How to encourage VW to honour their 12 Yr corrosion warranty

[SMB]

So we have had a VW Golf 2001 3 door since new. Corrosion has just appeared on the roof gutter on the passenger side. It appears to have started on the inside of the car, bubbling up at the bottom of the gutter, the paint is unbroken, the corrosion appears in 4-5 places, no chips, no paint damage, car has never had any body repairs. Car is not 11 years 9 months old. So still within warranty. My view is VW should repair Free of charge as per the warranty.

I took it to local dealer, who directed me to the approved bodyshop, Body shop agreed inside out corrosion, checked paint depth, all confirmed as factory original submitted claim. Warranty admin at dealer then appears to have declined claim ( no reason given by this person who has never seen the car) and VW customer services despite weeks of chasing, have now washed their hands of it saying dealer admin staff say NO.

The problem appears to affect a number of 3 door Mk4 golfs so is far from uncommon and bodyshop even said he'd seen and repaired on audi's before. On a matter of principle I expect VW to honour their warranty regardless of the economics of them repairing a near 12 year old car.

I see I have 2 choices but would value other ideas especially those who have succeeded with VW before.

- Pay out £160+ for a so called independant vehicle assessment by the only company VW approve ( doesn't sound too independant to me..)
- Try other VW dealers see if they approve but no guarantee vw will not now block repairs
- Try legal/trading standards

thanks for any constructive advice

[CalNaughtonJnr]

This is also a common issue on the 8L Audi A3/S3 - there is a thread on the audi-sport.net forum where somebody got a contact within Audi who agreed to look at individual cases and a few guys seem to have had a bit of luck - may be worth a look.

[big_boz]

How would it stand on a Small claims basis? If you have the paperwork to show the 12 year corrosion guarantee and the paperwork to confirm its all original, i would see no reason why a court would rule against you as its all black and white unless there is some other small print that VW can use to knock the claim back?

If you get a quote for a fix from a body shop (perhaps the VW one) then submit the claim for that amount plus fees it will only cost you £25.

[surveyor]

Interesting. It's not only Mercedes whose paintwork guarantee is useless then.

[Ullevi]

These corrosion warranties often have a bunch of exclusion clauses, one of which you have covered when you mention no repairs have been done to the area affected.

Another is regular VW inspections which in some manufacturers coincide with annual servicing, some I have seen in other manufacturers involve a separate PAID FOR annual inspection.

What is their justification for rejecting your claim?

[Sir Fergie]

Would it be worth trying another VW dealer - I recall Lupo owners on their club Lupo forum having issues with some VW dealers turning down their claims - but other dealers were a lot more helpful.

Agree with the person mentioning about the original warranty and the small claims court - only thing to note however is - are there conditions to that warranty - and did you adhere to them.

I seem to recall a manufacturer (Kia or Mazda spring to mind but not sure) where you were supposed to bring the car to a mina dealer every year or 2 during the term of the anti rust warranty in order to have the bodywork inspected.

Hope you get the car fixed by VW.

Sir Fergie

[CatfishCKY]

As you've probably gathered, I don't think it is something they honour very often.
My Lupo was the same, still within the 12 years for the guarantee, but they couldn't honour it because, IIRC, I wasn't the original owner and I don't think I had the original purchase receipt.
So they must find any reason!

Sir Fergie - you got there before me Admittedly I did just try one dealer and when they said no I didn't look to continue pursuing. I only had the car 4 months though so no biggy!

[cuprabob]

Speak to VW Customer Services as I've read on various VW specific forums of the warranty being honoured on both MK4 and MK5 Golfs. Fundamental to the claim being accepted is that the dealer will check paint depth to confirm original paint.

Many MK5 Golfs are having their wings replaced FOC due to corrosion.

[SMB]

Ullevi said:

These corrosion warranties often have a bunch of exclusion clauses, one of which you have covered when you mention no repairs have been done to the area affected.

Another is regular VW inspections which in some manufacturers coincide with annual servicing, some I have seen in other manufacturers involve a separate PAID FOR annual inspection.

What is their justification for rejecting your claim?

So this is where their justification is poor.

At first they said it was thinning of paint on the edge - wrong because the corrosion starts in the valley of the gulley and their is no thinning.
They then changed to say it's due to the elements - specifically water. errrr thats basic chemistry and hardly a justification.

So their only justification is now that the warranty admin at the dealer says no. No further justification has been given despite repeated requests, they have also refused my requests that they talk to the bodyshop directly, but again they refused.

Added to that they refuse to respond to emails, so will leave nothing in writing. Overall I feel they are deliberately trying to avoid recognising the issue as the outstanding liability on mk4s, passats, lupo's golf mk5 front wings etc would be significant.

editted to add

terms are in the handbook ( which we have reviewed) and we have met the criteria.

This response is from Customer Services, after raising they even left me weeks without a call back....

Edited by SMB on Wednesday 22 May 11:23

[bungle]

VW wouldn't cover paint corrosion on both of my B-pillars (between the doors) as it's "trim". Well, it's on the outside of the car, it's painted the same colour as the rest of my car, so to my mind it should be included.

