We have a 53 plate Octavia estate that is rusting on the tailgate. I've taken it down to our local dealer for assesment under the 10 year corrosion waranty, only to be told that the paint on the tailgate is half the thickness anywhere else on the vehicle, so it must have had a new tailgate fitted, but unfortunately not to VAG standards. That's despite agreeing that the bonded-in rear screen is a Skoda orriginal.

We've owned the car since it was 6 months old, having bought it as an ex-demonstrator from a dealer. Its certianly not had a new tailgate in the time we've owned it. So I've contacted the orriginal dealer, who is still in business, to explain themselves, only to be told "Sorry sir, we have no record of selling you that car." I'm awaiting a call back from the dealer principle.

Orriginally the inspecting dealer told me that corrosion in that location would be covered by the waranty provided it was an orriginal rear screen, but then decided it was surface rather than perferation corrosion. However, they did tell me that had the tailgate been properly painted it wouldn't have corroded at all.

Skoda customer care are trying to sort things out between the two dealers, and have told me that any used car sold by a dealer must be repaired to approved standards (which it clearly hasn't been).

I'm not going to name and shame the dealer as they are still working on the matter...

Any thoughts? Anyone successfully claimed under the corrosion waranty?

I had the tailgate resprayed and when I took the car to the local VW bodyshop for a quote the guy who inspected it remarked on how thin the paint on the tailgate was.

To be honest I had zero problems from either the dealer or Skoda when I raised the issue, it was done and dusted in about 3 weeks.

Bristol Audi's bodyshop fixed mine (53 Reg Octavia Estate) under warranty without any argument at all. They did do quite a few checks to make sure it was the original tailgate though, including things like checking the screws on the hinges to see if they had ever been removed.

Surprisingly, despite obviously having removed the rear window to do the corrosion repair, they were able to glue the original glass back in place afterwards, so I guess this means original window doesn't necessarily mean original tailgate.

Bristol Audi's bodyshop fixed mine (53 Reg Octavia Estate) under warranty without any argument at all. They did do quite a few checks to make sure it was the original tailgate though, including things like checking the screws on the hinges to see if they had ever been removed.

I had mine done twice, and they never checked the tailgate had been removed (which mine seems to have spacers behind the hinges (making me think the car has been bumped from behind).

Edited 22 April, 201016 yr by mbames

many cars have repair work done due to damage in transit from the factory so even if you have a brand new car doesnt mean it hasnt had paintwork done, but obviously this should have been done to VAG standard

Just reported my 04 L&K Estate to Skoda. Taking it in next week for paint depth testing... lets see what comes of it!

I took mine back to the approved VAG body shop when the paint lost the colour (after being re-sprayed twice due to rust issues under warranty), the manager poked the paint with a pen, broke the lacquer layer (or what ever it was), and it has now gone rusty.

Useless bodyshop :-(