VW's Eos roof reassurance

Volkswagen has reassured Eos owners that the car's roof is covered under a three-year manufacturer warranty, despite misleading information given on its website.

Previously, under the terms and conditions for the manufacturers warranty on the website, the list of VW vehicle features subject to a six-month limit for all mechanical adjustments included doors, flaps, boot lids, bonnets and the sunroof.

These were classed as items whose lifetime is or can be influenced by driving style and external factors. This includes any form of misuse by the owner.

Six months or three years?
Since no additional information is given specifically for the Eos roof, some owners and some dealers have been under the impression that all cover for this, too, was restricted to six months.

However, faults not caused by owners will be fixed under the cars three-year warranty, provided a dealers diagnosis proves the faults have not occurred through any sort of misuse.

A VW spokesman said: 'Unless a dealer finds that the roof on the Eos has been misused, then its diagnosis and repairs are covered by the three-year warranty.

'To ensure this reaction throughout the network, we have written to our dealers to clarify the guidelines and procedures.'

Most dealers aware of policy
Although there have been problems with dealers refusing to carry out work on Eos roofs under warranty, many retailers already appear to be aware of the policy.

We called a number of VW dealers to ask if a creaky roof on a year-old Eos would be covered, and were told that it was very likely that it would, subject to an inspection proving that the problem wasn't the owners fault.

Keep roof lubricated
VW has also advised that all Eos owners should receive a roof lubrication pack when taking delivery of their new car.

'It is necessary for customers to clean and lubricate the seals on their Eos at least twice a year,' said the spokesman. 'This is because the rubber seals can become dry and contaminated by natural road dirt.

'If the seals become dry, the roof can become noisy while driving.'

Alternatively a retailer can lubricate the seals for you, but this is likely to incur a charge.