I bought an extended warranty for my wife's 2017 Honda Odyssey we bought in 2020 from the dealer and it's through Zurich. Mainly due to having the auto sliding doors which I know can be pricey to repair.

The paperwork says "Manufacturer Certified Upgrade" and "Comprehensive" which I take to mean "bumper-to-bumper" excluding obvious wear items like brakes and all that?

The rubber stripping that is between all the glass and the metal on the vehicle is rotting out and pretty significantly and I'd like to get this replaced.

This woman I'm on the phone with from Zurich is going on this whole long spiel about how that's not covered and I need to go to the dealer and I'm like "so a bumper to bumper warranty does not cover that? Got it, you take my thousands of dollars and now don't want to pay out...CLICK", I hung up on her.

I know all these rat bastards exist to take your money and find every way they can to not pay out, but how can this be a non-covered item? I guess I need to go to the dealer and fight it out with them now.

You have a contract. Read it.
It should list coverages and exclusions.

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Originally posted by chellim1:
You have a contract. Read it.
It should list coverages and exclusions.

My contract is one page and does not list any coverages and exclusions

It just says:

Plan: Manufacturer Certified Upgrade
Coverage: Comprehensive

This warranty seems pretty fishy.

I dont think there is a such a thing as a bumper to bumper warranty. That term is very misleading and as you stated, no where does it say full coverage or bumper to bumper in your contract. I bought the top tier MOPAR maxcare factory warranty for my truck and it has a list of exclusions not covered.

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Comprehensive

Well I just looked this up on the Zurich website and of course weather stripping one of the things listed as "excluded" Of course

Is this seal between the window glass and the door, or the door and the car body? My guess is that they consider them to be a "wear item," i.e., something that naturally deteriorates over time and has to be replaced periodically or at some point in the car's life. (I disagree, just trying to show their thinking.) And IIRC your cars are parked outside with no weather protection, which will accelerate this process.

This part has me puzzled and suspicious:

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My contract is one page and does not list any coverages and exclusions

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Zurich

From Zurichs web page, car claims should be initiated through the dealer, they inspect, start claim and file for reimbursement, you'd just pay the deductible.

Link

Vehicle Service Contracts (car or truck)

To report a claim:

Take your vehicle to any dealership or state-licensed repair facility.

Have the repair facility verify coverage and obtain a repair authorization number from Zurich before any repair is made by calling 800-643-9059.

Submit invoice/repair order to Zurich verifying the authorized repair has been completed.

Pay deductible, if applicable, and any non-covered expenses.

Zurich pays the repair facility directly.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
From Zurichs web page, car claims should be initiated through the dealer, they inspect, start claim and file for reimbursement, you'd just pay the deductible.

Link

Vehicle Service Contracts (car or truck)

To report a claim:

Take your vehicle to any dealership or state-licensed repair facility.

Have the repair facility verify coverage and obtain a repair authorization number from Zurich before any repair is made by calling 800-643-9059.

Submit invoice/repair order to Zurich verifying the authorized repair has been completed.

Pay deductible, if applicable, and any non-covered expenses.

Zurich pays the repair facility directly.

I missed the part where the OP called the warranty company directly. That's not how it works. The dealer will verify the issue then make a claim against the warranty if covered.

OP, you need to take the car back to your dealer first.

Those warranties that dealers sell, but aren't from the manufacturer itself, are trash. That's why they are a lot cheaper.

Many people buy them as part of new car fever and by the time the manufacturer's warranty runs out, they've sold the car.

Generally those companies consider things like that the same as tires or wiper blades that are worn out. In other words they didn't break/fail. They are just wear and tear replacement items and not covered.

No such thing as 'bumper to bumper' on any vehicle made by anyone anywhere. Closest thing to it is the 12 mo/or 12,000 mile 'adjustment period', and even those have their limits.

When you look at AFTERMARKET extended warranty contracts, they usually list a lot of powertrain parts plus a handful of major components that rarely fail. If you look there is also a standard disclaimer that says anything covered by the manufacturer at the time of a claim is automatically not covered by them, even if listed in covered items.

Most if not all dealers will not release a vehicle they worked on based on a promise of direct payment. Some might offer to call your 3rd party warranty company and try to secure any authorizations that they can. Most times, if you didn't buy the warranty there, you have to authorize and pay for anything done and then seek reimbursement from your warranty. And they exist and effort to deny coverage for as much as possible. Sometimes they send independent adjusters to come up with justifications not to pay. Or they hedge and send wrecking yard parts up to and including engines, transmissions, differentials etc. Generally they won't pay to swap any better parts from say, your bad engine to the engine they sent either.

In short, they try to be an enormous PITA to avoid paying anything they can wriggle out of.

If you have one, your best best is to go to the dealer you bought it from.

Thanks everyone. I looked up what they didn't cover on their so-called "comprehensive" warranty and it's a whole lot of things...including weatherstripping. These companies are all such scam artists it's amazing.

I'll just have to try replacing them myself or have someone do it. They are pretty crumbled and apparently it's very common on Hondas. Ironically the rubber weatherstripping on my 2012 Mazda is pristine in comparison.

Warranty sellers exist to make a profit by spending less on the average warranty than they take in from selling them. The probability that any specific buyer will spend more buying a warranty than they receive in compensation for repairs is quite high. If the company misjudges their market and that doesn’t happen, they will eventually go out of business. Very similar to gambling at a casino where the odds are in the house’s favor.

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Originally posted by PASig:

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Comprehensive

Well I just looked this up on the Zurich website and of course weather stripping one of the things listed as "excluded" Of course

Does the signed contract reference the website for exclusions and other stipulations?

Websites can be update without notice where in a heartbeat, everything by a single fastener internal to the drive
train is excluded and the Buyers would never know it.

For example, I buy by home office chair(s) from Staples and buy the lifetime warranty AND, grab and retain a hard copy of the warranty.

Eventually the first chair "lift" failed and the chair kept sinking.

I wanted the full replacement of the chair (ie., I return the hair to the store and walk out with a new chair). The receptionist kept pointing me to their website where I would receive a coupon for the original purchase price. I stood my ground and insisted on a new, replacement chair.

Eventually, a senior exec (in the states) called me and walked me through the wording of the version hard copy I had and pointed out - which I kept missing - four words which read, "...or original purchase price..."

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Or they hedge and send wrecking yard parts up to and including engines, transmissions, differentials etc

They call that the Like, Kind and Quality clause. Which translates to “Let’s hunt the junkyards for another 90k engine”

quote:

Originally posted by tsmccull:
Warranty sellers exist to make a profit by spending less on the average warranty than they take in from selling them. The probability that any specific buyer will spend more buying a warranty than they receive in compensation for repairs is quite high. If the company misjudges their market and that doesn’t happen, they will eventually go out of business. Very similar to gambling at a casino where the odds are in the house’s favor.

That's how insurance works.
It's a small certain loss (the premium paid) in place of a larger, uncertain loss.

My father was in the dealer-aftermarket business. American Warranty Corporation was sold through the car dealers before the factory got into the business. They were terrific on claims... until they underpriced them on a few car models and the claims swamped them. It doesn't take much.