This morning I dropped my car off at VW (Milton Keynes) for some warranty repair work before it runs out in August.

What a load of utter sh*t !

First, the service advisor wanted the warranty paperwork to know exactly which type of warranty I had, before they carried out any work.

Even though it’s a VW warranty, they don’t have any details of the warranty themselves ?

Then he told me that the warranty is unlikely to cover “diagnostics” and that all 3 of the problems I wanted looking at will require “diagnostics”, to find out exactly whats wrong.

Diagnostics costs £80 plus vat !!!!

He said most warranties don’t cover diagnostics.

As I didn’t have the warranty paperwork with me, the service advisor was going to contact the VW dealer I bought the car from to find out which warranty I had.

But VW are useless when it comes to knowing details about your car.

Ive rang the VW dealer in the past, to try and find out what had been done when they last serviced my car.

But they had no idea what so ever – there were no records or details.

I told the service advisor that the VW dealer I bought the car from was called Ventura Park and it was either Sutton Coldfield or Solihull – I couldn’t remember which.

Get this, the service advisor then asked if I could get him the telephone number for the VW Ventura Park dealer !

So I went back to work, got on the internet to find the telephone number, then rang him back with the number !

I might as well do his job for him !

I took the warranty paperwork to the dealer at lunch time.

The service manager told me that the dealer I bought the car from had no details about my warranty (like I say, I was not suprised).

He confirmed there would still be an £80 diagnostic charge.

If the parts are covered under warranty, the £80+VAT would be waived.

One of the faults is a broken door handle, so I told him the door handle should be covered.

But he said he cant be sure until they do a diagnostic and then contact the warranty company once they know exactly what the fault is.

I said most things should be covered apart from wear and tear items like tyres, exhausts and brakes.

He said they’ve diagnosed faults before which werent covered by warranty and people just took the car elsewhere to be fixed once the fault had been diagnosed.

I told him to forget it and ill take the car else where and that its just been a total waste of time.

Im not paying £80+VAT for them to make some excuse why the part isnt covered under warranty.

You pay more for a car from a dealer so if there are any problems you have some come back, especially if its still under warranty.

But these warranty's just aint worth the paper they are written on.

Does anyone know if I can take the car to a non-VW dealer who will repair the faults using the VW warranty, without ripping me off with an £80 +VAT diagnostic charge ?

The faults with the car are:

- The external passanger door handle is broken and does not fully retract, sometimes it wont even open the door.

- The rear wiper has an intermittent fault where it comes when starting the car, even though the wiper is not turned on.

- The LCD display on the dash faded once to leave a blank display.

What year is your car? Is it an aftermarket warranty or still under the 3yr manufacturer warranty?

I think the reason why the dealer is trying to pull a fast one is because you only get a 2 year warranty from VW UK when buying a new car, the 3rd year warranty is provided by the dealer you take the car into. In the third year they can't bill VW UK for all costs incured, they can only bill them for parts etc, not time. That's why they are being a pain in the arse.

skyrat:

This morning I dropped my car off at VW (Milton Keynes)

Wayside?  They're an appauling, hideous company to deal with.  I've had them lie to me, steal from me and damage my car all within the space of an hour.

They (and Wayside Audi) have a deserved appauling reputation in the business and locally.

I would never, ever consider giving them a penny of my hard earned cash or leaving them with my car.

An utterly, utterly shockingly bad company.

After the farse and pain of dealing with Wayside about 7 years ago I never went back.  Autohaus in Northampton and Vindis in Bedford are so much better.  The service chaps at Autohaus are the definition of clueless (I called regarding a lumpy DSG box and was asked if I was taking my foot off the clutch pedal smoothly) but the engineers do a good job.

Regarding the rear screen wiper, that was a common problem on the MkIV but the MkV still suffers from it.  It'll be water leaking from the washer jet getting into the motor for the wiper.

Yes it was Wayside (at Kingston in Milton Keynes).

The warranty is the used car sale warranty provided by VW.

I bought the car 2nd hand from a VW dealer last August - the car was 2.5 years old.

As a used car, it came with a 1 year VW warranty.

