AA insurance policy - wear and tear Vs breakdown

[bednobs]

Hi, Mr b has an insurance policy with AA that if the car breaks down they will pay up to £500 towards the costs of repair in a garage. His car recently broke down and the garage said it was the head gasket. After much thought he decided to get the work done (was gonna cost about £1500+VAT) The policy was going to pay £500 of that. Anyway, when he called the AA out to tow him to the garage to get the work done, the second AA man said he didn't think it was the head gasket, and towed him to a local garage. that arage has said it's the pwer steering pump and the water pump causing a problem. Now it's only going to cost £600 to repair.
However the AA are now saying the policy wont pay out because it's wear and tear.
My question is isn't head gasket wear and tear? and starter motor (which they would have paid for) isn't that wear and tear? in fact, isn't everything that breaks down in a car due to it being used?
Stupidly, he doesn't have the policy to hand as it's so old!

[Buenchico]

We could probably argue over this one for ever!

My guess is that the AA take the view that it's normal for a car to require certain components replaced between it leaving the factory and its final journey to the scrapyard. Such component failures they therefore class as 'wear and tear'. However, at the scrapyard, some components are usually still those fitted by the factory. The failure of such components is classed as 'breakdown'.

Incidentally, while replacing a head gasket is never cheap, £1500 + VAT sounds rather pricey. My Escort (1.6 Zetec) had a head gasket failure earlier this year. I was delivering car parts around that time, so I asked several garages what they'd charge to fix it. Most of them said £600 or £700 plus VAT. But my reliable local garage did the job for £487 including VAT.

[bednobs]

hmmmm
He wanted it done by a Ford main dealer -perhaps that made a difference? Also it's a turbo diesel -perhaps that makes it more expensive?

[gingejbee]

I think that this is the main weakness of this sort of policy - insurance companies WILL argue about what is "wear and tear". The original policy should state what IS included - isn't a copy of terms and conditions available online?

[bednobs]

thanks, good thought - i have just had a quick look. (none the wiser of course, but will show it to Mr B)