Automotive Warranty Review Does NOT Recommend this Car Warranty Company
Update from the US Fidelis site:
- US Fidelis, Inc. announced today, March 1, 2010 that it filed a voluntary petition for relief under Chapter 11, Title 11 of the United States Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
Well, another one bites the dust! We had so many complaints about this car warranty company that it honestly makes it hard to even keep their logo up on our site. So that’s it for US Fidelis auto warranty I suppose…
Old Review
US Fidelis has been in business for a number of years. The name “US Fidelis” started being used just a few years ago. Some people report the name change was due to a high profile law suit that greatly tarred the auto warranty company’s reputation. US Fidelis offers several levels of service, just like many of the other service contract companies out there. So how does the process work? US Fidelis handles it like this…
If a person files a claim with them, the process works out sort of like this. Let’s say you pay US Fidelis $120 per month for your auto warranty (just a random figure – not representative of the actual cost of the warranty) and all of a sudden you have an alternator that breaks down on you. You take the car to the shop, and give ol’ US Fidelis a call. The mechanic can of course call the company as well. If the alternator for your car is $600, according to the auto repair shop, US Fidelis is now on the hook to pay that amount. They will call around to other shops and find out what the cost for that part is at other local car repair shops.
If US Fidelis finds it for cheaper than $600 – you have two choices.
1. You can cruise over to the new auto repair shop
2. You can pay the difference
I’ve seen many examples of US Fidelis paying for customer repairs, resulting in a satisfying customer experience. I’ve also see some people really get mad at the auto warranty company for what might be called “delaying the game”, and taking a long time to pay the mechanic. Recently there has been lots of bad press about US Fidelis and it looks like nothing but trouble for them. Turns out there has been law suit after law suit as well as layoffs while. This car warranty company will probably not be around much longer.
What has your experience been with US FIdelis?
I’ve heard a lot about US Fidelis as a company. I’d check out Rip Off report for these guys before doing business with them. It might work for some people, but US Fidelis has some mystery surrounding them in terms of customer confidence.
That’s a good idea Harold. As the admin of this site, I am a little hesitant to provide Rip Off Report articles.
But, at your request, and after thinking more on the subject, I think that maybe that is the most fair. I’ve updated the article above to include this controversial information.
I included some information from consumer reports on them as well. I better finish the US Fidelis company review soon!
Hey – you updated that pretty quick! I appreciate having all the resources and reviews available when I make a decision about something large like an extended auto warranty or auto insurance. Cheers,
H.Gustro
Rusty Wallace commercials are a crack up- it’s nearly 2 minutes long! They have really should have left the mini wallace, Steve, out. US Fidelis seems like a decent company – what did their name use to be?
Here is a discussion I found on US Fidelis over at Joe’s blog –
Is Us Fidelis a scam?
That’s the title of his post – it doesn’t reflect our views of US Fidelis at all! I’m going to get the President of US Fidelis to make a statement regarding all of this bad press. I just can’t believe all the info that I am finding on them! More to come…
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your story. USfidelis is committed to treating every customer with fairness and honesty. As such, the company has developed long term relationships with more than 270,000 current customers. In 2008, the companies represented by USfidelis paid our customers more than $20 million in auto service claims. All of that money went to help drivers keep their cars safe and on the road — during a difficult economic time. We are proud of the fact that we are leading the industry by focusing on consumer protection, including a full 30-day money back guarantee and a 115 person customer care division.
Hi Erica – Thanks for taking the time to add the US Fidelis side of the story for the review.
Here is a quick way to get an auto warranty quote – be sure to review US Fidelis here to let people know if it’s a good company to work with!
US Fidelis helped me with each of the question, and explain good what they offer to me. 2004 Ford Taurus and it does have some problem, but no problem now and US Fidelis will pay now! I like them!
i canNOT believe we fell for their crapola. we canceled DURING the phone call, thinking we needed to add a little more insurance to our almost new (but ‘just’ out of warranty) lincoln ls coupe. they’ve promised 3 different times to refund our money (which THEY got in about 10 seconds): we’ll look into it, it’ll be sent within 10 business days, and ‘it’s in the mail.’ priceless. that was 6 months ago. total ripoff. the owner of this shyster outfit (and his brother – who owns yet another warranty scammer company – fund a church near st. louis that’s a programming center for their company lifestyle. there’s so much bad press on these guys that they’ll (fer shur) start two more companies soon. of course they’ll keep their enormous mansions…
sign us up for a class action lawsuit folks, we don’t even want the money back, just fund the lawyers to put these con-artists out of business muy pronto… makes me sick even thinking about them.
US fidelis is a scam company. Now that they are threatened by 40 out of 50 states attorney generals with lawsuits for lying to their customers,
they are paying out a higher percentage of claims than before. Why would you trust any company with that kind of terrible track record?