I presume this is in addition to the manufacturer's warranty.

The warranty starts on the 16th August 2008 and ends on the 15th August 2009.

The car is registered as 2006 (06 plate) - cant remember the month.

When I told them about the rear wiper problem, they didnt have a clue about it and sounded as if they had never heard of it before.

Where else can I take my car to be repaired - does it have to be a VW dealer or can it be a non VW dealer ?

 Volkswagen warranty is not worth the paper it is wriiten on.

No matter what work you want doing under warranty they will try and wriggle out of it.

alonso:

 Volkswagen warranty is not worth the paper it is wriiten on.

No matter what work you want doing under warranty they will try and wriggle out of it.

I have always found claiming for warranty work good @ my local dealer, Whiterose VW Crosshills.

They replaced:

• 2 steering racks
• 4 injectors
• Dash cluster
• Fixed a paint issue on the back quarter
• 16 new valves
• A whole new set of Hydraulic lifters

Whatever went wrong with the TSI 170 i owned they fixed it, this was in the first year & a half of ownership and i had it from brand new.

EDIT: Thinking about it now, i was persistent when telling them what the car needed in order to fix it. I did have to kick off once when they replaced most of the above to cure a miss fire, i was told it was a characteristic of the car? I didn't take that one so they agreed to get some head bods up from VW UK and investigate the problem.

 Wayside are the worst garage I have ever ever come across, they practically wrote of my Golf and caused £1000s of damage. Never again, never ever again will I go there.

I would suggest you contact Volkswagen UK. To get the faults repaired under warranty it would have to be a franchised dealer.

 Feel sorry for you mate. Id ring VW UK and give them a piece of your mind and tell them that you want a solution

 if you bought the car from vw then you would of got the vw used car warrenty which covers all parts, it should stae that in your papers, if not check VW UK web site and double check then phone VW UK head office and complain, don't take it elseware and i wouldn't mention you got work done elsware[if you did] as it could invalidate the warrenty   , HAVE A READ.  http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/warranty/used-car AND http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/owners/warranty/extended

I know from experience that If you complain to HQ and really give out, then Hq will ring the dealers and give them a telling....then you get a nice call...

if all the faults are warranty then you wouldnt be charged the 80 that sounds fair to me.

dougall:

if all the faults are warranty then you wouldnt be charged the 80 that sounds fair to me.

 

If i could be sure that the warranty company wouldnt try and wriggle out of paying out, then i wouldnt be so bothered about paying the £80 because I would be sure to get it back.

BUT, I know what these companies are like.

They are like insurance companies, who will do anything to avoid paying out.

Thats how they make their money.

Ive checked the paperwork and the warranty I have is "All component warranty".

Ive looked on the VW website and the cover for this warranty is as follows...

All component warranty
This warranty is for cars up to 3 years and 100,000 miles
It guards against most of the factory-fitted mechanical or electrical components of your car.

There are some exclusions which are:

• Routine service items
• Bodywork, glass and seals
• Wear and perishable items as follows:
  • All adjustments, timing or cleaning
  • Batteries
  • Bulbs and fuses
  • Exhaust systems (although catalytic converters are covered)
  • Interior and exterior trims
  • Non-genuine manufacturer's parts
  • Tyres and wheels
  • Un-encased drive belts
  • Wiper blades and arms
  • Wiring and connections (including HT leads and aerial co-axial cables)
  • Worn brake discs, drum and frictional material
  • Worn clutch pressure plates, bearings and frictional material
  • Coolant hoses

It does not say it excludes any of the problems I have with my car.

the outer handle could be classed as bodywork, the screen fading- if it doesnt fault for the dealers they probably cant tell you what the actual fault isand will probably charge you for looking at it. the rearwiper problem should be fairly easy, remove the boot trim and see if there is water on the motor, its a pretty common fault.

the problem is you have a couple of intermitant faults and unless these happen when the techs are checking over your car then you will be charged a diag fee for something they cant fault

skyrat:

dougall:

if all the faults are warranty then you wouldnt be charged the 80 that sounds fair to me.

