United Service Contract Group

Protect My Car’s Management Team would like to inform all of our existing customers (as well as the prospective customers that we recently engaged with) that our entire office of over 200 employees just completed a move to a much larger, state-of-the-art facility over the weekend of December 15, 2018. That move involved moving our servers, internet lines, telephone communications equipment and over 200 employee work stations, offices and related material and equipment. All of this was accomplished after months of careful planning and was completed in under two days. While we anticipated some down time in order to move our servers, phone lines, internet lines and work stations, we did structure our move to the new location to limit the inconvenience to our customers as much as possible.
We appreciate the patience most of our customers and their repair facilities have shown during our two day move and we apologize to all those that were adversely affected by the short down time required to set up our new office. Our team worked tirelessly this entire weekend to minimize the effect on our company’s productivity.
Our new office space is state-of-the-art and will allow us to communicate rapidly and effectively with our customers, service shops and suppliers. Ultimately, our customers will be pleased with the increase in efficiency that we will be able to bring to servicing their contracts and claims.
Thank you, once again, for your continued patience as we complete this process.

Thank you for your comments. We take comments such as these very seriously. As such, we are happy to give you a better understanding of your coverage and to answer the question that you asked (Why you would want to have a vehicle service contract in the first place?).
Your coverage is intended to assist you with the cost of mechanical breakdowns. With that being said, it is important to note that not all things that can happen to your vehicle are mechanical breakdowns. From time to time, we all have to replace worn out tires, gaskets and brake pads. These are “wear and tear” items that are not covered under mechanical breakdown contracts. That is true no matter who issues the coverage. Other items that are not covered would include regular maintenance (i.e., oil changes, tire rotations, fluid replacements and the like). While there are other types of maintenance contracts that can assist with these costs, those benefit would be in addition to, and not part of, mechanical breakdown coverage.
In your case, you purchased a “Driveline” contract from Protect My Car, in June of 2017, for your 2013 Chevrolet Equinox that had a little over 112,000 miles on it when you purchased the coverage. That contract covers the cost of mechanical breakdowns (for the components listed in the contract). Within four (4) months of purchasing your contract, you had two (2) repairs done to your engine. The repair shop that you chose to do these repairs charged a total of $1,231.19. Your coverage saved you the repair costs on these two (2) repairs and all you had to pay was the $100.00 deductible on each repair. The total amount that you saved, on these two (2) repairs, was over $1,000.00.
Your third claim involved the leaking oil pan and rear seal. Your claim for this repair was denied because the oil pan and rear seal are not covered components under your contract. The claim was also denied because a leaking oil seal is not a mechanical breakdown.
The repair shop that you chose to use claimed that the leak was due to a cracked block. We went to the expense of hiring an independent inspector to make sure the problem was diagnosed correctly. The inspector reported the following:
“The inspector verified the rear main seal is leaking to a drip, short term. There are no indications the seal has blown out. The case half seal shows signs of previous resealing as well as the oil pan. There are also signs of someone previously installing the incorrect bolts at the rear of the case and has damaged the case bolt bosses. There are no signs of cracks in the case. There were no other failures seen or demonstrated. Cause of Failure: 1) Material failure of the rear main seal. 2) Improper previous repairs causing sub damage to the engine case half. “
The cause of your vehicle’s problems was directly traced to an improper repair done to your vehicle by the repair shop (and not a cracked block as they tried to suggest). The inspector even provided photos that showed that the leak was the result of the improper repair to the seal and pan.
It should also be noted that although your claim did not involve a mechanical component covered under your contract, your contract also states as follows:
“THIS POLICY FURTHER EXCLUDES: PRIOR REPAIRS WHICH ARE SUBJECT TO ANY THIRD-PARTY WARRANTY, OR ANY PRIOR REPAIRS WHERE THERE IS DEMONSTRABLE NEGLIGENCE OR FAILURE IN THE WORKMANSHIP OF SAID REPAIRS.“
We do regret that your coverage plan was unable to assist you with this (third) repair. Nonetheless, this should not provide you with grounds to question your good decision to protect yourself against mechanical breakdown repair costs. In fact, you have already saved over $1,000.00 in repair costs (to date). That fact, alone, should give you an idea of how valuable this coverage is and will continue to be (as your vehicle gets older and adds additional miles).
We urge you, again, to seek competent help to determine your rights as a consumer against the repair shop that did the shoddy repairs and caused you this costly repair job. The repair shop that did this bad repair should have guaranteed their work and they should have made the situation right for you.
Should you have any additional questions about your coverage plan, please do not hesitate to contact us during normal business hours.
Thank you, once again, for providing your comments.