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VW Corrosion Warranty


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Has anyone had experience of fighting VW in this area ?

 

My 9 yr old Passat which I owned from new, has a 12 year Corrosion warranty - against panels rusting through from the inside and the car is supposed to be galvanised too.

Hence when I saw two bubbles on the bonnet I took it to a VW bodyshop who idientified it as rust from underneath. However the claim process has to be started by a VW dealer who despite being shown the rust did not even photograph or mention it to VW. VW decided it was poor paint adhesion cauased by my having the car repainted which I have not.

They still maintain this position and despite my visiting two other dealers unofficially and a second bodyshop all of whom say rust.

I am considering taking them to the small claim court (a new bonnet is £1000) but would welcome any experience of getting them to uphold the warranty ?

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  • 4 weeks later...
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Hi

This seems standard. VW simply won't pay out for corrosion work without a fight. My 7 yr old Passat has rusty front wings (like a lot of others of this age due to a manufacturing defect). I have owned it from new, & it has not been in any accidents & only maintained by my local dealer. The same dealer is claiming the wings aren't original. I took this up with VW "Customer Care" 0800 0833914, but they are standing by the dealer. HOW can the wings not be original?????

My colleague took them to the small claims court & won after he was told he hadn't reported the corrosion early enough.

What's the point of this damn warranty????

rusty, rust, corroding, corrosion passat wings

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I've hammered VAG in the past but it's not easy. The problem is that VAG subcontract out complaints/customer service issues to Mondial based outside of headquarters in Milton Keynes. The operators there have a cassette inserted into their brains (alledgedly) which triggers an automatic response of "vee do not have issues in this area or any other problems so therfore it is down to you danke"

 

It's not disimilar to BMW who do not have service recalls or actions but are called quality enhancement campaigns.

 

The key here is to bypass Mondial and getr directly to VAG.

 

If you look up VAG.DE you will get VW/Audi/all other marques. Look at the coporate site and get Martin Winterkorns e mail address. Send him a snotty e mail and they will reply with we have refered it to UK customer relations who are VAG UK.

 

You then get the inroads into the people who can make the descisions. This is what we had to do with Blinkys engine fault. If still blocked then let me know via a PM as I have most of the contacts. With VAG UK you have to play a game unfortunately and the weak point is the customer relations team.

 

Bear in mind though that your car is not galvanised. VAG and most manufactueres use a process now called e coat. It's not at all easy to paint a galvanised surface though from a marketing perspective galvanised sounds heaps better than e coat.

 

Could also do with some piccies of the affected areas. The type of corrosion will show us what is what.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the hint heliosuk, & sorry for the delay in sending my THANKS.

I mailed Martin Winterkorns, & got a response that this would be referred to VW UK. As long as I hear from a responsible person I will be happy.

My dealer is still insisting that the Passat wings aren't original due to the blue coloured undercoat visible on the back of the wing. I looked at this myself yerterday & it's really more silver than blue, I am told it should be grey, so I am going to look at me neighbour's Passat (that actualy has the same issue) to see if it's the same.

I'll let you know.

Thanks again.

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Good stuff. Now there should be a reference number in the e mail reply. Customer contact with Winterkorn is monitored I think as a management statistic within VAG Group as a whole. So essentially you have logged a black mark against VAG UK which won't go away. Now you need to send a snotty e mail to VAG UK customer relations quoting the reference no and saying you understand this has been referred to them by Dr Winterkorn of Wolfsburg. The key is to be matter of fact and how dissapointed you are as the cars have always had a good reputation for reliability and corrosion resistance which was the major factor in your buying decision etc.

 

PM me with the e mail first before you send.

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MWEE, sorry to read of your troubles, but far too many people are having trouble getting dealers/ manufacturers to honour their warranties.

Surely there must be a statutory body out there somewhere that can take up the problem. Doubt if oft or ts would be any good at this level.

Anyone suggest who these problem claims can be reported to?

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From what i am aware VW do also have a good rep for customer service so i am shocked that you have been treated like this. I think the ideals of service get diluted with the local dealerships somewhat and its a real shame.

 

I called two of my local dealers in my area for some work to be done. One quoted £260 and the other £190. The one that quoted £220 when questioned why there was such a vast difference told me that they could reduce the cost to £190!! to match the other quote. I told them frankly that this was not a price match like Kwik Fit and National Tyres you guys are both VW dealers.

 

Any way i digress here is a link about one guy who had his backside burnt by his heated seat, VW in this instance where over helpful UKpassats.co.uk • View topic - VW Seats =PLS READ !

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Guest nez69

Make Sure The Dealer Takes Photos And Processes Your Claim.

