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Wayne of the UK writes:
Several months ago we noticed freckle-like marks all over the roof and bonnet on our brand new S Reg Golf 1.6S. I contacted the VW dealership where we purchased the car and informed them. They said that it was due to insects or birds -- very strange as i have lived all my life in Africa and never seen anything like it. They called in an independant evaluator who said that it was due to insects. Fine, although i still can't believe this.

My argument is this that the paint work should in this day and age be able to stand up to things like this. Then recently we went to a VW direct auction and out of 15 Golfs that went through at least 5 had the same defects. I have been in contact with VW HQ on several occasions and they say that it is not a defect and not covered under the warranty. WHAT IS THE POINT OF HAVING A WARRANTY THEN?

Shad of Philipsburg, PA, writes:
I leased a new 95' VW Jetta in August of 1995. The color was suede silver before it became blotchy silver. My wife noticed the problem with the paint fading within two months of purchasing the vehicle. Also, it was obvious that the white covers used during transportation from Mexico left an everlasting impression.

Since the car was still under warranty, we took it to another dealership (the original dealership went out of business). They were understanding and repainted the car themselves. We asked if they could paint it a different color since we feared the same problem would arise and they laughed at us.

Well, within a year the paint started to deteriorate again and we eventually took it to yet another dealership and they would not do anything about since it was not under warranty and the dealership who repainted the car could not stand behind their work. VWUSA said it was our problem and refused to compensate us.

The consequences are that we have a vehicle that looks terrible and has virtually no resale value. Also, VW will suffer in some minor way by the reputation they have gained as a result. We go out of our way to discredit VW and slander their reputation with anyone we meet. This probably means nothing to VW, but I will not stand by and let other people make the same mistake.