Audi 12 Anti Corrosion Warrenty - Left High & Dry by Audi
Discussion
Sorry my first post is going to be so negative a post about my experience with Audi UK and an Audi dealership.
I bought my first Audi last summer after having 3 VW Passats. I got myself a 2005 8P 2.0tdi Quattro which i've been very pleased with up until now.
In December I noticed some bubbling on the right rear arch, the Audi documents said the car had a 12 year anti corrosion warranty so I took it to my local dealership.
They checked the paint depth and confirmed that the paint work was original and they would contact Audi UK. They seamed to forget about me and a chased this up in April and finally Audi agreed to meet 70% of the repair cost so I was to pay £120 which I could live with.
There body shop was very busy so the body shop couldn't fit the car in until early in June.
Car went in and I was given a courtesy car.
2 days later I get a phone call to say that they have started rubbing down the paint and have discovered the car has previously had a repair. This voided the warranty and the repair bill has gone from £120 to £1500+vat.
Now I bought the car privatly last year, the previos owner was a retired policeman who had bought it as an Approved Used Audi and was only selling as he had racked up 18000 miles in 4 years. Previous to him the Second Owner had also bought the car as an Approved Used Audi. I contacted both previous owners and the first owner told me he had bought it at 14,000 miles from Audi and it had been a demonstrator.
I folled this up and got copies of the service history for the car from the garage that sold it to him. At the first service point there is 1 line that states 3. Car has previously had rear end repair. I didnt know this previously, what makes this so annoying is this reapir was carried out by the first owner of the car, and the first owner of the car was VW Group UK.
Audi however instist that as I can not provide proof the VW Group repaired the car at an VW/Audi Approved body shop they will not help at all.
Today the dealership told me Audi UK were not prepared to assist me and that I was simply unlucky and to please return the courtesy car and collect my un-repaired car which is in quite a state. The large areas that have been rubbed down covered with gaffa tape, wheel arch liner not refitted, bump strip trim not refitted and two new scratches down the side of the car.
I've attached pictures of the current state of the car which is how Audi has left me.
I went from work and took the car to two other body shops to get quotes, I explained what had happened and both refused to quote because the work has already been started by Audi. The second one had a good look round the car and told the the left side is starting to corrode as well, he checked the seams and said that said was all original and that side should defiantly be covered as its original and is rusting from the inside out.
They also said that the body shopped has tried to jack the car on the sill and it has collapsed upwards due to the corrosion.
Suffice to say there is a good chance I will never deal with Audi UK or this Dealer ever again, feel truly screwed .
Any advice on anything I can do would be really appreciated.
I bought my first Audi last summer after having 3 VW Passats. I got myself a 2005 8P 2.0tdi Quattro which i've been very pleased with up until now.
In December I noticed some bubbling on the right rear arch, the Audi documents said the car had a 12 year anti corrosion warranty so I took it to my local dealership.
They checked the paint depth and confirmed that the paint work was original and they would contact Audi UK. They seamed to forget about me and a chased this up in April and finally Audi agreed to meet 70% of the repair cost so I was to pay £120 which I could live with.
There body shop was very busy so the body shop couldn't fit the car in until early in June.
Car went in and I was given a courtesy car.
2 days later I get a phone call to say that they have started rubbing down the paint and have discovered the car has previously had a repair. This voided the warranty and the repair bill has gone from £120 to £1500+vat.
Now I bought the car privatly last year, the previos owner was a retired policeman who had bought it as an Approved Used Audi and was only selling as he had racked up 18000 miles in 4 years. Previous to him the Second Owner had also bought the car as an Approved Used Audi. I contacted both previous owners and the first owner told me he had bought it at 14,000 miles from Audi and it had been a demonstrator.
I folled this up and got copies of the service history for the car from the garage that sold it to him. At the first service point there is 1 line that states 3. Car has previously had rear end repair. I didnt know this previously, what makes this so annoying is this reapir was carried out by the first owner of the car, and the first owner of the car was VW Group UK.
Audi however instist that as I can not provide proof the VW Group repaired the car at an VW/Audi Approved body shop they will not help at all.
Today the dealership told me Audi UK were not prepared to assist me and that I was simply unlucky and to please return the courtesy car and collect my un-repaired car which is in quite a state. The large areas that have been rubbed down covered with gaffa tape, wheel arch liner not refitted, bump strip trim not refitted and two new scratches down the side of the car.
I've attached pictures of the current state of the car which is how Audi has left me.
I went from work and took the car to two other body shops to get quotes, I explained what had happened and both refused to quote because the work has already been started by Audi. The second one had a good look round the car and told the the left side is starting to corrode as well, he checked the seams and said that said was all original and that side should defiantly be covered as its original and is rusting from the inside out.
