dealer not replying that's a surprise email & tell them unless you get some type of reply by return you will be going elsewhere. not many cars being sold at this time of year, they should be chasing you not the other way. (caps lock not working, that's why its in lower case, before I get pulled up by grammar police )

Already done

Had the unfortunate call from the dealer this morning.
“If something went wrong in the first few months we would help you out but unfortunately engine failure is not covered by the AUC warranty”. Yeesh.

If the car is a good one, opinions on running it alongside a Warranty Direct Warranty just for crankshaft?

Warranty Direct DO cover crank/engine failure

I have replaced engines under their policies in the past

However, I'm not sure that having 2 policies run alongside each other is a good idea. In fact, I'm sure it a specific exclusion...

Thank you again for your advice

Might have to give them an ultimatum of 'sort me out if it does happen or I'm not buying'. I assume they'll tell me to pi** off.

It was a price premium to be approved used - if your experiences of WD are that good, it may be a good idea to pick up a well serviced private/trade model instead and just take out a warranty.
Any advice for getting one that is more warranty friendly? I recall you've only really had to fight them over one replacement - was their anything that could have made that easier with hindsight?

There is, but we wont go into that on a public forum

And, the price of a replacement engine has come down a fair bit since that claim, of £16k

A good, low/reasonable mileage, full history car is a good starting point for a full WD policy