VW California T5 ONLY Roof Corrosion - General Discussion

[barry]

I have just heard back from my local dealer that the roof corrosion fix has been approved by VWCentral. I have yet to hear back from the bodyshop to which my van has been assigned [Bentfield, Newcastle] but it sounds ok.

As the signature below shows, my van is older than six years so I am naturally pleased. But much less pleased about the length of time it's going to take to get to the front of the queue.

 

[northumberland]

I took my '61' plate van into a VW garage last week to register elevating roof blisters before the end of its 3 year warranty period.

I am very disappointed as it has already been repainted once along with a full front panel replacement. I am concerned that this work was done before VW announced a 'fix' i.e. gasket for the front panel and the 'gluing' down of the elevating roof seal. It seems that it is inevitable that corrosion will return.
To me an offer of an additional 3yr warranty extension + 3 years manufacturer's warranty running from the date of vehicle manufacture demonstrates that VW have no confidence in the life expectancy of their 'fix'. Where does this leave a member whose vehicle is 4+ years old who has to wait 2 years for the repair, will their warranty extension expire before the vehicle is repaired? If the warranty period ran from the date of the repair that would give me more confidence in the 'fix' and for that matter in VW.

It would be nice if VW would be come clean and say what the cause of the corrosion is.

For those of you who are interested: I was in Cornwall for the bank holiday and spoke to a German owner of a 1 year old Cali who hadn't heard of any roof corrosion issues but was very concerned and would investigate when he returns home. He was also very surprised that we were still being supplied with old T5 dashboards, his was a completely updated version and had blinds for the front screen that retracted into the side pillars. Although the blinds are a good idea, however, in practice he didn't think much of them. His door screens seemed to be a better design than ours, they having magnets sewn into the cloth to stick to the window surrounds and folded up very neatly.
p.s. I won't be going to Cornwall again during the school summer holidays!

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

The German California is based on the multivan and it has a different dashboard whereas UK vehicles all have the same. Not being supplied with old dashboards though.

cheers

 

[northumberland]

Thanks Alex.

Just, I thought they were produced on the same production line?

The German dash did look very nice and very up-to-date.

 

[Stu]

They can be on the same line but with different dash units.

 

[Tim Cole]

Hi
After taking my Cali back 3 times to my local dealer since I reported the fault in Feb I have today had it confirmed that my roof claim will not be covered as the van was reg Dec 2007 and is out of warranty and no goodwill claims will be made is there anything else that can be done. The Cali only has small blisters on the main roof, has a full VW history and was garaged for the 1st 6 years of it life and now lives under cover so I am disappointed that the paint does not last. Any guidance would be helpful.
Regards
Tim

 

[Freeley]

Just heard from Carrs Exeter that my roof claim has been accepted and heritage will be in touch "in due course". So the 2 years starts now!!

 

[Thevan]

I wouldn't worry about the delay in getting the appointment there will be dozens already in the queue which will take years to clear before they get to work on yours. Sorry to be negative but VW are making a complete mess of an already stressful situation.

I was told 10-12 weeks by the Assistant Service Manager - Richard at Benfield Newcastle when I took the van in on Monday.
Also,
I was surprised he couldn't tell me how the replacement front panel differed from the original in order to prevent a recurrence once repaired. He did offer a phone number so that I could find out myself! Eventually he said he'd find out and let me know - he hasn't yet.

He asked me to email my own photographs but has not acknowledged receipt or otherwise.

I saw no claim form. Should I have been asked to sign anything?

 

[Ambler]

Ditto here.
Both the person handling my case at VWCS and also at the local dealer were unable to answer my question as to what the work involved.They waffled about the Vw technical sheet for this repair. What is certain however is that I will not allow them to glue down the rubber strip to obviate future inspections.

Also, the local dealer is unable to offer us a loan vehicle (I said any would do) as I can only drive autos and they have no autos on their loan fleet. (They are primarily a car dealer!)

 

[Thevan]

Ditto here.
Both the person handling my case at VWCS and also at the local dealer were unable to answer my question as to what the work involved.They waffled about the Vw technical sheet for this repair. What is certain however is that I will not allow them to glue down the rubber strip to obviate future inspections.

Also, the local dealer is unable to offer us a loan vehicle (I said any would do) as I can only drive autos and they have no autos on their loan fleet. (They are primarily a car dealer!)

Thanks Amber for the info on the rubber strip - I'll check that out too.

They said to me they would try to arrange "a time I'm not using it" - this doesn't exist as it's my only vehicle.
Just received a text from VW Benfield on Ex Demo's - nice touch VW :goodone

 

[Desmond4motion]

Just got vw garage at cardiff to submit a claim,they agreed there was a rust blister on front roof panel ,but have just called me to say my van is out of it warranty by 6 months
Mine is reg jan 08
Anyone with the same problem ??

Jeff

 

[barry]

Just got vw garage at cardiff to submit a claim,they agreed there was a rust blister on front roof panel ,but have just called me to say my van is out of it warranty by 6 months
Mine is reg jan 08
Anyone with the same problem ??

