Warranties, extended warranty products and goodwill after a repair

They said it is out of warranty — do these three things first

The garage has refused a warranty claim, or has offered to see what they can do as a goodwill gesture. You are not sure whether that is the end of the road.

Work out which route you are relying on before you write. The same business can occupy more than one role. The sections below keep the same official sources. They do not decide that a refused warranty claim ends your statutory rights, and they do not promise goodwill.

Checklist

• Identify the trader you contracted with, the guarantor named in any guarantee, the paid-warranty provider, and any insurer or underwriter.
• Keep the guarantee statement, the paid-warranty terms, the invoice and the refusal in writing.
• Treat purely discretionary goodwill as a request rather than an entitlement.

Four routes, often confused

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 uses the word 'guarantee' for a specific thing: an undertaking to the consumer, given without extra charge by a person acting in the course of business, that if the goods do not meet the specifications in the guarantee statement or associated advertising the consumer will be reimbursed or the goods will be repaired, replaced or handled in some way. Sources: ^[1]

Because section 30 defines a guarantee as given without extra charge, a warranty product you paid a separate price for is not that section 30 guarantee. Its contractual coverage depends on its terms, subject to non-excludable statutory rights, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 fairness control and any applicable regulation. Sources: ^{[1] [4]}

Section 30 says the guarantee takes effect, at the time the goods are delivered, as a contractual obligation owed by the guarantor under the conditions set out in the guarantee statement and in any associated advertising. The conditions are part of the promise, not fine print bolted on afterwards. Sources: ^[1]

Statutory repair rights are a separate route. They run against the trader you contracted with, under the service standards in Part 1 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015, and they exist whether or not any guarantee or warranty product is in place. Sources: ^[3]

On its England advice page, Citizens Advice puts the practical version of the same point: warranties and guarantees add to legal rights, and it may be easier to use legal rights on faulty goods instead. Sources: ^[24]

Work out which route you are relying on before you write. The obligors may differ, but the same business can occupy more than one role. Identify the trader you contracted with, the guarantor named in the guarantee, the paid-warranty provider, and any insurer or underwriter. An administrator or the garage that physically did the work may itself be an obligor, but it may instead be acting as an agent or subcontractor; do not infer the legal role from the trading name or the job it performed.

A warranty is an addition, not a replacement

Section 30 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires the guarantor to ensure that the guarantee states that the consumer has statutory rights in relation to the goods and that those rights are not affected by the guarantee. Sources: ^[1]

The same section requires the guarantee to set out, in plain and intelligible language, the contents of the guarantee and the essential particulars for making claims under it, and to state the name and address of the guarantor and the guarantee's duration and territorial scope. Sources: ^[1]

For goods, section 31 says a term of the contract to supply goods is not binding to the extent that it would exclude or restrict the trader's specified Consumer Rights Act 2015 liabilities or make a right or remedy for such a liability subject to a restrictive or onerous condition. Sources: ^[2]

For services, section 57 says a term of the contract to supply services is not binding to the extent that it would exclude the trader's liability for performing the service with reasonable care and skill, and it also addresses terms that restrict rights or remedies for the specified service liabilities. Sources: ^[3]

Section 62 says an unfair term of a consumer contract is not binding on the consumer, and defines unfairness by reference to good faith and a significant imbalance to the consumer's detriment. This is a separate fairness control from sections 31 and 57. Sources: ^[4]

Since 6 April 2025, paragraph 11 of Schedule 20 to the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 lists presenting rights given to consumers by law as a distinctive feature of the trader's offer among the commercial practices that are unfair in all circumstances. Sources: ^[5]

the guarantee states that the consumer has statutory rights in relation to the goods and that those rights are not affected by the guarantee

Presenting rights given to consumers by law as a distinctive feature of the trader's offer.

This matters most when a claim is turned down. A refusal under a warranty tells you what that contract will not pay for. It does not decide whether the contracting trader met the reasonable-care-and-skill standard for the repair, and it does not end that separate argument. The two questions can have different answers and can be pursued separately.

Read the document before you spend anything

For a section 30 guarantee, the claims procedure is part of the contractual promise: section 30 makes the guarantee effective under the conditions in the guarantee statement and associated advertising, and requires the essential particulars for making claims to be set out. Sources: ^[1]

Section 30 also requires the guarantor, and anyone else offering to supply the goods covered by the guarantee, to make the guarantee available to the consumer on request within a reasonable time, in writing and in an accessible form. If you cannot find your copy, you can ask for one. Sources: ^[1]

On its England advice page, Citizens Advice says to check the paperwork for how to make a claim, how long the cover lasts and what the holder is entitled to, and says the document could be on the receipt, in an email or in a separate leaflet. Sources: ^[24]

The same England advice page says that only the person who bought the item can usually claim unless the document uses the phrase 'third party rights', and advises checking whether transport costs must be paid. Sources: ^[24]

The same England advice page says that where a guarantee or warranty came from a seller who has gone out of business, the holder should check whether it is insurance-backed, and says a manufacturer's guarantee should still be valid in that situation. Sources: ^[24]

