Re: Another - Autoprotect warranty company refusing to pay claims

[lpoollad_69]

Hello,

I would like to start by informing as many people as possible to avoid Auto protect as they are a complete and utter [problem] as I will explain below.

I paid £971.88 for 3 years cover of “premier plus mechanical breakdown insurance” with AutoProtect for my range rover vogue as I knew if something went wrong it would be costly as I’ve owned one previously. This was purchased via my car finance provider “carloans4u”. I was informed that if anything happens to my car it will be covered (other than wear and tear i.e. tyres etc.) and the only thing I would have to pay for is diagnostics. My car has now been in the garage since the 25/02/15 (over 4 months) where it remains to this day.

On the 22/02/15 my car went into limp mode with a complete loss of power. I contacted Auto protect who advised me to take it to Halfords auto centre as they have an account with them and the job would be done quickly. I took it to Halfords auto centre and had it diagnosed (at a cost to me) as a turbo failure. Halfords then informed me that they couldn’t do the job as it was too big for them. I then contacted Auto protect to inform them and they said to take it anywhere as long as the garage is VAT registered. I then spoke to land rover to book it in with them yet there was a 2 week waiting list to have the car looked at and in addition to this you have to book a courtesy car 3 weeks in advance? Try and figure that one out! Therefore I booked the car in at a local land rover specialist to be diagnosed (paid for again by me). The reported again stated that the near side turbo had failed.

Auto protect then requested that the turbos were to be sent to their approved tester for them to be checked at my expense? I refused and told them that it had already been diagnosed at 2 independent garages to which they then agreed to cover the cost of the shipping and testing etc. A week later they informed me that the near side turbo was faulty and the off side turbo was fine. Therefore they were sending the working one back to us and replacing the near side turbo, which I thought great. Almost 2 weeks later the new turbo arrived and the garage began putting the car back together. Now at this point Auto protect informed the land rover specialist that they would only be paying/authorizing 7.7 hours labour as this is what it states in the glass guide. The land rover specialist informed Auto protect that it was impossible to carry out such works in such a time frame. Auto protect informed me that if I got written proof from land rover stating the job took longer then they would pay out for whatever land rover stipulate. I obtained written proof from land rover that the job takes a total 11.8 hours labour (£130 an hour plus vat, total £1840.80), now this took about a month as at first land rover didn’t want to give up this information as the car wasn’t in a land rover garage. This information was then sent to Auto protect and after reviewing it they still refused to pay out for the full job i.e. hours. They said some of the items on the job sheet that land rover where stating were required to be done/changed for a turbo refit were not required?!? Can you believe this, some kid in a call centre is claiming land rover are making jobs up! They continued to state they will only pay for 7.7 hours labour at £70 an hour plus the VAT, total £646.80 and not a penny more.

The land rover specialist then presented me with a bill for £1956.58 which included items such as oil etc. which the land rover quote did not include (hence the higher price). I then contacted Auto protect and I pointed out to them that items such as oil are also covered under the warranty, they then reluctantly agreed to pay for this. Land rover charge £108 to refill the oil, once this bill was given to Auto protect they then said and I quote “I can find oil cheaper than that” and began to google it! Yes I said googled it! He then informed me that he had found oil on the internet for £15. After nearly falling out of my chair laughing I informed him that I’m not putting cheap £15 oil into land rover. After going around in circles with him for an hour he said the most they can pay towards the oil was £50?

Therefore in total the job cost £1956.58

Auto protect paid me £720.34

Leaving me to pay £1236.24

Plus the cost of the original warranty of £971.88

Total cost to me £2208.12, this comes to more than what the job would have cost if I didn’t purchase the warranty in the first place.

But wait the story doesn’t end there, it’s just getting started!

Once the car was put back together the land rover specialist called to inform me that the car was still in limp mode. They had no idea as to why this was and spent days on it double and triple checking they hadn’t done anything wrong. They then had auto tec come in and check the cables/signals in case that was at fault. They then discovered that the new turbo sent from Auto protect isn’t working as no electrical signal is being sent from the turbo back to the ECU. The land rover specialist contacted Auto protect to inform them and Auto protect simply said “strip it all down and start again”. The land rover specialist asked as to what they will pay for labour etc. as what they had paid for the first job didn’t cover the costs and the fact that this was now there fault they should be responsible to put it right. Auto protect said they will only pay what they had originally paid as this is all they are liable to pay. Therefore as to date my car is still in the garage being stripped down for the second time for the same job to be carried out twice on it.

Therefore in total the job cost £3913.16

Auto protect will have paid me £1440.68

Leaving me to pay £2472.48

Plus the cost of the original warranty of £971.88

Total cost to me £3444.36

At this point (11/07/15) the car has been stripped down for a second time and is in the process of having the turbo sent off to be tested again (the new turbo this is). Once tested and sent back the car can be put back together and hopefully I might get my car back after 5 months.

Of course I have taken legal advice and also have the financial ombudsman looking into this for me.

I have also spoken to Carloans4u as it was them who I bought the warranty from and they must know that Auto protect behave in this way as the first words out of his mouth was “contact the financial ombudsman”.

Please anyone who is thinking of taking this warranty on, don’t as it’s a con. They will also try and wiggle out of paying as they ask for all your previous service history including invoices and precious MOTs before authorising a job. If you don’t have this in place they won’t pay out, well a third pay out I should say. In addition to this they state in the warranty that they suggest your car is serviced every 6 months? These people are a joke and should be avoided at all costs.

I am now posting my experience on every review web site on google and also there twitter feeds etc.

[Conniff]

I have moved your post from the old one to a thread of your own and renamed it 'Another - Autoprotect warranty company refusing to pay claims'. I will return later and tidy up your post to make it more readable.

 

Your thread is in the same section - Vehicle retailers and manufacturers

[carbuyer101]

Do these warranties ever pay out? I don't suppose OP is coming back to update either.