Coil Pack And Spark Plugs
Discussion
Yesterday , we were on a family drive to Devon. Wife was driving her car, an Astra 2015. It’s under Spoticar warranty she brought it from a Vauxhall dealer in May.
It’s 5.30 am on the A 27 road.ESP service warning light, yellow engine management light and traction warning lights all came on. Brilliant. We knew of a retail park a few miles away,a more convenient and safer place to be.
We call out AA, who eventually came after two hours.Bloke does his tests and it’s a misfire. He changes spark plugs and asks to take the car on a test drive. He comes back 15 minutes later, all good. Car seems ok, no sign of warning lights. I pay £50 for the spark plugs and just about to go to when the same ESP warning light comes on again.
Fortunately AA bloke is still around who has another look. He changes the coil pack ( he said he initially just wanted to change the spark plugs to save us money) . So , that’s another £240 quid, we pay up and this time we drive off all fine. No further problems.
Anyway I call Spoticar warranty today, but because I didn’t call out the Spoticat assist number and go through them, they won’t honour any repair costs.
My fault I guess, I completely forgot we also got road assistance with the warranty.
Woman on phone obviously was running of a script and doing her job, but she said did we should have called Spoticar assist or gone to a Vauxhall dealer to get fixed.
Obviously, if you break down miles from anywhere on a motorway or major road, and it’s early in the morning or late at night, with car full of family, you can’t realistically go to a Vauxhall dealer. You are supposed to stop at a safe place and not drive the car unnecessarily any further.
So how I was supposed to go to a Vauxhall dealer, in that case I couldn’t anyway.
Question is though would the spark plugs and coil pack have been covered by warranty or probably not? Gutted I’m £300 out of pocket.
It’s 5.30 am on the A 27 road.ESP service warning light, yellow engine management light and traction warning lights all came on. Brilliant. We knew of a retail park a few miles away,a more convenient and safer place to be.
We call out AA, who eventually came after two hours.Bloke does his tests and it’s a misfire. He changes spark plugs and asks to take the car on a test drive. He comes back 15 minutes later, all good. Car seems ok, no sign of warning lights. I pay £50 for the spark plugs and just about to go to when the same ESP warning light comes on again.
Fortunately AA bloke is still around who has another look. He changes the coil pack ( he said he initially just wanted to change the spark plugs to save us money) . So , that’s another £240 quid, we pay up and this time we drive off all fine. No further problems.
Anyway I call Spoticar warranty today, but because I didn’t call out the Spoticat assist number and go through them, they won’t honour any repair costs.
My fault I guess, I completely forgot we also got road assistance with the warranty.
Woman on phone obviously was running of a script and doing her job, but she said did we should have called Spoticar assist or gone to a Vauxhall dealer to get fixed.
Obviously, if you break down miles from anywhere on a motorway or major road, and it’s early in the morning or late at night, with car full of family, you can’t realistically go to a Vauxhall dealer. You are supposed to stop at a safe place and not drive the car unnecessarily any further.
So how I was supposed to go to a Vauxhall dealer, in that case I couldn’t anyway.
Question is though would the spark plugs and coil pack have been covered by warranty or probably not? Gutted I’m £300 out of pocket.
Rogerout said:
Yesterday , we were on a family drive to Devon. Wife was driving her car, an Astra 2015. It’s under Spoticar warranty she brought it from a Vauxhall dealer in May.
It’s 5.30 am on the A 27 road.ESP service warning light, yellow engine management light and traction warning lights all came on. Brilliant. We knew of a retail park a few miles away,a more convenient and safer place to be.
We call out AA, who eventually came after two hours.Bloke does his tests and it’s a misfire. He changes spark plugs and asks to take the car on a test drive. He comes back 15 minutes later, all good. Car seems ok, no sign of warning lights. I pay £50 for the spark plugs and just about to go to when the same ESP warning light comes on again.
Fortunately AA bloke is still around who has another look. He changes the coil pack ( he said he initially just wanted to change the spark plugs to save us money) . So , that’s another £240 quid, we pay up and this time we drive off all fine. No further problems.
Anyway I call Spoticar warranty today, but because I didn’t call out the Spoticat assist number and go through them, they won’t honour any repair costs.
My fault I guess, I completely forgot we also got road assistance with the warranty.
Woman on phone obviously was running of a script and doing her job, but she said did we should have called Spoticar assist or gone to a Vauxhall dealer to get fixed.
Obviously, if you break down miles from anywhere on a motorway or major road, and it’s early in the morning or late at night, with car full of family, you can’t realistically go to a Vauxhall dealer. You are supposed to stop at a safe place and not drive the car unnecessarily any further.
So how I was supposed to go to a Vauxhall dealer, in that case I couldn’t anyway.
Question is though would the spark plugs and coil pack have been covered by warranty or probably not? Gutted I’m £300 out of pocket.
Or is spark plugs and a coil pack classed as wear and tear ?It’s 5.30 am on the A 27 road.ESP service warning light, yellow engine management light and traction warning lights all came on. Brilliant. We knew of a retail park a few miles away,a more convenient and safer place to be.
We call out AA, who eventually came after two hours.Bloke does his tests and it’s a misfire. He changes spark plugs and asks to take the car on a test drive. He comes back 15 minutes later, all good. Car seems ok, no sign of warning lights. I pay £50 for the spark plugs and just about to go to when the same ESP warning light comes on again.
Fortunately AA bloke is still around who has another look. He changes the coil pack ( he said he initially just wanted to change the spark plugs to save us money) . So , that’s another £240 quid, we pay up and this time we drive off all fine. No further problems.
Anyway I call Spoticar warranty today, but because I didn’t call out the Spoticat assist number and go through them, they won’t honour any repair costs.
My fault I guess, I completely forgot we also got road assistance with the warranty.
Woman on phone obviously was running of a script and doing her job, but she said did we should have called Spoticar assist or gone to a Vauxhall dealer to get fixed.
Obviously, if you break down miles from anywhere on a motorway or major road, and it’s early in the morning or late at night, with car full of family, you can’t realistically go to a Vauxhall dealer. You are supposed to stop at a safe place and not drive the car unnecessarily any further.
So how I was supposed to go to a Vauxhall dealer, in that case I couldn’t anyway.
Question is though would the spark plugs and coil pack have been covered by warranty or probably not? Gutted I’m £300 out of pocket.
Check the T&C's but if it's a "mechanical breakdown warranty" then it may also specifically exclude electrical components. If it does happen to be a more comprehensive policy and covers the coil pack, you could try and daft man it and claim the coil pack failing must have caused issues with the plugs too... but I think you'd be lucky a) that probably wouldn't happen and b) spark plugs are a serviceable item, they wear out. Plus, they'd likely argue there was nothing wrong with the plugs if a coil pack fixed it. As for the claim, again their T&Cs may stipulate you have to follow X or Y process before, during or after repair... again, you might have to dig your heels in and escalate to try and get them to a) cover it and b) reimburse some or all of the costs.
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