UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I posted in another thread my Mother’s Polo 6C was going for it’s annual MOT, well it has and the usual fuckery is afoot

Got a text this morning with a link to a video which, upon viewing, was the technician giving a voiceover to advise MOT had been passed with no advisories. Went to collect the car and I found the Dealership had ‘forgotten’ to ensure the +1 month renewal date for the MOT OK well s**t happens, right? At least I got them to price match down to £20. I am then presented with a VHC list which shows (in amber): rear console bushes are perished - what the deuce? shouldn’t that be a Warranty claim I ask; No Sir, it’s just an advisory, I am told. They were not bad enough to fail the MOT so Warranty will not entertain a claim...just continue to monitor them. What do you mean monitor them? Well if they they start knocking or making noises, come back and see us in the New Year, and we will take a look then.

Yes of course in the New Year when the Das Welt has long expired and miraculously they will need replacing then? f**k off I sent you an email in early of 2019 reporting knocking and creaking noises form the front of the car, you didn’t come back to me, submit a Warranty claim as this must be the cause. Grudgingly they agree to do so - are any of you getting a sense of de ja vous reading this

As I leave the Dealership, I call VW Warranty and explain the circumstances. They check with a Claims Handler who confirms, under the described circumstances, the claim should be honoured. I fire off an email to Dealership setting out my clear expectation that I will not accept anything other than a positive outcome. So there we are, I am waiting to hear back the outcome.

I cannot believe how reticent my Dealer has been - had we trusted them my Mother could have been left with a very expansive cost of repair just out of Warranty. VW Warranty have been nothing short of amazing today and previously. They have always been helpful, knowledgeable and very (very) supportive - you usually expect Warranty to deny claims with the Dealer challenging on your behalf to achieve a positive outcome.

I will update when I hear of the outcome, but I fully expect the claim to be approved. I can’t believe this Dealer is assuming the outcome of Warranty claims and not bothering to submit them - if you have a Das Welt or VW Extended Warranty, make sure you challenge the Dealer.

Oh and we will be renewing the Das Welt on this car

Would you believe it, claim accepted without fuss by VW Warranty (kudos to them).

...Dealer surprised VW Warranty didn’t ask for further information but did reference my conversation with them of earlier. These are the same f*****g morons who charge £150 +VAT per hour

Not good, or more like, not what you would like to expect from an honest main dealerships.

Strange name to give these bushes if it was their terminology, these rear lower arm bushes used to be called "console bushes" because they were mounted into what VW Group termed a console, which is an aluminium lump bolted to the car frame, since maybe round about 2007 VW dropped that design of front suspension as it was probably costing too much in warranty claims and simplified it back to the pre2002 Polo etc design.

My wife's August 2015 Polo 1.2TSI 110PS ended up wrecking/tearing one of its rear lower arm bushes, which I got replaced FOC within warranty, though I'd hope that its failure was more down to the state of the roads in UK than poor design, I have looked ahead and bought a tool to replace these bushes when they next start to look nasty and might even replace them with Audi TT/Golf R versions which are solid - having done a similar change to my wife's previous 2002 Polo, in that case changing console bushes to the SEAT Ibiza Cupra solid version with very good results included improved "turn in" and the next 9 years free from needing to replace the standard voided bushes a couple of times and still be suffering uneven tyre wear that failing/weakened lower arm rear bushes brings!

I've had my share of VW nonsense after buying a 15 plate Polo 1.4 TDI SEL earlier this year. The car was for sale in Ayr, I live in Aberdeenshire. No big deal, I've bought cars like this before and will always travel for the right deal based on specification.

Part of the reason for my enthusiasm was the Das WeltAuto warranty. Any issues, then theoretically any VW dealer can fix. Now this is where it becomes complicated. The warranty stays with the car, but the dealer treats every issue as a new claim. The water is muddied as they take a slightly different perspective if they haven't sold you the car. That's not to say they won't do the work, but there's a little more loyalty if the car was originally sold to you by them and you're on their database so to speak.

So far it's been in 3 times since I bought it earlier this year for low refrigerant for air conditioning, interior alarm sensor fault, air bag light, etc. I have genuine VCDS software, so although I was telling them the issues and even sending them the scan results, they start each claim separately. They scan the car, that's £100 odd that's chargeable if the fault is detected and not covered by the warranty. I was confident the faults were all covered so these were waived. You also get a video healthcheck. Jeez, if I see another picture of the underside of my car I'll scream.

To be fair, the original dealer in Ayr was supportive and paid for the air conditioning recharge, and the dealer in Aberdeen claimed on the warranty from VW for the other electrical fixes.

I think VW need to take a different approach with warranty claims. Instead of making customers jump through hoops, they need to take on a 'no quibble, we'll fix it attitude'. I know all claims have the potential to be spurious, and it's down to how the car is driven and maintained, so either they need to be more selective to the warranties they cover based on the age of the car and mileage, or simply don't include them, then customers know exactly where they stand.