[anshumandun]

In 2018, VW India had announced a 7 years warranty policy for all their cars Link (Volkswagen now offers 7-year extended warranty in India).

This included a combination of extended warranty and add-on warranty. However, VW seems to have made some changes to the policy and it looks like the 7 years warranty claim is not true anymore.

I have a 2016 GT TSI. I recently purchased add-on warranty for 5th year for my car and it seems to me that it is impossible to get a 7 or even a 6th year warranty coverage for my car, given the add-on warranty clause that it can be purchased only once. This clause information was posted by bhpian seedyk in this post (Volkswagen now offers 7-year extended warranty in India).



At the time of purchasing, my car came with a 2 years warranty with an option to buy extended warranty for 2 more years. I went for the extended warranty and my car was covered for a total of 4 years warranty. A month before my 4 years warranty was going to expire, I contacted VW palace cross and bought add-on warranty for 5th year. There were a few hiccups but the dealer was quite helpful. More details here (Volkswagen Polo 1.2L GT TSI : Official Review).

I was really happy to have the DSG covered under warranty and had plans of buying warranty again in the 6th and 7th year. However, recent discussions on the GT TSI thread made me realize that I will not be able to extend the warranty further. I even had a discussion with a senior VW employee who works in the service department and he confirmed that the add-on warranty can be purchased only once. This means that VW's claim of offering 7 years of warranty on their vehicles is not true.

I know that the new VW cars come with extended warranty upto 5 years. Even for them, they can buy the add-on warranty for only 1 year making the total warranty coverage to 6 years at the most.

This is a photo of the warranty costs for different cars which I clicked during my visit to the service center. Based on this, add-on warranty can be purchased up to 2555 days or 7 years from the date of purchase of car. But if the add-on warranty has already been purchased once at the end of the maximum extended warranty of 5 years, this does not really make any sense. Is my understanding right or am I missing anything here?

[Rajeevraj]

Had read these posts in the other thread and quite surprised with what VW has done. Condition on add on warranty being allowed to be purchased only once is too restrictive and makes no sense.

This was definitely not the case earlier. I had purchased both 6th and 7th year add on warranty for my Vento TSI. There was even some major discount when I purchased it for the 7th year. There is still 3 months to go and hope they honor it.

[Turbohead]

VW policies are quite complicated and rarely make sense. Since you have the GT TSI with the DSG, I suggest you to take it up with VW seriously. After all, you're willing to pay the additional amount and I can't understand why VW will say no to a customer who's willing to purchase a plan. In my experience, if you take it up persistently, ( Yes, it is painful) they will change their policies.

[Viraat13]

Originally Posted by Turbohead

Since you have the GT TSI with the DSG, I suggest you to take it up with VW seriously. After all, you're willing to pay the additional amount and I can't understand why VW will say no to a customer who's willing to purchase a plan.

VW will say no to a customer willing to pay for a plan, because they're VW and they themselves don't know what policy has been implemented by corporate.

Service centres are least bothered about customer feedback. They only want 5 stars from you after you visit the SC, else they keep asking you to visit till you're satisfied or keep calling till you correct your feedback.

I was covered for 5 years, and tried like hell to get the 6th year warranty and failed (this was last month). Anyway, at least they have the tendency to cover DSG faults under goodwill, so I will keep my good relations and service record with my regular workshop and hope for the best.

[seedyk]

Originally Posted by anshumandun

In 2018, VW India had announced a 7 years warranty policy for all their cars Link (Volkswagen now offers 7-year extended warranty in India).


.... this does not really make any sense. Is my understanding right or am I missing anything here?

Attachment 2033814

A much required thread. Thank you. Was about to pen down something similar albeit with a more vivid thread title as "Volkswagen's misrepresented 7 year warranty: IT DOES NOT EXIST".

The warranty pricing picture you have posted is from last year, specially until December 2019, when Volkswagen did offer add on warranty until the 7th year (no limit of one year per owner).