I currently have US Fidelis coverage and I must say that it’s been one bad experience. When I bought the warrenty, I was told that I would receive a package in the mail. I received a letter with US Fidelis letter head. It had an 800 number to call if I needed to file a claim. When it came time to file a claim and I called the 800 number, it WAS NOT US Fidelis that I was dealing with. It was some other company that US Fidelis had brokered to me without even letting me know. The name of that company is Choice Warrenty (suppositly). They are part of the Prolong Warrenty company. I called US Fidelis and asked why wasn’t I told this when I bought the warrenty. All I got was an apology and was told that the customer service rep. should have told me when I bought the coverage. My car has been in the shop for 2 weeks. I live in California and warrenty company (Choice Warrenty) is in New Jersey. Their customer service is awful. You can’t anybody unless you start bunching in random extention numbers. The mechanic is starting to get impatient thinks it might be a scam. I’m starting to think that I have been had. In my opinion, STAY AWAY FROM US FIDELIS.
This company is a full scam and rip-off. They’ve more than 35,000 bbb enquiries and more than 1500+ complaints and several complaints in many states with the District Attorney. Their plan is just to collect your premiumand stall you for ever or never pay or pay a very insignificant amount. And when their company name goes bad, they’ll switch their name to another company and continue defrauding customers. Couple of my friends had really bad nightmare exp. with US Fidelis.
In one of the articles I saw the the owner is a ex criminal for theft, fraud and forgery etc.,
I was thinking about doing this but the it seems like a scam like everyone said and I will find another way to get a extended warranty
It is a risky decision Tyrone, but if you find the right company – and look around, you’ll find a few good ones on this site! – then it can really work out in your favor.
This place is a rip off – I am dealing with them now – they lie about the coverage tell me 1 thing and then another person tells me another – 3 different people told me 3 different coverages – and none of them are listed on the web site – I thought it was a good place but turns out to be a scam – stay away from them!!!
This whole site is totally awesome!!!!! This is just one of those websites that make me glad to be an internet nerd.
US Fidelis is nothing but a scam. They already have numerous class-action lawsuits underway across the country, including one in Missouri.
The BBB gives them a “failure”.
Don’t worry folks, these guys will be gone very soon.
I purchased the warranty 3 years ago. I now have to file a claim for my truck. I live in Pennsylvania, but now in Florida and forgot to bring info down with me. Could someone please get me the number to call to file a claim? I did try to call the office
800-649-1856 and got a US Fidelis voice mail. With all the scamming info I am reading, it doesn’t look like I will have success with the claim. I will let you know.
I called this company for a quote and got ran through the ringer. I could not get off the phone! Needless to say I will not be purchasing from them.
It seems carchex has a good rep and I also found wholesale warranty club which had a great price but I haven’t found any reviews on them?
I have quotes from a ton of sites and it is very difficult to know what to buy.
i purchased this warranty before looking at the reviews and no regret buying it cuz the are giving me the run arounds to fix my car I DONT RECOMMEND IT TO ANY ONE ….
Didn’t find out until today about the chapter 11, my mechanic told me about it. He tried calling anyway to confirm payment for an $1100.00 engine repair and got nothing but voicemail. I guess tomorrow will be a call t my attorney to see what I can do to get my agreement canceled and maybe money back.
US Fidelis is a corrupt pathetic scam -Do Not believe that they will pay or help you.They refused to pay anything on my Chev 2004 2500HD transmission which failed due to a crack in the case/ housing–My truck has 40K miles and has been babied-it looks like new!!What reason did they give me??My tires are 1 size oversize!!!!They are scam liars!!!I definite will contact an attorney when / if I can get back home..They left me stranded.I will join any class action lawsuit that will form.
What a SCAM! Complete waste of my money. The water pump went out and I had to show ORIGINAL receipts for all my old changes for 2 years. The garage that I go to, to have the water pump and oil changed offered to send them copies of all my oil changes and they said it wouldn’t work. They actually expected me to have copies of all those ORIGINAL receipts with me in my wallet so that I can fax them over. Keep in mind I dropped the car off earlier in the day and I’m at work. I only had 2 payments left and I canceled it. They actually said to me, “you only have 2 payments left, are you sure you want to cancel?†My response, “Why in the hell would I pay you $90 a month for 2 more months? You won’t even cover a fucking windshield wiper.†GOD I’M SO FUCKING MAD AT MYSELF FOR FALLING FOR THIS SCAM!!!!! They spend 30 minutes on the phone with you talking about all the wonderful things they cover, you’d think they could spend 2 seconds telling you to please make sure you keep all the ORIGINAL receipts in case something breaks.
SCAM, SCAM, SCAM!!!
Peter
Drivers choice vehicle product warranty out of Las Vegas. Talk about taking a gamble. Is not a company that I would recommend. Should have checked into it First before purchasing. My mechanic tells me that they are the most difficult warranty company to process paperwork. Harder to process the paperwork then to fix the car. You want your car fixed probably take you a week. they Look for any excuse to deny the claim for example on an scheduled oil change my mechanic neglected to mark the invoice paid which voided my warranty. Now i am required to pay an additional $75 more to reinstate the warranty. So do not buy this products. And if you already have it I advise you to keep excellent excellent excellent records.
- You can’t trust most companies to back their claims. I got mine through AAA. They get theirs from CarGuard. I’m really happy with it.