Car Warranty Terms Glossary

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	This feature is included
	The information available doesn't specify if this feature is covered
	This feature is not covered
	Value of the car
	All parts covered
	Available feature, but at an additional cost
	Policy will list parts covered
	Number of options available
	Maximum hourly labour rate for any work completed
	Not applicable

 

What do the following terms mean, and why have we included them?

1. Wear & Tear

• When a car is new, the manufacturer gives a warranty that all the parts will work for sometime. If they fail within a year (or in some cases up to five years) then there is little argument about the problem being due to a ‘manufacturing fault' (or design fault).
• However, as the car gets older, because they are subjected to so many different environments and driving styles and uses, it can become less clear whether a part has failed because of a manufacturing fault or simply through hard use.
• If a warranty, like Kia's 7 year policy, says it only covers manufacturing faults then there is significant scope for disagreement when you go to claim.
• If the warranty company expressly says they cover ‘wear and tear' then you have a much better chance of getting paid on any claim.

2. Failure found at MOT

• If a car is found to be inadequate for the purposes of passing an MOT inspection, some companies refuse to pay the claim because the part has not failed.

3. Failure found at service

• If a car is found to have a problem which means it probably won't last until the next service, some companies refuse to pay the claim because the part has not failed.

4. Breakdown recovery

• Some companies offer this, or money towards the costs as it is expensive to pay to have your broken down car towed to a garage.

5. Emergency travel

• If you have to use other forms of transport when you break down because you are far from home, some companies will pay for this up to a limit.

6.  No exclusion period

• Some companies refuse to pay on claims that are made in the first 30-90 days to prevent fraud.

7. No excess

• Like car insurance, when you make a claim, some warranty policies ask for an excess payment to prevent fraud.

8.  What parts and labour are covered?

• Some policies say they cover all parts, some expressly say what they cover, some say what they expressly DON'T cover.

9. No claim amount limit?

• Some policies limit the amount you can claim per claim or in total over a year. Most make that limit the value of the car.

10. Maximum garage labour rate

• Garage labour rates are higher at main dealers than smaller garages and if you want to make sure you have a main dealer garage fix the car, you need to check the labour rate maximum.

11. No betterment charge

• If an insured part on your car fails and replacing it, and related parts, would make the car better than it was before the insured part failed, then some companies charge a fee for this towards the elements that make the car ‘better.'

12.   Failure caused by non-insured parts

• If a part that the warranty expressly says is not covered fails, and damages a part that is covered, warranties will only pay if they have agreed in their policy to cover damaged caused by non-insured parts.

13. Transferable

• If you sell the car, most people make a small admin charge for transferring the policy with the car to its new owner.

14. Key parts covered

• Warranty Expert have tried to highlight some key, expensive parts, that are likely to fail and which, in our view, too few warranty companies cover.