Has anyone got goodwill out of Seat for out of warranty repairs?

[-DT-]

Hi,

My Leon is currently 15 months out of warranty and in that time I have had to fork out for the following:

-Throttle Body Clean ~£60
-Replacement electrical circuitry as central locking/ windows/ mirrors/etc all stopped working which also meant the boot wouldn't lock~£400
-Replacement motor in climate control unit, as old one started making a rattling noise ~£350

And now the damn thing is leaking... It was due a service anyway and as I don't have time or the means to fix it myself and the problem is really bad, I got Seat to fix it:

-All 4 doors leaking (apparent as all 4 sills are wet every time I open the doors)
-Full leak testing & drying out carpets/ floor/ etc
-Front bulkhead also 'leaking badly' Total cost is in the region of £500- 600 - that is over £1300 I have spend on repairs since the car's warranty expired 15 months ago! The throttle body thing must have been about a month after too

Has anyone else had similar problems and managed to extract any money from Seat at all? I am asking particularly in the case of the leaking, as it seems to affect a LOT of people and it sounds to me like it is a fault in the way the door was manufactured, as opposed to 'wear and tear'. I've never known any other car to do this.

Thanks

 

[tommmineh]

I've managed to get a goodwill payment for the timing chain on my Ibiza, but thats was only 3 weeks out of warranty. I doubt you'll have a case for the throttle body or CC motor, the electrics theoretically should last longer though. It's probably worth contacting customer services, they were quite helpful with me. There's a form to fill in on seat.co.uk

 

[jetsetjimbo]

Good luck!

They wouldn't even consider doing anything about my blistered alloys or the rear tyres that were ruined by the failed dampers - and that was all while it was within warranty!

 

[-DT-]

I can't even sell the damn thing as I would need to buy 4 new tyres for the original wheels as all the ones on there resemble slicks now (I have some aftermarket alloys now)

 

[RikH]

not so much goodwill
but they replaced my exhuast under warranty which is a consumable so shouldnt really be included iirc

 

[deano w]

Good luck! i managed to get just over half the parts cost on my cooling fans with a struggle, though mine was only 3 mths out but only 1500 miles covered in that time. Wrote them a nice letter and told them i bought the car for german engineering and spanish style and didn't expect it to break in such a short space of time. Had a bit of help from the service manager with him telling them that i have two SEATS and only have them serviced buy them and use all there parts and would tou like to lose that sort of a customer. Seemed to work though.

 

[Balf2k]

£60 for throttle body clean man, they saw you coming!

 

[Pabs]

15months down the line i'd expect nothing done gratis/goodwill.

1-2months maybe, perhaps up to 6months at a push. But nearly 1.5yrs out of warranty, VERY doubtful. I mean, the car could have been sold to several different owners in that time - not like SEAT would warrant that....

Hyundai give a 5yr warranty (for what its worth) - go get one of them

 

[Dennis]

I nearly had to take seat to court to get the LCR alloys replaced as they didn't have enough paint o them.

All in all It took about 6 months or letter and calls, and independant engneers report ready for court before they eventually agreed to pay out and replace the £1500 worth of alloys.

 

[-DT-]

15months down the line i'd expect nothing done gratis/goodwill.

1-2months maybe, perhaps up to 6months at a push. But nearly 1.5yrs out of warranty, VERY doubtful. I mean, the car could have been sold to several different owners in that time - not like SEAT would warrant that....

Hyundai give a 5yr warranty (for what its worth) - go get one of them

Like I said a lot of it started going wrong just after the warranty expired. (i.e a couple of months)

My point about the door seals being a design fault still stands though.

 

[andycupra]

they dont even honour warranty repairs all the time!

 

[ElasticTangent]

AND there are a lot of differences between the manufactures warranty (first 3 years) and the extended warranty that you might get from a SEAT dealer. Door seals, for example are not covered on the extended warranty.

