did some more research on Fidelity extended warranties. damn.

[onlyaudis]

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto_.../fidelity.html


1 star rating. if these reviews are indicative of the service you get, wow. If it was a restaurant, you'd get food poisoning every meal. seems like it's more of a full out scam than anything else. looks like I will be getting a tune after all. thousands of dollars for a false promise of security.

[Johnnycash]

most of those complaints are from a bunch of dimwitted simpletons, read the service contract and understand how they work and what they cover. i only skimmed a few reviews and my head hurts already. i would take most of those with a grain of salt.

its a legal binding contract if you maintain your car properly and keep your records, if you have a part fail and its covered in the contract you can sue them if they refuse to honor the claim, the cpo program for used cars from audi is thru fidelity warranty services...

[onlyaudis]

not sure about dimwitted. read ones from audi owners as well that were all pretty horrible. pretty much every review was bad, which is impressive..

[Johnnycash]

people only go online to complain, the people who had good experiences dont necessarily run online to tell the world about it. those numbers and compalints are skewed based off of that alone. its very clear to me that people dont even read the inclusions/exclusions of the contract after reading just a few of their stories...

take it for what you will, but it seems to me like you were looking for a reason to just tune your car and this is helping nudge you closer, so go ahead and do it bro.

[jokingjimmy]

Based on the poor reviews, anything you do to your car will give them cause to not honor repair work. And they have precedence for behaving this way.

Either mod your S4 and be willing to basically the warranty away, or don't touch your car and keep that leverage if you end up needing to file a repair claim.

BTW, filing law suits are really a last resort on something major. The only ones that really make out (except large dollar amount suits) seem to be the lawyers lol. Besides, even finding a lawyer that will be willing to represent you will be a tough sell, as the cost of winning the suit often exceeds the value of the reward, and the chances of winning are usually pretty small. I say wait on the tune, personally. I know I am, painful as the wait is lol.

[AKPS4]

Insurance companies do not want to pay. Period. And they have plenty more money to deal with any legal situations that every day people. These warranties are a joke and not worth it. Save your money, do your maintenance and repair if you have a problem. Audi tried to charge me over 7k for 4yrs warranty or additional 40k miles. Literally laughable.

[bhvrdr]

I had that warranty on a different car several years ago. The head gasket leaked coolant into the oil and the engine blew. I had no warning. They inspected the car and had an odd excuse such as the oil was contaminated and they wouldn't cover it. I didn't have the time to be going to court at that point in my life. As they turned me down they immediately mentioned they would just refund me the price of the contract I paid. I got the idea that they seem to like to play with peoples money for a bit and if there is a big payout they just give the money back. I don't think that's always the case though as there are a lot of happy customers too who have had costly repairs covered. May be a bit of hit or miss. Just my experience.

Mike

[onlyaudis]

there were other extended warranty companies that had better reviews, (and many people who posted were happy with their interactions with them - so not just the complainers) Fidelity was one of the worst, and was even panned by a person who worked for an Audi dealer as being known for finding excuses not to pay for stuff that was listed as being covered. problem is, the more you look into all of these companies, they all play games, like only being willing to pay for crap parts, or not wanting to fix something that is going bad until the car won't even run.. makes sense that if they really did offer a genuine good coverage for used cars, they'd lose money and go out of business. I have seen enough at this point to forget about this stuff.


http://www.consumeraffairs.com/auto_warranty/index.html

[ojmcneill]

lol, anymore, who's not out to *#$k you? I mean, whatcha gonna do? Hell, apparently you can't even go to a community college without getting shot at. These insurance companies AND Audi itself are always trying to screw someone.
Buncha damn dirtbags, all of em.

[AudBoost]

Didn't most Audi dealerships offer Fidelity extended warranties and then switched to AllState?

[KayS4]

Based on the poor reviews, anything you do to your car will give them cause to not honor repair work. And they have precedence for behaving this way.

Either mod your S4 and be willing to basically the warranty away, or don't touch your car and keep that leverage if you end up needing to file a repair claim.

