda covered my engine FOC, but I still had doubts as to what (inherent/design) faults the warranty don't cover.

 

I tried asking Car Care Plan (CCP) who would not respond, I raised a complaint, no reply and asked them for a letter of final statement again no reply.

 

The FO are now trying to get something out of CCP as the warranty should be transparent and items not covered should be made clear to you AT THE POINT OF PURCHASE.

 

I would suggest anyone with this policy contacts the FO https://help.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/help

 

This should put more pressure onto CCP and help anyone else who faces a rejected claim. I.E DSG faults, ABS the list is endless....

[Ootohere]

Thanks for posting.

 

It would be good if this could also appear in the Briskoda General Car Chat Section or Roadside Hotel so that more members can read it.

[m0bov]

Ok will post a link

[sigarland1987]

I think this is all Warranty covers, had a similar thing happen with regards to a faulty brake carrier not being covered on a car I purchased less than 6 months ago,

 

All credit to the dealer they have covered the cost of the repair once I contacted the aftersales manager and explained the issue, this is after the car going to them and them diagnosing the issue.

The warranty company tried to get out of paying for the carrier as it wasn't a mechanical or electrical part, even though in the warranty booklet it stated that only wear and tear items wouldn't be covered with regards to the braking system which is understandable. 

Hope that makes sense.

 

Will be watching with interest to see what happens, I will follow this up with the FO as well. 

[Machpoint005]

In what way is a brake carrier not 'mechanical'? It doesn't have to move to fit that definition!

[sigarland1987]

In what way is a brake carrier not 'mechanical'? It doesn't have to move to fit that definition!

 

I wish I knew, on the phone to the warranty company they said that as it was a piece of metal and did not "move" they would not cover it. All sorted though and the dealer have sorted it. 

[DGW]

In addition to the Skoda Approved Extended Warranty and Breakdown, Car Care Plan also administer the CSMA Club Car Warranty Care Plan which a number of Briskoda members have purchased instead.

Could I suggest that the thread title be amended to add CSMA? And well done to m0bov for pursuing this issue.

[m0bov]

Yes if a mod can do that, no problem. I'm very keen to her if another member gets something back from the FO .

[gadgetman]

Title edited

[Jabozuma]

This also falls under FCA authority, I forwarded the matter.

 

 

EDIT:

 

They are very hot on those things so there should be a response from them shortly

Edited 8 April, 2015 by Jabozuma

[m0bov]

So far CCP have failed to respond to either myself or the FO.

[DGW]

Interesting. Have they forgotten that they are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority?

[Jabozuma]

They offer a range of products, some are falling under FCA (like extended third party warranties) and some are not (dealer warranties on used cars, repair warranties). If this product is in fact under FCA regulation they are up for a serious $hit storm!

[Fatbloke]

I have just received the Skoda extended warranty offer as mine is up in about a month. Interestingly cover is provided by Volkswagen Versicherung AG and administered by Lawshield UK. Does this mean they have parted company from the previously mentioned companies? There appears to be a typical list of exclusions in cover and worryingly, one of the exclusions is:

Design Faults and Recalls – If any components of your vehicle have an inherent design fault or is recalled by its manufacturer, the component which is the subject of the design fault or recall is not covered by this warranty.

Does this give them a get out clause to avoid paying out on engine failures due to the camchain tensioner or DSG failure due to one of its known issues? I'm going to e-mail them this question before taking it up.

[nickgpfc]

I too recently received an invite to purchase a warranty extension from them, my 1 year dealer warranty on a used car runs out at the end of this month. I'm very interested to see what the response will be to your email..I didn't see an email address on the document I received so haven't queried them.

[Jabozuma]

If it is a recall and it is covered by the manufacturer then really no point having it also covered under insurance I'd have thought?

You are still covered in the event of a failure of a recalled part or subsystem. If there is an inherent design failure and this is admitted by the manufacturer then they will cover it. Insurer is not able to claim sth is an inherent design failure unless there is a celar admission from the manufacturer, i.e. recall. That is at least what I'd have thought to be a logical and plausible scenario.

As we know reality can be disappointing

[RobM]

I'd imagine the manufacturer would have to have it listed as an officially known recall or known design fault for this to apply. If they haven't acknowledged it and don't have it documented, how can it be called 'known'.

 

The fact the underwriter / provider has changed is interesting. I renewed in March and it was still with Car Care Plan.

[Fatbloke]

I agree entirely regarding the recall scenario but insurance companies are pretty slippery when it comes to reasons to not pay out and I have heard recently of somebody asking the specific question to a warranty company and being told they don't cover known faults, specifically in this case the camchain tensioner failure.