Jeff

it's odd: some vans older than the six years are getting nodded through and some are not. I wonder why?

 

[Desmond4motion]

Is that right ?.......I think I will get hold of customer services, as I noticed this blister a year ago and just thought it was a stone chip

Cheers

Jeff

 

[RodCouncil]

Indeed, SMG were unable to do a report on mine, I'm tempted to ring CS and see where I get.

 

[smgcowfoldparts]

The repair is only for vehicles less than 6 years old unfortunately.

thanks

 

[Andy]

I wouldn't worry about the delay in getting the appointment there will be dozens already in the queue which will take years to clear before they get to work on yours. Sorry to be negative but VW are making a complete mess of an already stressful situation.

I was told 10-12 weeks by the Assistant Service Manager - Richard at Benfield Newcastle when I took the van in on Monday.
Also,
I was surprised he couldn't tell me how the replacement front panel differed from the original in order to prevent a recurrence once repaired. He did offer a phone number so that I could find out myself! Eventually he said he'd find out and let me know - he hasn't yet.

He asked me to email my own photographs but has not acknowledged receipt or otherwise.

I saw no claim form. Should I have been asked to sign anything?

The replacement front panel is made of aluminium with a different composition of metals. The panel is mounted on a rubber gasket to isolate it from the steel roof aperture, thus reducing the chances of the galvanic reaction happening again.

 

[ron b]

Am I correct in thinking that the paintwork warranty, extended to 6 years, applies solely to the front panel defect, and not the corrosion under the raised roof seal, for which the standard 3 year warranty still applies.

 

[Ambler]

I asked this question of VWCS when they phoned to confirm the repair to the main roof.
Basically I got waffle waffle, waffle waffle.
The lady would not or could not say yeah.
Which means that it is probably only 3 years, despite the letter published on here (she was aware of the letter, but would not commit my repair to this).

 

[SusiBus]

PLEASE LOOK AT OUR PREVIOUS POSTINGS.

IT IS SIX YEARS ON BOTH THE FRONT PANEL AND THE ELEVATING ROOF.

It doesn't do the forum any favours if we keep asking the same questions. Customer Care may not know the answer, but we have it in writing from Head Office that "in an effort to offer our customers peace of mind we took the decision to offer an additional 3 yerars goodwill, extending the terms of the protection from three years to six".

This is not to be confused with the 12 year body protection warranty in which the important word is "perforation" which means a hole. If there ain't a hole, they are saying it isn't covered. I still maintain that this is corrosion emanating from within a box section due to a constuction fault therefore we should be offered more than a paintwork warranty.

I need your feedback for my meeting at VWHQ. Get posting your thoughts!!!

 

[robo]

Susibus, did you read my earlier post showing corrosion of the aluminium inside the roof, where the tent is connected. Sorry I cannot workout how to create a link to it. There are photos attached. I'd like to know if anyone else has it.

Robo

 

[campandfly]

Wow 76 pages on this thread now!

I am sifting through to find out if its fairly safe to avoid the roof corrosion issue with a new Cali. eg 64 reg or even wait for 15.

Reading all the troubles it has really put me off buying 2nd hand and thought I would hang on a bit and go for new.

Have I missed a post that says the problem has been fixed now on new models?

thank you

Tony

 

[Brent]

Wow 76 pages on this thread now!

I am sifting through to find out if its fairly safe to avoid the roof corrosion issue with a new Cali. eg 64 reg or even wait for 15.

Reading all the troubles it has really put me off buying 2nd hand and thought I would hang on a bit and go for new.

Have I missed a post that says the problem has been fixed now on new models?

thank you

Tony

if they (VW) won't confirm what the problem is, how could VW possibly confirm it's been fixed in later builds ? and would you believe them.

 

[Ambler]

Thanks for your thoughts Susibus. We are all grateful for the work you do.
However, I can read perfectly well without the need for capitals.
As this is my vehicle then I am entitled to ask VWCS the official position.
So far, I have a copy of a mail sent to a forum representative. Will Vw honour this in 3 or 4 years, well from the answers given they may or may not?
So, if it is official why did the VWCs representative (who is aware of the mail) not say yes you are covered for 6 years? I was told the perforation warranty will still be in place for the 3 years, re. the 6 years well as I said it was waffle
If you feel that I should not report this on here then by all means send me a pm and politely request and I will stop. Blasting out capitals does not motivate me.
At the end of the day it is my very expensive vehicle and I will ask whatever questions I like.

 

[ron b]

As Ambler has explained, VW responses can confuse. My 19/9 comment arose from a similar reply from VWCS regarding whether or not the extended 3 to 6 year warranty applies also to raised roof corrosion, further complicated by my local van centre saying they would repair the roof but not the front panel. Thus I began to suspect that VW are still keeping the two issues, and consequent warranty commitments, separated.

 

[WelshGas]

Response from my dealer regarding the roof corrosion . Picking my new California up in a few weeks time.

As per my previous e-mail the corrosion problem was for pre 2013 models and yours is not affected, however, the paintwork corrosion warranty on all California’s (including the elevated roof section) has been extended to 6 years.


We'll see!