VW California T5 ONLY Roof Corrosion - General Discussion

[Stu]

Also ours doesn't have the bike rack so if you think you'll need one you'll need to swap yours over.

 

[primrose]

Not found any after quick inspection but Cali is only 8 months old, and kept out the elements.

But thank you for the heads up.

 

[2008 fresco]

Here's damage on my 2008 Fresco Green Cali. Also corrosion on side above driver's door & blisters on rear roof. Currently in dispute with VW as damage first noted ( thanks to the club) outside of 6 year window, but do they expect me to believe it wasn't there before that. Hah.

Facing £4,000 bill so p***d off in spades.

Maybe the club should organise a class action given the interesting post re the 1986 LDA act.

Can't believe how hands off VW is being do they think this will go away?!

 

[johnyboy]

Had mine photographed and Martins are going through the forms

 

[sue.h]

Hi All,

My van is the 'guinea pig' at Shorade as I found out yesterday when I dropped my van off. They asked if I could drop it off instead of having the AA swap them over to keep to the same start date, didn't mind except 90 mins in traffic on the lovely M6 for Solihull to Cannock.

Anyway the place looks very impressive and the guy I spoke to Mark showed me what they would be doing. 50 new parts £2000 worth for the front panel job. They also got the go ahead to do the main roof 're-spray and new seal' job.

Looked over the loan vehicle and looked good, every toy possible except 4motion I think.
Warning 1 - Take your gas bottle from your Van as the loan van was 'unused'
Warning2 - Check the battery status on the control panel :doh I didnt


hi, did they mention the bellows (keep or replace?)

cheers sue


As it was said to be new and I needed to get home I thought all good and drove off. Yes its unused 63 plate with 100 miles on the clock BUT someone had left the tap on and completely flattened the leisure batteries (this was diagnosed when VW Assistance guy turned up, whirring noise when I plugged in the charge lead) . Called VW customer services who didn't know what to do, called Shorade and then after a while VW Assistance called and a guy came to help. He's ordered new batteries and the Van will have new batteries next week, Wednesday, but currently I have a camper with no fridge and a roof that wont raise

The joys of Cali ownership :lol: :lol: :lol:

A really good heads up for us all to give the loan vehicle a really good check over for any faults I hope to be eagle eyed on handover!

 

[Custardtart]

Here's damage on my 2008 Fresco Green Cali. Also corrosion on side above driver's door & blisters on rear roof. Currently in dispute with VW as damage first noted ( thanks to the club) outside of 6 year window, but do they expect me to believe it wasn't there before that. Hah.

Facing £4,000 bill so p***d off in spades.

Maybe the club should organise a class action given the interesting post re the 1986 LDA act.

Can't believe how hands off VW is being do they think this will go away?!

I think it's bad enough that a vehicle is corroding at all in this day and age, but to have a premium brand manufacturer walk away from corrosion that is caused by a design fault they have acknowledged is shocking.

 

[cozmo1589]

All manufacturers and I mean all, have at one time or another got issues with build quality, equipment failures and or safety issues -period. Problems affect cheap and expensive brands alike. BMW are in the middle of recalling tens of thousands of motorbikes world wide and also recently Toyota / Lexus had a immense global safety recall on various vehicles. The vw group and the a California are no different. Yes it's a bummer and pain in the arse, it will get sorted, will it put me off, not in the slightest, I love my Cali despite its few gremlins ;-)

 

[bluebell]

The vw group and the a California are no different. Yes it's a bummer and pain in the arse,

I am sorry but a £4,000 bill is more than a bummer !!!

 

[yanathem]

Here's damage on my 2008 Fresco Green Cali. Also corrosion on side above driver's door & blisters on rear roof. Currently in dispute with VW as damage first noted ( thanks to the club) outside of 6 year window, but do they expect me to believe it wasn't there before that. Hah.

Facing £4,000 bill so p***d off in spades.

Maybe the club should organise a class action given the interesting post re the 1986 LDA act.

Can't believe how hands off VW is being do they think this will go away?!

Think yourself lucky i've been quoted £4500.00 :censor

 

[PETER152]

On BBC Watchdog tonight, Citroen have been pulled over the coals over their air suspension system failing on old cars ( 6 years+ ) and out of warranty. The rubber air bags in the suspension system were leaking. Watchdog knew about 40 cases of this happening and got Citroen to pay 80% of the cost so I suggest people with older Californias with roof corrosion get on to Volkswagen or Watchdog. The expert witness they interviewed said this rubber airbag should have lasted longer and was a design fault and Citroen should pay for the repairs.

