Bought 2nd Car - Took Out Insurance - Question

Kintarō Hattori · 03-04-2014 12:43PM #1

Hey Folks,

Back in late November of last year the missus and I bought a car from a respected dealer in Dublin, it was a 2005 E90. The car is great and I have no issues with the dealer as such. When we bought the car we took out a 12 month insurance plan.
This week we dropped it into Valdas in Motor Confidence who told us that the timing chain needed addressing sooner rather than later and that the engine was leaking oil. To put these two matters right will cost about €700.

The missus called the insurance company who are flat out refusing to do anything about it, saying that it's wear and tear. I've looked at the policy and the cover we took out covers the clutch and the engine.

Surely the timing chain, being as major a component of the engine as you can get should be covered in their policy?

blade1 · 03-04-2014 12:45PM

I'd be very surprised if it was!

whippet · 03-04-2014 12:51PM

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I've looked at the policy and the cover we took out covers the clutch and the engine.

Surely the timing chain, being as major a component of the engine as you can get should be covered in their policy?

The timing chain is not a component of the engine.

Timing chains more than likely will be required to be changed at some point due to wear and tear. I would say that no third party warranty company would cover this.

djimi · 03-04-2014 12:53PM

Insurance very rarely covers mechanical defects on a car. If your policy covers engine and clutch then I'd be looking for written clarification as to exactly what that covers.

Overall it might work out cheaper in the long run just to cover it yourself either way. You'll have to pay the excess yourself (usually around €250), so it's usually not worth it to have an affected NCB and a loaded policy for the sake of €500.

Shop around and see if you can get a better quote.

ba_barabus · 03-04-2014 12:56PM

Do you mean an extended warranty with Mapfire or an actual car insurance policy?

Kintarō Hattori · 03-04-2014 01:05PM

ba_barabus wrote: »

Do you mean an extended warranty with Mapfire or an actual car insurance policy?

Yes indeedy, it was with Mapfire.

I rang them and fair enough he's stated it'd need to be brought to one of their garages to be stripped and assessed. If they find it's wear and tear we'll be liable for the stripped car which will probably cost several hundred euro anyway.

He asked why we got it serviced seeing as we bought it fairly recently. It came up on the dash that it needed a service- he queried if the dealer we bought it from serviced it before we bought it. They claimed they had but if they had, surely they should have picked up on a dodgy timing chain and a leaking engine.

So I could go back to them but I'm sure they'd argue their way out of it somehow.

djimi · 03-04-2014 01:16PM

Ah right, yes a warranty will not cover a wear and tear item.

It might be worth getting a second opinion on the work that supposedly needs doing...

challengemaster · 03-04-2014 01:23PM

djimi wrote: »

It might be worth getting a second opinion on the work that supposedly needs doing...

Usually I'd agree, but Valdas is in terms of BMWs what George Dalton is to VAGs. Reputable and trusted specialist, I've yet to hear any bad stories.

http://www.bmwhaus.ie/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=44

actually, here's a forum post detailing an E90 timing chain fix
http://www.bmwhaus.ie/forum/showthread.php?tid=820

Kintarō Hattori · 03-04-2014 01:30PM

I hear what's being said about it being wear and tear. Do I have any route to pursue with the dealer having stated the car was serviced but not picking up on a leaky engine/dodgy timing chain?
If they had serviced it as they claimed, surely it wouldn't have come up on the dash stating that it needed a service?

bazz26 · 03-04-2014 01:46PM

I hate these 3rd party warranties with a passion, they always seem to deem everything as a wear and tear item and you end up having a battle trying to get them to cover the cost of anything. I also see these type warranties as a convenient way by the dealer of outsourcing most of their aftersales obligations to the customer. These type warranties would definitely be a deal breaker for me.

whippet · 03-04-2014 02:05PM

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I hear what's being said about it being wear and tear. Do I have any route to pursue with the dealer having stated the car was serviced but not picking up on a leaky engine/dodgy timing chain?
If they had serviced it as they claimed, surely it wouldn't have come up on the dash stating that it needed a service?

the car has been driven for over 4 months. it is a 9 year old car. problems and faults can appear at any time especially in an old car.

The timing chain could have been perfectly fine when you bought the car, do you know if the leak was present when you purchased the car?

As for the service intervals on the dash .. could have been set incorrectly or just not reset. To a dealer a service probably just entails oils and filters.

Did you have a mechanic look at the car when you bought it?

How many miles have you put up on the car since it was bought?

djimi · 03-04-2014 02:13PM

challengemaster wrote: »

Usually I'd agree, but Valdas is in terms of BMWs what George Dalton is to VAGs. Reputable and trusted specialist, I've yet to hear any bad stories.

Fair enough, I have never heard of them before!

djimi · 03-04-2014 02:18PM

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I hear what's being said about it being wear and tear. Do I have any route to pursue with the dealer having stated the car was serviced but not picking up on a leaky engine/dodgy timing chain?
If they had serviced it as they claimed, surely it wouldn't have come up on the dash stating that it needed a service?

Changing things like belts/chains is not part of a service, and its not really soemthing that you can expect to be done before you bought a car unless its absolutely overdue. Perhaps the dealer should have mentioned to you about the chain, but then again perhaps they looked at it and felt that it was fine until the next service. The leak might have developed after they sold you the car.

The service light is something that should be reset manually when the car is serviced. I think some of them are even just set to come on at certain mileage regardless. It might just have been an oversight from the dealer.

Im not saying that they are in the right, but it doesnt necessarily mean that they did anything wrong either.

Kintarō Hattori · 03-04-2014 02:23PM

Alright chaps, lesson learned. Insurance isn't worth the paper it's written on, I'll have to shell out and get an earful from the missus.

Thanks for all the replies.

bazz26 · 03-04-2014 03:41PM

If the car has a full BMW dealer service and has reasonable mileage then you might be able to get goodwill from BMW around the timing chain. Might be worth checking it out.

Bought 2nd Car - Took Out Insurance - Question

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