The Dealer Will Still Get Paid For The Repair, Just From Vag And Not You.

Vehicle Warranty Is The Car Dealers Biggest Customer.

There Are Helpful And Not So Helpful Dealers Out There. Have You Told Them You Have Been In Contact With Others?

 

What Is Their Reason For Not Processing Your Claim?

 

If The Rust Is Not A Paint Chip Or Damage Caused By External Forces And Can Be Proved To Be Perforation And Not Corrosion Then You Should Have This Repaired Under Warranty Unless The Area Has Had Work Previously Or You Have Not Had Regular Servicing That Includes Your Body Inspection.

 

Do You Have Photo's? Post Them And Ill Have A Look Seeing As I Am A Warranty Administrator.

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This should be the manufactures warranty Conniff but is a notoriously difficult one with all manufacturers. The problem is in the interpretation of "from the inside". If this were to be taken literally then the chances of it happening in the 12 years are very remote however the warning signs would become apparent after 10 years, perhaps less. With VAG UK, the major problem is that they have subcontracted out customer service to organisations who act within a set of guidelines and I would alledge are paid according to the number of claims they manage to defect as part of the deal. Conversley the also get paid on the number of enquiries satisfied. The problem with this is that often they are not aware or trained to handle specific issues that require further or more specialist investigation.

 

Therefore the way to address this is from the top down.

 

What should have intially happened in this instance is that the dealer initially determines the problem but if questioned as to the decision, then referred it to VAG. In the case of 12 year rust warranty, and this is general for all manufactures, piccies of the issue need to be submitted to the manufactuer (ie VAG ) as with all paint work/body related claims it requires prior authorisation and possibly an inspection by the area service rep. This hasn't happened in this case as the dealer thinks the front wings are not original. What he doesn't know is why they might be wrong if indeed they are wrong. It is very possible that VW had supply issues at the time of production so bought in other wings. These might have been supplied from Brazil, South Africa or anywhere else. One way of error proofing is colour change so it can be determined exactly where the wings came from. So.........just because the undercoat is a different colour is not a reason for the dealer to automatically bounce the claim. They and the customer service department will not have access to this info. VAG UK will have the means to check this via Wolfsburg and the plant where the car was made. If it happens to be the Zwickau plant then I know this could have happened.

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Guest nez69

12 year perforation warranty is certainly not standard as this car is not a recent purchase. 12 years has only become the goal in recent times.

 

A VW approved bodyshop should be able to determine if the vehicle in question has had any bodywork carried out that warrants termination of the warranty.

 

The manufacturers actually put aside a certain amount of money every year to insure themselves against all possible warranty claims.

It is treates the same as an insurance policy, they have a budget to use regardless of what on.

 

If this is a valid claim then there can be no objections.

 

HELIOSUK it is the bonnet not the front wings in question and if VW supplied them after vehicle purchase then they do not come with a 12 year warranty, they will then be covered by the parts warranty from the manufacturer.

 

The usual truth with this kind of claim is that it is very difficult to prove the cause of the fault. It could be a stone chip, corrossion or whatever. The customer wants it rectified FOC, the manufacturer does not want to pay if they are not at fault or it cannot be proven to be their fault and the dealer staff are probably too inexperienced, cannot be bothered or are too scared to tell you what they think is the true cause.

 

If you can prove to VW that this fault is perforation that is covered fully by the terms of their own warranty then they will repair it.

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Whether it's the bonnet or front wings, it makes no difference. If you read the post the OP has had the car from new.

 

Whilst the manufactuer has a warranty budget they still have to meet legal obligations. As you are obviously aware being a red hot warranty administrator, there is no longer the requirement for the vehicle to be looked after within the dealer network and these regulations will be further strenghtend over the next year.

 

The thing about this thread is that the dealer has jumped the gun and automatically refused when they know full well that all corrosion claims have to be pre authorised by head office. This is because it's an easy one for dealers to blag and secondly the information is fed back to product development engineers in the R & D centres to find ways of limiting their exposure to warranty.

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Guest nez69

Maybe if the garage did their job correctly then they would not be in this mess.

 

Our staff would be fired if we ever had a complaint like this.

 

The dealer is only an agent for the manufacturer and if they are not willing to help, inform the manufacturer and take the car elsewhere if possible.

 

It is not difficult when you know, although some on here would have you believe all sorts.

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Maybe if the garage did their job correctly then they would not be in this mess.

 

Our staff would be fired if we ever had a complaint like this.

 

The dealer is only an agent for the manufacturer and if they are not willing to help, inform the manufacturer and take the car elsewhere if possible.

