I have purchased various tire and wheel protection policies over the years and they have proven to be worthwhile insurance policies for having 20" wheels with low profile tires.

As with my previous cars, when I got my XJL I bought a Tirecare protection from Galpin Jaguar, which is underwritten by Safeguard and sold under various names, such as Ford Tirecare, etc.

I recently discovered that over the last 3 years 3 of the wheels have been damaged (bent) due to the road conditions in L.A. Took my car to a dealer near me and they initiated a claim for me.

As expected, the warranty required an inspection by an adjuster. The adjuster asked that the dealer remove the wheels for inspection. The dealer estimated the labor for the wheel removal and re-installation to be $50 and the repair costs for the wheels will be about $150 each. The adjuster later informed the dealer that the wheel removal labor cost was not covered and only 2 of the 3 wheels will be approved for repairs and they will pay only $100 per wheel.

I contacted the company and asked about these limitations and exclusions since they were not mentioned anywhere in the contract I signed. The response I received was a very plain and short to the point that those are the "approved" charges and that there was a single line in very fine prints that stated they will pay all approved costs for repairs or replacement. When I asked if they simply randomly assign what the "approved" costs are, the reply was "Yep". And when I asked why they wouldn't pay for the labor costs for the wheel removal per the adjuster's request I got a continuously circular response that the inspection must be done with the wheels removed and the removal cost is not part of the damage repair and thus was not covered.

I have never encountered such bad coverage and service with the previous warranties I have purchased with other companies.

Make sure you read the fine prints and ask for, in print, very specific coverage information, such as specific dollar amount covered for various items if you are thinking about getting such warranty. I've certainly learned a lesson I will not soon forget.

Most importantly, never purchase a warranty of any kind from Safeguard; it's a scam.

 

Did you go to Galpin for the repair? Since you bought the policy from them, I would ask them to go to bat for you, or at least waive the labor charges.

 

The service advisor at Rusnak is willing to waive the labor cost and reduced the wheel repair charges as a goodwill gesture.


I just didn't like the way Safe-Guard operates.

 

Sounds like Rusnak is a top notch dealer. Some dealers won't give you the time if you didn't buy the vehicle from them. If your service advisor is Eden, she really knows Jags and customer service. Great place.