Corrosion on an eleven year old Civic. Honda corrosion guarantee is twelve years...

coolbeans

Friend of mine just bought a near mint Civic 1.8 saloon from a Honda dealer that was waxed and polished at least monthly given the scratch free appearance of the paint. It really is immaculate. The car is eleven years old in January but comes with a twelve year corrosion warranty as specified in the manual. It's a one owner car with full HSH and 70000km. There's some surface corrosion on the drainage channel that's only visible when you open the boot. It kind of spoils an otherwise perfect car. I reckon that given the info above the dealer should honour the corrosion guarantee although i am anticipating some resistance given the car's age. What can my buddy expect? I know main dealers don't usually sell such aged cars but they did and we are where we are. Thoughts?

frozenfrozen

I see no reason it wouldn't be covered, if it's 12 years it's 12 years

colm_mcm

The manufacturers anti perforation warranty would exclude neglect, so for example if it was caused by a build up of leaves or moss then it wouldn't be covered. The 12 years is a structural warranty, the surface rust warranty is ONLY 3 years AFAIK.

Outside of the manufacturers new car warranty, the dealer wouldn't be obliged to fix this themselves as the car is still fit for purpose etc. and is 11 years old.

Neilw

The dealer will no doubt try and say it was caused by a paint chip or similar just to try and get out of the repair.
Has the car had a bodywork yearly inspection? Usually there's a section in the service manual they they never bother to stamp or fill in as part of the annual service.

I had my 161 in for it's first service and they never did it, they looked bemused when I insisted they sign and stamp it.

coolbeans

colm_mcm wrote: »

The manufacturers anti perforation warranty would exclude neglect, so for example if it was caused by a build up of leaves or moss then it wouldn't be covered. The 12 years is a structural warranty, the surface rust warranty is ONLY 3 years AFAIK.

Understood Colm but wouldn't it be hard for them to prove neglect as the car was serviced by them every 6000km? The first owner was extremely fussy according to the dealer and over serviced the car. Also bear in mind that it wasn't cheap. He paid E6k for it.

colm_mcm

It's not a structural part of the car either way AFAIK so wouldn't have been covered. I have the booklet there in the car but it's cold outside! I think the wording has something like manufacturing defect or something in it. These warranties are quite specific.

coolbeans

colm_mcm wrote: »

It's not a structural part of the car either way AFAIK so wouldn't have been covered. I have the booklet there in the car but it's cold outside! I think the wording has something like manufacturing defect or something in it. These warranties are quite specific.

So you reckon he hasn't a hope Colm?

colm_mcm

I would be shocked! That said, they would have made a killing on the sale of the car (trade value €500, but maybe they had to go all out on the buy-in price to get a deal on a new car or whatever, certainly your friend paid way way over the odds) and for the sake of a lick of paint they might humour him seeing as how he paid about €4K too much for the car in the first place.

Claiming on the manufacturers warranty is a no-go I'd say. For example there is a well known issue on civic hatchbacks where the roof rusts because of a design flaw on the windscreen strip, Honda Ireland don't cover those. Honda UK do in certain cases.

coolbeans

colm_mcm wrote: »

I would be shocked! That said, they would have made a killing on the sale of the car (trade value €500, but maybe they had to go all out on the buy-in price to get a deal on a new car or whatever, certainly your friend paid way way over the odds) and for the sake of a lick of paint they might humour him seeing as how he paid about €4K too much for the car in the first place.

Claiming on the manufacturers warranty is a no-go I'd say. For example there is a well known issue on civic hatchbacks where the roof rusts because of a design flaw on the windscreen strip, Honda Ireland don't cover those. Honda UK do in certain cases.

Enlightening Colm, thanks.

_Brian

So, your mate buys an 11yo car.
And after the sale isn’t happy with this corrosion and expects the dealer to bend Hondas ear to have it fixed.

Maybe I’m wrong but it sounds unreasonable to me.

Should he not have used this to haggle down the price a bit or have it repaired as part of the deal ??

JohnBoy26

Remove the rust, get it protected and forget about it. I can't see anyway that that will be covered under warranty.

CJhaughey

colm_mcm wrote: »

Claiming on the manufacturers warranty is a no-go I'd say. For example there is a well known issue on civic hatchbacks where the roof rusts because of a design flaw on the windscreen strip, Honda Ireland don't cover those. Honda UK do in certain cases.

Universal Honda are really only a distributor, they won't cover a lot of things that Honda UK will cover.
N22A1 exhaust manifolds are an example. Honda UK will replace FOC usually, Honda Ireland = not a hope.