Checklist

• Find the document itself, not a summary or a salesperson's description; ask the guarantor for a copy if you no longer have one.
• Identify the contracting trader, named guarantor, paid-warranty provider and any warranty insurer or underwriter; do not assume the administrator or repairing garage carries every obligation.
• Read the duration and the territorial scope, and check the date and mileage limits against your own.
• Read the servicing conditions: whether servicing at set intervals is required, what evidence of it is required, and whether the work has to be done by a named network.
• Read the exclusions list in full, including wear and tear, consequential loss and anything described as a consumable.
• Read the claims procedure, and in particular whether the provider has to authorise a repair before it starts. Where that is a condition, work you have already had done may fall outside the cover.
• Classify the condition before challenging it. Sections 31 and 57 address restrictions on specified Consumer Rights Act liabilities and remedies against the contracting trader; they do not automatically invalidate a condition defining separate guarantee or paid-warranty coverage. Assess that separate condition under its own contract, the section 62 fairness control where applicable and any applicable regulation.

If the document requires prior authorisation and your car is undriveable, ring the provider before you instruct anyone, and keep a note of the time, the name and what you were told.

Some warranty products are regulated financial products, and some are not

Section 19 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 sets a general prohibition: no person may carry on a regulated activity in the United Kingdom, or purport to do so, unless they are an authorised person or an exempt person. Sources: ^[6]

Article 10 of the Regulated Activities Order makes effecting a contract of insurance as principal, and carrying out a contract of insurance as principal, specified kinds of activity. So if a warranty product is a contract of insurance, providing it is regulated. Sources: ^[9]

The FCA's guidance says a simple manufacturer's or retailer's warranty is unlikely to be classified as a contract of insurance if the FCA is satisfied that it does no more than crystallise or recognise obligations of the same nature as a seller's or supplier's usual obligations as regards the quality of the goods or services. Sources: ^[10]

The same guidance says the FCA is unlikely to be satisfied of that where the obligation is assumed by someone other than the seller or supplier, or is significantly more extensive in content, scope or duration than a seller's usual quality obligations, and that those two features typically distinguish a third-party warranty and an extended warranty from a simple one. Sources: ^[10]

Where a warranty is provided by a third party, the FCA says it will usually treat that as conclusive of an assumption or transfer of risk, and it will be the third party who is potentially effecting a contract of insurance. Sources: ^[10]

The FCA's guidance sets out motor-dealer warranty schemes specifically, and says that where the dealer itself remains responsible for meeting the warranty obligation and the obligation is not significantly more extensive than a dealer's usual obligations as to the quality of vehicles of that kind, it would not usually classify those arrangements as contracts of insurance — including where a third-party administration company merely handles the claims. Sources: ^[10]

The FCA publishes a register of regulated financial businesses; the Financial Ombudsman Service points consumers to it for the contact details of a regulated business. Sources: ^{[17] [19]}

Sections 226 and 227 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 create compulsory and voluntary Ombudsman jurisdictions with separate conditions. Those conditions concern the eligible complainant, the respondent, the activity and, for voluntary jurisdiction, participation in the scheme; authorisation alone is not the whole test. Sources: ^{[7] [8]}

FCA DISP 2.2 says the scope of the Financial Ombudsman Service's jurisdictions depends on the activity, where it was carried on, whether the complainant is eligible and whether referral was in time. DISP 2.3, DISP 2.5 and DISP 2.7 then address compulsory activities, voluntary activities and eligible complainants and relationships. Sources: ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}

The Financial Ombudsman Service says that, before investigating a complaint, it first decides whether it has the power to do so under the official rules; it calls this its jurisdiction. Sources: ^[21]

A separate statutory regime, the Supply of Extended Warranties on Domestic Electrical Goods Order 2005, confines itself by its own definitions to products designed to be connected to an electricity supply or powered by batteries and used for domestic purposes. Advice pages describing cancellation windows for 'extended warranties' are often describing that regime, which does not reach motor vehicles. Sources: ^[18]

The cover of the booklet does not decide the classification. Relevant facts include who carries the obligation, whether risk is assumed or transferred, and how far the cover goes beyond the supplier's usual quality obligations. Two documents that read almost identically can still be classified differently.

What to do

• Use the document to identify the exact legal entities acting as seller, administrator, provider and any insurer or underwriter, then check those entities on the FCA Register.
• Treat a Register match as evidence, not a jurisdiction decision. Check the firm's permissions at the relevant time and whether they cover the product and complained-of activity.
• Identify the proposed FOS respondent rather than assuming every named business is answerable for the complaint, and check that the complainant is eligible and has the required relationship with that respondent.
• Check the territorial rule for where the relevant activity was carried on, compulsory jurisdiction and, if that does not cover the complaint, whether the respondent participated in the voluntary jurisdiction for the relevant activity. The Ombudsman decides whether it has jurisdiction.
• A missing Register match does not by itself prove impropriety or rule out every Ombudsman route; read the product and complaints documents and verify the compulsory or voluntary jurisdiction facts.
• Do not rely on this page to classify your particular product. The classification is fact-specific and the FCA's guidance is written in terms of what it is likely or unlikely to conclude.

