Given the current problems with my Superb (see the No Ignition thread) and the fact that it becomes 3 years old in June this year, my mind has started thinking about warranties should I keep the car.

 

Should I keep the car ? Not sure what else I'd buy. I really like the Superb, and I don't know what else I'd get at the moment. I've looked at E-Class estates, A6 estates and the V90, but I'm not sure they are worth the premium over the Skoda.

 

If I keep the car ? I think I'd be looking at getting a warranty for another year just for piece of mind. Not had to venture into this market for over 25 years, so are there any recommendations on what I should get (or avoid) ?

 

Thanks,

John

I'd stick with a Skoda extended warranty.

 

I did not have a good experience with a third party warranty in the past (motoreasy).

 

I've ordered a new Superb and will be extending the 60k warranty to 100k. I plan on doing 33k miles per year and will extend to a Skoda extended warranty at 99k miles (extended warranty policies with Skoda need to begin before 100k miles but can be up to unlimited miles for a year).

 

That should get me to about 4 years when I'll either carry on taking a smaller risk or change to a new car.

1 hour ago, tkn said:

I'd stick with a Skoda extended warranty.

 

I did not have a good experience with a third party warranty in the past (motoreasy).

 

I've ordered a new Superb and will be extending the 60k warranty to 100k. I plan on doing 33k miles per year and will extend to a Skoda extended warranty at 99k miles (extended warranty policies with Skoda need to begin before 100k miles but can be up to unlimited miles for a year).

 

That should get me to about 4 years when I'll either carry on taking a smaller risk or change to a new car.

Just bear in mind the difference between a factory extended warranty (which can only be done before the car is ordered IIRC so not available to the OP) and an extended dealer warranty, which isn't the same thing / doesn't cover as much. But it still might be better than the others on the market. Like anything else, check the terms and exemptions of each very carefully when comparing them.

32 minutes ago, BriskodaJeff said:

Just bear in mind the difference between a factory extended warranty (which can only be done before the car is ordered IIRC so not available to the OP) and an extended dealer warranty, which isn't the same thing / doesn't cover as much. But it still might be better than the others on the market. Like anything else, check the terms and exemptions of each very carefully when comparing them.

 

Sure, well I requested the extended warranty you add as an option when buying a car so I will check that it is the 'factory' extended warranty. What's the OP?

Just now, tkn said:

 

Sure, well I requested the extended warranty you add as an option when buying a car so I will check that it is the 'factory' extended warranty. What's the OP?

Sorry - OP = Opening/Original Poster. Yours will almost certainly be the extended factory warranty (but well worth checking to make sure), but that isn't available to the opening poster as he already has his car.

A Skoda / VW extended warranty can be as good if not better than some other 3rd party warranty.

 

You just compare the T&C's / exclusions and prices.

http://insurewithskoda.co.uk/extended-warranty

 

Edited 14 January, 20197 yr by Skoffski

If you stick with the official extended warranty Skoda will intervene in the event of a dispute. I may be wrong but they may even underwrite it and just use an external administrator but even if I'm wrong they have a tangible interest. If you go for a third party warranty and there's a dispute then any representation to Skoda will likely end in a blunt reply. You're basically buying an insurance policy and as a general rule if you buy cheap then be prepared for a lower level of cover and greater difficulty in claiming.

Note: There are two Skoda extended warranty products. One is an extension of the factory warranty by Skoda UK. The new car extended warranty is only available at time of ordering (whatever that means).

The other product is a Skoda financial services extended warranty which is not as comprehensive but can be purchased at any time.

 

https://www.skoda.co.uk/owners/warranty

 

The website does not make this clear, although it is all there if you read it carefully. Its almost as if they didn't want you to know.

 

I think all the Skoda extended warranties require you have servicing and repairs exclusively done within the Skoda dealer network, which is not the case with other 3rd party warranties.

Edited 14 January, 20197 yr by xman

6 hours ago, jstallan said:

Given the current problems with my Superb (see the No Ignition thread) and the fact that it becomes 3 years old in June this year, my mind has started thinking about warranties should I keep the car.

 

Should I keep the car ? Not sure what else I'd buy. I really like the Superb, and I don't know what else I'd get at the moment. I've looked at E-Class estates, A6 estates and the V90, but I'm not sure they are worth the premium over the Skoda.

 

If I keep the car ? I think I'd be looking at getting a warranty for another year just for piece of mind. Not had to venture into this market for over 25 years, so are there any recommendations on what I should get (or avoid) ?

