GordonC

Hi guys,

Looking for some advice please.

My car is less than 4 years old and just spotted the boot lid is starting to rust. Told initially not covered by warranty as the car came through Malta. This morphed into not covered as I have not had an annual inspection carried out (never knew this needed to be done, never mentioned at point of dealership sale), which would identify defects such as stone chips.

My point is that there is no paint damage on the effected area, so it would have rusted irrespective of if it had been inspected or not. This looks to have initially fallen on deaf ears.

Is it unreasonable to expect a car not to rust in less than 4 years? Any suggestions on what to do/how to fix?

hill79

If its not the result of 'owner error' (ie untreated damaged to the paintwork) I'd fully expect that to be dealt with by the dealer. Subaru themselves, on their website, state "Bodywork is covered by a 12 Year Anti-Corrosion Warranty" - although this may not have been in effect when you bought your car I suppose. Do you have any warranty documents to see if this annual inspection thing is mentioned?

marshall332bhp

It's only unreasonable if u own a merc. Wouldn't expect this from a Subaru. The rust won't be in to far. I basic re-paint will sort it out max ad expect to pay even at a main strewn body shop would be about £250 for a tailgate painted. Hope u get it sorted mate

GordonC

Hi,

I've had a look in the service book and there is a seperate section at the back for stamping to say you have had an annual inspection.

From what I can tell, the purpose of the inspection is to highlight any untreated damage to tbe bodywork or underseal so you can have it repaired. I had no idea this was required.

If it were rust as a result of damage I would hold my hands up and pay to have it fixed, but my point is that this rust would have happened irrespective of if the vehicle was inspected. It's a manufacturing defect, so the inspection would not have prevented it - this makes the defence a bit of a sham.

Had I known an inspection was needed I would have happily had it done, though still wouldn't expect it to rust so soon!

Checked and the 12 year anti-corrosion does apply to mine.

hill79

FWIW I agree with you that it shouldn't be rusting like that and it probably wouldn't have been picked up in an inspection, but I think the key thing will be if there's words to the effect of 'you must have your car inspected annually for this warranty to be valid' somewhere in the documentation, if it does say something like that and you've not had it inspected I think you might struggle to get them to sort it out as they'll just cite the terms of the warranty, regardless of whether or not it would have been picked up in an inspection.

GordonC

Thanks, I'll look into that, though would pain me to pay to have it fixed.

Would really appreciate Subaru sorting, though IM hit me with a bit of a straight bat back. No inspection done, no warranty. Sounds a cop out!

GordonC

I think you could be right mate. I'll need to check the wording in the documents (the lady is out in it at the moment) and see if does say that - it likely does

marshall332bhp

There sneaky. Was reading a thread about how the problem with the hatches blowing up and because someone had gone over there 10,000 mile service by under a hundred miles they tried to charge him for the rebuild saying he mist his service schedual! even though its well documented Subaru had a problem with the hatches blowing engines at stupidly low miles!

MOTORS S GT

iTrader: (2)

I had the exact same rust spot on mine, in fact i thought the picture was of mine, that was at 2 years old, i had the whole rear hatch sprayed, as a few weeks after spotting the rust somebody decided they wanted the S GT badge off the back & scored it, mine is a JDM car so no warranty.

debbiesonic

iTrader: (7)

Ford said the same about the bodywork inspections when we had a Mondeo, rust on the rear doors at 2 year old, it had full service history, and like yourself, we were unaware of the separate bodywork inspections. until told by the local dealership, who basically fobbed me off.
However, after a few phone calls to other dealerships, i did end up getting some joy. It meant driving nearly 100 miles to a different dealership, but we ended up with brand new doors! Not repaired, brand new! They didn't even ask to see the service record.
So it may be worth phoning around?

RobsyUK

iTrader: (2)

Can you not just fill the back pages out ? I so didn't say that!

marshall332bhp

U may find its a common rust fault from them putting on the badge. It could be creaping from the locating holes for the badge. The first focus had common rust on the wing mirrors from them being fitted and golfs/boras did top dead centre on front wings from the clips on the **** shields being put in.

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

Which modle is to on the original OP
Hatch or hawkeye ?

