Swan Platinum Extended Warranty

[BLACK 346]

My daughter has just purchased a 2009 VW Golf Comfortline. She has been offered the 3 year Swan extended warranty as part of the upsell for $1700. Now whilst I usually run a mile when they try and pitch these warranties, I am concerned about the DSG gearbox in the car. It seems to be well documented that they have issues, and are extremely costly if you get a bad one. What are peoples thoughts, should she cough up for the extra warranty? Opinions and experiences appreciated :)

[whitels1ss]

Rod, have a good read of the policy and see exactly what is covered.

The aftermarket don't cover things considered to be wear & tear or serviceable parts
they are also generally a "mechanical failure" policy & use that term allot in their PDS.

Have a look at the page I have linked, you will have to know exactly which product
the dealer is selling you, They all have limits to the amount they will pay on any individual claim,
they have limits for types of failures, (some have limits of $4000 for engine, $2000 transmission, $1500 electrical components...etc...
if you pay $1700 for policy then $100 excess on claim & only have say $2000 limit on transmission it's not going to be worth buying for that alone)
they mostly have an excess to be paid on each claim,
they can ask you to contribute towards repairs if they consider wear to be a factor in the breakdown
& they also have total claim limits.

As I wrote, make certain you know exactly which policy you are getting
& see what is covered & what is not covered.

http://www.swanninsurance.com.au/docs/warranty.pdf


Dealer cost on those warranties is around $600 from memory so they use them to add gross into the deal
& quite often they will throw them at you for nothing to get a deal, saying "I have just given you an extra $1,700" :lmao:

If it was me, I would steer away from the car entirely because of it's well known expensive repair problems.

[QIKMIK]

I have these Swann warranties on my current and former lease cars. Not sure how much they are supposed to cost as I didn't feel the hit of cash going out for the cover as it was included in the various packages. I have found the Swann team quite reasonable to deal with and they pay out quickly when any covered item fails. I have had a water pump done on my old VE Lumina (car bought by my folks, warranty transferred to them ($65) and everything is still covered). My Senator has done a harmonic balancer and the rear MRC shocks. All covered with nothing to pay on the balancer and a small co-payment for the shocks ($400 out of a $2500 job).

The 5-star warranty seems to be the pick of the bunch but I would make sure that the DSG and any other items you are concerned about are covered.

Mick

[BLACK 346]

Thanks for the quick replies fellas, much appreciated. I have done a bit of research on the DSG, and am going to ring VW Monday morning to see if the car has been recalled under their voluntary recall of cars with DSG boxes.
Car also has full service history to date, which is apparently extremely important for DSG cars.

[BLACK 346]

If it was me, I would steer away from the car entirely because of it's well known expensive repair problems.

I advised the same mate, but it is her money and she is set on White VW Golf. Would have been a GTI if she was allowed to drive them.

[whitels1ss]

Many of these warranties are also designed to get money back into the dealer's workshop
& are like a "service plan" so have a good read of the "Service Requirements" section.
Some aftermarket warranties insist that you have to go only to specific approved workshops for all servicing
on time & mileage otherwise the warranty is void.

[whitels1ss]

I advised the same mate, but it is her money and she is set on White VW Golf. Would have been a GTI if she was allowed to drive them.

Really nice cars, just a shame about the ticking time bomb in the driveline.

See this thread

http://www.ls1.com.au/forum/showthread.php?164147-VW-Australia-in-for-a-right-Screwing-quot-Das-Image-quot-does-not-match-the-reality&highlight=volkswagen

[BLACK 346]

http://www.swanninsurance.com.au/docs/warranty.pdf


Just read this and it appears that you must get your vehicle serviced by a dealer or franchise of the same make. So this means locked into VW servicing. Deal breaker.

[Micks]

As Ed mentioned above, look well into it before you sign up! I had it back in 2006 on my 2004 Vy tonner & the clutch went, hard peddle no worky!
Rung up my servicing dealer & they said ahh mate we need to strip it all down & if it's not a "mech. failure" it's at my cost!! They only put shitty OEM parts back in too.
So I didn't get it towed & in & bought a decent clutch elsewhere & had it fitted. BTW the pressure plate did fail the fingers were all deformed so was a mech. fail, plate had a shit load of material still on it too.
I rung Swann & got a refund on the remainder of the policy, best thing I done!!

[Smashfist]

Swann have a good policy and don't need dealership servicing (still needs to be done at a workshop though). I'd buy a policy (and I've been at the workshop end of claims, they pay out on almost anything).

[C4B]

I had the Extended Warranty through one of the 3rd party crowds with my GTS when it was new and I only ever made 2 claims and both were knocked back.

My wife and I both purchased new cars 12 months ago and at the time the dealerships (Mazda and Toyota) both offered 2 year extensions on the factory warranty if you have EVERY service done through them..... After reading the items which were covered it wasn't worth the paper it was written on. Everything likely to cause problems was excluded and the things that were covered were items that would NEVER fail.

Smoke and mirrors....

[whitels1ss]

Swann have a good policy and don't need dealership servicing.

You might like to read page 16 of Swann's Policy under the heading "Vehicle Servicing"


http://www.swanninsurance.com.au/docs/warranty.pdf


It reads........