 

It is not difficult when you know, although some on here would have you believe all sorts.

 

I can't see that the garage is in a mess at the moment. Basically they didn't follow routine procedure.

 

Now from the Mazda post I sort of get the feeling you work for Mazda UK in which case they and the dealers are just as bad as VAG. Just a sense. Further I very much doubt the staff would be fired and if they were then this reflects the attitude of the company in being incompetant. If it is Mazda then I can assure you I have a recent paintwork corossion case where they didn't know what to do. In fairness it was a dealer issue but Mazda tried to skirt around the issue and eventually after a lot of pressure rolled over and sorted it.

 

As regards taking it elsewhere, then where???? As you point out different dealers have different standards but then the onus is on the manufactuer to ensure the standards required are met across the whole of the dealer network and the fact they don't suggests serious failings within themselves.

 

Whilst I'm not intentionally having a dig at you personally you need to be aware that there are some seriously qualified and experinced people that help out on this forum and not intending to be derogatory might just know a bit more than you do.

 

However, your contribution, I'm sure is welcomed but don't take it to heart. As you say it is a help forum and there are bound to be ding dongs and sarchastic comment made. It's up to the OP to draw their own conclusion.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi

My complaint to Dr Wintercorn got passed back to VW UK Customer support, so they came back to me with the same story & added that I hadn't had my car serviced with an authorised dealer. WHERE THE HELL DID THEY GET THAT FROM??????? ONLY my local VW dealer has touched the car.

It really feels like they are making up stories at this point.

I checked the undercoat on my wings with my neighbour's car who actually has on '04 version of the same car (same colour), & the undercoat on his wings is the same as mine. It is grey, however, I did notice that it can look very slightly blue when viewed with a white LED torch. Maybe this misled the dealer?

Anyway, I am going to send VWUK documentary evidence to disprove all their points:-

1. The car was not new when I bought it - UNTRUE, I bought it as an import with 0 miles on the clock.

2. The car was not maintained by a VW Dealer - UNTRUE, I have all the service recored & warranty repair details.

3. The wings have blue undercoat - UNTRUE, I have pictures of the grey undercoat

 

Over the past weeks I have seen many B5.5 estates with this problem (including my neighbour's), as many of the posts on this site will confirm.

 

Heliosuk - Sorry, I didn't know how to PM you to take your advice further.....

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It matters not where you have your car serviced as long as it is serviced. Government regulation took care of this years ago.

 

To PM, just click on the name 'heliosuk' on the right and there it is in tiny writing.

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  • 9 months later...

Hi - similar problem with my 2002 passat estate. Ive had it from new, fsh, really well looked after, no accident damage and rust bubbles on the top of the front two wheel arches.

I've read the collective entries on this section with real interest as my local dealer has proved to be at various stages either inneffective / disinterested / impotent.

I have the wrong date of birth to navigate my way around the internet - so can anyone help me with the email address for martin winterkorn?

Thanks

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Google Volkswagen GMBH. Go for the .de version.

Within that you will get the VW German site which is also available in English. The look at company reports or something and hidden in there is his address. Last time I looked it seemed to have been removed along with manufacturing, product development and quality directors name but I believe I have them hidden somewhere in the depths of my archives so PM if you don't get any luck.

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Try martin.winterkorn&volkswagen.de.

I should have updated my story so here goes.......

I gave up on my dealer as they were clearly making up stories to get out of helping me, & mailed Mr Wintercorn to tell him I wasn't happy. I took the car to another main dealer, & they measured the thickness of the paint, & said it looked like a genuine warranty claim :-)

Due to my latest mail to Mr Wintercorn, I was then contacted by a very helpful lady from Customer Services, who followed up my claim with the 2nd garage.

After a week she called back & said that unfortunately, it wasn't covered by the paint warranty as it was mechanical damage. I asked why this was, & it appeared she was reading from THIS WEB SITE, as she gave a couple of the excuses cited here, but eventually stated if was mechanical wear of the foam on the inside of the wing. Still as a gesture of good will, they offered to pay 40% of the repair charge (£600 I recall). I stated I wasn't happy in that my local dealer had clearly lied to me for over 6 months, & it had been a huge waste of time. I said I would think about their offer.

I got a call back 5 minutes later offering to cover 95% of the cost!!!!!!

 

I think they did this, as I had proof that my local dealer had lied, & I could follow this up legally if required.

 

My experience was that Customer Services will always take the side of the dealer. In the first case, both the dealer & Customer Services effectively said I wasn't telling the truth. Only with a proper fresh inspection could I get a resolution. I think the first resolution - "the wings aren't original" helped me get my new wing.

