AUL Corp

Again, I have literally only had my car for 1 1/2 years. My motor/engine has been out for at least a month and AUL is REFUSING TO COVER IT. Although, their contract clearly states that the engine/motor would be covered. However, a bolt somehow came out of the motor (that should be covered), causing an oil leak and furthermore, causing my motor to start knocking. AUL has advised that the motor is covered, but since the bolt came out and is what caused the motor to go out, IT IS NO LONGER COVERED. In their words, “THE BOLT IS A NON COVERED PART”. I am extremely baffled!! I AM EXTREMELY DISGUSTED!! A company that I had faith in, that I trusted to be there in my time of need, that I pay for in case of instances like this, HAS COMPLETELY FAILED ME!!!!

A motor, an engine, one of the most expensive parts on my vehicle has failed and AUL IS REFUSING TO PAY FOR IT due to a BOLT coming out. Something out of my control. Something I could not have predicted would happen. AUL HAS FAILED ME! I HAVE LOST ALL HOPE AND FAITH IN THIS COMPANY!!! And I hope my review is read by many and sways their decision in choosing this company for their extended warranty needs. I WOULD LEAVE ZERO STARS IF POSSIBLE!!!

So all in all I was out of a vehicle for over two months and only drove the vehicle about 1000 miles since the used engine was installed. Last week I was driving back from picking up my son and we both smelled gas and pulled over and called for a tow. AUL's towing dispatch was unable to verify my contract or VIN. So I used my AAA towing and got towed 7 miles closer to home and had to walk with my son almost 20 miles to get home. Now AUL is denying my claim stating I drove the vehicle overheating which I always look at my gauges and they never showed the temp out of range. I am not going to accept this action and need my vehicle repaired correctly. If I am unable to reach an agreement with AUL I am reaching out to NBC news, the BBB and Legal Aid.

I will make this one much shorter. Yesterday, August 1st, I took my car to a third mechanic to make sure I would be able to get under the vehicle and see exactly for myself what the condition of my tie rod ends and bushings are in. I am bringing back up my rating to 3 Stars from the lowering to 2 Stars for AUL Corp. It seems that the dealership had merit in what they said to me even though there are still problems. Therefore since I had sent multiple notices to AUL that I believed they were charged for a job not done, I spent yesterday on the telephone and sending out e-mails to the appropriate departments and people saying I was cancelling my complaints without giving a long list as to why.

I am keeping my original 3 Star rating, though, because of all the crap I was given as well as my mechanic when each of us called and did so more than once. Since no representative initially said anything about me having to go back to the dealership and one denying that tie rod ends was even mentioned previously as well as indicating that my mechanic was attempting some sort of maybe fraud because I had put on 37 miles in between the first time I was there, going home, calling AUL, and then going back to the mechanic. We were also flat out denied to have contracted tie rod ends paid for before the last representative said I had to take the car back to the dealership where the record showed the repair was originally done.

Finally I am keeping the 3 Star rating because I am discouraged that AUL does not now have a representative willing to come out here and make some sort of comment, usually as I saw with the comments back in 2019, with at least out here saying that something will be looked further into the problem. How those customers were treated afterwards behind the scene is of course unknown, but at least someone from AUL made a public showing that is now not happening.

August 2, 2022/Tuesday

Updated on 08/01/2022: This is an addendum to what I wrote here on July 18, 2022/Monday. I see no way to edit that comment rating nor be able to attach this to it. The following took place after I wrote my first comment. My rating went down to 2 Stars because I am now not sure if there is collusion between AUL and the dealership or if the dealership billed for a job and never did it. With all the times I have had to call SecureOne, AUL's company I signed the warranty contract through, and get the runaround, it seems to sway towards collusion of corruption.

I am having inner tie rod end problems that were supposedly fixed and billed to SecureOne/AUL less than a year ago and about only 3,500 miles driven since the claimed repair job. SecureOne/AUL never said anything to either me or to the mechanic at the front end specialist shop it was brought to that the car had to be brought back to the dealership where the car was purchased from. It just so happened that the supposed initial job was done at the dealership and finally a representative told my preferred mechanic that the job was done less than a year ago at the dealership so it had to be brought back there to be fixed under its product warranty. That is where I now question which one of the two companies is corrupt if not both.

