January 14, 2006

Hello Tony

I purchased a used pick up truck in August 2004. At that time I paid $1,495 for a 36 month extended auto warranty. In April 2005, I purchased a different truck from the same car dealer.

He transferred my extended auto warranty from the first truck to the second one, and I just realized that he charged me $1,495 again for this transfer.

The Eagle Warranty Company paperwork I have says that a transfer from one vehicle to another one is $65! Is this legal, and what can I do to get back my $1,495 that I feel was wrongly charged?

Thanks for your help.

Ed S.

Answer:

Hi Ed,

It sounds like the car dealer simply sold you a new warranty!

I've never heard of an extended auto warranty company allowing you to transfer a warranty from one vehicle to another. Most extended warranties have a transfer provision in them that allows you to transfer the warranty to the next owner of the same vehicle, but not to another vehicle.

In other words the extended warranty stays with the same vehicle, but can be transferred to a different owner. There is usually a transfer fee that must be paid to accomplish this (like the $65 fee you mentioned).

Perhaps this warranty you have allows you to transfer to another vehicle, but I seriously doubt it. If I were you I'd read the extended warranty contract carefully to be sure. If they do allow this it's a first for me!

What you can do is cancel the warranty on a vehicle that you no longer own. You won't get back the full amount that you paid, but you should be able to get something back. You should be able to do this on the first truck. The fact that the car dealer didn't advise you of this is inexcusable.

They have screwed you out of a potentially sizeable refund depending on the time and mileage that had passed when you traded in the old truck.

You need to contact the dealer and figure out what they did to you. Like I said, it sounds like they sold you a new warranty, and failed to give you a refund on the unused portion of the old warranty.

The fact that they didn't explain to you exactly what they were doing and conducted the transaction in this fashion tells me that they are unprofessional crooks who are not looking out for your best interests.

Tell them to level with you, and give you a refund on the first warranty, or you will file complaints with the Better Business Bureau and with your state's Attorney General's office, and do so if necessary. Get a lawyer if necessary. You can't let these jerks get away with this!

All my very best...

Tony Iorio