New Condenser not covered under warranty

[robhinesjetta]

I have a 58 plate Jetta 1.9 TD! se purchased it new for VW, it's now done about 18k miles, Quite a few I know!!!! I was driving home from work and I heard a hissing noise, I turned down the radio and turned off the air con but could still hear the noise. As I wasn't going slow over the QE2 brifdge I put it down to the lorry alongside me.

To cut a long story short I noticed the air con wasn't working. I booked it in with the dealership expecting a warranty repair but I was surprised when I got a call from VW informing me that a stone had gone through the vent in the bumper and pierced the condenser. They said it was a fluke for it to happen but as it was damaged by impact it was not a covered under warranty.

I did argue with them that this could indeed happen again, so sure it's a fault with the design of the car, but they said that it hadn't happened often enough. Although they had the condenser in stock. They did say I could get some chicken wire put behind the grill to prevent it?..........

Has this happened to anyone else as £570 every time this happens is going to be fairly expensive and a good case could stop this happening to others.

[colinoz]

Bad luck. Have you thought of claiming it on your car insurance, if applicable? Afterall it is collision damage.

I found VW very good with warranty repairs. My mk5 Golf was 6 months out of warranty when the aircon compressor died. They replaced it without charge but my mileage was quite low.

[towcestervag]

firstly the reason it got damaged by stone is because the size of the front grilles are big enough to let a jumbo jet through them
just done a touran for the same fault £320 fitted and made up small mesh grille to go behind bumper to stop stones