I now have a rather vague response to my email in which they did apologise for it being vague saying it is on a case by case basis but they did say it would depend on the response from the manufacturer. Hopefully that would mean if the manufacturer denied it being a known fault they would cover it and if the manufacturer admitted to it being a known fault the manufacturer would cover it despite being out of the manufacturer's warranty? The only downside to that being that it is then a grey area because there is no liability on the manufacturer to fix anything out of the warranty period, only goodwill. On the other hand, part of the manufacturer group is now the insurance underwriter so you would expect it all to be a little more straightforward

Still going to buy the extended warranty though, I'd rather have it than not

[Jabozuma]

Worth having if it does cover things but on the other hand a complete waste of money ...

[RobM]

.... if the manufacturer admitted to it being a known fault the manufacturer would cover it despite being out of the manufacturer's warranty? The only downside to that being that it is then a grey area because there is no liability on the manufacturer to fix anything out of the warranty period, only goodwill. 

 

This bit is interesting... I wonder if, depending on the age of the car, you'd be covered by EU rules around warranty liability. If the manufacturer has admitted there is an inherent design fault and known issue, it could play nicely into it.

[Jabozuma]

I agree entirely regarding the recall scenario but insurance companies are pretty slippery when it comes to reasons to not pay out and I have heard recently of somebody asking the specific question to a warranty company and being told they don't cover known faults, specifically in this case the camchain tensioner failure.

I now have a rather vague response to my email in which they did apologise for it being vague saying it is on a case by case basis but they did say it would depend on the response from the manufacturer. Hopefully that would mean if the manufacturer denied it being a known fault they would cover it and if the manufacturer admitted to it being a known fault the manufacturer would cover it despite being out of the manufacturer's warranty? The only downside to that being that it is then a grey area because there is no liability on the manufacturer to fix anything out of the warranty period, only goodwill. On the other hand, part of the manufacturer group is now the insurance underwriter so you would expect it all to be a little more straightforward

Still going to buy the extended warranty though, I'd rather have it than not

 

BMW N47 4-pot diesel motors you are referring to with that tensioner by any chance? - there is recall on them now.

 

If it is a known design/manufacturing fault then when it fails manufacturer is obliged under law to fix it - a latent defect. Under or out of warranty. 

 

If it is not then the insurance will cover it. 

[m0bov]

Hi guys. the latest is this:-

 

I still had no response from CCP, so I chased with the FO.

The FO said I had to wait 8 weeks

I heard back from Skoda, who have stated its NOT an insurance product so is not regulated by the FO. The stated I was told NOT to drive the car and that's why my claim was rejected.

 

I shall write back as this was totally false, that yes the car has been repaired and that my complaint is regarding the "known faults" exclusion.

 

It appears they really don't want to address the issue and are still hiding behind a smoke screen trying to avoid this issue.

[gadgetman]

 

I have just received the Skoda extended warranty offer as mine is up in about a month. Interestingly cover is provided by Volkswagen Versicherung AG and administered by Lawshield UK. Does this mean they have parted company from the previously mentioned companies? There appears to be a typical list of exclusions in cover and worryingly, one of the exclusions is:

Design Faults and Recalls – If any components of your vehicle have an inherent design fault or is recalled by its manufacturer, the component which is the subject of the design fault or recall is not covered by this warranty.

Does this give them a get out clause to avoid paying out on engine failures due to the camchain tensioner or DSG failure due to one of its known issues? I'm going to e-mail them this question before taking it up.

 

Looks like I wont be buying an extended warranty to cover the DSG and will be chopping it in before the warranty expires in January....

[m0bov]

Hi all, just an update:-

 

I finally got a response regarding the inherent faults clause of the policy. Interestly it was Skoda's Warranty dept that responded, not Care Car Plan who refused to speak to me the whole time. Also they claim the policy is NOT an insurance product but a warranty and so is not FSO regulated. FSO are yet to confirm this.

 

I got it in writing that the timing chain tensioner IS an inherent fault and IS designed to last the "life" of the engine. What that life time is, is decided by Skoda. I was told 95% of claims are paid for and the other 5% that are turned down due to inherent faults would be covered by Skoda themselves. They explained to me that the pot of money comes from the same place just via either Car Care or Skoda directly. I am told I should not have been caught in the middle.They refused to release the list of inherent faults to me.

 

Hope that helps some of you. If you need further details please PM. If a mod can post a link to this post in the engine failures thread that would be handy,

[Nick_H]

Bloody hell !!!

 

'I got it in writing that the timing chain tensioner IS an inherent fault and IS designed to last the "life" of the engine.'

 

Is this a silver bullet then for anyone who has their engine toasted with the tensioner problem ?