Used car warranty ... ?

You misunderstand.

There is no warranty required by law at all.

The Sale of Goods Act applies, which requires all goods to be of reasonable quality - with the price and age setting an expectation of what's reasonable. So, for a 6-mo Manufacturer Approved Used car at a premium price, that expectation is MUCH higher than for a £500 15yo shed one warning light from the scrapper.

Any warranty is in addition to your SOGA rights.

Related to Insurance, I once hired a small car from a website. As the normally cautious dude, I included the Damage Collision Waiver extra in the contract at £35 for the week. It turned out that I had to pick up the car from Avis, the website was kind of middleman. To my dismay, I learned that in case of accident, Avis would claim the full amount from my credit card, and then it was up to me to claim back from the original website hire company. Just imagine the problems this could cause. Luckily, the car was returned unscathed, but I learned a lesson there. Go to the people directly.

There was only this last week an article in a major newspaper about this, re: buying an external Damage Waiver policy for much less than the rental company charges. It also explained about the fact that the rental company would charge you, and you would have to get it back from the insurer. I got the feeling that, for the number of times Mr. Average would use it, it would be far too much hassle, unless he had minions to do all the follow-up, in case of an actual claim.

Isn't this one of the problems with hiring a car abroad using the travel agent or holiday company as the middle man?

OK, another variation of the CDW. I was also offered a CDW from AVIS, but was dismayed since I though that this was already included in the original booking at the front website which didn't mention AVIS. I didn't know that AVIS was involved in the first place, so why should I need to buy CDW twice? The price £35 was quite normal at the time a few years ago, so I though that I had a CDW with all the W benefits.

I am now very weary of booking anything from such front websites, prefer to go directly to the people actually providing the goods. But the difference can be very subtle to find out.

That's very helpful Adrian, many thanks.

On the Balearic Islands I always hired cars locally, and bought their CDW.

It proved useful when I hit a really deep pothole in a Fiesta, which burst two tyres, buckled the wheels, did something nasty to the transmission which caused the oil to pour out, and cracked the windscreen in a top to bottom Vee.

Called the Office and a young guy came and picked us up after looking at the damage and exclaiming "Fantastico"!

At the office the man in charge heard the story and pushed an ignition key across the desk, "Red Fiesta outside". I was glad I wasn't in Britain...

Once I visited a farmyard used car dealer to view a vehicle. Lots of sales patter including '...and of course you'll benefit from our peace of mind warranty'.

I enquired as to the details and it turned out the duration of this warranty was... 24 hours.

Theo

johannes put finger to keyboard:

I recently bought third-party car hire insurance. They were very clear that the car hire company would charge me, and that I would then claim back.

Bear in mind:

1) For the cost of a week's insurance through the car hire place, I've got a year's policy for unlimited hires. 2) I'm covered for non-standard items such as glass, bonnet, roof, tyres, underside damage. These were all extras with the car hire co. 3) I'm covered for towing costs due to breakdown. The car hire co would have charged me the going rate, even if the car breaking down was not my fault.

To me the extra hassle of making a claim is worth it.

Theo Markettos put finger to keyboard:

If you buy an 'all good' car at auction, you typically have an hour to find faults.