by Danny » Aug 11th, 2014, 8:58 am
The paint process is something we have little to know control over, VW is very sticky on what they approve or not under warranty. There is a new section on our website now under the "service" section, here you can start the paint claim process. Now customers must start by completing the online form and then this completed form is sent to us, with all the required info, then customers are booked for an appointment to have to car photos taken, customers MUST show up with cleaned vehicles. The idea of having them cleaning here is very difficult because it takes an enormous amount of time, and when people just walk in for a claim, it's over an hour plus the customer form online isn't done.
Once the photos are taken, they are submitted to the body shop for an estimate and once completed we send this VW for the results. Once a decision is reached by VW, it's binding and we have zero input or control over this, all we can do is relay the message and book a paint appointment should approvals be given.
The largest problem we run into are cars that have been in accidents or repainted, these of course are flat out denied because the paint and/or panels are no longer VW and of course they do not warranty somebody else's work. Besides this, rust that has been neglected or not acted upon (i.e. holes in car) are also refused, and we have a huge amount of people coming in for rock chips wanting this covered, these of course are not.
It's an amazing warranty, to think about the money they are spending on older vehicles and even newer ones is insane. There is no other company completing this kind of work. It's a long process, VW is still working out bugs on the new online system (previously is was monitored by two people using Microsoft Outlook) now a new database is used. Chris you can have the Jetta looked at for sure, but it will take some time for the results to arrive, just complete the mentioned form and that will start the process.
BMVA