Car Dealer Warranty - Which one?

[LOVECARS 3]

Hi, my first post on this forum. I have just started my own business selling cars after working in the industry for a long time and have been supplying my own warranties. All of my cars are serviced and MOT'd prior to sell and are inspected to a high standard. The majority of my cars sold are from £3000 to £6000, although I do sell a few a bit higher or lower priced than that. I have been trying to research on which warranty provider to go with and I thought why not actually ask dealers themselves for honest feedback on who to use. I am a straight up guy who genuinely does want to help customers if they get a problem so I don't want a company that is going to mess customers around.

Warranty Assist have been in contact with me also I have read some other topics on here regarding WMS.

 

Thanks

[Max Branning 149]

On 8/17/2016 at 9:57 PM, LOVECARS said:

Hi, my first post on this forum. I have just started my own business selling cars after working in the industry for a long time and have been supplying my own warranties. All of my cars are serviced and MOT'd prior to sell and are inspected to a high standard. The majority of my cars sold are from £3000 to £6000, although I do sell a few a bit higher or lower priced than that. I have been trying to research on which warranty provider to go with and I thought why not actually ask dealers themselves for honest feedback on who to use. I am a straight up guy who genuinely does want to help customers if they get a problem so I don't want a company that is going to mess customers around.

Warranty Assist have been in contact with me also I have read some other topics on here regarding WMS.

 

Thanks

This answers your question.... Self warrant.

[Rory RSC 596]

A1 warranties are very good. 

You pay them an admin fee per policy.

you pay an amount per warranty which goes into your own pot. 

When you make a claim they pay out out of your own fund. 

I have saved a fortune using them. 

I don't respect or rate any aftermarket warranty company they just do not want to or like paying out. 

 

I I would advise staying away from warrantywise they are a truly awful company to have dealt with. 

 

[Tom 164]

1 hour ago, Rory RSC said:

A1 warranties are very good. 

You pay them an admin fee per policy.

you pay an amount per warranty which goes into your own pot. 

When you make a claim they pay out out of your own fund. 

I have saved a fortune using them. 

I don't respect or rate any aftermarket warranty company they just do not want to or like paying out. 

 

I I would advise staying away from warrantywise they are a truly awful company to have dealt with. 

 

If you're paying in to a pot and they take the money out of your pot why don't you just self warrant? As your paying an admin fee on top as well. 

[It's me 613]

4 minutes ago, Tom said:

If you're paying in to a pot and they take the money out of your pot why don't you just self warrant? As your paying an admin fee on top as well. 

because some customers like to have the assurance of a named warranty company and also you get the banners and balloons

i self warrant but its not always easy

[Rory RSC 596]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

If you're paying in to a pot and they take the money out of your pot why don't you just self warrant? As your paying an admin fee on top as well. 

The admin fee I have negotiated with them is really very minor. 

I believe it assists with accounting figures. 

whilst our total number of repairs claimed is very little I just don't want to be dealing with every customer for some trivial things and would rather the warranty company tell them it's their car and down to them on the wear and tear stuff. 

When the business grows I might look to do it 100% in house. If I was a smaller business I might have more time to do it all in house currently 7 days and seem to be starting earlier and finishing later all the time I just cba. 

[Tom 164]

2 hours ago, Rory RSC said:

The admin fee I have negotiated with them is really very minor. 

I believe it assists with accounting figures. 

whilst our total number of repairs claimed is very little I just don't want to be dealing with every customer for some trivial things and would rather the warranty company tell them it's their car and down to them on the wear and tear stuff. 

When the business grows I might look to do it 100% in house. If I was a smaller business I might have more time to do it all in house currently 7 days and seem to be starting earlier and finishing later all the time I just cba. 

I know what you mean this job chews up a lot of time. I self warrant as I've never seen any good reviews on warranty companies. 

4 hours ago, s and b said:

because some customers like to have the assurance of a named warranty company and also you get the banners and balloons

i self warrant but its not always easy

I buy my own balloons. My customers seemed impressed that I warrant the cars myself not had a problem without using a brand. 

