I purchased the PLUS extended warranty through Preferred Warranties Inc. (PWI) on 2/7/2014. My purchasing decision for the 2006 BMW was driven 70% by the fact I was purchasing the extended warranty with it. What a mistake. I bought the car AS-IS but walked away with comfort and ease because I paid a premium ($1800) for the extended warranty so if anything happened I had covered my bases.
6 weeks after, the car overheated (the engine overheat light popped up) I immediately stopped the vehicle and called PWI. The 1st hick-up - they told me I was unable to have the vehicle reviewed and fixed at the BMW service center and referred me to a PWI preferred repair shop. That shop diagnosed the issue as the thermostat and water pump and charged over $1000 for the repair which included aftermarket parts. I called the BMW service center and inquired what the cost of replacement for the exact parts and they quoted $630 which included OEM parts. I called PWI and told them I would rather have my car repaired at BMW since they were less expensive and BMW would be servicing and replacing w/ original parts vs. aftermarket. Dawn the PWI claim specialist told me she thought she was helping me out with the more expensive repair and sub-par parts. Ended up when I told there preferred repair shop BMW was cheaper and faxed him a copy of their quote he told me he didn't want to repair my vehicle and to have it off his lot my 5pm that day or he would charge a $75 per day fee for storage. I ended up having to pay for the tow to the next shop cause PWI wouldn't cover it after they referred me to a scam repair center.
2nd issue - The next repair center replaced the water pump and the thermostat but said the engine was ticking and the valve's needed replacing (suppose to be covered by PWI) - PWI told them they had to know exactly what valve in the cylinder head caused the failure. The repair center stated it would take 26 hours to break the cylinder head down and identify what valve was causing the failure. When they tore down the cylinder head, PWI sent a inspector out and the inspector stated he saw oil sludge so ended up PWI used the oil sludge as a way to say they would not cover the $3600 cylinder head replacement (suppose to be covered). PWI said the oil sludge indicates pre-exisiting conditions and it showed lack of oil change maintenance so therefore they were not going to cover it.
I called BMW and got all of the service records, my car had 2 previous owners, I bought at 59000 miles on it and it was covered under BMW's maintenance plan through 50,000 miles. I called PWI and told them I could have BMW forward them all service maintenance records to show the car had been maintenance according to manufacturer recommendations, oil changes had been done as scheduled. PWI told me it was nothing they could do, wasn't interested in getting the maintenance records and it was out of their hands the underwriter had made the decision to not cover the repair. Now Dawn will not return any of my calls, her boss Tim and/or Colette Jones will not return my calls either. My car has been in the shop for 3 weeks now and PWI won't do anything. The bill is $3710 - I would never put my car in the shop if I would have known PWI was not going to adhere to their service contract. I would have waited until I had the money for the repair.
I found out the underwriting company is Amtrust Company. PWI is a scam, they will do any and everything to get out of upholding their service contracts. What a shame and a scam. This company should not be allowed to do business. If anyone has any suggestions or would like to file a class action lawsuit, please contact me: [email protected]. Check out Consumer Affairs, there are numerous complaints about PWI not adhering to their service contracts. I also found out PWI was recently purchased by a company Karauto Options (this is what Dawn told me).
Preferred Warranties Inc. Reviews
I purchased the PLUS extended warranty through Preferred Warranties Inc. (PWI) on 2/7/2014. My purchasing decision for the 2006 BMW was driven 70% by the fact I was purchasing the extended warranty with it. What a mistake. I bought the car AS-IS but walked away with comfort and ease because I paid a premium ($1800) for the extended warranty so if anything happened I had covered my bases.
6 weeks after, the car overheated (the engine overheat light popped up) I immediately stopped the vehicle and called PWI. The 1st hick-up - they told me I was unable to have the vehicle reviewed and fixed at the BMW service center and referred me to a PWI preferred repair shop. That shop diagnosed the issue as the thermostat and water pump and charged over $1000 for the repair which included aftermarket parts. I called the BMW service center and inquired what the cost of replacement for the exact parts and they quoted $630 which included OEM parts. I called PWI and told them I would rather have my car repaired at BMW since they were less expensive and BMW would be servicing and replacing w/ original parts vs. aftermarket. Dawn the PWI claim specialist told me she thought she was helping me out with the more expensive repair and sub-par parts. Ended up when I told there preferred repair shop BMW was cheaper and faxed him a copy of their quote he told me he didn't want to repair my vehicle and to have it off his lot my 5pm that day or he would charge a $75 per day fee for storage. I ended up having to pay for the tow to the next shop cause PWI wouldn't cover it after they referred me to a scam repair center.
2nd issue - The next repair center replaced the water pump and the thermostat but said the engine was ticking and the valve's needed replacing (suppose to be covered by PWI) - PWI told them they had to know exactly what valve in the cylinder head caused the failure. The repair center stated it would take 26 hours to break the cylinder head down and identify what valve was causing the failure. When they tore down the cylinder head, PWI sent a inspector out and the inspector stated he saw oil sludge so ended up PWI used the oil sludge as a way to say they would not cover the $3600 cylinder head replacement (suppose to be covered). PWI said the oil sludge indicates pre-exisiting conditions and it showed lack of oil change maintenance so therefore they were not going to cover it.
I called BMW and got all of the service records, my car had 2 previous owners, I bought at 59000 miles on it and it was covered under BMW's maintenance plan through 50,000 miles. I called PWI and told them I could have BMW forward them all service maintenance records to show the car had been maintenance according to manufacturer recommendations, oil changes had been done as scheduled. PWI told me it was nothing they could do, wasn't interested in getting the maintenance records and it was out of their hands the underwriter had made the decision to not cover the repair. Now Dawn will not return any of my calls, her boss Tim and/or Colette Jones will not return my calls either. My car has been in the shop for 3 weeks now and PWI won't do anything. The bill is $3710 - I would never put my car in the shop if I would have known PWI was not going to adhere to their service contract. I would have waited until I had the money for the repair.
I found out the underwriting company is Amtrust Company. PWI is a scam, they will do any and everything to get out of upholding their service contracts. What a shame and a scam. This company should not be allowed to do business. If anyone has any suggestions or would like to file a class action lawsuit, please contact me: [email protected]. Check out Consumer Affairs, there are numerous complaints about PWI not adhering to their service contracts. I also found out PWI was recently purchased by a company Karauto Options (this is what Dawn told me).