Reply from autopom!Feb 20, 2022
I first learned of Mr. Hagar's unfortunate situation with his Dodge Journey when I was notified of this review posting. I immediately called the policy administrator and Mr. Hagar to get the details of the claim. First, it is important to understand that autopom! is the marketer / broker and the policy administrator, a 3rd party, makes claim approval and denial decisions per the terms of the contract (emphasis on the word "contract").
Autopom!'s position as a broker/marketer provides us with zero incentive to see claims denied. We want to see our customer's claims paid.
A vehicle service contract protects your vehicle from unexpected mechanical and electrical breakdown per the terms of the contract. One of the terms of Mr. Hagar's contract under the section titled "Exclusions From Coverage" states the following is excluded from coverage: "For any repair cost due to contamination of any kind".
Mr. Hagar's coolant had become contaminated, apparently due to mixing of two different coolant types which overtime, caused a chemical reaction resulting in a thickening of the coolant which clogged the engine and cooling system causing catastrophic damage. Chrysler has published a Technical Service Bulletin (07-004-120 warning about topping off or mixing coolant types.
This was due to no fault of Mr. Hagar. The incorrect fluid mixup occurred during the previous ownership of the vehicle. Unfortunately, the contract does not state that the cause of contamination has to have occurred during the current owner's ownership - it just states that repairs for contamination of any kind are excluded. In my experience claim denials due to contamination are rare. In fact, Mr. Hagar's was my first.
Due to the age and mileage of Mr. Hagar's vehicle, the Powertrain Enhanced policy was the only coverage plan the vehicle was eligible for. Repairs due to contamination are excluded in all plans we offer regardless of coverage level. autopom! represents multiple policy administrators and contamination of fluids is specified as an exclusion in all their contracts.
As to Mr. Hagar's admonition for buyers to beware, that is good advice. There are scams out there but autopom! and our BBB A+ Rated and Accredited policy administrators are not a scam.
As to Mr. Hagar's statement that autopom! does not care about its customers, well, that is not true. I think Mr. Hagar was referring to the policy administrator not realizing we are two different companies. A little online research will illustrate that autopom! cares deeply for its customers and as Mr. Hagar noted in his review "autopom!'s customer service is highly rated.
I was and am extremely sympathetic to Mr. Hagar's unfortunate situation. On behalf of the customer, I spent several hours making many calls to the claims supervisor at the policy administrator and the service advisor at the repair facility in an attempt to see Mr. Hagar's claim covered. I also had several conversations with the customer. In the end, there was nothing I could do except give the customer a prompt full refund for the entire cost of the policy.
Lessons learned: 1) Mr. Hagar's case reminds us that buying a used car comes with risks and you cannot transfer all that risk to a third party. The reason we exist here at autopom! is to mitigate or minimize the risk of buying a used car. As this case illustrates, a vehicle service contract does not entirely eliminate your risk as certain conditions are excluded from coverage. Read the contract! 2) When buying a used car, along with having it inspected by a qualified mechanic, I would recommend getting the coolant flushed because you just don't know if some well-intentioned technician, at some point in time, has topped it off with the wrong coolant!
