Is this acceptable
Discussion
Longish story and I'll try n make it short but friend of mine has an Audi A3 turbo, new in sept 2001. It was fitted from new and by the Audi dealer with an upgrade chip ( 150 bhp - 190 ish) which cost around £900 via Audi instead of the £450 buying it direct, done on the basis that there could be no warranty quibles. The turbo was surging and the car had to go back to the dealer 3 times and twice to Oxford ( from cornwall )for the chip manufacturer to play with it. The surging has never been properly resolved but reduced to a reasonable level. Since then the car has had problems with the ignition coils and has broken down 5 times from these, twice in the last month. Around 6 weeks ago the clutch master cylinder went and a week after that the clutch itself broke up. At the dealers sugestion he rang Audi UK this week to say he'd lost confidence in the car and what were they going to do about it. They were less than helpfull, the coils apparently are an ongoing problem that they know about so those breakdowns didnt count ( ??? ) and the 2 clutch problems were related so were actually one problem.. summing up theyre not willing to do anything but continue repairing as and when it breaks down. Where should he go from here ?
Oh and the dealer has assured him that the chip upgrade woulndt have affected either the coils or the clutch.
Oh and the dealer has assured him that the chip upgrade woulndt have affected either the coils or the clutch.
Longish story and I'll try n make it short but friend of mine has an Audi A3 turbo, new in sept 2001. It was fitted from new and by the Audi dealer with an upgrade chip ( 150 bhp - 190 ish) which cost around £900 via Audi instead of the £450 buying it direct, done on the basis that there could be no warranty quibles. The turbo was surging and the car had to go back to the dealer 3 times and twice to Oxford ( from cornwall )for the chip manufacturer to play with it. The surging has never been properly resolved but reduced to a reasonable level. Since then the car has had problems with the ignition coils and has broken down 5 times from these, twice in the last month. Around 6 weeks ago the clutch master cylinder went and a week after that the clutch itself broke up. At the dealers sugestion he rang Audi UK this week to say he'd lost confidence in the car and what were they going to do about it. They were less than helpfull, the coils apparently are an ongoing problem that they know about so those breakdowns didnt count ( ??? ) and the 2 clutch problems were related so were actually one problem.. summing up theyre not willing to do anything but continue repairing as and when it breaks down. Where should he go from here ?
Oh and the dealer has assured him that the chip upgrade woulndt have affected either the coils or the clutch.
Most manufacturers will have a series of conditions under which they will look to replace a vehicle.
Ask Audi for a copy of these - which they should be happy to supply.
Unfortunately its very likely that this has been left for far too long.
The car is 16 months old now and will almost certainly not be replaced by the manufacturer after this amount of time and a formal rejection to the dealer under the sale of goods act is again unlikely to work due to the age of the car
Im guessing your comments as to isses that "dont count" were slightly misunderstood or badly communicated by Audi. Their C/S division is normally pretty good.
Im guessing your best case results here would be to approach Audi and suggest that they offer an extended warranty for the vehicle (due to ongoing issues) or some other form of compensation for the problems that have been endured.
Or attempting to negotiate a contribution towards trading the car in aginst another Audi may be possible with the co-operation of the dealer and the manufacturer.
Good luck!
(Edited to add that IF id got that damn job at VAG I might have been able to help...)
>> Edited by TheLemming on Thursday 23 January 10:41
Morey,
The coil packs are a known problem, there is a massive shortage of them. Many Audi's are off the road at the moment due to this problem. Audi UK have loads coming but your mate is probably at the end of the queue for the ones that do arrive. Have Audi UK said that they are not honoring the warranty? As you also mention Oxford I assume that he means the car was chipped by AMD? If so why doesnt your friend talk to them directly and discuss the surging and show them what he means.
The coil packs are a known problem, there is a massive shortage of them. Many Audi's are off the road at the moment due to this problem. Audi UK have loads coming but your mate is probably at the end of the queue for the ones that do arrive. Have Audi UK said that they are not honoring the warranty? As you also mention Oxford I assume that he means the car was chipped by AMD? If so why doesnt your friend talk to them directly and discuss the surging and show them what he means.
As rich says, coil packs.
People have even been buying several of these at once and touting them on, the problem is so widespread. Seems to be seriously affecting TT's and Skoda RS, anything that approaches performance it seems. Your mod may have somehow exacerbated the coil problem but it still the fault of the manufacturer.
People have even been buying several of these at once and touting them on, the problem is so widespread. Seems to be seriously affecting TT's and Skoda RS, anything that approaches performance it seems. Your mod may have somehow exacerbated the coil problem but it still the fault of the manufacturer.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but your mate will have to keep sending the car back to be fixed as and when required in order to allow Audi an opportunity to put things right.
There will come a time when he will be able to claim the vehicle was not fit for purpose when it was sold to him, based on the number of returns and repairs Audi have had to carry out. When this time occurs i do not know, but he cannot be far away.
There will come a time when he will be able to claim the vehicle was not fit for purpose when it was sold to him, based on the number of returns and repairs Audi have had to carry out. When this time occurs i do not know, but he cannot be far away.
swilly said: Correct me if i'm wrong, but your mate will have to keep sending the car back to be fixed as and when required in order to allow Audi an opportunity to put things right.
There will come a time when he will be able to claim the vehicle was not fit for purpose when it was sold to him, based on the number of returns and repairs Audi have had to carry out. When this time occurs i do not know, but he cannot be far away.
He has no legal obligation to allow the dealer or the manufacturer to fix the car. Depending on the severity of the fault allowing them to remedy it may be appropriate, however were the issue severe rejecting the vehicle immediately would be the best course of action.
As Ive said before, the odds of a manufacturer accepting that a replacement is fair under whatever scheme they run, (or a dealer accepting a rejection under the sale of goods are) are vanishingly small, considering the AGE of the vehicle (also the issues the car has suffered are primarily known faults (they all do that sir...))
OK let’s get to the nub of this, Audi are under no obligation to replace the car. On the very, very rare occasion this does happen it is within a few days of delivery and the customer has to “reject” it outright e.g. more or less refuse to take delivery. Also from what has been said they have honoured the warranty so no issue there either. All that is a problem is the number of times it has been off the road, and that's a matter for negotiation of a goodwill gesture. This could be from either the dealer or Audi UK or both. If your mate wants another Audi then I suggest he negotiates something like a discount or extended warranty with Audi UK, if he doesn’t want to change cars then why not negotiate a f.o.c. service next time round?
Trust me my wife's job is handling these very issues, not with Audi but with a similar European manufacturer and we discuss interesting cases ad-nauseum! Rich...
Trust me my wife's job is handling these very issues, not with Audi but with a similar European manufacturer and we discuss interesting cases ad-nauseum! Rich...
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