It is 6 years old. You have, as you say, had it from new.

When you say that you "thought we would keep, now we feel we will have to get rid of it which will cost us money and force us to change cars" how long did you really envisage it lasting ? 10 years, 20 ? Sooner or later nearly every car becomes scrap.

You can't really say that you are disappointed with VW. They have carried out the fix, something doesn't seem to have worked with it, and they are promptly investigating. You have no idea what they're going to say after that investigation is done.

In addition, your car came with a 3 year paint warranty, and a 12 year 'through corrosion' warranty. Do bear in mind that 'through corrosion' is certainly NOT 'a bit of paint bubbling' on the sills. That would be paint warranty, which expired 3 years ago.

It your gripe is regarding the sill side you had to pay for, then tough, if you used a local repairer, and not VW, then they have no way of saying if the repair was done properly 5 years ago, and can take no responsibility for it.

In total, I am rather mystified as to WHY you are so disappointed with VW.

This was a car we thought we would keep, now we feel we will have to get rid of it which will cost us money and force us to change cars at a time when we are unable to buy a new car again.

Presumably the car is completely roadworthy. So the only reason to change it is that it no longer looks pristine. If you want your car to look pristine you have to keep changing it for a new one (unless something happens to it) which doesn't square with your thoughts above.

In essence you have lost faith with this Polo. Even if the bodyshop had done a perfect job, you would still have known, deep down, that it had been done. By all means try to get the bodyshop to sort the problem, and then keep the car - or why bother?