I have a 2018 ZB Holden Calais V, and the rear end has developed a grinding and banging sound under certain driving conditions. I reported this to my local dealer at its 132,000km service. The dealer submitted a warranty claim to Holden for a diff flush but the claim was denied by the extended warranty provider. I have contacted Holden Customer Care twice - which appears to be an overseas call centre – and after a 50-minute phone call and being put on hold three times the consultant came up with the same conclusion - warranty claim denied. I hung up in disgust. Failures in the rear differentials seems to be happening frequently in these cars. I bought mine brand-new with a seven-year unlimited kilometre new-car warranty and my car has only been serviced by Holden/GMSV dealers. Holden has abandoned Australia and customers like me and now I’m stuck. Surely Holden still has some responsibility with their customers. Can you please help me?
I’m not sure how Holden can claim that the car is now subject to the extended warranty (which is an aftermarket one from the third-party supplier) when your car should, according to Holden itself, be covered by the brand’s factory seven-year/unlimited km warranty. Since your car is still within that time limit, I would have thought the factory warranty applies and would cover the differential. The catch was that this seven-year warranty was only offered up to a cut-off date (March 31, 2018) but even after that date, the cover reverted to five-years/unlimited km, so your car should still be covered.
Holden only applied this seven-year warranty to 2018 ZB Commodore and Equinox models, but since the former is what you own, I can’t see how the factory warranty doesn’t apply. Keep trying and if you don’t succeed, the ACCC might be fairly interested in your case.
The difference will be, of course, if the differential problem has been caused by external factors such as a lack of servicing or you using the car to tow excessively heavy loads. But otherwise, the car should be covered against failures of this sort.
As for extended, aftermarket warranties, they’re really a huge rip-off in most cases. They are carefully worded to avoid the insurer paying out on anything actually likely to go wrong with the car. They also tie you into dealership servicing and, often, over-servicing, all in the name of lightening your wallet further. Forget them.
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