They also said that the body shopped has tried to jack the car on the sill and it has collapsed upwards due to the corrosion.
Suffice to say there is a good chance I will never deal with Audi UK or this Dealer ever again, feel truly screwed .
Any advice on anything I can do would be really appreciated.
Edited by jeremyc on Thursday 12th June 08:59
OP. Where exactly did you purchase this car from? Was it privately or from an Audi Approved Dealership ?
I think the former.
If so, you are on your own.
The previous owner probably rallied the f
ker and went drifting through a weir or too, hence the rust. Besides, it's how many years old?
Why should Audi be responsible?
I think the former.
If so, you are on your own.
The previous owner probably rallied the f
ker and went drifting through a weir or too, hence the rust. Besides, it's how many years old? Why should Audi be responsible?
You bought it privately.
You dont seriously expect Audi to pick up the repair bill on a 9 year old previously repaired car do you?
The bit where I do think you have a case is the car was not properly inspected by the chap with the paint depth gauge.
The good news is you can probably get it repaired for a third of what they want to charge you.
My experience with a rusty VW.
2008 VW Passat TDI, 110,000 miles on the clock. Bought from an independent trader at 4 years old. Didn’t have full VW service history.
Drivers side rear wheel arch was going rusty, under the paint, small bubbles. Turns out that VW Guilford had carried out a repair on the car when it was 1 year old due to an accident. I didn’t know this until VW printed out the service history for me from their database which showed this work being carried out.
Took it into them, they had a look, took some paint readings and got back to me a few days later, car dropped off, courtesy car given to me. about a week later my car was ready and they had repaired it free of charge.
about 3 months later, i could see it reappearing. again took it into them, was given a courtesy car and a week later they had repaired it again. free of charge.
I was under the impression, because they were the body shop that repaired it in the first place, they covered the repair themselves.
I sold the car a little while after that.
2008 VW Passat TDI, 110,000 miles on the clock. Bought from an independent trader at 4 years old. Didn’t have full VW service history.
Drivers side rear wheel arch was going rusty, under the paint, small bubbles. Turns out that VW Guilford had carried out a repair on the car when it was 1 year old due to an accident. I didn’t know this until VW printed out the service history for me from their database which showed this work being carried out.
Took it into them, they had a look, took some paint readings and got back to me a few days later, car dropped off, courtesy car given to me. about a week later my car was ready and they had repaired it free of charge.
about 3 months later, i could see it reappearing. again took it into them, was given a courtesy car and a week later they had repaired it again. free of charge.
I was under the impression, because they were the body shop that repaired it in the first place, they covered the repair themselves.
I sold the car a little while after that.
Outside of the fact that the VW / Audi Group are in a bit of a pickle at the moment - it might be prudent to ask Q. When is a 12 yr Anti Corrosion Warranty not a 12 yr Anti Corrosion Warranty? A. When its a (lapsed) 3yr Paint Warranty !
I was offered a 70% discount to rectify the corrosion of the leading edge of both front wing wheel arches and was quoted £600 !
At 3 yrs the problem was not there.
Is this an Audi cop out?
Please feel free to add if a similar situation has been your Audi UK experience.
I was offered a 70% discount to rectify the corrosion of the leading edge of both front wing wheel arches and was quoted £600 !
At 3 yrs the problem was not there.
Is this an Audi cop out?
Please feel free to add if a similar situation has been your Audi UK experience.
Dr G said:
I can only 3rd? 4th? That I fear.
Your grievance is not with Audi.
Time to find a good body shop I'm afraid.
Totally and utterly disagree. I have numerous older Audis through my hands and have never seen corrosion like that: mine is 16 year old and it is virtually rust free. For the sill and jacking point to completely fail on a '55 plate car is outrageous.Your grievance is not with Audi.
Time to find a good body shop I'm afraid.
One of Audis main boasts is the anti corrosion warranty; they virtually invented the concept in the '80s. Get back to the dealership and tell them you're going to trading standards with this and then get an independent engineers report and threaten them with court action.
If you're near Glasgow I'll happily do the report.
J
I had fogotten about this entirely.
I got a result but it was quite a bit of hassel.
In the end I emailed the Managing Director of Audi UK and copied watchdog into the email. It wasent a strongly worded eamil but an email setting out what had happened, what hadbeen agreed to and how dissapointed I was.
The result was an email at 9:15 the following morning with a phone call closely followed from the dealer ship apologising and asking me to return the car as soon as possible so that the car could be fully repaired.
I was quietly told by the body shop that the instruction had come directly from the office of the MD to stop mucking about and just repair it.
