I did a fair bit of searching on here, but didn't find what I was looking for. Not sure if I'm posting this in the right place, but here goes. My recent extended warranty I purchased through MINI is about to expire. I received a letter from a company called "Motor Vehicle Services", with info about extending my warranty. So I called to get the gist of it and they gave me a quote of ~$3500 for 5 yrs of warranty up to 155k miles (i have 55k right now). The only catch is I need to sign up right then. The won't email a contract or anything for me to review. So I did sign up after being reassured that I could cancel after I reviewed the contract they sent.

Fast forward. I got the contract from a company called American Automotive Service I looked it over and it seems OK, but they have an additive that is suppposed to be added every oil change and it states that the oil needs to be changed every 4k miles. I called and they said that they were willing to send me a new contract with the 15k mile oil change interval MINI recommends and let me do my own oil changes provided I keep all the receipts. It covers all engine components, tranny, steering, etc, but it still seemed kinda fishy. I called today to cancel and they really were not having it. I finally had to be a **** and just tell the guy to cancel it. So before I send in the letter stating I want it canceled, I was wondering if any of you had any experience with this company. Maybe it's not such a bad deal?

I think I'll call MINI as well to see if they deal with them before I pull the plug. $3500 is a decent amount, but my last repair (clutch and oil leak from the bed plate) would have been $4572 if I had it serviced at MINI out of warranty. I also understand that there are a lot of good independent shops that could also probably done that work for 1/2 the price or so. Anyways. let me know your thoughts. Best,

 

make sure you look at what the deductible is as well as if it is per visit or per issue. Some warranty companies charge the deductible per issue on the RO. Also check and see what parts they use. Some warranty companies require that remanufactured parts be used in certain instances. A guy I worked with needed a Tranny and the repair took over a month because the warranty company insisted on a remanufactured transmission took forever to find one and then it was damaged when the part arrived.

I would be careful especially if they were so insistent that you pay right then and there and then wouldnt provide information upfront you had to pay first. That doesnt seem like the way to start things out.

 

Sounds fishy with the additive and OCI, I would cancel. The price is pretty high, I had a policy from Easy Care as that is what my local dealership uses for their extended warranties on used cars and it was great for all 4 of my claims

 

There's been fairly good media coverage of this tactic to sell a product warranty (for an oil or other additive) in lieu of a vehicle warranty.

We had the whole US Fidelis melt-down here in STL, so media coverage is pretty extensive of warranty companies, like this one:

http://www.stltoday.com/business/wou...b82d9e41d.html

I'd pass, myself. Maybe these guys are alright...or not. This particular article's main point is, unlike a vehicle warranty, there's no refund of unused "warranty" coverage should you no longer own the vehicle at any point in the future, and that point wasn't covered well to these purchasers.

 

Everything about this is sending up warning signs that these guys, while perhaps not a total scam, are likely to take your money and find any excuse in the book to not cover a warranty repair. In general, third-party extended warranties are poor values and the companies are difficult to work with.

If you can get your money back, I would do it NOW. And never sign up to anything that has a "catch" that you have to sign up immediately to take advantage of the deal. A legit offer from a responsible business will give you time to think things over.

- Mark

 

Yeah I guess I'll cancel. I did have another extended warranty through what I think was fidelity which worked great. They did have to send an inspector every time I needed a repair, but I definitely got my moneys worth out of it.

I called my MINI shop, but couldn't get ahold of the service rep to see if they had any experience with this company. The company states $0 deductible, but their hard sell BS just makes me skeptic. Might be time to just roll up my sleeves, crack open the bentley manual, and ride the motorcycle for a few days if I need to fix the MINI. Thanks guys.