2005 Golf - RUSTING ARCHES - Claiming on Corrosion Warranty

[Quattro3232]

Might be a bit late to this party, but hope not.

Rusting Front Wings...don't get me started. Letchworth can't do it on site you need to go to Loughton in Essex to have your car assssed. I have complained to VW UK and am now trying through Watford, but that means a drive at my cost to their body shop in Chalfont St Giles...which I will have to do. Will be calling Cambridge tomorrow to see how I get on.

So far customer service has been poor at best....plenty of web sites to help fight thus issues so after tomorrow lets see how much of a fight I need to have.....

[1083 Feedbacks]

Quattro3232 said:

Might be a bit late to this party, but hope not.

Rusting Front Wings...don't get me started. Letchworth can't do it on site you need to go to Loughton in Essex to have your car assssed. I have complained to VW UK and am now trying through Watford, but that means a drive at my cost to their body shop in Chalfont St Giles...which I will have to do. Will be calling Cambridge tomorrow to see how I get on.

So far customer service has been poor at best....plenty of web sites to help fight thus issues so after tomorrow lets see how much of a fight I need to have.....

My car is approaching 12 years old now.

I emailed the watford VW (citygate), waited 8 days and got no reply.

Called them and was diverted around, eventually put through to someone called ahmed from the body shop. He then said i've got through to the wrong person and that i need to speak to someone from the bodyshop, they put me through to him but he didn't answer. Tried 3 times that day no answer.

Got a email address for this chap who deals with warranty from the bodyshop and emailed him. - 12 days later no reply.

Many jumped hoops later, i called VW customer service. They put me straight through to the chap i last emailed from chalfont (i had no idea he was in chalfont.). He booked me in the same day, so as i assumed the bodyshop was at citygate in watford, i trravelled to watford and sat in the customer area for 35 mins before ahmed appeared. He then told me i need to go to the bodyshop in chalfont. This was the first time i was told its in chalfront!.

Anyway, made it to chalfont 5 mins before they closed and they assessed my car with a paint guage checker. They said they can put warranty through for one wing, but the other they cant because its apparently had a repair. Absolute tosh, im the second owner of the car and the original owner who had it for 11 years gave me a wad of invoices, i also contacted them to ask if it ever had a repair and they said no.

So as it stands, im waiting a month or so for the warranty to get the go ahead. But that wing isn't so bad. The wing they refused to repair was the bad side and it has a hole in it almost!. So im thinking to take it to the milton keynes branch to see if i get any luck with them.

[Chris-avle5]

Yep, there's a modification to the wing/mudshield/wheelarch lining.

[SuperchargedVR6]

Nice bit of thread exhuming.

The 'mod' is to cut a piece of the foam damping pad thingy away to stop it rubbing on the arch and/or trapping dirt/water.

[Galahad]

Holy thread resurrection Batman!

I’ve just picked up a 2007 Mk5 R32 - 125k miles but absolutely immaculate bar the dreaded bubbles which have appeared on both front arches.

Chalfont is my local dealer so I’ll pop in and see what they say..

[iSore]

VW have really cut back on this now - 10 years if you're lucky. I took the arch liners out of mine, removed the foam completely and brushed some grease around the arch lips. The passenger wing was replaced in 2016 due to being clobbered but the other side is still fine. The foam was absolutely wet through however.

You can get pre painted wings for about 100 quid each but good luck getting a good paint match. The bright red is the worst. Pattern wings fit well enough, are about 30-40 quid each and very easy to fit. Pay about £100 to paint it to the car, twice that to blend into the door and lacquer both panels.

[AI1694]

My 2008 GTI seems to be fine but I wonder how long for..

[iSore]

A lot of it is location dependent - stty cold wet places = more rust. Mine is an 08 and was fine but I got the foam crap out - very easy to do.

[Galahad]

iSore said:

VW have really cut back on this now - 10 years if you're lucky. I took the arch liners out of mine, removed the foam completely and brushed some grease around the arch lips. The passenger wing was replaced in 2016 due to being clobbered but the other side is still fine. The foam was absolutely wet through however.

You can get pre painted wings for about 100 quid each but good luck getting a good paint match. The bright red is the worst. Pattern wings fit well enough, are about 30-40 quid each and very easy to fit. Pay about £100 to paint it to the car, twice that to blend into the door and lacquer both panels.

Popped in today and the body shop guy took a load of not measurements and said they were all fine and that he was amazed at the overall condition of the bodywork given the 125k miles. He said he’d send the claim in to VW and be in touch within 2 weeks. No mention of the warranty being reduced from 12 to 10 years - how could they get away with that retrospectively?

[iSore]

Galahad said:

Popped in today and the body shop guy took a load of not measurements and said they were all fine and that he was amazed at the overall condition of the bodywork given the 125k miles. He said he’d send the claim in to VW and be in touch within 2 weeks. No mention of the warranty being reduced from 12 to 10 years - how could they get away with that retrospectively?

Just going on what the guy from JCT600 told me - not in writing of course. He implied that over 10 years old they're getting very, very picky and are rejecting lots.

[cuprabob]

If my memory serves me right the corrosion warranty used to be 10 years and was changed to 12 years in the mid 2000's so maybe that's where the guy was coming from.