GordonC

It's a WRX hatch.

The rust has spread over the last week since I took these pictures (probably road salt), now rust stains running down over the badge.

chopperman

Tell IM "fix it or i will put a big sign in the rear window saying don't by subaru rust buckets with a big arrow pointing at the rust spot".

B4D HK

iTrader: (15)

Wow!

GordonC

I like the sound of that!!

Just disappointing really. Dealers I use have been great, but bought the car itself from a different one which has since gone to the wall, so no comeback there.

Not sure if going to a different dealer would help as appears to end up with IM anyway... Unless I go direct to FHI with a letter??

Osimabu

iTrader: (2)

E-mail 'Honest John', the motoring correspondent from the Daily Telegraph:

letters@honestjohn.co.uk

You'll get a quick response from my experience, and he'll almost certainly be able to give you a definitive answer as to your rights.

cobra_mark

Mine a WRX bugeye wagon at 11 years old and nothing like that on it. Only rust I have seen is on the subframe and under parts, treated with wax oil. Don't think I will be buying any Scooby past the Blobeye era or just keep the Bugeye going for a s long as it holds together.

Hawkeye D

Email this guy :

djames@imgroup.co.uk

Kick off and pester. Ask awkward questions. Chances are it won't really be him, but one of his cronies will reply I assure you. An email to this level simply can't / wont be ignored.

http://www.ceoemail.com/

Marky300173

Got the same problem on mine!.... The chrome strip on the back appears to have touched the body work and started to rust. Its just where the chrome strip meets the light and also under the chrome strip, just above the number plate. I will be stopping off at a Subaru dealer tomorrow on the way to work. I'll let you know their response!

Norman Dog

iTrader: (1)

If you haven't had the bodywork inspection done, basically you're fcucked.

I had rust spots on the bottom of the boot lid on my WRX and it cost about £250 to have the bootlid resprayed. After a couple of years there was another big rust bubble growing near the boot lock.

Marky300173

Mines 3 years old with full Subaru service history
first 2 stamps by Derek Slack + inspections
3 stamp by Monks Heath, but they did not update the inspection page. I believe that when Subaru are servicing the car they have a responsibility to complete the body work inspection. Unless someone knows better?...
I expect to wade through S*it before I get anywhere, but you never know they may be helpful

poolio74

Just kick up mary hell mate.That usually works.
Does for me anyway.Never mind that, if in doubt flat out ****e,
If in doubt,Kick off!!

lordharding

iTrader: (1)

I had the same problem with mine
09wrxd
Where the chrome strip edge touched the paintwork ( left hand side )at just under a year old
Stan palmers being a great dealership handled all the warrenty work for me
Got it done quickly and I believe there was a fix with an extra spacer to put behind the chrome trim to sort it our

Marky300173

The dealer took photos of the rust this morning and seemed quite sure it would be sorted.
I would post a few pictures but my upload access seems blocked!
"You may not post attachments"

I'll update the progress...... Sounds like a common problem

Marky300173

There seems to be a lot of this Gordon

In Canada they seem to have a recall (called XDT-50)

http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/f...ust-hatch.html


http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/f...trim-rust.html


http://www.wrxforums.com/forums/37-c...ch-rust-2.html


http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/f...ch-recall.html

http://www.wrxforums.com/forums/9-an...-xdt-50-a.html

http://www.toronto-subaru-club.com/f...r-rusting.html

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show....php?t=1982326

GordonC

Now that is interesting Marky!

Letter going in to IM as not accepting the current position. Also noticed today that one of the bolts on the inside of the boot lid just to the side of the top of the rear window is covered in rust too. How can that happen??

GordonC

Hi,

Really pleased to hear you got it sorted.

Did they not ask about this illustrious 'inspection' then?

I use KT Green and been great. I got the impression this wasn't so much their position on this, but IM's.

GC

chopperman

If your car is a Maltese grey import it has nothing to do with IM. They are only responsible for cars they have imported to the uk. Maybe you could contact whoever is the Subaru importer in Malta? Not sure they would pay a uk dealer to fix it but it's worth a go. I don't think you stand a chance of IM paying anything.