[M.J 35]

I don't get many warranty claims but like Rory says i prefer to pay a warranty company as it removes me from the claims procedure and i don't have to go back and forth with customer and mechanics etc, i'm on my own so its one less headache i have to deal with and that's worth the warranty price for me.

Same as doing all your tax/vat/accounting, sure i could do it in house myself but i'd prefer to pay an accountant and free up some time.

This game can eat up every bit of spare time you have so i will always try and buy back bits of my time by paying others where possible.

I used to self warrant until one day i was at the airport ready to board a plane for a long overdue holiday, i was just about to turn my phone off when i got a call from a customer that had bought a car about a month prior and was going ape s**t down the phone about a problem with the car, i ended up spending all of my holiday trying to get the situation resolved. For me its well worth the money to partially remove myself from the warranty procedure.

[metcars 395]

56 minutes ago, M.J said:

This game can eat up every bit of spare time you have so i will always try and buy back bits of my time by paying others where possible.

Totally agree, You do what you do best, and they do what they do best!

[Tom 164]

But if the warranty company says no its not covered, then doesn't the customer ring you anyway? Do you tell them to go away if the warranty company said no. 

[M.J 35]

Its more of a physiological thing, if the customers hears a no from an established corporate warranty company they are more likely to accept it than if the no is coming from you, they think typical dealer trying to worm his way out of a problem and will escalate it.

If you're with a decent warranty company and it is a legitimate claim then they will pay up no problem.

And if they don't then i will always try to help anyway, but its very rare that it will come to that if you're with a good warranty company.

 

[Max Branning 149]

I self warrant but recently received an email from a company offering a 12 month bells and whistle warranty for £92 this sounds good i think...maybe i can upsell these to my customers for say £150 a nice little side line.

After reading the small print on cars over 6 years old , which is the vast majority of my stock, it only covers 50% of the parts and labour cost, called betterment i believe. So for example my customer buys a 7 year old car for £2995 then pays me £150 for 12 month warranty. Month 2 gearbox blows up lets say a £1000 fix, poor customer who has already paid me £150 for such great cover now also has to pay £500 towards the cost of the repair. Is anybody really going to be happy with this? I would expect in this situation the customer would expect me to foot the full cost of repair?

So its £92 down the drain in my opinion and this is just one example of why i self warrant. Everything is done on MY terms and customers get treated better all round. 

[Tom 164]

Who do you use?

[M.J 35]

Autoguard

[betginge 73]

15 hours ago, M.J said:

Autoguard

MJ

How Much Do Autoguard Charge for their warranties ? A Few dealers close to me are Using them at the min, So I am guessing they are Ok. 

Lee

 

[M.J 35]

6 month, £1000 claim limit = £99

[Max Branning 149]

Each to their own, and i get the thing about not having enough time but...

If you sell say 200 cars a year x £99 = £19800

Last year i would say i spent no more than £3000 on repairs to customers so this is big money savings we are talking about. Obviously you could have a bad year and pay out much more but really would it ever be more than £19800 ??

I would not touch an insurance warranty with a barge pole - unless the customer really wants one and they are paying for it.

Edited August 22, 2016 by Max Branning

[M.J 35]

As you said each to their own, you will definitely be up financially over me at the end of the year no doubt but i really want as little contact with the customer once the car is sold, i'm a 1 man operation at the moment and i'm already flat out, i couldn't deal with warranties issues as well.

But i do plan to employ a helper/mechanic at some point in the near future. At that point i'll self warrant and use the yearly warranty savings towards the employees wage.

[LOVECARS 3]

So can we clarify Autoguard are a good company? I have been contacted by Warranty Assist but have no heard of them before.

