In September of 2009 I bought a NEW Audi A4 Convertible. Withing 300 miles I had the car in service because of a horrible groaning noise when I was steering in or out of a parking place. The customer service rep. told me that “ALL new cars make noise.” When I suggested the noise was coming from the steering,and that they check the power steering fluid, they told me it was a little low. I said, “But the car only has 300 miles on it, how can it be low?” The answer was “these cars eat a lot of fluid.” Also at that time I had some shimmy in the wheels, and we couldn’t regulate the volume on the Bluetooth. They replaced two tires, eventually replaced the radio, and even though they told me at first that a service notice regarding the noise problem I was having did not apply to my make and model car, they did eventually replaced the brake pads and brake calipers.
It is now May the car has less than 3,000 miles on it and it has been in the shop for the same noise problem which I maintain is coming from the steering, altogether 9 times. It still isn’t fixed,I have been told that when the noise gets really bad to bring it in again. All the time they maintain that it is safe to drive. My reply to that is " How do you know that, when you don’t know what the problem is"?
I have contacted a lawyer that deals with lemon laws, sent them all my service records and even voice mail I received on my cell phone from the service manager saying that they have heard the noise and it was even louder than when we test drove it.
The lawyer contacted Audi and Audi’s offer to me is to let me keep the car and the will give me $2500 for my aggravation and I would have to sign a release that I would not sue them again.
Because it has been in the service department so many times, I feel that this car in spite of it’s low miles and mint condition, I would have trouble selling it because that service record devalues the car. I have been told so many stories, and lies, that I don’t trust the service department at the dealership where I bought the car and I feel that I am stuck with this lemon. Also the oil light came on at 2500 miles, when I had it checked the oil barely registered and all the other fluid levels were low. The car has no leaks. This tells me that the car was never serviced when they first brought it in to be sold. When again I pointed out that the car had so little oil in it, I was once again told that these cars eat a lot of oil. Remember that the car only had 2500 miles on it when we found very little fluids in it.
As for the noise problem, Audi maintains that it is just that a noise, and it will not interfere with my safety. If I want to find out where the noise is coming from I would have to dismantle the car,and that would void all warranties on it.
What do I do now? Has anyone else had the same problem with a groaning noise coming from the steering column, and with the service department at Valley Motors?
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