 

[panholio]

Had no joy at all from SEAT UK when I had some problems with mine. It seems their "approved used car programme" doesn't mean much at all. Had a fair bit of stuff done under my extended warranty though, after a lot of complaining. It runs out in June so I'll be getting as much done on it as possible before then that can be justified (my replaced engine fans are playing up again after 4 months)


Dealers don't help either in my experience by being rude/incompetent etc... however from what I've heard they don't do well out of warranty claims so there isn't a huge incentive to help you. The wheel and brake paint finish on LCRs is a complete joke...

but then again Renault have Clio's nigh on killing people with the bonnet's flying up (I suspect this is down to idiot dealers not shutting them properly) and aren't even vaguely bothered.

As it is with most things in life, once you've parted with your money they're not interested.

Just to add to this I don't think my next car will be a SEAT, even though I absolutely love my LCR.

 

[jetsetjimbo]

Dealers don't help either in my experience by being rude/incompetent etc... however from what I've heard they don't do well out of warranty claims so there isn't a huge incentive to help you. The wheel and brake paint finish on LCRs is a complete joke...

but then again Renault have Clio's nigh on killing people with the bonnet's flying up (I suspect this is down to idiot dealers not shutting them properly) and aren't even vaguely bothered.

As it is with most things in life, once you've parted with your money they're not interested.

Just to add to this I don't think my next car will be a SEAT, even though I absolutely love my LCR.

No and it's the dealers opinion that carrys all the weight with Seat Uk. They wouldn't do anything about the bubbling on the wheels (within the 3 year warranty) because the dealer said he thought it was fair ware and tear as he has excepted it on his wifes 2 year old 206!!!

I'm afraid my next car won't be a Seat either, although as you said I really do love the LCR despite Seat UKs failings.

 

[Dennis]

Bubbling wheels within 3 years, I would have taken this up with SEAT, this is similar to my problem re seeing primer due to lack of paint, dealer could not understand my problem (well they were round what more did I want?) this put SEAT on the defensive hence almost having to sue them and havig to do a lot of work.

I would still take this up with seat now, the dealer should have records to show your enquiry, ask seat if they agree their wheels shoudl carrode within 3 years etc.

 

[jetsetjimbo]

Bubbling wheels within 3 years, I would have taken this up with SEAT, this is similar to my problem re seeing primer due to lack of paint, dealer could not understand my problem (well they were round what more did I want?) this put SEAT on the defensive hence almost having to sue them and havig to do a lot of work.

I would still take this up with seat now, the dealer should have records to show your enquiry, ask seat if they agree their wheels shoudl carrode within 3 years etc.

I did take it up with Seat customer services but all they would say is that it came down to the dealerships manager, I asked about a dedicated warranty assessment but nothing was forth coming. The problem is that I didn't have an unlimited amount for time to persue them and they'd also lost their franchise!

They just blame it on stone chips 'wear and tear' and the wrong products being used to clean it. The previous owner may have used wonder wheels or something like that which could have caused the problems.

 

[Dennis]

When was this, you have upto 6 years to claim (limitation).

Are the wheels still in the same state o rhave you sorted them yourself?

£75 of assessors fes might see you wih £1500 worth of new rims.

 

[jetsetjimbo]

This was last March / April time.

The wheels are the same conditionthey were then.

I doubt the dealer will have any record of the enquiry though as I didn't even get a proper invoice for the work that they did do just a letter (after pestering) detailing the work done.

Oh and when the car came back from the dealers - they had it for a couple of weeks waiting for rear dampers - the engine mgmt light they were supposed to have sorted came back and then when I got it back the second time the front arch had been scuffed! I noticed that on forecourt and kicked off after which they agreed to pay for the remedial work.

 

[Neilr134]

1 month after warranty - exhaust sensor, 100% contribution.

1 year post warranty, 45k miles, £90 contribution for new water pump. For both, Garage very pro active and fought my corner.

 

[jetsetjimbo]

I think it all boils down to the garage tbh.