On the orignal VW warranty thread titled "VW now offer 7 year warranty in India", a fellow bhpian named ishlinea7260 also shared his 5th year warranty copy and a quote for the 6th year addon warranty received from Lally Motors in Chandigarh which was received on 14th November 2019. Attaching the pictures below:





In addition, I renewed my Warranty on 16th December 2019 (add-on warranty for the 5th year) and was assured of a 6th and 7th year warranty which would be provided each year post an inspection.

However, fast forward to the current date, Volkswagen has flatly refused that they ever claimed that warranty can be taken until the 7th year and have rephrased it as can be taken once until the 7th year.

How does it make sense to not have warranty on a continuous basis if VW now maintains that i can take it only once until after 4th year warranty expires?

Worse, how can Volkswagen widely advertise a false assurance of a "7 year warranty" without disclosing such caveats (a five word disclaimer added on their website recently doesnt make the cut for such a critical factor)

The only distinguish factor between a company like Volkswagen and my fly by the night FNG or local mechanic is their WORD, which is based on Trust.

Why would i spend extra and get my car serviced only at a authorised service centre and preserve my future warranty eligibility if Volkswagen can whimsically seize to provide warranty overnight.

As good as the VW - Skoda cars are, Trusting this brand is next to impossible and a deal breaker.

Hoping this gets sorted else I and my close pals are prepared to dump this brand for the foreseeable future.

[aniyo]

Well this is wierd but even TATA has this issue. I had bought an extended warranty for Nexon (2+2) but after a few months they came with 5 year coverage.
I asked the dealer and they told I can't buy the 5th year extended warranty as it was under some special offer. I checked with multiple dealer and got the same response.

[GBX]

IMO, these aren't straight forward warranties. These are glorified insurance policies underwritten by the manufacturer themselves. And like any good insurance policy, the devil is in the fine print.

Honestly, considering VW's upcoming second innings, they really need to rein in these consumer unfriendly practices if they want to (re)start on the right foot.

[autounion]

The VW extended warranty is not so straightforward. They require to inspect the car before they sell it to you. If they feel the car will not last the extra year without repairs then they will not offer the extended warranty. It is basically another way for them to make money on select vehicles that they feel will last past the fourth year.

[veedub89]

While purchasing my Polo GT TSI in Nov 2019, I wasn't even offered the chance to get an extended warranty till the 7th year. The max warranty I could get was till the 6th year. Standard warranty of 4 years plus 2 years of extended coverage. Yes, I did get the max coverage possible.

So maybe this 7 year warranty programme is vehicle specific.

If the standard warranty on a VW car is 5 years then you can extend it for another 2 years beyond the 5th year and thus getting a total coverage of 7 years.
Trust the marketing team to advertise for 7 years for all VW cars when only 1-2 cars can actually avail of such a scheme.

[GTO]

I wouldn't consider this a big deal at all. So, you can top it just once? Sure, best to do it at the time of car purchase (that's my preference) or in one shot later. That's simpler for me & simpler for the manufacturer. Why go on adding an extension every year?

If I were the manufacturer, I'd chuckle & say "customers, be decisive and make up your mind" .

[shaheenazk]

Originally Posted by seedyk

In addition, I renewed my Warranty on 16th December 2019 (add-on warranty for the 5th year) and was assured of a 6th and 7th year warranty which would be provided each year post an inspection.

However, fast forward to the current date, Volkswagen has flatly refused that they ever claimed that warranty can be taken until the 7th year and have rephrased it as can be taken once until the 7th year.

Instead of verbal assurance, a written assurance would have served you better.

[itwasntme]

Originally Posted by GTO

I wouldn't consider this a big deal at all. So, you can top it just once? Sure, best to do it at the time of car purchase (that's my preference) or in one shot later. That's simpler for me & simpler for the manufacturer. Why go on adding an extension every year?

If I were the manufacturer, I'd chuckle & say "customers, be decisive and make up your mind" .

