Roof Rails rusting!!

[helly85]

Hi,

The roof rail on my coupe is bubbling under the paint work, right at the front on the drivers side. Its a patch about the size of a stamp. I went down to audi as i assumed this would be covered under the 12 year anti corrosion warranty - and apparently "as its a common fault with the TT coupe, and we've recently in the past few months reduced this warranty down to 3 years, so it wont be covered"
Mines a 2003 plate, so obviously falls out of the 3 years?!!

Can audi do this?? Surely if they've sold a car with a 12 year warranty, how can they just reduce it when a few problems appear??? I'd bought the car off a friend, who bought it off Audi Sunderland as an ex -demo car, and he never received any notification of this warranty change.

Anyone else also had the same story from Audi??:zx11:

[kite]

I had the wifes rails replaced under warrenty on a late 02 car.
Some dealers class them as trim so not covered under the 12years.
Call Audi CS on 0800699888.
Lots of posts on the TT forum regarding this issue

[djakster]

Yeah i took it up to Sunderland Audi today, the guy just didnt want to know, took one look at it and said it was trim, therefore not covered.
He was quite happy to give me a quote however to replace it at £185+VAT.

I'll be giving them a call in the morning, not going to let this one go.

I'll have a look for the other posts, didnt really look hard enough yesterday for them.

[kite]

Search here for roof rails
http://www.tt-forum.co.uk/ttforumbbs/
Contact Audi CS as posted above.
Other people have had them changed under the 12 year warranty.

[Georgeb]

Helly,

Fisrtly the warranty issue! under the anti perforation warranty (commonly called the rust warranty) only the body structure is covered for 12 years (all Audi models from model year 1998) this warranty DOES NOT extend to body fixtures i.e. anything that is not part of the main body shell, bonnet, boot & doors.......so a trim moulding (& thats whats rusting on your car) is not covered under this warranty.

However, this is a known issue with Audi, in 2004 ish they issued a technical bulletin to dealers regardng this, although this has now been withdrawn.

Go back to your dealer and insist that he completes a DISS report & that he sends it to the Product Technical dept for review and insist he supplies you with their answer, Also insist that his warranty dept submit an "Out of warranty goodwill request" for the repair, once you have done this call ACC (Audi Customer Care) on 0800 699 888

Re Kite's answer, no they have not repaired any cars out of the 3 year warranty under the 12 year anti perforation warranty, all of these were done under goodwill!

[kite]

Warranty/goodwill, I just know I did'nt have to pay for replacement and spraying !

[djakster]

Good news, with a little persistance I managed to get Teesside to complete the work FOC. The argument I used was that because it was a load baring part (for the roof rack) and insisted it be done under warranty and they gave in eventually! Thanks to everyone for theyre advice though! This sort of information should be made a sticky as this seems an all too common problem!

[Crasher]

A problem on the A3 as well.

[bigals89]

Helly,

Fisrtly the warranty issue! under the anti perforation warranty (commonly called the rust warranty) only the body structure is covered for 12 years (all Audi models from model year 1998) this warranty DOES NOT extend to body fixtures i.e. anything that is not part of the main body shell, bonnet, boot & doors.......so a trim moulding (& thats whats rusting on your car) is not covered under this warranty.

However, this is a known issue with Audi, in 2004 ish they issued a technical bulletin to dealers regardng this, although this has now been withdrawn.

Go back to your dealer and insist that he completes a DISS report & that he sends it to the Product Technical dept for review and insist he supplies you with their answer, Also insist that his warranty dept submit an "Out of warranty goodwill request" for the repair, once you have done this call ACC (Audi Customer Care) on 0800 699 888

Re Kite's answer, no they have not repaired any cars out of the 3 year warranty under the 12 year anti perforation warranty, all of these were done under goodwill!
Got a diiss report for my A4 and have been offered as a good will offer of 70% with me paying remainder- about £315.I believe other dealerships have fully covered costs