UKC

anyone have experience of Ford protect warranty? car is in after engine warning light came on, they can't find fault and say that investigation is not covered under Ford Protect warranty.

'Investigation' is not listed as an exlusion, but then it's not listed as included either...

long shot but any general car warranty haggling tips appreciated!  

I had a really poor experience of Ford used warranty (which I think is provided as "Protect Warranty"). Although to be fair the local Evans Halshaw Ford dealer is absolutely shocking when it comes to service - you only need to check their Google reviews for proof.

The issue i had was that the heated screen wasn't working, i had done all the basic troubleshooting of testing the fuses and relays so the issue was almost certainly the physical connections under the screen - they refused to look at it until they had done a diagnostic check that i had to pay for and wasn't covered under the warranty. When i pointed out that the issue with the screen wasn't going to be found by their diagnostic check, they still refused to look at it until this was completed. 

I reluctantly paid - no surprise they didn't find anything and they then said they would have to start looking at electrics and i would have to pay for the diagnostic time spent - the warranty would only cover the fix. Needless to say i took the keys back and never went back to them.

In the end, i part chopped the Ford for a new Toyota

You're not asking them to investigate - you're asking them to fix it.   If investigation is not a specific exclusion to a warranty, it is included.  Investigation is clearly included - that is how they now know that they don't know what the fault is.  The fact that their investigation is inadequate for the task is a matter for their professional standards, not you.   Presumably their line is that if you were to pay for the investigation, they would pay to rectify the fault.  However, why should you pay for a service that is both not an exclusion and shown not to be up to the task?

The primary recourse is to be massive pain in the backside, if you seem to have hit a stone wall.  A very loud voice in a busy showroom may help.  Parking your vehicle to block the entry/exit might also help attract unwanted attention.  Tell them you can't move it because the warning light is on...........

However, I do speak having failed to get BMW to pay for an obvious fault.  (I hope one of the BMW bots is listening, you feckless little xxxker.)  BMW's line was that because they had never seen the fault before, it must be our fault.   You may well wonder why neither my wife nor I have a BMW now.

I don't think any warranty provider will go near the fault diagnostic process for electrical / electronic problems. It would need a blank cheque to cover even the commonest scenarios. 

I know of two reputable German built cars recently that have stumped the main agent despite many hours (hundreds of pounds ) of effort to diagnose why the engine management light was on. They gave up on doing anything more sophisticated than substituting increasingly expensive parts with new and all at the customers' expense. 

When both customers eventually buckled under the financial assault, the cars were scrapped as ' non runners / no MOTs. The garage got them £300 for 6 / 8 year old vehicles with 75000 miles on the clock. They even wanted to charge one owner storage as it was a week before the scrapman could collect them.

So the main dealer replaces parts that demonstrably don't need replacing (because they didn't solve the problem) and the customer has to pay?! How do they get away with that? 

Because they're the main agents and there's still people who believe that's their best bet for getting their car fixed.

Also when your car won't even start because it's shut down by the engine management 'for safety', you feel rather trapped if the main agent is where the AA has dumped you. It takes a lot of energy to embark on a plan 'B'.