If i could be sure that the warranty company wouldnt try and wriggle out of paying out, then i wouldnt be so bothered about paying the £80 because I would be sure to get it back.

BUT, I know what these companies are like.

They are like insurance companies, who will do anything to avoid paying out.

First of all I agree with Dougall's point above. Secondly - you hit the nail on the head. Doesn't matter what you purchase, the insurance company will always try and 'wriggle out' as you say. What gets me though is that if you know what these companies are like, then why did you pay the extra £££ to purchase a car from a dealer so that it's covered by one of those warranties? Doesn't make sense.

The other thing I can't understand is you list 3 items that require attention. Why didn't you call the garage at the time these faults occured? If you stand back and look at the problem from the garage's point of view, it sounds like someone wants a free health check just as the warranty is about to run out.

They may have a poor reputation but I think that's a fair call from the garage. Pay £80 for a diag check and if anything shows up then you'e covered. However if everything passes then you pay your £80. Now lets say one of those faults you mention becomes permanent six months after the warranty expires. The fault has already been logged so you'd have a perfectly good legal case to return the car to the dealer / VW and have that fault repaired + get your £80 back as obviously their diagnostics wasn't thorough enough.

Just my 2p worth.

AidenUK:

I think the reason why the dealer is trying to pull a fast one is because you only get a 2 year warranty from VW UK when buying a new car, the 3rd year warranty is provided by the dealer you take the car into. In the third year they can't bill VW UK for all costs incured, they can only bill them for parts etc, not time. That's why they are being a pain in the arse.

Hi Aiden, AFIAK the first 2 years of warranty is taken care of by VW Germany and the 3rd year by VW UK. It's only when you buy a car with less than a years Manufacturers warranty, do they top it up with some kind of extended jobbie to meet the VW Approved Used Car Scheme.

It's good to know you've been pleased with White Rose as I'm going to try them next time for any warranty work. What are they like for courtesy cars? Do they charge you for it when warranty work is being carried out etc.

Cheers

sgtbanjo:

AidenUK:

I think the reason why the dealer is trying to pull a fast one is because you only get a 2 year warranty from VW UK when buying a new car, the 3rd year warranty is provided by the dealer you take the car into. In the third year they can't bill VW UK for all costs incured, they can only bill them for parts etc, not time. That's why they are being a pain in the arse.

It's good to know you've been pleased with White Rose as I'm going to try them next time for any warranty work. What are they like for courtesy cars? Do they charge you for it when warranty work is being carried out etc.

Cheers

Whiterose have always given my a courtesy car without any issues.

They use Polos, fair enough they aren't anything special but it's a car and they are pretty decent to drive. If they're looking at your car and they need to keep it for a few hours or a few days, they'll always give you a car.

I had a slight bump last winter in the Golf (slid into a wall in the snow) and even though they weren't doing the repair, i asked them to source the parts i needed, i booked the car into a body shop which they always use in Skipton somewhere (which are shoot hot might i add) and they gave me a car then, Whiterose weren't actually doing the work.

I can't fault them for service at all really, one chap i always deal with is called Ben, he works on the service desk and is always willing to help.

eyeamsparticus:

What gets me though is that if you know what these companies are like, then why did you pay the extra £££ to purchase a car from a dealer so that it's covered by one of those warranties? Doesn't make sense.

I did not delibrately buy a car from a VW dealer because I wanted the warranty, it just happened like that.

When I was looking for a Golf, I looked at non VW garages and private.

In fact I first started looking at the MK4, I wasnt keen on the MK5.

Whilst looking at the MK4 I changed my mind and decided to go for the MK5 which was starting to grow on me.

But after months and months of looking around I couldnt find anything, or it was sold by the time I got the chance to look at it.

After 6 months of looking on and off, I noticed an advert on Autotrader.

I was able to go and have a look just before the garage closed - it was a VW garage.

They had just dropped the price by £1000 and I was p1ssed off with looking around at rubbish or missing out because they had been sold.

This car was what I was looking for, it cost a little more than I wanted to pay but as my existing car was on its lasts legs and I had been looking around for months, I bit the bullet and bought it.

