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Western Service Contract Corp....

GAJ

GAJ

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 10, 2008
Location
SANTA ROSA
Moto(s)
F800ST
Name
Geoff
any personal experiences with this company that sells extended service contracts and is under the McGraw Insurance umbrella?

I never go for these things usually, but I'm thinking that for $950, this will take my contract out till 2015 on my BMW and on the F800 forum there have been some expensive issues come up on a few bikes.

Mind you, if I'd bought one on my BMW K75S I had for 20 years I never would have made a claim, but that bike was way more overbuilt IMO than the F800.

Thoughts?

Experiences?

The standard warranty runs through December of 2010, but I'm planning on putting some cross country miles on my bike over the next 10 years or so and I'm thinking maybe I should do it.

Does not cover tires, belts, batteries, brake pads and shoes, bulbs, catalytic converter, clutch, cosmetics, pulleys, body parts, hand controls and foot pedals, handlebars, locks, mirrors, muffler, seat, shocks, rims.

Pretty much focuses on engine, tranny, primary drive, front suspension and wheel bearings but not the shock itself, rear suspension and wheel bearings but not the shock or swing arm, instrumentation, electrical and starter motor and wiring harness, brake hubs, discs and calipers plus lines and fittings, the ABS and stability systems if I had them, engine seals and gaskets, steering stem, bearings and races, the frame and attachment points, towing and rental reimbursement, fuel injectors, fuel tank, cables and steering damper.
 
We have had pretty good luck with the Western Service extended warranties but read it carefully. Some of them make you do repair work at the selling dealer and this may not be your preference.
 
Exceptions, exclusions, deductibles, etc. Read the fine print.

Basically an insurance policy where you pay the premium up front. Chances are nothing covered by the policy will fail within the mileage/time frame term limits, except maybe due to owner/operator error. In which case it ain't covered.

These extended service contracts are big money for the insurer and commission for the seller.
 
Sane_Man said:
The price is negotiable, and $950 needs to be negotiated to around $500-600. :wow
Click to expand...

Exactly, bargin on the price $500-600 is a fair price and allows the dealer to make some money. I used to sell McGraw when I was an F/I manager. They are a solid company,have had many people use them never has them stiff anyone. Yes you can take your bike to any dealer to have work done, they are direct bill so no paying upfront then getting reinbursed. They also provide towing to the closest repair facility and have allwances to get you home if your bike will take along tome to be repaired. A tire warrenty is avaiilable, it usaually runs about $250 also nego, but here is the catchwith that. They will replace up to 3 tires during the first three years but you they will only replace with stock tire so you better like the ones that come on it and you have to pay upfront and get reimbursed and you will be responsible for the mount and balance. Great company though, the only compant that I know of that will cover compitition machines that don't even have warrenty from the factory YZ, CR, KX etc. Had a customer who bought a 06 RMZ450 and the motor blew on the second ride, Suzuki was like "sorry competition machine, no warrenty" McGraw paid $4500 to rbuild his motor. Sorry for the long winded answer but yes Mcgraw very good company especailly if you plan on doing cross country rides.:ride
 
^ What he said. :thumbup

(... and dealers like them because they better than factory warranty's on parts/labor.)
 
Western has three levels, "A" being the highest as I understand it. I have one for 4 additional years (total of 7) and unlimited miles. I paid something like $2100, and have had $2300 in warranty repairs covered by them. Paralever bearings went out, and I was told that was a "wear item" and not covered. From anonymous sources, I've heard that they're fine until repairs are appx. close to what you paid, then they get real fussy. I'll wait and see on the next item, should anything else pop up.
 
Razel said:
Western has three levels, "A" being the highest as I understand it. I have one for 4 additional years (total of 7) and unlimited miles. I paid something like $2100, and have had $2300 in warranty repairs covered by them. Paralever bearings went out, and I was told that was a "wear item" and not covered. From anonymous sources, I've heard that they're fine until repairs are appx. close to what you paid, then they get real fussy. I'll wait and see on the next item, should anything else pop up.
Click to expand...

Wow, if you had invested that money . . .
 
Thx a bunch...I really appreciate the input.

I'll try to work them down from $950.

I was expecting to hear a couple of horror stories and glad I haven't thus far.
 
Bought a used K1200Gt in August, 10K miles, old man's bike, perfect condition, all maintenance at dealer, blah, blah, blah. Clutch went out two months and 1000 miles later.