 

I now have mixed thoughts on VW, but was evemtually happy with the response from Customer Services, & delighted that they paid for the replacement in the end...

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi

 

Sorry to hijack but my father has just bought a VW Passat b5.5 TDI. It is on an 03 plate and there is rust on the rear wheel arches. With my dad as being the second owner, is the corrosion warranty still valid ? Will the warranty cover the rear wheel arches ?

 

What is the best way forward, contact the main dealer where the car was purchased ?

 

Any feedback is appreciated.

 

Regards,

Riyaz

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Hi

I have seen many 03/04 Passats with this problem, but I have only seen the front arches affected.

Yours may be a different issue.

Certainly, take it to an official VW garage or 2, but don't expect an easy road. It took me over 6 months, & a lot of effort to resolve my problem.....

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  • 3 weeks later...

hi all

having read through all the replies to this thread, i must put this, we bought a brandnew vw golf 1.9 tdi from lookers in teeside (middlesbrough) it had its first service with lookers, all well fantastic service, had trouble with the cruise control again fantastic service fixed straight away no cost to us.

this vw is a 54 model never lets us down, cannot say that for the ford we had, from another ford dealer on teeside.

my wife used this car everyday back and foward to work,holidays, trips to manchester airport (holidays abroad) no problem at all, as my wife worked for a garage breakdown service on the a19, all services, mot, ect was done at her place of work, but my wife who now is very ill with cancer, had to pack in work.

the car was garaged at home, not used, as i have my van,

couple of weeks ago i took it out for its clean and service, i noticed the wheel arch, was bubbling, on the drivers side, and at the base of both wings, now we did not know this car had a twelve year paint warrenty till i phoned vw on teeside to be told this as fact.

they put in touch with the gentleman, and i mean gentleman, chris wallace, the paint warrenty official service manager. he made me a next day appointment to look at it, so the next off to darlington for inspection, we met at the exact time, paint thickness took,many photos took, of the effected areas, we talked for over a half hour my mind put at ease, yes he stated paint warrenty claim, will put all his finding to vw,

four weeks had passed, phone call from chris, they have a date, car ready for me to use, booked in for repairs to paint, ive got to take it in on the 31/5/2011 tuesday, where the vw appointed garage will give me all the details, of work they are going to carry out.

now for me that is cracking service, from lookers, and vw itself, i cannot praise chris wallace for his help, i will keep you all intouch on the outcome, and the work the vw appointed garage will do kindest regards

Edited by waggerlad
wrong date
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My boyfriend and I are currently having a lengthy dispute (coming up to ayear) with VW regarding a similar issue. Back in June last year my boyfriendnoticed a bubbling on the boot of our car, an R32. This was reported to mylocal garage at the time which was Lookers in Darlington. After requestingnumerous call backs from somebody who could advise us on our claim under the 12year warranty we never got a phone call. Back in October last year we took itto our now local garage Listers in Worcester where they actually listened andthe servicing department took photographs and sent it to John Copeland inCoventry where the bodyshop is. John has drawn up a report where the claim hasbeen rejected under warranty as they claim we have left it too long to report it,and according to vw they can not determine if it is a manufacturers fault orclient fault. We are currently pulling our hair out with this one to get thissituation resolved. We have now gone to citizens advice and are prepared totake it to the small claims court if needs be as the area of the boot isgetting worse. We have requested a copy of the report from VW so we can seeexactly what has been written but they will not send us a copy. Their explanation'I don’t know why you can’t have one'. Absolutely ridiculous. This from a mutimillion pound company. We have had 2 VW cars now, one from new and this one 2ndhand. We chose VW due their reputation for building excellent cars. Trust methis will be the last VW we will ever purchase!

Does anyone have any similar issues or advice?

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hi there

sorry to hear about your problems, with your secondhand vw car, but i take it its only cars you have from new is covered by the twelve year paint warrenty.

i may be wrong about this information, but i can assure you lookers of darlington and the expert advice i got from the paint warrenty manager chris wallace was second to none. just today the garage the vw is going to wants to drop the car they are going to priovide, while our vw golf, is getting repaired, and pick our car up for the work its getting done to it under the paint warrenty. now thats service, why not check its covered under the secondhand ownership kindest regards the wagger.

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Hi,

 

It doesnt matter if you car is 2nd, 3rd of 4th hand. The warranty remains within 12 years bodywork warranty of the manufacter date. Their reply to rejection is that it hasnt been reported early enough. Well it was reported when we spotted it and has been going on for a year so it has got worse. Sure this is a technicality get out for them.

 

I'm glad you have your problem sorted, however I think my battle will be ongoing for some time!

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