Holden Extended Warranty

[vinnycol]

Has anyone out there had any bad experiences with or comments on Holden extended warranty?? Im thinking about it for my VZ.

I'm a bit concerned about long term reliability of the VZ. Silly things like mounting the Thermostat on the rear of the engine (my wife had hers replaced under warranty.... Major surgery=$$$!!) computer mounted to the hot part of the engine, extraordinarily expensive abs components etc. Apart from a couple of ongoing warranty issues im quite happy with the VZ so I think 3 years extended factory warranty is probably a smart move..

Any comments??

Cheers

[ashbox]

just check the fine print in regards to what it covers and how much it covers.

also if you have to take it back to that specific dealer every 5000kms,

[vinnycol]

Was told that the extension is the same terms and conditions as the factory warranty including servicing conditions and intervals... I believe it's against trade practice legislation (in S.A. anyhow) to threaten the validity of the warranty if you take it elsewhere for servicing. As long as the log book is certified by a qualified mechanic i would think all should be sweet.

[danja]

Originally Posted by vinnycol

Was told that the extension is the same terms and conditions as the factory warranty including servicing conditions and intervals... I believe it's against trade practice legislation (in S.A. anyhow) to threaten the validity of the warranty if you take it elsewhere for servicing. As long as the log book is certified by a qualified mechanic i would think all should be sweet.

You wouldn't have any details of that law would you? I'd be interested if a similar thing applied in NSW.

[vinnycol]

Originally Posted by danja

You wouldn't have any details of that law would you? I'd be interested if a similar thing applied in NSW.

I would think the same would apply across the country.

I just read the T and C of the Swann insurance Holden S/H extended warranty and it quotes "All vehicle servicing should be carried out by the selling dealer OR an authorised service facility holding a franchise for vehicles of the same make
as the vehicle.
"Authorised service facility means a registered mechanical repair business employing at least one (1) fully qualified automotive mechanic".
So I guess that means you can use any Holden Dealer Service Facility for servicing. They dont seem to charge any more than other log book servicing facilities and will generally match prices if you push...

cheers.

Vin

[tigervh]

The free warranty that comes with most cars bought through Holden Dealers is not worth the paper its written on. Have a look at the list of items that arn't covered. It covers everything that will ever go wrong with a car. Read the list of things that are covered and it contains about everthing that will never go wrong with a car. All it is is a carrot to get you to have your car serviced at the selling dealer.

[seannatt]

Holdens extended warranty is a copy of the original warranty when vehicle is sold new. How ever it doesnt cover interior trim and some other stuff you would have to check. BUT i would defiantly get it we are getting alot of VY and VZ with expensive repairs (nothing common) but still would be covered if you had an extended warranty.

[commodore2004]

Originally Posted by seannatt

Holdens extended warranty is a copy of the original warranty when vehicle is sold new. How ever it doesnt cover interior trim and some other stuff you would have to check. BUT i would defiantly get it we are getting alot of VY and VZ with expensive repairs (nothing common) but still would be covered if you had an extended warranty.

Except you have to have your car serviced every 6 months and it costs over $180 for a typical oil change and filter.

[ashbox]

it costs more than that for the log book service, from what i've seen some places want the car serviced every 5000kms instead of the 7500km or 15000km.

[danja]

I have one from the dealer I bought my car from (used). I got the extended option which covers the useful bits, you're right that the complimentary one doesn't cover a whole lot of useful bits.

Mine does say (from memory) it must be serviced by the dealer, I'm not sure if that precludes me from getting it serviced elsewhere. To be honest I'm a little peeved that I can't do the basic stuff myself like oil changes, but I can understand if they didn't make you have it serviced with a proper mech there's lots of people who would just not do it and then make warranty claims when the engine seizes because they ran out of oil etc.

[satos]

Extended warranty not worth the paper it is written on.All they want is for your to service your car at half intervals from the original factory warranty so they can make more money of you.
One day I was at my local holden dealership for a service and a few warranty claims,such as a faulty door lock solenoid and a/c not working properly.The guy at the counter said you will have to pay for these as they are not covered under the extended warranty.I said hang on a minute my car still has 2 months of the original factory warranty stiil to run.He checked on his computer and said you are right.
In other words the common every day items that can fail are not covered.Only major items such as the engine etc are covered which if properly looked after you will not have any problems with.Another thing I use mobil 1 synthetic and I did not fancy having it tipped out ever 6 months just so they can pocket the extra cash from you.

[junka]

I haven't had a problem with Holden Extended Warranty, but with the original factory warranty given with the car.

I have a VZ Equipe 2005, and when I brought it they offered 5 years full factory with the car as part of their Australia wide promotion. Holden head office sent me a 5 yr or 100,000 kms warranty sticker to be fixed to my service book to prove to the dealer that it is boni fide.

Come just over 3 Years, at the 60,000 k service, I mentioned that I had some issues with plastic trim inside the car which I wanted replaced under warranty..

I pointed out the problem only to be told by a young service chap that the car's warranty has expired. I showed my book, and he said that he never seen the sicker before, then to be told that it doesn't cover trim (20 secs earlier he didn't even know what it was ?). I held my ground and said that it was not a useless extended dealer warranty, but a factory warranty, and they should contact Holden customer service to confirm my warranty. I then spoke to an older chap, who said as far as he knows the last 2 years of the extended warranty is not a full factory warranty.

I rang customer service, just in case they did not. At first customer, didn't know anything about this warranty, it was difficult to get across that this was given with every new VZ Equipe Jul 05 as a Holden promotion--not dealer warranty. Finally, I found out that it is a full factory warranty but the first 3 years are underwritten by Holden, and the last 2 years are underwritten by private insurance company, but never the less, a full factory warranty-----alarm bells ringing !!!!!!

I went back to the dealer, explained the deal with the older chap, he rang the insurance company, and was supprised that they offer a full factory warranty. He explained the problems with the trim to them and they said yes to the repairs--this was Friday.

Come Monday, the trim was replaced, but when I returned to pick up the car
they said that the insurance company refused to cover me, implying that it was forced-despite giving the ok. The old guy was really mad and argued with the insurance company---in the end, he said "I wasted enough of your time, take the car"

In the end, the dealer did "bat for me", but the insurance company went back on their word. If the dealer would not repair the trim under warranty, I would have told me to rip out the new trim and put in the broken stuff.

So, yes i did get the trim repaired, but they make it hard for you to claim it.

[vinnycol]

Originally Posted by commodore2004

Except you have to have your car serviced every 6 months and it costs over $180 for a typical oil change and filter.

The Swann policy states
"The vehicle must be serviced in accordance with the specifications recommended by the vehicle manufacturer appropriate to the vehicle".

My interpretation of that is OEM Log Book Servicing... I guess it's just the scary prices i've seen for ABS bits, other electronics and so on... Warranty would pay for itself in one claim in some cases