BTW, filing law suits are really a last resort on something major. The only ones that really make out (except large dollar amount suits) seem to be the lawyers lol. Besides, even finding a lawyer that will be willing to represent you will be a tough sell, as the cost of winning the suit often exceeds the value of the reward, and the chances of winning are usually pretty small. I say wait on the tune, personally. I know I am, painful as the wait is lol.

I agree they will likely settle out of court if you do push it I am sure if we got a forum together to start and raise awareness of known concerns you can push and shove it takes time and effort.

Likely just buy a car out of warranty and with money saved keep that in pocket for issues that arise. Low Mileage older year best way to go 4 years up but in the 8-90k range there are a few.

[stumpjumper]

My only experience with an Audi/Fidelity warranty was with my 2004 Allroad 2.7t mt6. That car is renowned for being one of the most complicated and unreliable things they've sold.

At 60K miles they, without any sort of hassle, gave me 2 new turbos because of leaking oil return lines for a $100 deductible. That is an engine-out repair and billed out at over $7000, to which I was able to add every other engine-out service item for the cost of parts and minimal labor :)

[CaptSlow]

From what I remember, it covers everything except for electronic tidbits or malfunctions. Like your power side mirrors stop functioning, or seat heaters stop working etc. Deals with mechanical stuff.

I could be wrong.

[Johnnycash]

Dude the transmission is 9g + 2g in labor. Audi got the okay from Fidelity to go ahead and order the transmission. They have to ship it from Germany which takes a week right there. Fidelity checked with Audi to make sure I was not TD1. At least now I can tune the car in the next year after I break in the new DSG lol :)

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...2#post11089772

[gscottyg]

Like I said in the other thread I have a fidelity warranty and they are covering the replacement of a new DSG so they can't be that bad. But if i was tuned you bet your ass it would be another story. Lol they also won't cover the cost for some nuts/bolts which Audi told me is 100 extra :)

[onlyaudis]

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...2#post11089772

saw that one. seems to be cases of random great service mixed in with many complaints as well. typical insurance company stuff - hard to know how you'd be treated in case of an expensive repair. It's a gamble either way, and that's why I think I may be better off taking some of that $2500 or so and just doing better maintenance on the car-like doing the dif fluid, oil changed, and dsg service a bit more often, changing the fuel filters at half the recommended mileage, etc.

Saw complaints on the Porsche forums about Fidelity Platinum sometimes only approving used or Chinese made aftermarket parts for some repairs, and there are always comments about nit picking to get out of paying for expensive repairs. Contracts are purposely written vaguely to allow for exclusions that most clients would not pick up from glancing at them.

[gscottyg]

If you buy a B8 DSG just be prepared to replace the mechatronic and hope the transmission lasts. I have been wanting to tune my car for a year now. But after I started getting weird symptoms of mechatronic failure I knew a tune would just speed up the inevitable. I'm sure if you tune the car it will increase the wear of the mechatronic/dsg. Just get the B8.5 man :) I like the B8 body style better myself too but the bill isn't worth it if warranty is up.

[onlyaudis]

If you buy a B8 DSG just be prepared to replace the mechatronic and hope the transmission lasts. I have been wanting to tune my car for a year now. But after I started getting weird symptoms of mechatronic failure I knew a tune would just speed up the inevitable. I'm sure if you tune the car it will increase the wear of the mechatronic/dsg. Just get the B8.5 man :) I like the B8 body style better myself too but the bill isn't worth it if warranty is up.

what year is your car? how many miles on it? what were your symptoms?

