Apologies for non-Ford topic but there's some very knowledgeable people on here.

My brother owns a 2006 Leon which he bought new. It only has 40,000 on the clock, is garaged and looks like new. Never had any damage...he parks in far corners of supermarket car parks.

In recent weeks the lower n/s front wing has erupted with rust bubbling.



Remembering he has a 12 year anti-corrosion warranty so he contacted SEAT and was sent to SEAT Hatfield. Chap walked out, took a two second glance and declared it was stone chip damage and therefore not covered. He didn't care to justify his diagnosis, as to how a stone can chip the side of the lower wing and how any subsequent surface rusting could corrode a car, that has a phosphorus-zinc coating, right through to the inside.



So what do you experts suggest? Treat it as a one of those things and fix out of his own pocket. Or engage an independent expert and take SEAT to small claims coat to get them to uphold their warranty?

I'd defo take it further mate but not to the point your paying out court fees etc

And people say fords rust lol.

Ford used to have a 10 year anti corrosion warranty.

try a different seat dealer, or go to seat customer services uk.
its not showing signs of paint damage so how can it be a stone chip.

I'd try a different garage. A few years back my brother had a Golf GT TDI anniversary which was about 13 years old at the time and out of the corrosion warrantee and had stone chips which had bubbled and a tatty arch and roof section and they did the lot for him as a gesture of goodwill.

I used to inspect SEAT vehicles for a living, the corrosion warranty is good, but in 10 years of inspections I only ever had to claim twice.

Your picture is nowhere near good enough to make judgment on here, the rust at the front definitely is not warrantable, that is impact damage.

I would first want the paint depth figures before I consider evaluating the damage.

Bubbles can be from the inside, but one tiny impact can fracture the paint allowing water in.

further more unless the dealer has a bodyshop on site they wouldn't have a Scooby doo about paintwork. find out who the local VAG approved bodyshop is and pay them a visit

That's a bloody good point actually

First place that looked at it measured the paint thickness and declared that the wing had been resprayed (not true). Second garage looked at it and thought they had been asked to quote for a repair. They said it would be £1,600 as they would replace the wing then spray the front half of the car to blend in correctly. When corrected as to what was expected they declared they are not 'trained' in warranty claims. Third was the one who said it was stone chips and told him to go away.

MarkK - I can send you better pics if that would help. But I can promise you the paint is as delivered so unless there was some post-factory/pre-sale damage repair it is original. The rest of the car is genuine 100% mint. He's a single man with OCD about his car...i think he washes it too often!!

Accept that the rust at the very edge of the wing is stone chip - but that hasn't rusted through.

Because this is a warranty claim he's obliged to take it where ever SEAT send him. So far over 100 miles of travel at his own expense (plus he's self employed) to basically be fobbed off.

He had a Leon from new (2001 model) before this. Bet he won't be buying another.

What was the thickness readings on the wing, door and bonnet, need around 4 reads from wing through to rear door and across wing up over the bonnet.

I know its not what people want to hear but it is very easy to determine non factory paint.

Markk - the SEAT guy didn't provide a report with paint thickness readings so can't provide any numbers. But remember, my brother bought the car new from a SEAT main dealer therefore the warranty applies to the car as delivered. There's no visual evidence of any post-factory paintwork and the second assessor confirmed (from visual inspection only) that it was original paint.

We appreciate that SEAT need to perform checks and ensure that warranty requirements are met but so far their approach to this has been far from professional and appears to suggest that there's a policy to avoid accepting a claim even when all the evidence suggests it's valid. SEAT have stated that they would NOT accept any assessment from an INDEPENDENT vehicle assessor which suggests that they want to control and distort things to suit themselves.

has it had all the annual paint checks and always been serviced by a main dealer?

No....the warranty small-print has been checked and can't see anything that makes that a requirement. Do you know different?

i was just alarmed when you said it had happened in recent weeks, that's more than months worth of rust growth.

does the service book have a paint inspection schedule, i know some ford models do

Only spotted in recent weeks. Given that he washes it every week he does admit he can't believe he didn't spot it sooner.

A happy ending to this story. After escalating SEAT UK agreed to fund the cost of an inspection by an independent assessor (from their list of independent assessors).

He took literally seconds to confirm his opinion having seen the same photos posted on here. That the rust was not caused by stone chips or similar but by a defect in the factory anti-corrosion process and that SEAT should fulfil their obligation under the 12yr warranty.

Proves not to be fobbed off by local 'agents' who it would seem do not know their shit-hole from that joint half way down their arms.

Lucky for Ford they never were brave enough to offer any anti-corrosion warranties back in the day. I recall when my mum got her new Mk3 Escort Ghia and the blurb said the doors and sills were wax filled. Perhaps they stuck a birthday candle in each one?

I guess that cars few built in the last 10 years or so will go to the crusher due to corrosion. It will be the high cost of repairs and lack of parts for all the specialist electronics that will be their death given that at long-last most cars really are now 'rust-proof'.

Good news mate just goes to
Show don't be fobbed off. I hear u on the electronics side of things, we've sent loads to the crusher at work when it gets too expensive. Sent a 10 year old Peugeot to the scrap yard a few months back, completely fried electronics on it

Glad there was a good outcome to all of this. Like I said with my brothers case, you just needed to talk to the right person. I actually need to go see someone about my Mk6 Golf. Where the door rubber ends on the rear doors they are sharp and have rubbed the paint away to bare metal!

I'm sure Ford also had an corrosion warrantee back in the day, too, albeit, a shorter time frame. I remember having paperwork from a ford dealer with an old RS2000 which when 3 years old, if I remember correctly, had a new bootlid and NSR arch replaced under this.