UPDATE - the dealers I bought the car from have paid for the replacement clutch and a few other bits the garage found when doing the work, then they're claiming as much as they can back from A1. Overall I'm really happy - there was no question from them on it and they sorted it directly with my garage without any fuss!

Didn't pay for the warranty, they incldued it with the car so that I wouldn't have to trek over in the event of an issue. Written in the policy wording that I can take it to a local garage and the receipt says that the warranty is via A1. The car's being stripped at the moment, they've got to get to the clutch to inspect the thrust bearing and from what I gather it's an absolute pain to do on the Mini so most of the front of the car's being removed.

Yes, work's started on the investigation/repair as per A1'a instructions. The dealer I bought from is ~15 miles away, at the time of sale they specifically told me that the warranty covers me to go to a more local garage and that if I had any issues I'd just need to call the warranty company to sort it. I've followed the warranty instructions to take it to a local garage for an investigation/repair so if this has compromised my rights I'm going to be seriously annoyed!

The issue is that if I reject the car I'm left with a bill that runs in to £00's for stripping it down and inspecting it. Would I be within my rights to keep the car but claim the costs back from the garage I purchased it from?

Hi, First post, just looking for a bit of guidence for a potential issue! I bought a used car just over a week ago (28th April). It was purchased from an independent car dealership and came with a 6 month third party warranty (A1 Approved). It's a 2007 Mini Cooper with ~100k miles. On Friday I was taking my daughter to nursery when the clutch failed somewhat spectacularly - the thurst bearing failed when changing gear on a dual-carriageway and damn near burnt the clutch out. I managed to limp it back home. I called the warranty company who advised me to take it to a local garage for an inspection and get them to liase directly. Luckily there's a garage literally round the corner from us, I took it in and they confirmed that the thurst bearing's gone and it needs a replacement clutch. I've had a call from the garage today saying that the warranty company are being incredibly evasive and won't authorise the repair without photos of the damaged part. Unfortunately there's half a days work to get to it so it seems pointless odd that they'd do this when the garage have already told them what's wrong. Called the warranty company myself and, big suprise, they're very very evasive and told me that they can't authorise anything as it may be wear and tear. Whislt I appreciate that things do wear out I've had the car a week and thrust bearings don't usually wear out before the clutch itself. I explained the situation with the garage having to strip half the car to get to the clutch but they stuck my their refusal to authorise it. I've been left with little choice but to instruct the garage to proceed with the repair, take the required photo and agree to settle the bill directly with them should A1 refuse to pay out - otherwise it's several hunderd £'s just to do an inspection and the same again to actually do the repair. I've contacted the dealer in writing to explain the situation as I believe they'll be liable should the warranty not pay out but I'm not sure where I stand on having the work done - I can't exactly get the car to them when I've followed their warranty terms and had it stripped for inspection and I'll be damned if I'm paying for the labour to put it back together and ship it to the dealer for a new clutch! Thanks in advance! Dan