But they would happily charge me to sort it out.

For what it's worth, we're the first owner, 5 years old (at the time), mk5 Golf GTi.

[SMB]

cuprabob said:

Speak to VW Customer Services as I've read on various VW specific forums of the warranty being honoured on both MK4 and MK5 Golfs. Fundamental to the claim being accepted is that the dealer will check paint depth to confirm original paint.

Many MK5 Golfs are having their wings replaced FOC due to corrosion.

So I agree, and car has passed those tests. VW are just saying that the administrator rejected, tough, no further conversation.

[Deva Link]

SMB said:

So their only justification is now that the warranty admin at the dealer says no. No further justification has been given despite repeated requests,

If the dealer is part of a group (such as Inchcape, for example) then try customer services in the group head office.

Have you tried the Service Manager at the dealership - he may well be responsible for the warranty admin?

[aka_kerrly]

Sounds to me like VW are trying to stalling so that your warranty expires.

Very odd as two people I know with Audi S3s have had the roofs repainted for £0 when the cars were within barely a year of being 12 years old.

[Rids64]

I'm not sure I understand why a warranty admin in a dealership is having the final say on this. The warranty is provided by the manufacturer and it is they who decide what is, or is not, covered. The job of the dealership is to administer the claim, i.e obtain authority from the manufacturer, carry out the repair and submit the bill to the manufacturer.

My dealership is not one of the Germans but if a customer presents a paint issue to us we carry out all the relevant tests and pass the information on to the manufacturer who will then decide whether to cover it or not. Warranty work is still work we get paid for so I would be doing everything I can to support the customer's claim (assuming it is valid).

I think you really need to try and ascertain exactly who has rejected the claim before you start shouting at the wrong people.

[papercup]

Sounds like a job for Watchdog/Which/Social Media. If you've really fulfilled all criteria its just that your voice isn't loud enough. Get a louder voice.

[okie592]

Fight it.

There's a thread on ukmkivs about People being fobbed off by vw about the rusty arches. Il try and find it out for yoy

[spitsfire]

It sounds like your wasting your time repeatedly asking them to honour a claim which they aren't willing to shell out for, regardless of their obligations. You could try small claims, but it's probably less of a ball-ache to go into the dealers on a Saturday lunchtime and start loudly but politely asking any staff you can see (preferably those with/in close proximity to prospective customers) why they aren't honouring the corrosion warranty on your now badly corroded Golf that you bought new from their dealership. You can't always persuade them, but you certainly can shame them.....

Edited by spitsfire on Wednesday 22 May 13:45

[Deva Link]

Rids64 said:

I'm not sure I understand why a warranty admin in a dealership is having the final say on this. The warranty is provided by the manufacturer and it is they who decide what is, or is not, covered. The job of the dealership is to administer the claim, i.e obtain authority from the manufacturer, carry out the repair and submit the bill to the manufacturer.

My dealership is not one of the Germans but if a customer presents a paint issue to us we carry out all the relevant tests and pass the information on to the manufacturer who will then decide whether to cover it or not. Warranty work is still work we get paid for so I would be doing everything I can to support the customer's claim (assuming it is valid).

I think you really need to try and ascertain exactly who has rejected the claim before you start shouting at the wrong people.

I had a similar thing with Renault and with dealer it was very much "computer say no". They reckoned there was no way to even submit a claim once the system had rejected it.

I called Renault UK and 15 mins later the dealer called me back to say Renault UK had agreed to pay 100%.

[SMB]

Rids64 said:

I'm not sure I understand why a warranty admin in a dealership is having the final say on this. The warranty is provided by the manufacturer and it is they who decide what is, or is not, covered. The job of the dealership is to administer the claim, i.e obtain authority from the manufacturer, carry out the repair and submit the bill to the manufacturer.

My dealership is not one of the Germans but if a customer presents a paint issue to us we carry out all the relevant tests and pass the information on to the manufacturer who will then decide whether to cover it or not. Warranty work is still work we get paid for so I would be doing everything I can to support the customer's claim (assuming it is valid).

I think you really need to try and ascertain exactly who has rejected the claim before you start shouting at the wrong people.

I am surprised too but it's a tactic I'm sure to avoid paying, VW blame the dealer admin, dealer admin says working to VW guidelines, VW customer services very clear in stating decision is dealer admin.


In this instance the approved VW bodyshop is not part of the dealership ( their body facilities are not VW approved so the dealer will get no work from this but the approved bodyshop would)

Edited by SMB on Wednesday 22 May 15:12

[SMB]

Deva Link said:

I had a similar thing with Renault and with dealer it was very much "computer say no". They reckoned there was no way to even submit a claim once the system had rejected it.

I called Renault UK and 15 mins later the dealer called me back to say Renault UK had agreed to pay 100%.

I would have expected common sense to prevail but no, VW's decision to not even talk to the one expert that has seen the car is beyond belief.
I've approached Auto Express as a starter to get some publicity, dealer admin has so far refused to return my calls so not expecting any joy there in getting any more sense out of them.