- Jun 9, 2014
- 19,752
- 27,649
Founding Member
It was many years ago the last time I shopped for one of these. Eight months later, when I dialed the company with my first claim, the automated greeting announced that no claims would be processed while the company was in receivership. I apparently had missed the tiny little disclosure in fine print: Domiciled in the Cayman Islands. Ugh.
There are a crapload of companies vying for the market space now. Endurance, Fidelity, Warranty Group, CARCHEX, ACS, AA Auto and lots more. But one thing hasn't changed. The business model is based on basic weasel principles: Find a way, any way -- hell, lie if you have to -- to avoid paying claims. Just don't pay 'em.
I'm shopping a pre-owned. I won't mention what, but let's just say I don't want it to be uncovered. It has a complicated transmission, so convoluted it's actually referred to as an automated manual transmission. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Dear God, almost a week later, no one can figure out if it's coverable or not, and I'm not joking, which is kind of driving me crazy. I went to the mat with two companies, both under the same administrator, with one insisting it wasn't covered and the other insisting it was. I politely asked the sales agent from the company which offered to cover it for additional proof -- like a manager or underwriter or his signature in blood. He offered the manager, who turned out to be the director of sales, which is like saying if this guy effs up, we'll have to pay the claim regardless. Or so I hope.
To which an agent for his competitor, with whom I shared the email (hey, I wanna know if this guy's trying to dupe me), replied:
So I went back to the director of sales and said, hey, obviously someone's wrong here, I'd prefer to be buying from Mr. Right, can we consult with Mr. Underwriter? Well, it turns out it is viewed as an automated manual but it's still got two clutch plates in the middle operated by hydraulic fluid, and regardless whether a computer's pressing the buttons, they're wear items and likely excluded from coverage. But he has a sister company that for a few more bucks will cover these kinds of transmissions. "I'll let you know on Monday."
The car, meanwhile, had $1,875 in services done to it at the expense of the selling party, which is wondering if they sunk money into inventory or a car that is being purchased by a persnickety customer from Florida.
The moral of the story being, you can probably trust Hillary before you can trust a company that sells vehicle protection plans.
There are a crapload of companies vying for the market space now. Endurance, Fidelity, Warranty Group, CARCHEX, ACS, AA Auto and lots more. But one thing hasn't changed. The business model is based on basic weasel principles: Find a way, any way -- hell, lie if you have to -- to avoid paying claims. Just don't pay 'em.
I'm shopping a pre-owned. I won't mention what, but let's just say I don't want it to be uncovered. It has a complicated transmission, so convoluted it's actually referred to as an automated manual transmission. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
Dear God, almost a week later, no one can figure out if it's coverable or not, and I'm not joking, which is kind of driving me crazy. I went to the mat with two companies, both under the same administrator, with one insisting it wasn't covered and the other insisting it was. I politely asked the sales agent from the company which offered to cover it for additional proof -- like a manager or underwriter or his signature in blood. He offered the manager, who turned out to be the director of sales, which is like saying if this guy effs up, we'll have to pay the claim regardless. Or so I hope.
I am very familiar with your transmission as I have a transmission that works similar.
The R tronic transmission has multiple functions; it can function automatically or it can function manually; however, both of those functions are still run by computers and control modules. You ARE manually shifting a paddle or a gearbox; however, that is just a switch that tells the computer when to shift the gears and/or ratio’s is some other R tronic type transmissions.
The contract excludes manual and hydraulic clutch (sic) assembly’s. Your clutch assembly is still electronic, you just have switches that speak to the computer and tell it when to engage different gears.
To which an agent for his competitor, with whom I shared the email (hey, I wanna know if this guy's trying to dupe me), replied:
I just spoke with ****** at Royal. It is not covered and he laughed when I told him someone else was claiming it was. It is a manual clutch run by a computer. Your representative at Carchex needs a little better training.
So I went back to the director of sales and said, hey, obviously someone's wrong here, I'd prefer to be buying from Mr. Right, can we consult with Mr. Underwriter? Well, it turns out it is viewed as an automated manual but it's still got two clutch plates in the middle operated by hydraulic fluid, and regardless whether a computer's pressing the buttons, they're wear items and likely excluded from coverage. But he has a sister company that for a few more bucks will cover these kinds of transmissions. "I'll let you know on Monday."
The car, meanwhile, had $1,875 in services done to it at the expense of the selling party, which is wondering if they sunk money into inventory or a car that is being purchased by a persnickety customer from Florida.
The moral of the story being, you can probably trust Hillary before you can trust a company that sells vehicle protection plans.