Bruce M

...per plan, I do not work for the warranty company. I work for the people that buy the plans, hence my involvement whenever there is a problem, question, or advices is needed.

Yes, there are tons of sh!tty warranty companies. That is specifically why I use INDS for Audi, BMW, Benz, and the like. The other companies were just not good enough about paying dealer labor/part prices, being professional like recording calls, sending out inspectors and making the notes/photos available, having an escalation path on problems, etc. This is the same company that administers the plans that AAA uses nationwide. They are not a "two guys in their underwear with a web site" outfit.

So all that being said, they still suck because they are an insurance company. And they make a profit and stay in business by taking in more than they pay out in claims. It's an inherent conflict of interest. But they do not, in my experience and the experiences of others, do that in a way that is immoral, illegal, or unethical.

This is a VERY weird claim. I have spent a lot of time on the phone with my INDS agent, claims supervisor, and head of underwriting. They can count on one hand the times that a failure like this has happened and the cause was a bolt or fastener and was not covered. So they are doing a teardown, sending an inspector, considering goodwill, etc etc. They are standing by the contract, which does not include clamps/bolts/fasteners, but are really making an effort to see if this is a claim that CAN be covered as maybe the bolt failed AFTER something else that was covered failed. They'll visit the car and shop nearly next week.

To your other points, yes, I would be p!ssed if AofA denied the claim too. But their warranty is VERY different than a named component extended warranty. They built the car and are responsible for every single part on it. Their warranty is exclusionary and truly bumper to bumper, including defective upholstery, light bulbs, etc. they sell the car with a significant reserve in their profit to allow for goodwill claims, as an Allroad is a $40K+ car. And even with all of that, people are p!ssed at them for hiding from K03 failures, torque converter failures, D2 trans failures, and tons of other stuff that they do not want to know about after the warranty period expires even though they are cleary design and manufacturing problems and should have their warranties extended at a minimum.

I don't agree that an exlusionary policy excluded more than it includes. I have tons of customers that have been paid in claims far more than they paid for their warranty. I personally had an S4 that had a $2750 warranty that paid out $9K in claims. You have not had significant failures with your Audis, which is awesome, so you can bank the money and not spend it. But Allroad owners, other Audi models, and plenty of non-Audi models are prone to expensive failures that these warranties do cover and pay for.

Yes, sometimes there is a fight and escalation over a claim, sometimes claims are denied and we think it's B.S., etc. But overall, these guys are good and the warranties pay out.

This case is a strange one, and is not over yet. I am not mechanical genius (I am no genius at all to be honest), but can someone enlighten me as to the tensioner assembly? Is the bolt an integral part of the assembly? Or is there is a hole and any bolt that fits can be threaded in and it's a compeletely separate part? Because if the former, then yes, it is B.S. to deny the claim. If the latter, then I can see (although still not agree) why they say the tensioner did not fail, the bolt did and they do not cover bolts for a myriad of reasons.

I'm pushing hard, and will update this thread (as I am sure Scott will!) as to the conclusion. I'm on your side, guys, I want to see people's claims get paid.

Bruce

ar_in_maine

<center><img src="http://www.ecstuning.com/stage/images/product/engine/mechanical/28TimingBeltLayout-500x375.jpg"></center><p>"A" is the tensioner roller which is what failed (when the one bolt that fixes it to the block broke. The bolt is the lower left hand inner circle. Not sure if this is a 2.7t but it looks like this.

Casey

ICP changed the bolts out after the issues AFAIK, there was no headstamp on the crap bolts

cbons

one to pay close attention.

e40

Car-Part.com $3500 max w/o the turbos.