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Extended warranty - thoughts

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2.3K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  forthay  
#1 ·
I have a 2017, TTS on 40k. Annual mileage about 20k.

Just had all the fluids changed on top of a minor service.

I bought an extended warranty (not Audi) when I bought the car 3 years ago. I've had no issues.

I've been offered a further 3 years at about £1000.

What are people's thoughts on keeping a warranty going at this cost?
 
#2 ·
A water pump failure alone would almost justify that cost, so long as that would be covered. Like everything with a warranty it's a gamble. You could buy it and have absolutely no issues in the three years and it would feel like a total waste of money.

On my wife's MK2 we dropped out of warranty in 2017 and it's been fairly faultless since, save for a front brake calliper and service items. On her previous 2010 TT we had unwarranted repairs and a warranty would have been rather handy. With the TTRS I took the extended fourth year and that covered the (Common) sump leak that was discovered on the first MOT. Likewise I now have four years with the RS3 too.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Difficult to say without knowing what’s covered and more importantly what’s not, what the excess is and what the maximum labour rates are (Most of the ones I’ve looked at don’t come anywhere near what a main Audi dealer would charge) plus your own personal circumstances - if you got a large repair bill could you pay for it?

One way to look at it would be to look at the annual cost which is say £330. If you then were to add on the excess (say £250) and made a just one claim in the year then this gives annual cost of circa £600 a year to cover any repairs.

My Audi All in One warranty recent expired and after looking at the after market alternatives I decided nit to take one out
 
#4 ·
Generally, non-manufacturer warranties are a waste of money.

Look at the exclusions, the limits on hourly labour rates (you won't be getting anything fixed at a dealer or decent indy), the demands to see the failed parts months after the repair is complete, the non-stop arguing with both you and the garage doing the work, and you're far better off just sticking the money in the bank.
 
#5 ·
If its not a manufacturer warranty ie audi i wouldnt bother we had 1 with warranty wise when we had the cayman,it went into a specialist for some thing doing and they said Noooooo,i argued the point to no avail,total waste of money do your research before you take the plunge.
 
#6 · (Edited)
On balance the manufacturer warranty's offered by Audi have been good, for us. We've had work done free of charge that wasn't covered, the dealer called them good will repairs. But an Audi warranty is expensive. I have had a quote to place a 1 year warranty on the new to us 2016 TT. I was actually quite surprised they quoted on the car but they have. It is a little expensive @ £800 for the full cover option with a £100 excess.

Due to the age of the car I am considering it o_O
 
#7 ·
When you say the manufacturer warranty are you referring to the 3 year one that comes with a new car or the one you can purchase as part of the servicing pack for 3 to 6 years old? The latter is just an insurance based policy and they're a lot more picky as they need to prove what's wrong to get paid for fixing it rather than the happily dabble at no cost to you factory one. Still very good especially given the price though.
 
#10 ·
My son has just had a claim on his All In One Plan and the overall experience was superb. Warning light on dash was diagnosed as a faulty SOS control unit (£1100) and the MOT identified some wear in one of the wheel bearings. 24 hours to approve and book in date for work to be done. Initial diagnosis proved incorrect and issue turned out to be a faulty antenna which apparently is not covered but the dealership fixed that for free.
Good to hear. Would it be cynical to think they got paid for the £1100 fix but, as it wasn't actually needed, they just replaced a much cheaper part and pocketed the rest? :)

I queried them on water pump issues and they confirmed it was covered BUT it would have to be proved faulty for them to fix ie they wouldn't fix it under warranty just because they thought it might be faulty, no way to get a fault code for that I guess. Think it's right that you get charged for exploratory work if they can't find anything wrong to claim for though.
 
#12 ·
I had Audi Extended warranty on mine for a few years and had the thermostat / water pump job done with no problems. Also had the boot struts done on it. As said above, all very painless and worry free. Much better than 3rd party warranties.
Only downside is that I continued to use Audi for my servicing, just to ensure that there were never any quibbles about any potential claims.
 
#14 ·
As you have not had to call on the extended warranty to date then it's still an unknown quantity. Realistically these are just a form of insurance policy and are therefore subject to the usual insurance wriggling and back tracking when called on.

Instead how about putting £1000 in a savings account only to be called on when / if required . . . if you don't use it then, at 3 years, YOU have £1000 not the insurance people.
As with most things it’s a personal choice . . if you are happy with the cover and the T&C’s offered then renew it.
 
#15 ·
I had an Audi extended warranty for a number of years. A little piece of mind and the renewal costs were roughly half of taking out a new policy. Unlike @ZephyR2 the dealer said the boot struts were not covered when they went though. Maybe I should have pushed harder :rolleyes: to get it fixed under warrant.