Volkswagen ups warranty to five years/unlimited kilometres

From 2019, all new Volkswagen Australia vehicles sold will be covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, up from the brand’s previous three-year/unlimited kilometre assurance period.

While Volkswagen Australia offered the extended warranty as a limited-time promotion from October to the end of 2018, the five-year timeframe is now permanent and it matches the aftersales pledge of Ford, Mazda, Honda, Hyundai and fellow VW Group brand Skoda.

As such, Volkswagen also becomes the first German brand in Australia to offer an ongoing five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, outpacing the three-year/unlimited kilometre period of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche.

Volkswagen Group Australia director of customer experience and marketing Jason Bradshaw said feedback from five-year warranty promotion from earlier this year prompted the brand to keep the feature.

“Each year more than 80,000 customers provide us with feedback on Volkswagen products and the dealership experience,” he said.

“The business has gauged reaction to its five-year warranty campaign and so decided to implement it on an ongoing basis.”

The new warranty period also covers authorised accessories that are purchased with a new vehicle, while 12 months roadside assist is also included.

“Making five-year warranty permanent assures newcomers to the brand that they can buy with confidence,” Mr Bradshaw said.

“In addition, they can fix their own ownership costs with a 'Volkswagen Service Plan' that costs as little as $1137 for three years and less than $2000 for five years.

“These plans also guarantee that your vehicle is serviced only by specially trained Volkswagen technicians using Volkswagen Genuine parts.”

The aforementioned parts come with a two-year warranty period.

Volkswagen sales have dropped just 1.0 percent to 52,329 units in the first 11 months of the year in an overall market that is down by 1.9 percent.

This year saw the launch of the Tiguan Allspace, Amarok TDI580 and new-generation Polo, while next year will see the release of the all-new Touareg large SUV.

“The new Touareg is an unequivocally luxury SUV, another new step forward for our brand,” Mr Bradshaw said. “Unlike its German competitors, the Touareg is underwritten by the best warranty in its class.”

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