The dealership service department told me there is nothing wrong with my tie rod ends. Strange since two mechanic shops told me there is a problem. The dealership even came to me and wanted to show me how right they are and how wrong the front end people are. I went back into the shop while the car was still up on the lift and what they did from there fooled me, an old mechanic who still after 40 years of not working on cars has some basic knowledge remaining within my old brain cells. That is when I realized that they must do what they did to numerous old people and women as a whole, but with all the refusal from SecureOne to initially repair what is clearly in my contract and after a week finally sending me back to the original dealership, I am wondering about the collusion especially since this contract was purchased from this dealership, not from an outside warranty company.

The dealer service personnel took the wheel and shook it just like that standard has always been. I then fell for what I was told. I was told it is a bad ball joint. That part is fine as it is true, there is a bad ball joint, but there are two ways to grab a wheel and shake it....up/down or left/right. They showed me how the wheel moved from left to right and said it shows a bad ball joint. Well, I could not remember what direction showed what would be in need of repair so I was forced to pay the dealer a $100 service fee and was told I was being given a break from $185.00 and left.

In short, the test that was shown to me was for tie rod ends. It showed bad, yet I was told that it was a bad ball joint. I also was shown under the car that the tie rod ends were not moving. Well, in my mental state at that point, I never grabbed the rods themselves to see if they moved. So of course the rods did not move. The other part which makes me wonder as to the possible collusion between the two companies is that I was told my sway/stabilizer bar bushings are bad. I then said they were changed also less than a year ago by them and are under the dealership's warranty.

As soon as I said that, two things were told me. One, they are not warrantied because they go through cold, heat and snow and rubber corrodes. Really? Even if that is so, such things are made for motor vehicles and have a lifespan of maybe a decade. The actual problem with that statement being used not to warrant their job, is that that is true. Rubber does and did start to decay years ago rather quickly so nowadays bushings are made of synthetic material like nylon and whatever else so that does not happen. The other thing is that as soon as I insisted that they fix them under the warranty that the dealership advertises at least a year, all of a sudden the service advisor said that they made a mistake and that the bushing are really good. Need I say more on this?

Now, I am mentioning what happened at the dealership and this is a rating comment about AUL Corp., but I have to tie the two together with all the crap that was given to me from AUL/SecureOne and to my mechanic and then finally being told by the AUL representative that the car has to be taken back to the dealership, not at first told that, but after they were called more than once from both me and my mechanic over a week's time.

Is this a collusion scam? Has the dealership charged AUL for a job not done or used shoddy material when no part should be replaced pertaining to what holds all vehicles on the road, its tires, suspension, and steering joints? No one wants to now take care of a safety issue that an extended warranty was purchased for upon purchase of the car? As of yet I have not been responded to pertaining to this. I realize it has been two weeks since this was done and about a week that AUL has been notified, but all seems to have gone silent. Even here my first comment has not been responded to by a representative which Consumer Affairs has set up for the company to do so.

July 31, 2022/Sunday

Original Review: First off, I just got through reading what I think is said to be 34 comments about AUL. What I don't understand is why all of them are only within the year 2019. Has Consumer Affairs started to sanction reviews for some reason after, as well as before, 2019 pertaining to AUL Corp? Has AUL Corp deleted all such posts? Now, I am aware that it is routine for AUL to deny claims as often as they can. Why? Because of the money factor. Therefore I am wondering why I was snippily told the other day by a Secure One representative (a company that issues AUL policies and is now owned by Westlake Financial) that they will not pay for a ball joint replacement after I told them that the expert front end company I brought my car to will do a better job as a whole than a car dealership that does not specialize in such jobs and do it for much less cost?

