Share Experiences With CarShield Type 'Insurance', Owners & Mechanics

[gsfish]

Not considering this, I haven't put a vehicle in the shop since the 70s (other than tires, alignments). Lately I've been seeing advertising for this stuff all over. But I AM curious about 'real life' experience that anyone might have when it came time to save $6,000 on a new engine like on the commercials. The TV screen will be showing costs of repairs at $0, $0, $0 but at the same time has fine print that says there 'may be a co-payment'. MAY BE? I am very curious as to a repair shop's perspective too.

I don't trust online testimonials on things like this and anytime I see 'Personalities' hawking something that they have no direct experience with my BS detector starts clicking.

Guy

 

[Uncle Todo]

I've looked at them a couple times, but my vehicles have always been too old for coverage!
But yeah, I'd be curious to see some real world experience...

 

[bullfrog]

Years ago when I ran an independent shop I refused to work with insurance companies as did many of the other shops as like most insurance companies they didn’t want to pay. You had to do a lot of extra work to get them to pay and they wouldn’t cover anything that wasn’t broken but would normally be replaced to prevent further breakdowns. If a water pump went out that was driven by the timing belt that had 60,000 miles on it and soaked in coolant they would want you to replace the pump only, knowing that the odds were they wouldn’t have to pay for future repairs as most policies were only good for 100,000 miles.

 

[treesprite]

I've always been curious about those repair policies. My Kia finance company has it under that type of policy to protect it's investment, but when I read all the details, I discovered that the policy covers nothing that would be likely to break down before the car is paid off. The manufacturer warranty was only for 60k, and Kia did the major ordeal recently, sending every owner of a Kia still under warranty, a letter about maintanence (the talk on Kia forums is that there was a lawsuit). Miss one oil change by a few miles and the warranty will not cover anything at all in the future. The other car is too old for repair insurance.

 

[Uncle Todo]

I thought Kia's had 100k mile warranties?

 

[highdesertranger]

I dealt with a couple of those warranty companies when I had my shop.
they do want to go the cheap route as they will only pay warranty rates for labor which is less than regular rates. so some shops don't want to take them.

as far as parts go they were ok and would replace related parts within reason.

they often questioned me about the vehicle being worked on as far as it's overall condition. they wanted to see if someone misrepresented the condition when they bought the policy.

other than that I had an overall positive experience dealing with them.

highdesertranger

 

[crofter]

Replacement parts are "used condition" and not new parts.

I had a Ford Escort on policy with transmission problem caused by a $14 part. They replaced the transmission a couple of times with "rebuilt" or used without fixing the problem. They refused to put in a new part ($14) and fix the problem.

I will never buy another service plan. If you save up the cost, usually several thousand dollars, you have a good start towards an emergency fund for repairs.
-crofter

 

[Matlock]

My 2¢, it's just throwing money away. The commercial locally has a guy saying
"they replaced my engine and transmission, who does that?" The answer is NOBODY!

Extended coverage has restrictions built-in that you will not, cannot meet and they will deny payment. Or if anything only partially pay.

Read the fine print, you pay the service tech and parts bill, then submit it for reimbursement. Your out the cash and screwed. Just don't do it.

 

[highdesertranger]

the last 2 posts were nothing like the companies I dealt with.

the actual company would reimburse directly over the phone with a credit card. the car owner paid nothing out of pocket.

they would have for sure replaced the 14 buck part in the transmission as long as me and my shop would stand behind it. they always held me to guaranteeing any repair that they paid for. they would never use junk yard/used parts and no one asked me to, I don't think that's even legal at least here in California.

I am not defending these companies at all . I am relating my experience with them as a shop owner. now keep in mind this was over 20 years ago I can't even recall the names of the insurance companies. maybe things have changed.

would I ever use one of these services?

NO, I would not use them. I feel it's a much better option to have an emergency fund. I also feel that anybody living this life style needs to have working knowledge of vehicle repair. they don't need to do the actual work themselves but they need to know what's going on or else they are susceptible to being taken to the cleaners.

highdesertranger