But that's the point here that VW originally did not allow one-shot purchase for the full number of years. Instead it was supposed to be 'renewed' every year based on the condition of the car, regularity of authorised workshop visits etc.

They have craftily done away with the multiple purchase format to suit their own ends, customers be damned.

[seedyk]

Originally Posted by GTO

I wouldn't consider this a big deal at all. So, you can top it just once? Sure, best to do it at the time of car purchase (that's my preference) or in one shot later. That's simpler for me & simpler for the manufacturer. Why go on adding an extension every year?

If I were the manufacturer, I'd chuckle & say "customers, be decisive and make up your mind" .

Pardon me if I am misinterpreting your post, but i guess you have a slight misunderstanding.

As you said, we would love to avail a 7 year/1.25 lakh warranty pack at once or once the extended warranty expires in the 4th year, however it is Volkswagen who DOES NOT let us avail of it.

VW is the one insisting that we buy it each year POST an inspection. In short, if theyre convinced that your car is not a total write off, they'll consider a warranty extension, else they'll reject it.

Just like you, I revere pre-owned cars with extended factory warranty, as they kind of give you a re assurance.

However the crux of the situation here is that Volkswagen widely advertised that it'll provide warranty up to 7 years (extension of one year at a time until the 7th year) and has suddenly gone back on their word, albeit slyly and silently.

Now the masses still believe that VW cars have 7 years of warranty and are purchasing the same. Isn't this cheating the customer?

Surely not a chuckle-worthy situation given the cost of parts for a german steed, right?

Originally Posted by shaheenazk

Instead of verbal assurance, a written assurance would have served you better.

I did try for a written assurance. For a matter of fact, my service advisor is a very helpful guy and volkswagen has handled all the queries related to the car without any issues. However he couldn't provide any such email assurance from his side.

For a matter of fact, even he is in a soup as he personally had assured a lot of customers like me of the extended warranty until Volkwagen inadvertently pulled it up.

[BigBrad]

Originally Posted by GTO

I wouldn't consider this a big deal at all. So, you can top it just once? Sure, best to do it at the time of car purchase (that's my preference) or in one shot later. That's simpler for me & simpler for the manufacturer. Why go on adding an extension every year?

I think you misunderstood the problem here. Let me try to explain.

Just like most other manufacturers, VW initially had only 2 types of warranties: standard factory warranty which came with all brand new cars by default and extended warranty which may be purchased along with the car or at a later date based on customer's preference. Later on, they announced the 7 year warranty program, in which they introduced another category of warranty named, "Add-on warranty" in addition to the existing ones. This third new category was offered in an yearly renewable format after the extended warranty expired or about to expire. The service centre would do an inspection of the car and also based on the service history would issue the warranty every year. So when my 4th year extended warranty is about to expire, I would visit the service centre for an inspection if all is well, they would issue an add-on warranty for the 5th year. Similarly for the 6th and 7th year. Now when this 7 year warranty was announced, nowhere was it mentioned that it would be offered only once per lifetime of a car. But now VW has sneakily added a condition to their add-on warranty clause that it would be offered only once per lifetime of a car:

This is clearly cheating and this came as a surprise for many VW owners like me who were looking to get the 6th year add-on warranty and even the 7th year add-on. The dealers with whom I interacted says, they have got instruction from the company to not offer add-on warranty more than once.

This was the final nail in the coffin for me. As much as I love the car for its strengths, the brand just does not feel anything worth trusting. Not buying a VW again in my life, ever!

[codwapeace]

Originally Posted by GBX

IMO, these aren't straight forward warranties. These are glorified insurance policies underwritten by the manufacturer themselves. And like any good insurance policy, the devil is in the fine print.

Honestly, considering VW's upcoming second innings, they really need to rein in these consumer unfriendly practices if they want to (re)start on the right foot.

In this case it is actually issued by a third party insurance company, I think it is Bajaj. I am not sure though. There insurance company approves the extension of warranty based on inspection by VW.