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During a recent service on my VW Passat, I asked the dealer to investigate an intermittent starting problem relating to the ignition switch. The fault was duly located and I was given a repair estimate of $500.
Feeling that such a failure should not occur on a 6 year old car, I made a request to the Service Manager for goodwill warranty assistance, which he agreed to submit to head office. However, the response was negative so I wrote to the National Service Manager requesting him to review the matter. I pointed out that one only had to go into a website and research the many overseas gripes on this particular problem, however his response was that overseas did not concern him only NZ.
The final outcome was that I was offered a without prejudice contribution of 33%.
My points to note are;
1) I had found many other reports of similar failures on the internet so it appears to be a design fault.
2) The staff make out mine is the only problem of this type.

Edited by AA Expert

Given that the vehicle is now six years old, the warranty expired three years ago. There comes a time in the life of any product where the manufacturer will no longer take responsibility for repairs and maintenance.
The point you make about the internet is one that we constantly hear. If you search online for any problem on any vehicle, you will inevitably find reports of vehicles suffering similar problems elsewhere. However, other markets may have different systems or components (particularly in the US, where most of these sites are located) so any online gripes need to be treated with caution.
Your second point about the manufacturer suggesting that "yours is the only one" is also one we hear quite frequently, and there are really three possible reasons;
1) In some instances this may be perfectly true and your car may be the only one to suffer the problem locally.
2) The manufacturer is dealing with any customer on a one to one confidential basis, so may feel reluctant to comment on other cases.
3) (And we suspect this is the most likely) The manufacturer is protecting their brand so will not be willing to admit there have been other failures.

In summary, as the vehicle is six years of age, we believe you have negotiated a fairly favourable outcome in this instance.