Anyways it took several weeks but I got to hold onto the courtosy car and got the car back fully repaired. I ended up trading it in a couple of months later to byt a Audi A4 3.0tdi.
I got a result but it was quite a bit of hassel.
In the end I emailed the Managing Director of Audi UK and copied watchdog into the email. It wasent a strongly worded eamil but an email setting out what had happened, what hadbeen agreed to and how dissapointed I was.
The result was an email at 9:15 the following morning with a phone call closely followed from the dealer ship apologising and asking me to return the car as soon as possible so that the car could be fully repaired.
I was quietly told by the body shop that the instruction had come directly from the office of the MD to stop mucking about and just repair it.
Anyways it took several weeks but I got to hold onto the courtosy car and got the car back fully repaired. I ended up trading it in a couple of months later to byt a Audi A4 3.0tdi.
Good to hear you got it resolved! Hope the replacement has proved less problematic? Must say, our 2004 A6, bought from a main dealer at 4 years old, still looked like new underneath when we sold it a year ago.
There's been some discussion about the standards of prep, or indeed repair, on approved used Audis offered through the dealer network. Sales staff will favour a cheap out of network bodyshop, as their in house outfit will charge them full whack which comes off the sales bottom line. So it seems quite easy for sub standard quality repairs to be the norm. Factor in a potential 'minor' repair avoiding insurance by a lease customer that might not be noticeable when the car is handed back and there's lots of opportunity to have issues as a 2nd or subsequent owner.
I take a paint depth gauge with me when I view cars now....just so you get an indicator of where to spend a bit more time looking in detail at the finish
There's been some discussion about the standards of prep, or indeed repair, on approved used Audis offered through the dealer network. Sales staff will favour a cheap out of network bodyshop, as their in house outfit will charge them full whack which comes off the sales bottom line. So it seems quite easy for sub standard quality repairs to be the norm. Factor in a potential 'minor' repair avoiding insurance by a lease customer that might not be noticeable when the car is handed back and there's lots of opportunity to have issues as a 2nd or subsequent owner.
I take a paint depth gauge with me when I view cars now....just so you get an indicator of where to spend a bit more time looking in detail at the finish
Im an engineer and had checked the paint depth before I took it into the Audi garage innitially and the paint depths matched across the car.
I asked several times how they could sell an Aproved Used Audi twice without telling the customer it had had a significant repair without declairing it.
I do wonder where Audi would have stood legally if there had been an accident becuase that part of the car was no longer structually sound yet they had sold it as an Aproved Used Audi. Certainly doesent give me much faith in there systems.
Finally , I had also uploaded the pictures to both Audi UK's twitter feed and Facebook page. They didnt respond as quickly as the email but both contacted me asking me to call them so they could try and resolve the matter.
I asked several times how they could sell an Aproved Used Audi twice without telling the customer it had had a significant repair without declairing it.
I do wonder where Audi would have stood legally if there had been an accident becuase that part of the car was no longer structually sound yet they had sold it as an Aproved Used Audi. Certainly doesent give me much faith in there systems.
Finally , I had also uploaded the pictures to both Audi UK's twitter feed and Facebook page. They didnt respond as quickly as the email but both contacted me asking me to call them so they could try and resolve the matter.
Dealers will often have small dings / dents /scuffed repaired via Smart Repair style outfits.
It's very hard to repair a solid metal area (like a rear quarter panel) and not impact the paint depths.
Usually the filler (and it's pretty normal to use filler) would negate and paint depth readings as it requires a metal surface to get a reading unless you have one that costs THOUSANDS (99% of people don't).
Glad the OP got it sorted.
I've had 2 Golf Mk5s with front arch rust and each time it was a ballache.
It's very hard to repair a solid metal area (like a rear quarter panel) and not impact the paint depths.
Usually the filler (and it's pretty normal to use filler) would negate and paint depth readings as it requires a metal surface to get a reading unless you have one that costs THOUSANDS (99% of people don't).
Glad the OP got it sorted.
I've had 2 Golf Mk5s with front arch rust and each time it was a ballache.
Glad it's sorted nice to see an update as a positive outcome.
What annoys me is Audi often give a crappy experience until you take it further, at least in my experience and it's not right you had to go through so much to be treated fairly. Good cars but terrible, terrible service.
and I know some of you will have good service and experience blah blah, well not me! 10 years with Audi's and the service has not got better.
What annoys me is Audi often give a crappy experience until you take it further, at least in my experience and it's not right you had to go through so much to be treated fairly. Good cars but terrible, terrible service.
and I know some of you will have good service and experience blah blah, well not me! 10 years with Audi's and the service has not got better.
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