Not corrosion on my 2011 Vantage!

[tourputter]

Hi
noticed these two bubbles in my paintwork just forward of the door mirrors -both sides.

According to Aston it's a paint issue and not covered by warranty. Strange as I always thought corrosion was part of the anti - corrosion warranty? How wrong I was. The car is 3.4 years old and isn't covered by warranty.

Fellow vantage owners should check this area as it's not covered after 3 years, not even by the extended warranty.

[sooty61]

Pretty poor show in this day and age for the car and the response. And here was me thinking AM was a quality product...

[Neil1300r]

well known around here.
The corrision warranty talks about rust - rust is only steel / iron.
Luckily for you AM didn't offer to make a contributuon to the repair and make you take it to one of their approved bodyshops. You will get it repaired cheaper at non Aston places.

[tourputter]

Edinburgh Aston Martin is fighting my corner at the minute. Will see if it goes anywhere.....

[michael gould]

if it's not had paint before then that is totally unacceptable and Aston should pay for it in full .......it is not acceptable on a 15k car never mind a 85k car.......Hold you head in shame for not sorting out this one Gaydon......tut tut

[avinalarf]

sooty61 said:

Pretty poor show in this day and age for the car and the response. And here was me thinking AM was a quality product...

.
Power,Beauty,Soul.......nothing about quality there Sooty.......bought the wrong car.
OP it is a problem that is well reported,my commiserations,many of us have the paintwork rectified f.o.c.
It's a great shame as Gaydon Astons are generally quality cars albeit as most Thorobreds prone to idiosyncrasies.
Good luck.

[sooty61]

Neil1300r said:

well known around here.
Luckily for you AM didn't offer to make a contributuon to the repair and make you take it to one of their approved bodyshops.

Just been down this route after spotting the paintwork faults after picking it up. The dealers made a contribution - well it does cost £2000 to blow over a bonnet doesn't it so I did well with them paying 50%. Didn't I?

[tonyhall38]

I would contact customer services and go over your dealer , I did and the matter was resolved very favourably by Aston Martin....which restored my faith in the brand....excellent response and communication...

[bogie]

sooty61 said:

Neil1300r said:

well known around here.
Luckily for you AM didn't offer to make a contributuon to the repair and make you take it to one of their approved bodyshops.

Just been down this route after spotting the paintwork faults after picking it up. The dealers made a contribution - well it does cost £2000 to blow over a bonnet doesn't it so I did well with them paying 50%. Didn't I?

my 2006 car has had a few issues since 2007. I had the same response from the dealer whilst under warranty - they would pay for 1/2 at Aston bodyshop...which was at least twice as expensive as any other bodyshop

I never bothered doing anything about it, figured I would wait until the inevitable stone chips and get the car done properly somewhere eventually . The few paint bubbles never got any worse

Its now nearly 9 years old and 70k miles, worth about £22k trade in and I will leave it for the dealer to sort out as part of their resale prep when I trade it in

[Jon39]

As has previously been mentioned, after just 3 years on a car which probably cost over £100,000 with options, this situation is appalling.

By comparison, one of my everyday runabouts is a British built mass produced 'rep-mobile', and that car does not have any paint bubbles after 19 years of use. So how can Aston Martin even talk about quality, if they consider paint defects after just 3 years, to be quite normal?

My own Vantage is fortunately OK so far, but worryingly the problem is mentioned too often by owners on this forum.

Might I suggest, there is a new gentleman at AML who I would be contacting, because he may no longer want the bad internet publicity that follows owners being repeatedly 'fobbed off'. Perhaps there will now be some changes. AML may not like meeting the cost of rectification, but alternatively what is their cost in lost sales?

Oh, that gentleman's name, Dr. Andy Palmer.

Edited by Jon39 on Tuesday 23 December 10:34

[bogie]

Yup, its the only car ive ever owned that has had paint issues...and the most expensive original price

I *thought* that this problem was limited to a certain time period of production with poor pre- paint prep to blame and it should be limited to cars pre 2008?

Are there newer cars out there with this issue? is it still occurring?

[mikey k]

Nope
A lot depends on the colour some are still hand prepped
Oh and don't get me started on AML's quality and false claims there of

[AMArchie]

I have had this problem on my 2010 V12V (although in my case it was around the leading edge of the bonnet). I reported the problem earlier this year to the original dealer (HWM), who in turn took it up with Gaydon. All was repaired under warranty. It seems the level of support is very much down to the dealer concerned....

[seastu]

I thought the paint process was changed in 2011. Is this problem still occurring on current production cars?

[triple5]

I've just had mine done which looked identical to yours, 2010 car all repaired FOC no quibbles, and a fantastic job done as well.

[JimboA]

OP, I always think it cheers us up to know that someone has it worse. I have exactly the same thing on the driver's door handle of my V8V.... I have to look at it every time I open the bl**dy door! Just going to through the dealer process as mentioned here. In the meantime I am trying to convince myself that it's a Cindy Crawford beauty spot! Best of luck.

[Sump]

The paint work on these cars are a complete joke. When will they get that hand built is nothing to be proud of nowadays!

Next summer I am gonna chuck money at a full respray and finish this business off once and for all!

[rog007]

Sale of goods act is your friend, if goods are not of a merchantable quality the law is on your side. Just mention SoGA in your letter or telephone call and include local Trading Standards Officer and SMMT in your distribution. All will be well! Good luck!

[tourputter]

Hi
just to let everybody know I took it up with the dealer and they put the case forward and Aston have agreed to cover all costs. Will be done next time is down at the dealer for annual service.

[avinalarf]

tourputter said:

Hi
just to let everybody know I took it up with the dealer and they put the case forward and Aston have agreed to cover all costs. Will be done next time is down at the dealer for annual service.

There you go......Power,Beauty,Soul,Paint.....
You bought the right car after all