GOLFMK8
GOLFMK7
GOLFMK6
GOLFMKV

Warranty 101: Warranty and You - TD1, recalls, updates, Magnuson Moss, etc...

tigeo

Autocross Champion
Not mk7 related, a more general insurance question.

Wife damaged bumper on her car backing out of our garage. According to insurance, this counts as an accident. Is this something that will give them reason to raise the premium? Should i repair on my own?

I have no experience dealing with insurance, advice is appreciated.

Go get a quote on the repair. You will have a deductible. Just need to figure out if it's worth a claim but yes, any claim has the potential to impact your rates but it's not quite as simple as have a minor accident and then your rate doubles. If it's a $500 repair and you have a $250 deductible, I'd say just have it fixed on your own. $1000 repair $250 deductible?...may be worth it if you can't afford to repair it and take the ding that you had an "accident".
 

anotero

Autocross Champion
Location
Hither and thither
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
Go get a quote on the repair. You will have a deductible. Just need to figure out if it's worth a claim but yes, any claim has the potential to impact your rates but it's not quite as simple as have a minor accident and then your rate doubles. If it's a $500 repair and you have a $250 deductible, I'd say just have it fixed on your own. $1000 repair $250 deductible?...may be worth it if you can't afford to repair it and take the ding that you had an "accident".
Thanks.
The folks at the insurance company only could answer with "we don't know, we have to see". They also do not provide any documentation the way my previous insurance company did. No overview, no breakdown of what's covered, what's not covered. Just general info such as "you are covered for this much, here's your deductible".

Btw, do you know if it's worth asking for a premium reduction if i drive a lot? I have 70k accident and claim free miles in a little over a year and a half.
 

TimGTI

New member
Location
Marietta, GA
Car(s)
2019 GTI Autobahn
Thanks.
The folks at the insurance company only could answer with "we don't know, we have to see". They also do not provide any documentation the way my previous insurance company did. No overview, no breakdown of what's covered, what's not covered. Just general info such as "you are covered for this much, here's your deductible".

Btw, do you know if it's worth asking for a premium reduction if i drive a lot? I have 70k accident and claim free miles in a little over a year and a half.


If you tell them you have driven 70K miles in 18 months, they will raise your rates, regardless of your driving record. No matter how well you drive, more miles is more risk to them. And statistically, they are correct.
 

anotero

Autocross Champion
Location
Hither and thither
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
If you tell them you have driven 70K miles in 18 months, they will raise your rates, regardless of your driving record. No matter how well you drive, more miles is more risk to them. And statistically, they are correct.
I had that thought in the back of my mind. I'll keep quiet.
 

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
Thanks.
The folks at the insurance company only could answer with "we don't know, we have to see". They also do not provide any documentation the way my previous insurance company did. No overview, no breakdown of what's covered, what's not covered. Just general info such as "you are covered for this much, here's your deductible".

Btw, do you know if it's worth asking for a premium reduction if i drive a lot? I have 70k accident and claim free miles in a little over a year and a half.

If you tell them you have driven 70K miles in 18 months, they will raise your rates, regardless of your driving record. No matter how well you drive, more miles is more risk to them. And statistically, they are correct.


I had that thought in the back of my mind. I'll keep quiet.

There are a billion things that go into an insurance quote. Aside from the personal variables (sex, age, education, address, credit rating, marital status etc.) that affect your rates, there are several mostly objective variables that affect the rates - type of car, miles driven, how driven (to/from office, to/from school, for work) that will affect everyones rates roughly the same.

You drive more, you pay more.

Now, getting back on your topic (that has nothing to do with warranty or the MM Act)

Unless you have "accident forgiveness", your rates will most likely go up if you report this (by calling and asking, you may actually have already "reported" it). It is virtually impossible to know by how much your insurance rates will go up. Nobody here knows and even the insurance company doesn't know at this point because your next renewal will be calculated using the variables used before PLUS "we paid out $xxxx in a claim. Do we think there will be more claims? How long will this take to recoup?"

