There is absolutely no problem with the quality of VAG cars and for that matter any other make.

A very bold and sweeping statement!

The problem is that many people often go by their own personal experience - "I've owned X cars of Y make for decades and never had a problem or they fixed it for free outside warranty with no quibbles, etc, etc" or the opposite because of a bad experience.

When you read between the lines for the reliability scores car makes get, there's actually not as much of a difference between top and bottom (admittedly some specific models/sub-models are).

I suspect most of the problems relate to a combination of the level of customer care from the local main dealer (which can vary quite a bit from one to another and even between one mechanic / front-of-house person and another), which does vary more from make to make and area to area. Given many are now owned by multi-make franchises, it will often depend on the quality of its management as much as the customer care from head office of the manufacturer in question.

I've often heard some very encouraging accounts about Skoda customer service at dealership level as well as a few bad ones. Of the VAG brands, they seem to have (reading reviews and accounts here and elsewhere) the better customer service experience, with VW second and SEAT last of the three 'main' brands.

The best thing for owners / potential owners is to check via owners' forums which dealerships within their reach are good and bad which can inform ownership decisions.

A good dealership (similarly for indies when the car is out of warranty by a few years) can make the whole experience far better, as can being a responsible driver/owner. With VAGs, problems such as the DSG boxes are yes, inherrant, but if you buy one and only use it as intended, even the 'bad' boxes don't give problems for the most part. The same with Mazda diesels.

The problem often comes when buying second hand, as the new owner has no idea what the previous one(s) did as regards driving pattern or style. As I've said on another thread, many owners will offload a car they know to be on the way out, which means an uniformed or gullible new owner will be very disappointed in a short space of time.

My motto is always do your homework when buying a car - it can REALLY pay off (literally) over the long term if you get it right.

Any warranty fault or failure that is reported in writing before the end of the manufacturer's warranty period must be covered, irrespective of an owner being able to get a dealer to book it in to his workshop within the warranty period.

That the work is carried out after the end of the warranty period is immaterial, it's the date of reporting that is important.

I guess we are more likely to hear of bad cases as that is more newsworthy. When I had the Renault Megane MK2 I had a few warranty repairs both within and beyond the three-year point, never any argument. I think having a supportive dealer helps and also whether it's a recognised design fault or not. In the case of the Megane MK2 the window regulators were a weak point.

<< Maybe I have been fortunate but I haven’t had to use a warranty in over a decade, then again we buy our cars new or pre reg and sell them on at 3-4 years old. >>

I can't remember ever calling on a warranty in 60 years of ownership - but that may be partly because I have never bought newer than 8 months old. In the 'old days' I used to knock down the price of a used car by waiving a dealer's warranty.

I don't know if that would be possible when buying new, but once a car is becoming middle-aged a warranty becomes of dwindling value, as we all know.

Not a whole car but the last car battery I had to replace.

The original was 5 years old and refused to start car one spring morning. Went to local factors and they did a test, said battery had failed and sold me a new one with a 5 year warranty for about £45.

5 years later one spring morning same again. Car fine the previous day but all I got was a click and loads of dash lights and clicking relays. Realised that it was around this time of year when it last failed so found the receipt in the car folder, one day of warranty left. Removed battery and went back to factors. Did a test and declared battery dead. Showed them the receipt but they said since it was close to the end of the warranty there was nothing they could do since they would not be reimbursed. Told them it was not my issue, battery dead and under warranty so I wanted it replacing. They said a clear NO to my request.

So I suggested I would visit trading standards for their input at which point they said they would replace it but not with one of the same quality. I refused their kind offer and told them I would be off to trading standards. The chap was clearly annoyed but agreed to my request and supplied an identical battery saying that t would only have one days warranty on it which was fine by me (would not have expected another 5 years on a replacement). Battery still on car when I sold it about 3 years later.

They all seem to want to test how easy we are to con.

Well done for sticking to your guns. I've recently had a new battery on my old Focus so will remember this. I don't understand the logic to warranties though. Why does the replacement part only have cover to the end of the original warranty? I had this on my Renault when a window regulator broke after about 30 months but the replacement cover was only for another 6 months.

The warranty relates to the original purchase and starts from that point - when a part is replaced under warranty it must clearly be warranted until the original end point but as you've paid no new money, no reason for the warranty on that part to be extended - obviously, if you pay for a part to be replaced outside warranty, it will have its own warranty from the replacement point of sale.

<< I read an article several years ago that suggested consumers should contribute an amount to any warranty repair which would ensure that the replacement part is covered for the full warranty period and not simply until the end of the original warranty. >>

I think the legal eagles call it 'betterment', as the repaired article is in overall better condition than it would have been otherwise.