I had paid the $100 to transfer the Western Service Warranty (top level of the three) to my name. They send an appraiser when the amount of the claim is over a certain amount. That delayed the repair by a week, but other than that it was satisfactory. Would have cost $1700 otherwise.

From speaking with other BMW owners and reading forums, there are plenty of expensive service issues with all models that can cost big bucks down the road, so if you're already spending 10K for a bike...

It's funny- I read a post here some months back from another K bike owner where he said how strange it was that whenever you meet other Beemer owners out on the road, they all do the same thing: talk about how much they love their bikes and then compare failures.

So much for the vaunted BMW superiority. Next time Kawasaki. never had a problem with any of my Kawis of various years and models. Gonna try out a
 
Poor Western Service... I'm probably the reason GE is now doing the Ducati extended warranty program.

I paid $700 for an extra 5 years warranty, after a dealer mechanic apparently misrouted the wiring harness during routine service and caused 4 ECUs and 4 ignition coils to fail they probably have $5K into my bike... and 42 more months of warranty to go! :rofl
 
flyingobject said:
Bought a used K1200Gt in August, 10K miles, old a real-man's bike, perfect condition, all maintenance at dealer, blah, blah, blah. Clutch went out two months and 1000 miles later.
Click to expand...

Fixed it for ya :twofinger
 
Having managed several service departments, Western is by far the best aftermarket warranty company I have dealt with. I rarely ever had any issues with approval or payment. They were an absolute joy to deal with compared to their competitors.

Money well spent in most cases.
 
supertireguy said:
Exceptions, exclusions, deductibles, etc. Read the fine print.

Basically an insurance policy where you pay the premium up front. Chances are nothing covered by the policy will fail within the mileage/time frame term limits, except maybe due to owner/operator error. In which case it ain't covered.

These extended service contracts are big money for the insurer and commission for the seller.
Click to expand...

This company is having it's ass handed to them by BMW owners. They are loosing so much money it's scary. They might make out a bit on the japanese brands but every rear drive or trans that fails on a bmw costs them 200% more than the initial contract. they are trying to weasel out of alot of old contracts by claiming that things like shift forks are wear items but their fine print states any lubed internal component on alot of contracts.

I'm sure they have rewritten their terms by now and the contracts will be much less favorable to the customer.
 
No, still says internally lubed parts...I'm really leaning towards it even though BMW has the finest STANDARD warranty in the market at 3 years...this one wouldn't kick in until year four and run through 2015.

I gotta believe something is gonna fail as I pile on the miles...and free towing and bike rental in the middle of the country could, indeed, come in handy.

Can be used at any dealer and transferred to a new owner.
 
DaineseDan said:
Having managed several service departments, Western is by far the best aftermarket warranty company I have dealt with. I rarely ever had any issues with approval or payment. They were an absolute joy to deal with compared to their competitors.

Money well spent in most cases.
Click to expand...

Thx man; that's exactly the sort of info I was looking for.

You and all other responders have been very helpful and I truly appreciate it.
 
I had to resurrect this thread.

So 2 months ago, when I bought my 998 from Hattar, I paid $1000 for the 2-year Western Service Contract "C", which only covers Engine, Transmission, Primary Drive and Final Drive.

Now a few weeks ago, when I discovered a tiny tiny oil leak.
See this thread:
http://bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=296280

And of course I thought my warranty would cover this type of shit, but just my luck, it doesn't. The $1000 warranty really doesnt cover anything until the whole damn bike blows up. In which case, I am already paying for full-coverage with state farm.

And so, I have decided (and have been basically forced) to just live with the minor oil leak. It obviously isnt worth my time or money to pull the whole engine apart for a leaky seal. And this i not that big a deal to me, given that the leak is so small.

So my question is...should I just take my chances and get a refund on my warranty? I could REALLY use that thousand to cover so expenses right now (namely tires, tools, maybe a nice one-piece so that I can finally go do a trackday).

What would you do? Really, this warranty aint covering shit for me...and I do take good care of my bike. I would definitely consider keeping the warranty if I had the option of the A or even B policy, which covers electornics, suspension, brakes and seals/gaskets and more...but my intuition tells me that in the next 2 years, nothing is going to break that could be covered by this severely limited warranty. It seems like the gap between the warranty I paid for and my full-coverage insurance just doesnt even make sense.

And $1000 seems too much to just throw away for in case the worse happens.
 
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