In general, you should always consider insurance (at least car and house) as being catastrophic coverage - in other words, to pay for stuff you can't afford because the insurance company will always recover their costs from you for any "at fault" accidents.

The exception is the comprehensive portion of your policy (fire, theft, wildlife, glass etc.) where, in theory, a claim won't raise your rates - but - since rates are recalculated at the beginning of each period (usually every 6 months), there is really no way to determine what affected your new rates.

Get a quote from a good bodyshop for the cost of the repairs. Subtract your deductible and decide if you can afford the remainder.

If you can, and decide to pay for it yourself, then negotiate the price with the bodyshop and see if you can get the insurance rate.
 

anotero

Autocross Champion
Location
Hither and thither
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
There are a billion things that go into an insurance quote. Aside from the personal variables (sex, age, education, address, credit rating, marital status etc.) that affect your rates, there are several mostly objective variables that affect the rates - type of car, miles driven, how driven (to/from office, to/from school, for work) that will affect everyones rates roughly the same.



You drive more, you pay more.



Now, getting back on your topic (that has nothing to do with warranty or the MM Act)



Unless you have "accident forgiveness", your rates will most likely go up if you report this (by calling and asking, you may actually have already "reported" it). It is virtually impossible to know by how much your insurance rates will go up. Nobody here knows and even the insurance company doesn't know at this point because your next renewal will be calculated using the variables used before PLUS "we paid out $xxxx in a claim. Do we think there will be more claims? How long will this take to recoup?"



In general, you should always consider insurance (at least car and house) as being catastrophic coverage - in other words, to pay for stuff you can't afford because the insurance company will always recover their costs from you for any "at fault" accidents.



The exception is the comprehensive portion of your policy (fire, theft, wildlife, glass etc.) where, in theory, a claim won't raise your rates - but - since rates are recalculated at the beginning of each period (usually every 6 months), there is really no way to determine what affected your new rates.



Get a quote from a good bodyshop for the cost of the repairs. Subtract your deductible and decide if you can afford the remainder.



If you can, and decide to pay for it yourself, then negotiate the price with the bodyshop and see if you can get the insurance rate.
That's what i thought -- it's a black box. Thankfully i have the option of fixing the car myself -- after working on mine, i can certainly fix the bumper on my wife's.
Thanks for the input.
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
Depends on the your state. Back in the 80's when I lived up north, I hit my garage door and damaged my hood while I was pulling into my garage. My homeowners would have paid if there was enough damage to put in a claim. There wasn't, because as you know you usually have a higher deductible on your home than your vehicles, They told me when YOU have damage to YOUR vehicle and YOUR home is involved, auto insurance doesn't pay.

You want to know how much, usually a percentage of your vehicle premiums, your premiums go up for three years when you have a chargeable accident. And what constitutes a chargeable accident, amount paid out or other criteria. They also track homeowner's claims, so ask about how claims affect those premiums. They look back three years on each, AFAIK.

As for driving a lot of miles accident free, that doesn't count for a discount. If you're getting a discount for driving low mileage they can demand to inspect your odometer. If when you got your policy they asked you how many miles you drive per year and you wound up driving significantly more, AND it was in your policy you need to notify them of this, then you could have a problem. Two entities you never want to screw around with; insurance companies and the IRS. Actually, insurance companies are worse because they can decide to make an example out of you.

You must by law in every state receive a full and complete copy of the terms and conditions of every insurance policy you buy.
 

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
Depends on the your state. Back in the 80's when I lived up north, I hit my garage door and damaged my hood while I was pulling into my garage. My homeowners would have paid if there was enough damage to put in a claim. There wasn't, because as you know you usually have a higher deductible on your home than your vehicles, They told me when YOU have damage to YOUR vehicle and YOUR home is involved, auto insurance doesn't pay.

You want to know how much, usually a percentage of your vehicle premiums, your premiums go up for three years when you have a chargeable accident. And what constitutes a chargeable accident, amount paid out or other criteria. They also track homeowner's claims, so ask about how claims affect those premiums. They look back three years on each, AFAIK.

