Volkswagen Repair: Car doors wont close!, car doors, stupid car

Question
Hi Mark:

I just moved to Michigan from California and ever since it started
getting cold, I would have a problem closing my doors.  When I
took it to the first place, the mechanic asked me if I had recently
washed my car.  I had not.  He sprayed wd40 on it and after the
car warmed up a while, it shut.  Same thing happened a week
ago.  Today it happened again and would not shut even though I
let the car warm up for 1 hour.  Its a 98 Passat GLX.  Its making
me sad I might have to buy another car because the stupid car
doors wont shut.

Answer
Hi Sarah,
My recommendation: Keep the car and move back to warm and sunny California but stop by Pa. and take me along! I'll be out on I-80 waiting! Seriously, you might need to have a body shop remove the interior trim panels and spray your latches with carb or brake cleaner to loosen the factory grease that VW puts on the latch when the car is built. It gets dry and hard over time and won't allow proper operation of the latch mechanism. Don't forget me if you go back!