2004 Passat rusting, what do you guys think?

**Tysan** · 08-09-2008,05:17 PM

Guys,......while washing the car a few weeks ago noticed couple of rust patches just starting to come out. So decided to look at the service book and it says that the car has 6years anti corrosion warranty. So naturally decided to call the local VW dealer to find out how to go about getting this repaired and quoted from the book that there was 6year anti corrosion warranty. The reply from the dealer was that if the car does not have a full VW service history, then that invalidates the warranty.

I argued that the warranty and the full service history are not connected as even if the car was serviced by VW dealer it would not have stopped the rust developing. The dealer then said something to the effect of it is like you scartch my back and I scratch yours. To this I hung up.

What do you guys think? The way I see it, the car has been serviced by me when ever the computer told me to and parts replaced as quoted in the service book. There is no mention that the body must be waxed atleast every 3months and wrapped up in fine silk for at least 6months of the year....lol

Please let me know if you guys had issues along the same lines and the best possible way to get this done without scartching the dealer's back....lol

**Col** · 08-09-2008,05:21 PM

Where is the rust?

Wherever it is, it is probably due to a bad accident repair.

**Tysan** · 08-09-2008,05:33 PM

The rust is on the driver side door. the actual location is on the black strip that divides the front door and the back door between the windows. I know description is a bit crap will get a pic tomorrow. I don't believe that the car had any known accidents.

**Panzerdriver** · 08-09-2008,08:53 PM

I would suggest you go to another *********** and put it to them.

I'm sure by law they cannot refuse to rectify the corrosion as long as its within the corrosion warranty timescale.

Irrespective of whether the car was serviced by VW or not, they should not refuse to carry out the work. You do not have to have a new car serviced by the *********** to get warranty work carried out so i think they are trying it on.
Maybe have a word with the citizens advice bureau as well.

2004 build cars should not be rusting, my 2001 sport started to spot around the same area but by the time i noticed it i was moving the car on.

Good luck.

**Hex69** · 09-09-2008,09:37 AM

Originally Posted by Tysan

The rust is on the driver side door. the actual location is on the black strip that divides the front door and the back door between the windows. I know description is a bit crap will get a pic tomorrow. I don't believe that the car had any known accidents.

It's a weak area on the car, My '98 Passat's paint was bubbling there after about 4 years, managed to get it sorted when a motorbike scraped the side of the car. My 2000 one is starting to go on the rear door.

**Tysan** · 09-09-2008,04:09 PM

Thanks for the replys guys. I'll try another dealer and see what happens and if all fails then a call to VW head office might yield something. Will keep posted.

**eko** · 10-09-2008,12:35 PM

Few years ago I had the same problem on my previous car, when the car was 3 years old. The dealer told me that this part on the door was not covered by the warranty, as VW did not class this part as ‘body’. It was just a bolt on panel, which the dealer replaced for about £80. I hope you have more luck than me.

**me1onhead** · 11-09-2008,04:52 PM

I noticed some bubbling paintwork on both of my 2002 Passat's front wheel arches whilst polishing it yesterday. After browsing through the VW UK website I noticed a section that said to contact main dealership immediately if any corrosion appears. Since I was off work today anyway, I took the car to Cardiff VW to make some enquiries ref warranty issues and they were straight over to my car, taking pics and measuring thickness of paint etc.
Nothing was too much bother for them (I was quietly stunned by all this, as I've never had this kind of attention at ANY dealership before). They informed me that the pics and a report will be sent to VW who ultimately have the authority to give the go ahead to correct the problem. I should know next week.

**parthasd** · 22-09-2008,11:00 PM

Firstly sorry about the long post.
I noticed exactly the same kind of problem like me1onhead. About 4 weeks ago I found paint bubbling paintwork the NSW (just at the top of the wheel arch) after washing and polishing my 52 reg passat. I took the car to VW Leicester the following day and a very helpful senior body work estimator executive inspected the car with paint thickness measurement etc. He fully agreed that the damage is covered under 12 year corrosion warranty. He also advised that the wing needs to be changed with a new one as repainting will be unsatisfactory only cause the problem to return again soon. They had the car again another day to take pictures and to map the paint work thickness of the whole car.

Last week I had a phone call from the dealership saying that VW UK has authorised the repair and I was due to drop the car today to the dealership. On arrival, the same executive informed that VW UK has only authorised a repainting job and naturally I was not happy with this. He was also not happy with the decision made by VW UK as he did not see any point in repainting over already rusted body component. He encouraged me to contact VW-UK from his office and I spoke to the MOST unhelpful agent on the other side.

The customer service agent stated that the decision made by VW-UK is FINAL and nothing on earth will change it. The decision of not providing a new wing was because of the age of the car and the damage was already spreading.

Both I and VW Leicester think that VW-UK is being unreasonable and feel that this kind of problem will mostly occur to a car of this age. I feel that VW-UK is handing down a diktat with no recourse to redressal. A simple paintwork will definitely cause the rust problem to resurface soon and neither VW Leicester nor VW UK is sure if this would then still be covered under 12 year anti-corrosion warranty.

For this matter I did not hand in my car today.

VW Leicester will follow-up the matter with VW-UK and will get back to me. Please could you suggest what should I do?

**snapdragon** · 23-09-2008,10:10 AM

Originally Posted by parthasd

Firstly sorry about the long post. Please could you suggest what should I do?

You could just let them do it and see how long it lasts, do you plan to keep the car to 2014? The average lifespan of a car is only 13 years anyway, and a new wing is not as good as a factory fitted one. You may them have problems with the reflection skewing across the panels, or signs of unpainted dumdum filler in the seams which may put off a potential purchaser.