 

Thanks,

John

I'm going back to a Volvo and the V90 is way ahead of the Superb which is probably better compared to their 60 range. I like aspects of my Superb but the quality is far below that of the Volvo's I've had or used. The only reason I swapped was because the last car was visually identical to my then current car at that time and I just wanted something different. I think I could live with "same" having used a new Superb for a while where the centre console switches are so cheap and nasty. My Volvo still looked and drove like a new car at 95k miles and is still in the family approaching 125k. My Superb looks quite worn in places and has had significant problems and time of the road at 50k.

1 minute ago, xman said:

Note: There are two Skoda extended warranty products. One is an extension of the factory warranty by Skoda UK. The new car extended warranty is only available at time of ordering (whatever that means).

The other product is a Skoda financial services extended warranty which is not as comprehensive but can be purchased at any time.

 

https://www.skoda.co.uk/owners/warranty

 

Its a bit unclear and all rather confusing to me.

If "at time of ordering" means it has to be paid for in advance rather than an option that is paid for when it kicks in it seems a blatant rip off.

 

11 minutes ago, byteme said:

If "at time of ordering" means it has to be paid for in advance rather than an option that is paid for when it kicks in it seems a blatant rip off.

 

 

No idea, at one time it was simply if taken out at time of purchase of new car, but they recently changed the wording. The cynic in me might say perhaps they will build your car to a better standard...., or perhaps there were disputes between Skoda UK and Skoda Financial Services claiming the money or servicing claims, who knows?

 

 

Edited 14 January, 20197 yr by xman

4 minutes ago, xman said:

 

No idea, at one time it was simply if taken out at time of purchase of new car, but they recently changed the wording. The cynic in me might say perhaps they will build your car to a better standard...., or perhaps there were disputes between Skoda UK and Skoda Financial Services claiming the money or servicing claims, who knows?

 

 

Empire building and protecting budgets while people build their CVs rarely improves the customer experience.

Thanks All. I've had a look at  extending the Skoda warranty but the online system won't quote me because my car is only 30 months old and I didn't have time to try to call them. 

 

While my car has been out of action, I was given a V60 from the rental firm. Granted it wasn't the latest shape and I think it was a 1.6 diesel, but it was awful - the gearbox was auto and it couldn't make up its mind what gear it should be in! 

1 minute ago, jstallan said:

Thanks All. I've had a look at  extending the Skoda warranty but the online system won't quote me because my car is only 30 months old and I didn't have time to try to call them. 

 

While my car has been out of action, I was given a V60 from the rental firm. Granted it wasn't the latest shape and I think it was a 1.6 diesel, but it was awful - the gearbox was auto and it couldn't make up its mind what gear it should be in! 

I bet Skoda will write to you long before you need to think about taking out the extended warranty. 1.6 auto in a heavy car, I wonder why that didn't work well. Even the V40 is heavier than a Superb so I guess the S60 must be too. That engine is no longer is use but when it was somehow Volvo made it reliable when no one else could. I think changing the oil helped. 

1 minute ago, byteme said:

I bet Skoda will write to you long before you need to think about taking out the extended warranty. 1.6 auto in a heavy car, I wonder why that didn't work well. Even the V40 is heavier than a Superb so I guess the S60 must be too. That engine is no longer is use but when it was somehow Volvo made it reliable when no one else could. I think changing the oil helped. 

 

I bet they won't write to me long before I need to extend the warranty. I've put 52000miles on a Fabia since getting it new in Oct 2017.

6 hours ago, tkn said:

I'd stick with a Skoda extended warranty.

 

I did not have a good experience with a third party warranty in the past (motoreasy).

 

I've ordered a new Superb and will be extending the 60k warranty to 100k. I plan on doing 33k miles per year and will extend to a Skoda extended warranty at 99k miles (extended warranty policies with Skoda need to begin before 100k miles but can be up to unlimited miles for a year).

 

That should get me to about 4 years when I'll either carry on taking a smaller risk or change to a new car.

How do you calculate year 4 as a smaller risk?

7 hours ago, byteme said:

How do you calculate year 4 as a smaller risk?

 

It would be year 5, not year 4. Less to lose, I'd be in a position where if the worse happened, I could tolerate losing the whole value of the car.

12 hours ago, tkn said:

 

It would be year 5, not year 4. Less to lose, I'd be in a position where if the worse happened, I could tolerate losing the whole value of the car.

