Select Auto Protect Warranty Review: Great for Expensive Car Parts

Your car is one of the biggest investments you’ll make, so it makes sense to protect it. While most manufacturers offer a car warranty for a new vehicle (typically for 3 years or 36,000 miles), once this has passed, you might find yourself having to shell out a lot of cash if something goes wrong.

Often a manufacturer will offer bumper-to-bumper coverage. Sometimes, once that cover has expired, you’ll still be protected by a powertrain warranty; but if your car is expensive, then once you reach that point, you’d be wise to purchase an extended warranty to provide the protection you need – and save you from those expensive bills if a part fails on your car.

There are a host of extended warranty providers to choose from, with cover spanning a variety of options, and in this review, we dig into Select Auto Protect’s warranty packages. We take a look at what coverage they offer, pricing, whether there’s the option to purchase add-ons, and their customer service.

Select Auto Protect review: What you need to know

Select Auto Protect of Wilmington, Delaware, offers three tiers of coverage, appropriately called Select Silver, Select Gold, and Select Platinum. Select Auto Protect states that the age of the car doesn’t matter, as long as it has been well maintained.

The company has a 30-day or 1,000 miles waiting period after the point of purchase, which needs to pass before you can make a claim. This is standard for the industry, with only a select few providers – such as Olive – offering a no-waiting period.

As will be the case with other extended warranty providers, for Select Auto Protect to cover your car, it needs to have been serviced in accordance with the manufacturer’s recommendations.

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Select Auto Protect review: Tiers and parts coverage

Select Auto Protect offers three tiers of coverage, with decent standard parts cover across these tiers. At the entry-level, or Select Silver, some of the big parts that can be prone to failure – the engine and transmission, drive axle, cooling system, brakes, and electrical components – and could prove expensive to repair are covered.

The mid-tier offering, Select Gold, doesn’t cover much more, only adding steering – though it does offer additional coverage on its breakdown plan for lock-out. If Select Silver doesn’t cover your needs, you’re more likely to go straight to Select Platinum instead.

The top Platinum tier includes wider coverage, with the policy encompassing some of the high-tech parts of the car that the other tiers don’t cover. These include the in-car satnav, as well as parts such as parking sensors and cameras. There’s no coverage for hybrid drive systems or display screens, for example, so not everything is protected.

Importantly, the key appeal of Select Auto Protect’s cover for owners of expensive cars with expensive parts, in particular, is that there’s no limit on the number of claims you can make.

The repairs do need to be carried out by an ASE (Automotive Service Excellence)-certified repair shop for Select Auto Protect to pay.

Select Auto Protect review: Breakdown cover and extras

Not all extended warranties will include breakdown cover as part of the plan, nor indeed to the level of a dedicated policy. As such, it’s worth checking the details of any breakdown cover. Select Auto Protect offers a moderate level of breakdown cover.

All three tiers offer identical cover, except Select Silver, which won’t reimburse you if you get locked out of your vehicle. However, all levels offer some reimbursement for trip interruption if you need to pay for lodgings, when you’re more than 100 miles from home, as well as for towing, gas and battery problems, and a loan vehicle.

However, it’s worth noting that Select Auto Protect’s breakdown cover is based on reimbursements rather than full cost coverage, so you might still have to pay some costs and other fees if you use the breakdown side of your plan.

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Select Auto Protect review: Customer service

When you come to make a claim, Select Auto Protect will aim to pay your mechanic directly, rather than you having to pay upfront and then seek reimbursement under your plan. However, do note that Select Auto Protect is one of the few companies that has no web presence or app, which means everything has to be done on the phone or via email.

That’s something of a disadvantage, especially in a world where there’s generally an app for everything, as you can’t readily check your coverage through an online account portal.

Select Auto Protect has a Trustpilot score of 3.7 based on over 200 reviews, while over 300 Google reviews give Select Auto Protect a 4.4 rating – although these aren’t verified.

Select Auto Protect review: Verdict

Select Auto Protect’s standout feature is that it doesn’t limit the claims that you can make on your repairs. There also isn’t a standard age limit on cars covered, so if you have an expensive car with expensive parts, Select Auto Protect could be the provider for you.

There are some downsides, however. The lack of an app or web portal means it’s back to the phone and paperwork when you want to make a claim, while the breakdown cover works on reimbursements rather than full coverage. If being able to claim online is a preference for you, then consider Olive or CarmaCare instead. In addition, cover for high-tech parts is limited to the top tier – yet doesn’t cover items such as displays.