I was really disappointed when enquiring of my dealer re taking out a Skoda Extended Warranty on my Fabia vRS to be told it doesn't exist! Does Skoda have so little faith in its cars?

If the new Fabia vRS had been out by now I'd have probably swapped - as it is I can't think of any other car in a similar price range that I'd get instead - so am thinking of keeping the existing one for at least another year.

The dealer's at least offered an aftermarket one but I've never trusted those and http://www.briskoda.net/forums/general-car-chat/warranty-direct/85584/ would seem to bear out that thought.

They've quoted me 12 months at £288.75 and 24 months at £472.50 and send through an A4 page of small print headed "GOLD WARRANTY" which references a firm called "Auto Protect (Administration) Limited". It says "All mechanical and electrical components are included..." then gives a long list of exclusions finishing with the words "this is no a complete list"! Clearly I would have to investigate further before taking this out to prove it's worthwhile.

Googling reveals a firm called "Auto Protect MBI Limited" - http://www.autoprotect.net/ - which offers "Standard", "Premier", or "Premier Plus" warranties. The lists there are different from the "Gold" one, and include such suspicious terms as "The turbo charger unit is covered only if agreed and if the extra premium has been paid" and "Electrical system - to a maximum of £100 per claim including VA.T ".

Both the A4 document and the website have the same contact address (Cambridge House, Cambridge Road, Harlow, Essex CM20 2EQ) so they must essentially be the same company.

Anyone any experience of either firm?

Anyone care to suggest a good alternative warranty provider?

Anyone have recommendations on the way forward? (i.e. take out a warranty, risk it, or sel the car!) Since so little's gone wrong so far (currently on 37,500 miles - turbo pipe disconnected at 21,000 miles; twice; repaired by me with a hose-clip after the dealer refused to do anything...) I'm inclined to risk not having a warranty...

Since you've found the earlier thread, you know my views on "extended warranties".

I'd risk it, cos the only thing I know of that's gone wrong on my car at 74_000 miles is a failed alternator, and IMO that's not Skoda's fault.

i have a skoda used car warranty, which i could extend, but they have been a total shower of **** everytime the car has needed them!

it took them 5 days to arrive to say yes the turbo had gone then a further 2 days to contact the dealer to say yes do the work!

wont be wasting my time with them again!

Warranty direct are good.

They give you a list of what IS covered and also do wear and tear cover too.

When i got my 04 vrs i got a years Skoda Warrenty with it!

Thats proper warrenty!

I had a new car "unlimited mileage" warrenty on my new vRS for two years, when the console bushes failed they refused to replace them, quoting "wear and tear" even though we ALL know this is a design fault, as it is a recognised weakness on this car (I had a bloody saxo VTR for 150,000 miles for gods sake, and that never needed any bushes! and thats french build quality!)

I also have a garuntee (before I bought it) from fiat , that if any bushes go on my car within the first two years,they will be replaced free of charge..

skoda know why I'm no longer driving a vRS.... (and won't buy another) loved the car, hated the fact that the customer service was rubbish....

*rant over....

Hi

DRJ

No I don’t have any experience with any of the firm like this but I can prefer you a site called Extended Warranty Shopper: Car, Truck & Auto Warranties you can get all about extended warranties. Hope this will help you.

All the best.

have a look at black horse warranties. we do them here and ive not had any issues with them so far. backed by lloyds tsb so cant be bad!

worth bearing in mind that most extra warranties will only cover what the manufacturers will cover. so "wear and tear" problems will always be a sore point :(

I've been with WD for a year and a bit and made a claim through them.

Good points - the repair work was carried out at a main dealer using Ford parts and all diagnosis and labour costs were met and 90% of parts (due to mileage on car) covered

Bad points - they only pay for a courtesy car for the time the car is being repaired (ie the labour time) rather than the time the car is off the road. They do cover "wear and tear" but it excludes "service" items, eg shocks, clutches, bushes, etc, etc.

Chris

I have used The Car Care Plan provided through the CSMA before. paid around £200 a year and this provided cover for MOT failure parts too. I never claimed on the MOT section but did on the basic warrenty. Found the service etc good with the work quickly arranged and carried out. Also the plan was very inclusive and gave only a small list of items not covered. So I think you need to look carefully at these things and find one that gives the level of cover you are happy with.