"All vehicle servicing should be carried out by the selling dealer or an authorised service facility
holding a franchise for vehicles for the same make as the vehicle"

[Plenty]

You might like to read page 16 of Swann's Policy under the heading "Vehicle Servicing"


http://www.swanninsurance.com.au/docs/warranty.pdf


It reads........

"All vehicle servicing should be carried out by the selling dealer or an authorised service facility
holding a franchise for vehicles for the same make as the vehicle"

"should" means it is preferred, Shall means that you must!

I had Swan on my SS-V, when the AFM lifter failed they replaced it and the non faulty ones without hesitation. They are actually one of the good ones and have performance workshops like PRO AUTO in Canningvale WA as preferred repairers.

[BLACK 346]

"should" means it is preferred, Shall means that you must!

I had Swan on my SS-V, when the AFM lifter failed they replaced it and the non faulty ones without hesitation. They are actually one of the good ones and have performance workshops like PRO AUTO in Canningvale WA as preferred repairers.

I totally agree with what you are saying here, but why even mention this if they are not going to use it as a possible out? Why not just say vehicle is to be serviced by a licensed mechanic and log book is to be stamped and receipts retained?

[Plenty]

I totally agree with what you are saying here, but why even mention this if they are not going to use it as a possible out? Why not just say vehicle is to be serviced by a licensed mechanic and log book is to be stamped and receipts retained?

Can't answer that but i had good dealings with them and i used Pro Auto to service the car.

[Smashfist]

You might like to read page 16 of Swann's Policy under the heading "Vehicle Servicing"


http://www.swanninsurance.com.au/docs/warranty.pdf


It reads........

"All vehicle servicing should be carried out by the selling dealer or an authorised service facility
holding a franchise for vehicles for the same make as the vehicle"

As mentioned "should" is a recommendation only. I've submitted claims via Swann for vehicles serviced at independents and there have been no issues.

[QIKMIK]

Out of the three claims I've had paid, two were done through a non-dealer service centre and Swann had no dramas paying. From a VW perspective, one of the local VW specialist workshops in Canberra said that Swann were one of the better warranty companies to deal with.

Mick

[whitels1ss]

As mentioned "should" is a recommendation only. I've submitted claims via Swann for vehicles serviced at independents and there have been no issues.


I did see that post & actually can understand the wording in that buddy:doh:

but I also know of someone who was given a hard time & refused a claim with a swann warranty
claim at the Ford dealership she had bought her car from when she had had her car serviced somewhere else.

If it had not been for the fact that I had stepped in to help her get her claim & the service manager,
finance & insurance manager & the dealer principal at the Ford dealership know me
because I have been in the trade over 35 years Swann would have not have fixed her car fixed under the warranty.

[whitels1ss]

From a VW perspective, one of the local VW specialist workshops in Canberra said that Swann were one of the better warranty companies to deal with.

Mick

I agree, I think Swann is certainly one of the best warranty companies to deal with
& I have seen some really bad warranty companies over the years.

[Smashfist]

I did see that post & actually can understand the wording in that buddy:doh:

but I also know of someone who was given a hard time & refused a claim with a swann warranty
claim at the Ford dealership she had bought her car from when she had had her car serviced somewhere else.

All good. The only time I have seen Swann reject a claim is due to poor service history - in this particular case the car was serviced bang on by kms but services were over 18 months apart. 9 months OR 15,000kms is NOT a recommendation :o

[QldKev]

Not sure if it is still the same now, but I had a policy a few years back. The old red engine died in my commodore, 2 pistons ended up with holes in them. I rang Swann and discussed my options. They had no issues that I had been using a local garage for scheduled servicing. They did say I need to go to a mechanic and get the motor ripped down and verified it was a mechanical failure. I spoke to a couple of shops about it. They all agreed that it does sound like a mechanical failure and that they said they will ensure the report will definitely say that it was. Since I had lost all compression on 2 cylinders it would be a full rebuild. Both provided quotes. Swann then said about their payout limits per mechanical item (in this case engine). It actually worked out cheaper for my to go without the warranty and get a recon engine. Never have purchased an extended warranty plan since.

[Smashfist]

It's pretty standard to tear it down first - they want to make sure they should be paying for it. All the ext. warranty companies are like that. Not sure if they have claim limits anymore though, I had Swann pay out almost $13k to replace an Alloytec a little while back - all they wanted to know was if it had been serviced. IIRC it spun a big end.

[Hjs2]

I had Swann with my VE clubsport, in the time i had it, i had a brand new clutch, taillights, harmonic balancer and a couple of other minor things done under warranty at no cost to me. Clutch was on a car that had done 56000kms and included new flywheel and pedal assembly, due to the common early issue of a sticking clutch pedal during spirited driving.

No issues with Swann at all, would highly recommend.

It all comes down to how the claim is worded, the policy states Any items that require replacement as part of normal Vehicle maintenance. They claimed this included lights globes, but when i explained that the LED taillights are not supposed be a replaceable item, they ended up approving it. $1000 a pop.

[team illucid]

Swann ended up paying for about 14k worth of repairs to the Audi when we had it. Serviced at both VW centres here in ACT and never at Audi. Would happily buy it again if I was getting a newish car.

[BLACK 346]

Thanks for all the great advice people. She ended up buying the car and the warranty. Cheers.