FCA — Financial Services Register

If the claim is refused

For a complaint that may fall within the Financial Ombudsman Service's jurisdiction, the Service says to complain to the financial business first, make it aware of the problem and say how it should put matters right. Sources: ^[19]

For an ordinary complaint of the kind discussed here, rather than an EMD or PSD complaint, DISP 1.6.2R requires the respondent, by the end of eight weeks after receiving the complaint, to send either a qualifying final response or a written response explaining why it cannot yet provide one and giving the required Ombudsman information. Sources: ^{[19] [15]}

DISP 2.8.1R says that, for an ordinary complaint of this kind, the Ombudsman can consider it once the respondent has sent its final response or summary resolution communication, or once eight weeks have elapsed since the respondent received the complaint. Sources: ^[16]

For the ordinary final-response route discussed here, the six-month referral period is triggered only by a qualifying final response that meets DISP 1.6.2R, including the required Ombudsman information and time-limit wording. It is calculated from the date the respondent sent that response, not from the date the complainant received it; a generic reasoned refusal is not enough merely because it is in writing. Sources: ^{[15] [16] [20]}

DISP 2.8.2R also sets the ordinary six-year period from the event complained of and, if later, three years from when the complainant became aware or ought reasonably to have become aware of cause for complaint. A complaint referred to the respondent or Ombudsman within that relevant period is preserved where the complainant has a written acknowledgement or other record that it was received, subject also to the rule's exceptional-circumstances and respondent-consent provisions. Sources: ^[16]

GOV.UK directs consumers in England and Wales to Citizens Advice, consumers in Scotland to Advice Direct Scotland, and consumers in Northern Ireland to Consumerline for consumer-protection advice. Sources: ^[26]

On its England-only page, Citizens Advice says its consumer service can advise on a consumer problem and pass information about complaints to Trading Standards; it cannot make the complaint or take legal action for the consumer. Sources: ^[25]

Complain in writing to the correct obligor and keep proof of delivery. If relying on the six-year or later three-year FOS rule, save the respondent's acknowledgement, email delivery record, portal receipt or other record showing when the complaint was received.

Do not choose the FOS route solely because a name appears on the Register. Verify the firm, permissions, product and activity, where the activity was carried on, proposed respondent, eligible complainant and compulsory or voluntary jurisdiction. If FOS does not have jurisdiction, check the contract's complaint process and the separate alternative-dispute-resolution guide before selecting a nation-specific court route.

Keep every refusal as evidence. On the ordinary final-response route described above, only a qualifying final response starts that six-month period; a generic written refusal does not. A summary resolution communication is a separate rule-based route.

Goodwill: what it is and how to ask

In a published final decision, the Financial Ombudsman Service described businesses as generally having a free hand to decide whether to issue a refund as a gesture of goodwill where it was not something the business was obliged to do. Sources: ^[22]

In another published decision, the Ombudsman treated a merchant's goodwill offer as not being evidence of a breach of contract; the offer did not itself establish that the merchant had done anything wrong. Sources: ^[23]

Those decisions illustrate only the narrower point that a purely discretionary goodwill payment generally carries no enforceable entitlement and need not admit a breach. They do not establish what legal effect a stated policy, a specific promise or an accepted offer may have in another case. Sources: ^{[22] [23]}

A purely discretionary payment is ordinarily a request, not an enforceable entitlement. A business may nevertheless have an internal goodwill process or review route; check its published process, but do not assume a right of appeal.

Ask for goodwill as an alternative, not as a substitute. Do not assume that asking pauses any contractual, court or FOS deadline. This page does not decide whether a particular deadline is suspended: check the contract, the qualifying FOS rules above and the court guide for the relevant nation, and act in time while the request is pending.

What to do

• Address the request to the business identified in the relevant contract or guarantee, and ask who has authority under its internal process to decide it.
• Keep the statutory argument and the goodwill request in separate letters so that neither reads as a concession on the other.
• Do not treat a goodwill offer as a settlement of everything unless the offer says so; read what you are being asked to sign or accept.
• If the business refuses the request, check whether its own goodwill process offers a review, while keeping contractual, statutory and complaint routes separate.

Checklist

• Say what the vehicle is, its age and its recorded mileage, and how long you have had it.
• Say what the servicing history is and attach it, including who did the work and when.
• Say what failed, when, and how soon after the repair or purchase it failed.
• Say precisely why the claim fell outside the cover, quoting the reason you were given.
• Say what you are asking for, as a number or as a specific contribution, rather than asking them to make an offer.
• Say what you have already paid and attach the invoices.
• Give a date by which you would like an answer, and keep the request short enough to be read in one go.

Important

No warranty product, provider, underwriter, manufacturer or garage is named, rated or recommended anywhere on this page, and OBDCode UK receives no payment from any of them.

The document defines contractual guarantee or warranty coverage, but its terms remain subject to non-excludable statutory rights, the Consumer Rights Act 2015 fairness control and any applicable regulation.

Do not drive a vehicle that the reviewed safety conclusion says should not be driven while you are waiting for a claim, a complaint or a goodwill decision.