I've just about to have my 3rd year warranty run out and considering getting a 3rd party one for peace of mind, not that I have had many issues beyond initial teething troubles. Has anyone had much success of 3rd party warranties in actually being able to claim for anything?
After a lifetime in the motor-trade, most after-market warranties need to be read very, very closely. They are actually a form of insurance policy and they seem to exclude everything that usually goes wrong ! Most cover major mechanical failure due to manufacturing faults only. So, if you blow up the clutch it's your call.... normal wear and tear or misuse. You knock the crank out, even if you kept up every service, at the main dealer, to the letter, it's your call more likely than not.... bearings are subject to normal wear and tear and if the crank is rubbished when they let go, it's your misuse that allowed them to be operated when they needed changing. No gaskets, lubricants or wearing parts are covered. Often labour is only partly covered, if at all... or must be done at a place of their choice. A main dealer I used to know used the system to pay for his annual holiday, by selling his own version of the Warranty, banking the cash and spending the vast profits on his comfortable lifestyle ! My attitude is to keep the money you would have spent and put it wherever you can get the best interest rate, top it up each year as you would if buying a furthur years warranty and in the unlikely event your pampered motorbike ever goes badly wrong you can spend your own saving getting it fixed. Remember, the whole point of selling a warranty is to make a profit for the seller, so an awful lot of that price goes straight into various people's pay packets, not to the repair shop !
