I got a new hatch!

[P5SurchJunkE]

For Free!(eekdance) (nana)
With the Mazda 5yr/unlimited mileage perforation rust warranty. I have a Viv. Yellow 02.5 P5, and below the license plate and the inner seem were just rediculous with rust. I took it to my local Mazda dealer, and they looked at it, took pics, and said "It's really bad, But, I highly doubt Mazda will pay for it." "The whole hatch will have to be replaced to the tune of about $1500." OUCH! The guy emailed the pics to his "Rep" and in 15 minutes they said "go ahead and fix it."
The warranties on the 02.5's are up in August 07, so everyone might want to check their cars out from top to bottom for rust and try to get them fixed. I walked away from the place with a $0 bill, and a fully detailed rustless P5. They vacuumed the inside, waxed it and even did my wheels and tires!
Now that I have a new rustless hatch, is there anything I can do besides the obvious, waxing and keeping it dry, to prevent this from happening again? I DO NOT ever want this crap to come back. It looked horrible!

 

[i12drivemyMP5]

Get a different vehicle to drive in winter & keep it out of the salt. Rustproof it every year if you don't park it for winter. Other than that it'll probably rust again eventually.

 

[kevcouto]

was there a hole in it? cause without a hole, they usully dont pay.

 

[chuyler1]

It has to bubble up from the inside for them to pay out. They won't touch anything near wheel wells or front edge of the hood. I have a spot on my roof under the roof rack that they won't cover. They told me it was most likely a chip or scratch that started it...complete BS but whatever.

 

[P5SurchJunkE]

There wasn't really a hole but it was obviousely from the inside out. The inner seem was rusted from one side to the other across the hatch, and right in the middle it was bubbled up just below the license plate to the bottom of the hatch. I noticed that there are a couple holes on the inside of the hatch that must catch water, and then water is stuck in the hatch and slowly eats away at the metal. I was thinking of plugging these holes up with something. I've also read somewhere that there is a spray of some sort that will prevent rusting. The entire hatch area seems to be a huge water magnet, everytime I wash my car, I make sure to open the hatch and dry everything. But I don't always do it after a rain or in the winter. I gotta say that Mazda definitely stood up for their product on this case, there was absolutely no delay and no questions asked when I took it in.

 

[kevcouto]

My bottom of the doors are all rusted from inside out too, but I guess it would be because of the water accumulation so they wont cover it for sure.