I didnt buy the warranty as an extra, it came included with the price of the car.  But im well aware that this is one of the reasons the price is higher in the first place.

eyeamsparticus:

The other thing I can't understand is you list 3 items that require attention. Why didn't you call the garage at the time these faults occured? If you stand back and look at the problem from the garage's point of view, it sounds like someone wants a free health check just as the warranty is about to run out.

One reason is that its easier to get all the problems fixed at once.

Rather than keep taking it in everytime a fault occurs - in this case I would have had to take it in at least 3 times.

Also, these faults were not major problem, just an occasional nuisance.

This is apart from the door handle, which has only recently broke (2 weeks ago).

I wasnt expecting to have to make any warranty claims, I thought VW was suppose to be good build quality  and reliable.

I hope it doesnt prove to be as unreliable as my previous car, a Peugoet 306.

Its such a pain in the ar$e having to take my car to the garage.

I have the hassle of how to get to work and back and having to miss work in order to drop the car off and pick it up.

I did not realise that VW provide courtesy cars, but then when they told me about this service they also told me they had no courtesy cars available anyway !

Another reason is because the faults were intermittent (except the door handle).

The wiper and LCD dash faults are very unlikely to show in the garage because they are intermittent.

The wiper fault appears a few times a month and the LCD dash has only failed once.

But if they are a common fault the garage should know about them, or possibly be able to test them.

Its not a free health check I want before the warranty runs out - its faults that should be covered by warranty that I want repaired before the warrany runs out.

Hence the reason why they only need to look at 3 items - not the enitre car !

 Its unlikely they are going to be able to find anything worng with the dash display if its literally only faded once and has been perfect every other time. The door handle they should repair without quibble unless they think you have damaged it !!!

The wiper thing - more tricky - diagnostic might show it.

At the end of the day its a VW used car warranty so you should not be tied to the dealer you pbought the car from - try another dealer that does not want to charge you £80.00!

I just rang up the VW dealer I bought my car from (Sutton Coldfield).

They told me they would NOT charge a diagnostic fee, so Im going to take it there instead.

Its 80 miles away (unlike the Milton Keynes dealer which is 1 mile from my house!) so it will be a 160 mile round trip.

And cost me £20 in fuel, but its better than the risk of loosing £80 for a diagnostic fee.

I rang VW warranty who told me if they cant diagnose a problem with even 1 of the 3 faults, I will be charged the diagnostic fee.

The only problem with taking it to Sutton Coldfield dealer, is that if they dont have the parts in stock to fix the fault, the car will have to be left there or ill have to take it back.

Hopefully I will be able to get a courtesy car, though it will still mean another 160 mile round trip !

 I live in Bolton and my car will be serviced at Des Winks in Scarborough when i go on holiday up there in November, it's small and family run by peolple who seem to know what a VW is, more than S.K.F do. i just don't trust our local main agent after they wriggled out of a warranty claim because my fuel door was not opening. They said it was classed as 'bodywork' and for all they knew it could have been repaired 'outside of a Volkswagen approved body shop'. If it has indeed been repaired before i owned it, which it shows no signs of having been, then what are the chances of it having been repaired by Volkswagen??!! Luckily with a little persuasion and a second pair of hands the fuel door does open, but if i was on my own and had no little diesel left i'd be stuffed.

i used to work at and know the lads at skf in bolton and it would of been the warranty clark's decision, not the techs.

does sound a bit of bull though, fairly common fault of the actuator sticking

 I think it comes down to the last 12 months of warranty being dealer managed and not by VW.

 Diagnostics dont always show up problems

e.g. I have a timing problem that doesn't show up as a fault in VAG COM

However all intermittant faults are logged in the computer and doing a diagnostic will prove which parts failed, but it all depends on whether there are sensors covering those components.

If the door handle is broken I think it's quite an obvious fault, that shouldnt need a computer to tell the dealer its broken!

If they dont sort it, it could be dangerous!

Phone VW HQ as suggested, you'll be amazed how this can change the dealers outlook.

Best of luck :-)