That's probably when you'll need it the most so likely to be a false economy. It might be worth checking the small print as the better extended warranties base liability on the value of the vehicle when the warranty began so potentially may have to pay out more than a car is worth several years down the line

Re Extended Skoda Warranties, 

 There is no requirement or T&C that there is main dealer servicing. 

 

Servicing to Recommendations or Guidelines or Schedules but not a 'restrictive practice' like Main Dealer Servicing.

As to Repairs, Diagnostics etc, you need to read the T&C's just as with any Extended Warranty from any provider.

On 14/01/2019 at 21:56, jstallan said:

Thanks All. I've had a look at  extending the Skoda warranty but the online system won't quote me because my car is only 30 months old and I didn't have time to try to call them. 

 

While my car has been out of action, I was given a V60 from the rental firm. Granted it wasn't the latest shape and I think it was a 1.6 diesel, but it was awful - the gearbox was auto and it couldn't make up its mind what gear it should be in! 

 

I had a 2 litre V90 for week with the 8 speed slushmatic - I couldn't agree more - endless annoying gear changes!

It used to be possible to purchase the 4/5 year extended warranty at anytime before the manufacturer 60k/3yr one expired. Then they stopped that and now has to be at time of ordering a new car.

My last Superb. a MkII 2015, I bought the other which is essentially an insurance policy with an excess. No where as good as a the manufacturer one. Also I let it lapse and when I tried to renew the premium had jumped nearly 3 fold to £900!

When I was driving the Brera, I asked the specialist I was dealing with if he recommended an after-market warranty. He recommended "self-insuring." He said find out how much a decent policy costs as a guideline, then just stick the monthly payments in a bank account you don't use. If your car breaks down, you've probably got enough saved to pay the bill. If it doesn't break down, you're laughing...

45 minutes ago, freelunch said:

When I was driving the Brera, I asked the specialist I was dealing with if he recommended an after-market warranty. He recommended "self-insuring." He said find out how much a decent policy costs as a guideline, then just stick the monthly payments in a bank account you don't use. If your car breaks down, you've probably got enough saved to pay the bill. If it doesn't break down, you're laughing...

 

Generally a good approach, unless you have a DQ200 DSG, in which case an extended warranty makes sense, provided it covers DSG failures. Clutch packs may not be covered though, read the small print and get confirmation in writing if possible.

1 hour ago, freelunch said:

When I was driving the Brera, I asked the specialist I was dealing with if he recommended an after-market warranty. He recommended "self-insuring." He said find out how much a decent policy costs as a guideline, then just stick the monthly payments in a bank account you don't use. If your car breaks down, you've probably got enough saved to pay the bill. If it doesn't break down, you're laughing...

 

Did he tell what the other "if " was and where you find the additional money when something major goes wrong? Ask yourself whether you think that warranty companies think of a figure, double it and then use that as a cost to sell warranties to stupid people or do they calculate the risk profile of individual models based on the warranty claims they've seen in the first three years (and modified thereafter based on later failures) and then find the lowest price they can sell it for to support their used car market?

 

Insurance is about spreading risk so to self insure with a single vehicle is impossible. Some of the larger dealer goups and car supermarkets self insure but then again they have lots of vehicles and experience to spread risk over. They also impose conditions on branches to work at much reduced rates and supply parts at cost price. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. The worse thing that can go wrong however is for the company to go bankrupt because as soon as they cease trading there's only a finite pot of money to cover all of the future claims. That's happened several times and it leaves customers with no cover. I think if you check into it Skoda's warranty you'll find it is self insured and then administered by an external company.

 

The route suggested to you (particularly on something as unreliable as a Brera) is just putting money away for a rainy day but if you invest it (not use a bank account) you'll be doing what all insurance companies do and earn income from it. Extend warranties are a little different to most other insurances where the premiums are based upon what they think people will pay. Extended warranties, from a manufacturers viewpoint, are there to support their products so whatever they charge is generally a good indicator of am individual vehicle's risk profile so to "self insure" you'd need to be putting away the equivalent each month. The problem is, if you're unlucky, you could end up with a major failure far in excess of what you have put aside and of course if you add monthly it will take up time to build the fund.

 

What your specialist said in essence was right but he should have said "on average this is what you'll likely spend, you may end up with an surplus you're just as likely to have to add more and may end up having to find thousands to pay in the event of a major failure". Labour rates and times are justifiable however manufacturers charge ridiculous prices for parts and in most cases there are no alternatives. For major units like engines it's not uncommon for parts or repair procedures not to be available. Not sure if this applies to VAG products yet but it's becoming increasingly common with other brands.