Oh, I was told that it is not specifically written in my policy as it says in "Section VII/Section 7", whatever that is, even though I paid for the best policy offered and was told by the dealer that it covers everything from bumper-to-bumper, but does not include the bumpers nor the cosmetics, but does include ALL safety parts such as a ball joint that if that goes while driving, in traffic in particular, the odds are very good that there will be a major pile-up and many people could be severely hurt.

Now, I have no idea what was left out of my supposed FULL policy, but a ball joint that is bad is indeed a safety factor. The car also needs tie rod ends replaced which supposedly are covered because of safety reasons, but the ball joint next to those jointed rods will not be covered even though the total cost would be less than if I brought the car to the dealership and have only the tie rod ends replaced. Money-wise that does not make sense. Therefore I have to wonder if it is really the person who answers the phone on AUL's/Secure One's side who has the power or authority to make such a logical reasonable decision and then answers that it will not be taken care of almost as though that somehow it is preferred to pay twice the cost bringing it to a dealership as then the representative's file will show a denial which implies that it is not really the cost as much as it is having on one's file that x amount of claims were denied.

Oh, I called and got approval, by the way, but was told the front end shop had to call to confirm. So that was done the next day. Well, because there was a 37 mileage difference than what I told and what the mechanic said, that was used at the time as the final excuse not to accept the claim even for only the tie rod ends that are indeed stipulated inside of my contract that it is a claimable repair job. That helps me to confirm about who is answering the phone at AUL/Secure One's end. So for now, the 3 Star rating is because as of yet, it is not known how inappropriate AUL/Secure One is about to take this since not only is it for safety reasons, but the car will be apart in that area anyway WHEN THAT IS CONTRACTUALLY APPROVED.

July 17, 2022/Sunday

P.S. The comments here in 2019 had a representative reply and who also seemed to have authority to make unnecessary problems be corrected. I hope that happens with me now.

Worst warranty company on the market. Stay away from this company as much as possible. Company without any credibility. Company without transparency in business, omit everything. They do not provide any type of document, they have no respect for the customer. Our loss was $7,000.00. How much will yours be if you trust this company? I hope this review serves as a warning to consumers who are looking to purchase insurance from this company. Stay away from this company as much as possible.

On 2/4/2022 The AUL agent Destiny said ok and told me she will send an email and everything should be OK by 8pm. On 2/7/2022 Tyi the service manager at Jimmy the Boxer told me that AUL Claim department said a Supervisor told them I have to send my car to where I brought it from and this is after I already spoken to AUL on 2/4/2022. There hasn't been any agent or Supervisor that has called me nor left me a voicemail message. At this point AUL is causing stress on me and my family and preventing my car from being fixed right away. My family doesn't have any transportation and can't afford to have my car sit for another week without being repaired. I only had my car for 1 year and 4 months. This has been the worst experience I ever had with an extended warranty contract. It's going on two weeks since my car been in the shop and Jimmy the Boxer Service department is ready to fix my car and has the part for my car already ordered.

I was grateful I had AUL because they took care of me and I didn't realize the company that was doing the work was so shady. If they communicate with customers more, then they would know actually was going on and we can communicate with them. The guy even took some parts off my Jeep that he was not authorized to, so it was bad. He told me for weeks, “Yep. We should be done this week.” Then I called AUL and they told me the truth. “No. We haven't even got the adjuster out there yet.” The guy put 100 miles on my jeep.

So far, they've been excellent. After I got my warranty, I started driving my car and it sounded like my gears wouldn't shift. I went to Nissan and they said they'd take a look at it. Then they called me back and told me that I had AUL Corp. I already had it in my mind that I was going to end up having to pay at least a couple of $1,000 but I paid them a deductible and they came through for me. Even though I didn't get to speak with them initially, the way that I was handled when I needed them to come through for me with the dealership was a breeze. I ended up needing a transmission and they took care of that. They also ended up taking care of the leak. But everything else that was maintenance, I took care of it. I would recommend AUL Corp. to everybody because of my experience. If anything was going to prevent me from not operating my vehicle at full potential, they would take care of it and I'm more than grateful.