Forgive me for posting in possibly the wrong section.
Last Monday, the wife's car water warning light popped up. Long story short, she realised that there's a water leak from the car.
I called my insurance an got them to tow the vehicle from her place of work to Barons VW where the car normally goes for service. Later that afternoon we got a call to say that the Auxiliary cooler is damaged and this is a result of impact damage, the bill being R9900 odd and due to it being impact damage, this won't be covered by the warranty. I was upset about this as we used the car over the weekend and I don't remember physically driving over anything etc.
Anyway I spoke to the Service Advisor and he mentioned that the the location of the cooler is a problem as it sits behind the lower bumper grill and the smallest of stones etc. can enter through there and pierce the cooler. I understood this and then realized that it's not something that can be avoided. Fast forward, they sent me the quotation to repair the car and within the quotation is a cost for a protective Cage Grill which they will fit to avoid future issues - this is what i now find odd. If VW developed a protective grill, does this not mean that they are aware of the problem and in fact should do a recall of sorts for this?
Lucky enough, a guy posted the exact same issue on one of the FB groups - he however did go ahead with the replacement at VW as I assume he needed his car urgently. He was kind enough to send me pictures of the old vs new parts. The new cooler has a protective strip all around it whilst the older cooler does not have this.
I have contacted VWSA as well as the Motor Industry Ombudsman in this regard. VWSA mentioned that they will not cover the cost so now my only hope is with the Ombudsman. I have no issue paying for VW to sort it out, my gripe is that if they have realised this is an issue, surely out of goodwill they should be a little more helpful in this case.
Has anybody else experienced a similar situation? Any other channels that I could take this up with also to hopefully receive some sort of assistance?
Old Cooler:
New Cooler:
