SAN ANTONIO — Jerome Hatcher Jr. started a contract with CarShield in January of 2024 and his coverage kicked in 25 days later. Hatcher had seen commercials for the product on TV.
“Everybody said you can get a rental car and you can take it to a place you like,” Hatcher said. “I went to Firestone to ask if they accepted CarShield and they said yes.”
He paid for the first few months and then paid the next five months all at once in order to get a discount.
Hatcher later had a breakdown in May when there was an issue with his engine’s motor and cooling fan. Firestone removed and replaced Hatcher’s cooling fan and the motor for it, and the bill came out to around $700.
Hatcher told KENS 5 he gave Firestone his CarShield warranty information but there was an issue with how much CarShield would actually cover.
A manager at Firestone later told KENS 5 CarShield was only willing to pay part of the cost for the parts they had available, as they were more expensive than CarShield’s approved parts.
In the end, Hatcher wasn’t successful in making a claim and simply paid for the repair himself. He also tried to get a rental car with CarShield but ended up paying out of pocket for that as well.
“That’s like a thousand dollars!” Hatcher said.
Finally, Hatcher canceled his contract with CarShield and asked for his money back. When he couldn’t get them to confirm a refund in writing, he called KENS 5.
“You have the commercials that say, ‘Hey, if you have a problem call KENS 5,” Hatcher said. “So I called...”
KENS 5 called and emailed CarShield and the company responded a week later.
KENS 5 initially asked if Hatcher could get the money back for the months he had paid for in advance. After looking into the issue, however, CarShield Customer Relations decided to give Hatcher a full refund of more than $1,100 for all of his premium payments. The company also reviewed his claims and agreed to pay one of the claims as well.
CarShield said in an email, “We are allowing this extra claim payment…for any misunderstanding that may have occurred.”
Hatcher said it was a huge relief.
“I’m on a fixed income. If anyone’s on a fixed income they know every penny counts,” Hatcher said. “Thank you. It’s a good help. A very good help.”
Hatcher said he’s glad CarShield resolved his case after all and he’s glad he called KENS 5.
“They paid me back the money I gave them and paid (reimbursed) to fix my car one time. I’m satisfied. If it wasn’t for KENS 5 I would have been lost,” Hatcher said.
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