Come on guys! contact Watchdog there must be more than 40 cases out there with vehicles older than 6 years old. Volkswagen need to be shamed into paying for this work. Its a manufacturing fault and its their manufacturing fault. :evil:

 

[phil locks]

We also have a 2008 that has had the claim denied and the quote for the work to be done is £4,375 :censor

That is more than a bummer :censor

 

[Calivaughan]

Beware my Roof corrosion claim has been rejected as my Cali was a month over 6 years old. Ge your claims in straight away.

 

[Andy]

Please can you guys with 6+ year old calis hold fire on the watch dog thing as we are still trying to get VW to extend the repair to cover older calis.

 

[calikev]

As andy says we are still waiting for VW to answer our latest round of questions.

 

[Calivaughan]

My claim for a roof repair has been rejected on the grounds that my California is over 6 years old. It was regestered on 18/5/08 and my claim went in on the 20/6/14.

I have contacted the VW customer service centre who told me to try and arrange an alternative repair with my local Van Centre in Swansea. They did not want to know!

I tried the VW Service Centre again who explained that they could not help as the line had been drawn and only vehicles 6 years or younger would have the roof repair carried out.

I am extremely disappointed and angry with their response.

Can anyone advise me on what I can do now please?

 

[Fresco 2008]

I am sympathetic to requests to hold off but it would be useful if admin could advise us what VW contacts have been made and with whom( email, letter, face to face)? If I've missed a post I apologise but this thread is long! Seems to me a mtg with the head of Uk customer relations is in order pointing out how many affected Cali owners are being represented by the club.....and addressing the the. 6 year/ Latent Defect issue

 

[Martin]

Graham (Susibus) has written to them and we are still awaiting a reply, as soon as this reply has been received we will publish it here.

 

[jts46]

Van booked in for a service and photo of roof corrosion, was told it takes about an hour to check roof and front panel for paint thickness. Is this correct?

John

 

[Custardtart]

My experience was 5 mins taking name/address/phone no and photos of corrosion/vin no/mileage then 6 weeks to complete the DISS report.

 

[David Eccles]

aaggh
I now have the problem too!!!!!
awaiting Listers Coventry to get back to me!

 

[777111]

Van booked in for a service and photo of roof corrosion, was told it takes about an hour to check roof and front panel for paint thickness. Is this correct?

John

"paint thickness" eh? That's a new one. Sounds plausible - wonder whether that is correct?
The rubber seal on the main roof also seems to have been deemed causative but I cant see how the metal stiffener within the rubber strip contacts the ali?

One day we will find out.
Maybe VW would like to tell us :crazy .... maybe not.

 

[Martin]

Anyone who is considering selling their Cali within the next 12 months I suggest you call VW Customer Services on 0800 777 172 and ask for a letter to confirm the warranty claim has been accepted as the new owner will need this letter to take to a dealer along with the V5 ( once the new name is on it ) to have the repair details updated on VMS.

 

[David Eccles]

Just back from Listers. They are well clued up on all the procedures as per start of the thread...took pics and its gone onto the system to go for VW to approve.
It will go to the Cannock centre...they have just taken their first one in last week apparently. They only have 2 loan Calis which is partly why it will take ages to get sorted.
But at least we are in the queue now.
ho hum...there's a lot of cross people on here but for me at least VW are going to sort it properly so I'll just carry on enjoying it. Stuff happens.
see thread I am just starting re this and possibly doing a piece about it in VW Bus magazine. But its not going to be a rant....
Inshallah
David

 

[Stu]

If they were to measure the paint thickness and found it to be thicker than applied at the factory it might be that, if thy wanted to, they could try to claim there had been a previous repair and hence could be a contributing factor to the corrosion.

I sincerely hope this is not the case.

It's quite simple to measure the paint thickness, I have a similar tool I use for work to measure coating thickness on large bore diesel engine piston rings.

 

[barry]

If they were to measure the paint thickness and found it to be thicker than applied at the factory it might be that, if thy wanted to, they could try to claim there had been a previous repair and hence could be a contributing factor to the corrosion.

I sincerely hope this is not the case.

It's quite simple to measure the paint thickness, I have a similar tool I use for work to measure coating thickness on large bore diesel engine piston rings.

Given VW's appalling behaviour with respect to these roof problems I would not be surprised if the tried anything to avoid taking responsibility for their catastrophic mistakes.