Brought my car in on a Friday morning and got a service consultant that I had never dealt with before and he told that since my policy was purchased from a non-Infiniti dealership, I would have to pay for the loaner car, which I was fine with as the policy is suppose to cover up to 10 days rental per repair (with $100 deductible per claim). He said he'd have to call the insurance company and they may have to come to the dealership to approve the repairs first so it would take up to Tuesday to know what repairs are covered. He warned me that aftermarket warranty claims service can be problematic but that he'd take care of me and not to worry.
The reason I took the car in was because I was once again experiencing a problem with the fuel gauge. A few years ago, they had to replace the fuel pump because whenever I filled up the car with gas, it would only show about 90% full. Well, it happened again so I thought it was the same problem. The service consultant suggested that I also tell him any other problems I can think of because he doesn't want me to have to pay $100 deductible each time for each individual repair. I appreciated that suggestion so I also mentioned that I had noticed that many times when I come to a stop, there's a flushing water sound. I swear I didn't mention anything about having an issue with the driver's side door locking/unlocking at random times but he also wrote that down. No biggie, it was just something for them to check.
Once I picked up the loaner car and got to my office, I called the insurance claims number to ask for clarification on how the claims process would work and how the rental car coverage would work because it said I would have to get preauthorization and get reimbursed (I called before but they said to call after I brought in the car). The claims rep told me that I risk having to pay for the rental coverage if the repairs aren't covered. This is the biggest sticking point because I pointed out to him that there's no way that I can wait for my car until they've diagnosed and approved the repairs. He just reiterated that I may have to pay for the rentals but since I already checked out the car, I really couldn't do anything about it.
Luckily, that service consultant really did take care of everything for me. They really did take until Tuesday, almost Wednesday to get the repairs approved so in the meantime, I was worried that the rental cost was racking up... The insurance claims rep said that technically, the repairs should have only taken one day and that I would only be covered for the rental for one day. When I finally picked up the car, it was 7 days after, which would have been $250+tax for the rental
. However, the service consultant told me not to worry and only charged me for one day. Plus, he said they did a complimentary flush on the brakes because of the flushing sound problem that wasn't covered. I have to say that if not for that service consultant, who is THE best one I've ever dealt with, I may have come out with an awful experience using this extended warranty. I don't think that rental pre-authorization process would work for anyone. I mean, other than an express oil change, I've always had to get a loaner car for other services because they usually take longer than 2 hours. So instead of buying aftermarket (although it's suppose to be backed by Costco's customer satisfaction guarantee), I would suggest buying directly from the dealership or manufacturer. It'll cost a bit extra, but at least you can deal directly with the dealership instead of the insurance company. On the positive side, this service consultant was so good, I'll ask only for him in the future.
