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Car Care Plan supports customers during lockdown

Car Care Plan supports customers during lockdown

Policy Holder

As the various lockdowns in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are gradually being eased; we have compiled the following information to update our position regarding the extraordinary circumstances resulting from the Covid-19 lockdown period so far, and guidance for the immediate future. These rules may be subject to change should future lockdowns occur, whether national or regional. If they are, additional guidance will be issued.

For the avoidance of doubt, a period of lockdown is a period of time during which Government advice, guidelines or instructions are that other than essential workers the public should remain at home, avoid traveling and should only leave home for restricted activities.

A period of lockdown must include the closure of all motor dealers and repairers.

Alloy Wheel & Cosmetic

Customers were encouraged to notify their insurer of a potential claim in accordance with the terms in their policy booklet. The claim was recorded and the repair carried out as soon as it could be scheduled post lockdown. In some circumstances, customers were returning their vehicles under PCP arrangements before the repair could be carried out.  In those circumstances, Car Care Plan made a contribution towards the cost of the cosmetic repair, in accordance with its normal schedule of costs.

In the event of any future periods of lockdown, whether national or regional, the appointed repairer may have to cancel repair appointments and reschedule to ensure adherence with Government instructions.

MOT

The UK Government announced an extension of up to 6 months if an MOT expired on or after  30th March 2020. In light of this, we automatically extended the expiry date of all MOT policies to ensure that customers can benefit from their MOT cover, in accordance with the guidelines issued by the Government.

Tyre

We won’t be making any changes to policy details for Tyre policy holders. It’s still currently possible for customers to get replacement tyres from service centres that are open, so customers should go ahead with the claims procedures as detailed in the policy booklet.

Warranty

Customers continue to be contacted when their warranty is due to expire. Renewal of warranty policies can be arranged online, via post or through our Contact Centre. The only exception is customers who have chosen not to receive communications from Car Care Plan offering renewal.

Outside of the UK, or in the UK, customers were encouraged to contact their retailer when the warranty administrator was unable to contact them to arrange for a renewal of their warranty.

In some circumstances, we require a vehicle to have a multi-point inspection prior to the purchase of warranty cover. During lockdown, this requirement was waived until 31 July 2020 where:

  • a customer had an existing warranty or a warranty that expired in lockdown and the customer was unable to contact the dealer; and
  • the vehicle had been serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s service requirements, or within the extended period of grace, (please note this period of grace was doubled during lockdown)

The requirement for a multi-point inspection is now back in force and the period of grace to ensure a vehicle is serviced after the scheduled date has now returned back to one month or 1,000 miles (whichever one is sooner)

Business

Car Care Plan continues to offer all products and services throughout the C-19 pandemic 

Throughout the nationl lockdown, Car Care Plan was able to continue offering all of its products and services – despite having 95% of employees working from home.  As things begin to ease, we have begun to reopen our offices.  We have conducted thorough risk assessments on our sites and have introduced all the features that are now becoming part of everyday life such as – one way systems, protective screens, hygiene stations, social distancing rules and more.  The focus has been on making the work environment in our facilities as safe as possible for employees and any visitors.

Our field based employees, in our sales, assessment and repair teams, have also returned to work.  PPE has been provided to all field based employees and new ways of working have been established to ensure social distancing rules are adhered to and any client or customer our employees visit should feel safe and secure at all times.

It’s likely that local lockdowns may become more regular. This could bring complications, particularly where there are appointments booked for repairs or assessments in the lockdown area.  As with our approach to date, Car Care Plan will follow all government advice surrounding any local lockdowns, and if this means cancelling appointments to protect the safety of our customers or our employees, we will do so.

If you would like further information or anything to be clarified, please get in touch and our friendly team will be happy to help.

Thank you.

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