I’ve had them on several cars. Two used cars with 3rd party service contracts, and three new cars with manufacturer service contracts. I definitely got my money’s worth on the 3rd party service contracts but they are SO much of a pain to deal with I personally won’t ever do that again. Had a '99 Intrigue and a 3rd party w/ a few claims that were minor hassles - but eventually got my money’s worth when there was a crack in the block (!) and yes I had maintained it meticulously and had receipts for every oil change. They only would pay for a used engine, not a rebuilt, and would not even be able to tell me how many miles were on that engine. It was better than not having the warranty, but left a bad taste in my mouth.
Later had a BMW wagon and (among so many other problems I had) there is a wire front to back for the antenna that receives the signal for the key among other things (diversity antenna). $5500 from the BMW dealer to replace that wire because the headliner comes out and this wire is a single piece that is fed through holes in trim & body all the way from the engine to the rear spoiler. Rear gate hinge saws it in half over time - such a stupid design and placement, but that’s another story. While they are in there there is another wire worn but not broken. They’ll pay to do the whole job again when it goes, but won’t pay $500 to do it with the first wire. I let them do the one wire, had to pay the difference in shop rates, and got rid of the car. Redeemed the rest of my service contract and got $1500 back even after they had paid out $10k in claims on that car (just one year). They were probably still happy to be out of it. They did screw me on some things. They didn’t cover when the rear gate power hydraulics failed. I spent $200 and converted it to manual like the euro models - I hate the power lift anyway. But it was always a fight over anything with those guys.
Have had the manufacturer contracts from Volvo and Honda - the only way to go. Super painless. No haggle - just show up and they fix it. You can get the Honda contracts super cheap online from a dealer in Rhode Island. My Honda dealer tried to push the 3rd party contract and I said no way. HondaCare only. Then they gave me a price that was 2.5x what I could buy it for online. I said match it, or I’ll buy it tomorrow online. Was cheaper than the 3rd party they offered me and it is no hassle service. I doubt my '18 Clarity will even need it - but it is SUCH a complicated car I paid the $1200 to get 120k miles of peace of mind.
This week’s episode of the service contract funhouse is a 2013 or so Dodge Ram 2500. Needs 4 ball joints, tie rods, alignment. Transmission control solenoid assy on the valve body, some exhaust, and another item I can’t recall. $4400 worth of work. Customer approves it and says he has a service contract in the car, see how much they will cover. Turns out there’s a typo on the contract, one of the characters of the VIN should be a B but it was entered as a 3. So the company denies coverage on the basis of an invalid contract.
So now the customer is on the hook to us for $4400 and will have to go back to the selling dealer to figure this out.
That is a bummer, buying out our lease yesterday, had a bad number in my drivers licence, remember mine from the olden days when you had to write it on every check!
The VIN has a check digit, just like a UPC code. If one character is accidentally changed to something else, or if two consecutive characters are transposed, the result is not even a valid VIN. It should not be difficult to make the legal argument that a typographical error on one of the characters cannot possibly refer to a different vehicle, therefore it is a scrivener’s error which can be corrected without invalidating the contract.
Yup. The VIN as printed on the service contract is non existent. .
Nonetheless the VIN on the car in stall #3 does not match the VIN on the service contract. Claim denied.
The VIN on the service contract does not exist.
None of this is my problem. The customer is the one who bought a service contract he can’t use anywhere. He will have to sort this out with the dealer. I wish him luck recovering either the cost of the repairs or the price of the contract.
The price of the contract is easy. But getting a new contract issued for a vehicle already diagnosed needing a repair - tough. I agree with the comment on the scrivener’s error above - but they will probably make the customer go to court to enforce it.
I wonder if the incorrect character on the contract was intentional? I’m not normally one into conspiracy theories but I’ve seen a few things worse than that when it comes to service contracts.
Some years ago I bought a Subaru from a Subaru dealer I worked for. The dealer had sold this car new to a guy who traded it in 4 years later and which I then purchased. There were a few outstanding Recalls and I figured I would do them myself and get paid for doing so.
Corporate (for over 2 weeks) kept telling me that my car did not exist. The warranty clerk checked the VIN, checked my car title, and I stood by while she correctly entered the info multiple times. Still claims of a non-existent car and when I got rid of the car 13 years later those Recalls still had not been done.
And one of those Recalls came very close to killing me about 7 years after buying the car.
I wonder if asemaster’s Dodge owner is going to go through the same thing.