Thanks

[colnecarcentre 2]

If it helps... I tend to put £100 per car sold into a deposit account and use it as my contingent liability fund, I use World of warranty to administer it, but, invariably end up just dealing with the customer directly. If I am selling out of area, or if someone wants a higher level of cover or for a longer period I use mainly Warantywise. They do some decent point of sale... (apart from the complicated and convoluted flag, but.... that's another story) and I have been quite impressed with them if I have had a claim. I do like to think that we send everything out properly prepared and try to cover all bases.

[Mat C 77]

I self warrant using Lawgistics books. I'm considering moving up to the administered package as they then do most of the legwork in terms of claims, you just pay.

Excellent, friendly and honest people to deal with I have nothing but praise for them. You get a claim, you can call them for legal advice to see if you're liable etc....

£6 a go for nice glossy warranty book - I give 3 months on all stock other than trade and upsell a 12 Month for £350. Every time I sell a warranty I put the £300 odd into a warranty account and then use that for any claims. I have had 1 gearbox ( £500 ) and 1 clutch ( £500 ) in the 10 months i've been doing this. so my view is i've saved £££ over paying £XX per warranty. Also whatever's left in the warranty pot at the end of the 12 months cover is profit. I like to think I buy relatively well, and that I prep my cars well enough so that they are decent quality and would last. However as we all know, stuff goes wrong. I find being the point of contact makes it easier, and I can  authorise something in a flash. Also I find if you sort silly stuff out that most companies would decline, it helps build a better relationship and customer experience. I changed a fog lamp the other day for a lady, cost me £30 overall, she thinks i'm amazing and leaves me a 5 star review on autotrader, I'd have paid £30 for that alone!

I also couldn't do it to myself to have pictures of Quentin Wilson allover the place as per warrantywise POS - My garage also tells me they are terrible at claims handling. 

[LOVECARS 3]

On 8/24/2016 at 0:20 PM, Mat C said:

I self warrant using Lawgistics books. I'm considering moving up to the administered package as they then do most of the legwork in terms of claims, you just pay.

Excellent, friendly and honest people to deal with I have nothing but praise for them. You get a claim, you can call them for legal advice to see if you're liable etc....

£6 a go for nice glossy warranty book - I give 3 months on all stock other than trade and upsell a 12 Month for £350. Every time I sell a warranty I put the £300 odd into a warranty account and then use that for any claims. I have had 1 gearbox ( £500 ) and 1 clutch ( £500 ) in the 10 months i've been doing this. so my view is i've saved £££ over paying £XX per warranty. Also whatever's left in the warranty pot at the end of the 12 months cover is profit. I like to think I buy relatively well, and that I prep my cars well enough so that they are decent quality and would last. However as we all know, stuff goes wrong. I find being the point of contact makes it easier, and I can  authorise something in a flash. Also I find if you sort silly stuff out that most companies would decline, it helps build a better relationship and customer experience. I changed a fog lamp the other day for a lady, cost me £30 overall, she thinks i'm amazing and leaves me a 5 star review on autotrader, I'd have paid £30 for that alone!

I also couldn't do it to myself to have pictures of Quentin Wilson allover the place as per warrantywise POS - My garage also tells me they are terrible at claims handling. 

Hi Mat I have private messaged you regarding what you do, if you could get back to me that would be great many thanks

[Wood235 36]

We self warrant and have for over 10yrs, none of the companies are any good, everything is always put down to wear & tear!

The companies refuse to cough up, then the customer will come back to you and because of legal obligation, you will end up paying for it anyway!

Most customers have had first hand experience of warranty companies dismissing claims so our personal cover affects them making up their mind whether to buy from us.

As someone has mentioned, there's a nice profit to be had after putting £100 in the pot on every car!

[Mat C 77]

10 hours ago, LOVECARS said:

Hi Mat I have private messaged you regarding what you do, if you could get back to me that would be great many thanks

Hi I replied yesterday?

 

[LOVECARS 3]

4 hours ago, Mat C said:

Hi I replied yesterday?

 

Ah its not showing in my inbox? Not sure whats going on there? Do you mind trying to re-send it? Thanks again for all your help