As for driving a lot of miles accident free, that doesn't count for a discount. If you're getting a discount for driving low mileage they can demand to inspect your odometer. If when you got your policy they asked you how many miles you drive per year and you wound up driving significantly more, AND it was in your policy you need to notify them of this, then you could have a problem. Two entities you never want to screw around with; insurance companies and the IRS. Actually, insurance companies are worse because they can decide to make an example out of you.

You must by law in every state receive a full and complete copy of the terms and conditions of every insurance policy you buy.
No need in most states to check the odometer. If your state does periodic inspections, then they will log miles at inspection. Otherwise, your repair shop may report miles to Carfax - which the insurance companies can access.

If your car is two years old AND has 60k miles, then the insurance company will see 30k per year. If you told them that you drive 10k miles then you've committed insurance fraud and may have issues if you ever file a claim. If, OTOH, you say you're driving 25k miles a year and end up driving 30k, then it is unlikely that anyone cares.

After I posted this, I did a few moments of research and found this and this
 
Last edited:

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
Has anyone received a letter informing them of the shifter assembly recall due to the "put shifter in P, service vehicle" error?
There isn't a recall for that and I didn't see a TSB for that either. There is a customer complaint (NHTSA ID 11160613). PM me your VIN and I'll check recalls for you.

While flipping through the TSBs, I found this. It has nothing to do with your issue, but details the PDI process for the Golf/GTI. Note the "remove shipping blocks" as the last item in the first section (right above "road test".
 
Last edited:

anotero

Autocross Champion
Location
Hither and thither
Car(s)
Mk7 GTI
There isn't a recall for that and I didn't see a TSB for that either. There is a customer complaint (NHTSA ID 11160613). PM me your VIN and I'll check recalls for you.

While flipping through the TSBs, I found this. It has nothing to do with your issue, but details the PDI process for the Golf/GTI. Note the "remove shipping blocks" as the last item in the first section (right above "road test".

There's a TSB for it. Here's its title:
37-16-02TT - DTC P17C5, B116229, Transmission Warning or “Put Vehicle in Park” message in MFI

I called VW today, they ran my VIN and found no recalls.

"Remove shipping blocks" -- is that for the infamous shipping pucks that people have been finding in place after thousands of miles?
 

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
There's a TSB for it. Here's its title:
37-16-02TT - DTC P17C5, B116229, Transmission Warning or “Put Vehicle in Park” message in MFI

I called VW today, they ran my VIN and found no recalls.

"Remove shipping blocks" -- is that for the infamous shipping pucks that people have been finding in place after thousands of miles?
Yep - that's the pucks
 

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
Researching this, I again realized how "different" some consumers are. This from the NHTSA complaints database:

WHEN WE BOUGHT THE CAR IT CAME LIFTED WITH BIGGER WHEELS AND TIRES. THEY DID NOT TELL US IT WAS AFTERMARKET AND NOT COVERED UNDER WARRANTY. IT IS NOT SAFE TO BE ON THE ROAD BECAUSE IT KEEPS BLOWING THE REAR SHOCKS. IT BLOWS THE REAR SHOCKS AND BASICALLY YOUR DRIVING JUST ON COIL SPRINGS . WHICH MEANS LACK OF CONTROL TO THE VEHICLE.IT HAS BEEN ON GOING SINCE WE BOUGHT THE CAR FOR ABOUT 8 MONTHS.
 

fprintf

New member
Location
Connecticut, USA
Does a tow hitch potentially void the USA 6 year/72K mile warranty? I know the M-M act says they have to prove an aftermarket part did the damage, but have anyone had any feedback from VW that it is a problem?

I have a very lightweight trials motorcycle (145 pounds) that I want to tow on a harbor freight trailer, so maybe 300 pounds all-up and 40 pounds of tongue weight. I asked the dealer and his reply was "we don't think it'll void your warranty but VW officially says no towing for the GTI, if you want to tow buy an SUV".
 
Top