I don't like the electric steering in the 8.5 models - steering feel is like a Camry rental car IMO and that was deal killer for me, as I am very sensitive to steering feel for some reason. (probably because I am an older guy in his 50's who is used to classic cars) The 2013's were also the first year to use it and have had problematic glitches too. 2014 and 15 cars are still too much $$$

The large Marin Audi dealer told me that have seen only a very very small percentage on the 2012 car's DSG' failing, and many cars they see are at 50K miles or more by now. Not saying the problem isn't real, but for every failure talked about here on the forum, there are likely hundreds of cars driving around without issues. GIAC told me they have flashed hundreds of B8 S4's, and have not been contacted by any owners who have had their DSG's go out yet after they have been flashed. they told me the 2010 trannies were the most problematic, and even those have been going strong for a lot of their clients. Already had mine serviced with fluid and filter at 18K miles, and will do it again in another 20K. Was told the oil gunking up from overheating it could be contributing to failures, especially on cars driven in hot areas with a lot of stop and go traffic.

May just take my chance on a tune and stop worrying about the thing braking.

[Johnnycash]

i bought a service contract from zurich which was sold to me by the finance manager at my local audi dealer, i was also very very leery of the contract details and language. bottomline is that i asked her very specific questions about known issues on the s4, thermostat, waterpump, dsg box etc

she contacted the underwriter for the zurich policy and forwarded his emails to me, i have explicit correspondence stating for example that the mechatronics unit, whole tranny etc. is covered if something happens. 100 deductible, if i take it to the dealer where i bought the policy 0 deductible.

those emails are saved in my drafts for future reference if necessary.

[gscottyg]

My car is 2011 w/ 62k miles.

[onlyaudis]

i bought a service contract from zurich which was sold to me by the finance manager at my local audi dealer, i was also very very leery of the contract details and language. bottomline is that i asked her very specific questions about known issues on the s4, thermostat, waterpump, dsg box etc

she contacted the underwriter for the zurich policy and forwarded his emails to me, i have explicit correspondence stating for example that the mechatronics unit, whole tranny etc. is covered if something happens. 100 deductible, if i take it to the dealer where i bought the policy 0 deductible.

those emails are saved in my drafts for future reference if necessary.

sounds like you really did your homework. great tips if I change my mind, I will try get it in writing by asking specific questions like you did in emails to be sure that the known problem areas are in fact covered, or not.

you have a link to that company's extended warranty contracts? Is it for a car in the USA, or somewhere else?

[Senseless]

The math doesn't add up for any extended warranties. Premium minus dealer commission, minus overhead & profit = amount they have left to pay claims. Extended warranties are a losing bet over time.

[Johnnycash]

audi of st. paul minnesota, raven fox is the finance manager, you can call her and she will sell you the policy over the phone, only reason why i went with the zurich plan is because it was structured differently than the fidelity plan they are typically 3/36 4/48 etc

the zurich plan covers my car for 3 yrs up to 100k, i bought the plan about 4 days before warranty expiration, and had roughly 43k on the clock, i drive about 20k annually, so the zurich plan was an easy no brainer, i would have burned thru the fidelity plan in about 18-20 months with my driving habits...

the plan is transferrable on a private sale, and prorated on dealer trade in.

will the plan end up being a waste of money? idk only time will tell, 53k on the odo now and no issues i will keep the car probably up to about 80k, and then im getting an sq5, or a tesla model s, but the peace of mind is worth it all things considered. my first german car and i did not want to get stuck holding the bag on 5k+ repair bill.

[onlyaudis]

The math doesn't add up for any extended warranties. Premium minus dealer commission, minus overhead & profit = amount they have left to pay claims. Extended warranties are a losing bet over time.

warranty companies are "the house" for sure, and the house never loses. some people will "get lucky" (how lucky are you to have your engine or tranny fail?) and get a $5 figure repair covered under their contract, but the odds of that happening during the covered period are like winning big on a slot machine. I think johnnycash also hit it right on the head- we want these things because it helps us not worry about a possible big repair, and we are willing to pay money up front with possibly nothing in return to ease that stress. similar to any type of insurance I guess -- that's why they exist. Be great if you could be 100% sure that in a worst case scenario, you were covered for sure 100%, but as I have found out from researching online, many people did not get the repairs covered they paid for for one reason or another. That is the deal breaker for me.