You are currently working with an attorney. Assuming he/she advised you not to accept that rediculous offer they made, ask him/her to advise you in your various options. Also ask if the dealer cab be held liable for legal fees and costs under your state’s lemon laws.
The lawyer is your best source of advice from here. Sincere best.
I suggest that you contact the state attourney general’s office or DOT and explain the problem to them. Maybe they can help you. From your description, Audi seems to owe you a refund or replacement.
I took this advise and contacted the Attorney Generals office. Did speak with someone and explained the problem with the noise and the brakes. He agrees that I do have a case and that Audi owes me either a refund or another car. The law is very clear on this.
I then contacted the lawyer at Kimmel and Silverman, and their position is that Audi refuses to do anything else, either I accept their offer or drop it.
My question to the lawyer which she did not answer is, " If this is a state law and I meet all the criteria, under the lemon law, and it clearly states that they HAVE to abide by this law, then how do they get away with thumbing their nose at the law?
She insist that Audi is firm on the $2500. I told her that as her client I really did not feel she was looking out for my best interest. She will not fight Audi on this one.
So my next step is to go through the Attorney Generals office, write another letter to Audi and maybe contact a consumer group and a District representative.
Anyone else have any constructive advise? Most of you have been very helpful and your comments are appreciated.
The car was brought in NINE times for the same problem, they tried fixing that many times and failed, the noise is still there. "I "said it was a steering problem, yet they attempted to fix the brakes 9 different times. They have never done anything to the steering except put fluid in.
I mentioned the other problems to magnify the lack of concern and care for the quality of product and workmanship, these things were all a part of a problem that a new car owner should not have to deal with.
The lawyer I am dealing with, gave me my choices. Either I accept Audi’s offer, and lose any rights to sue them in the future. Or drop the case and go through the BBB. Because the lawyer will have nothing more to do with it.
If I take the money , the lawyer gets $1500. This sounds so much like a racket to me. The more cases they take the more money they make. Taking on a bigger case requires to much time, and therefore a loss of revenue. " If it sounds to good to be true…
But I am a fighter especially when I know I am in the right and I have the law to back me up. I am not through with this.
While I’d say that a new car shouldn’t drink oil, it’s hard to say if it wasn’t broken in properly yet. It is up to you to check the oil and fluids, no matter how new the car, and no matter how surprising it is to find one empty. I would never go 2500 miles in any car without at least checking the oil. Check it at least every couple of fill ups, especially if the car has a history of oil use or if its oil usage is unknown.
As far as the rest—a new car should not be making weird noises unless it’s a known issue and expected to go away after break in. It sounds like they’ve been feeding you a line of BS from the beginning because they have no idea what’s wrong and don’t want to take the time and expense to find it. I would possibly suspect a power steering problem somewhere.
I doubt the car is unsafe to drive, but that doesn’t mean it won’t break down and leave you stuck somewhere. Depends on your definition of unsafe I guess. It doesn’t sound like this dealer is capable of finding the problem. Is there another Audi dealer in the area that you could switch to? I have no idea if you can recover your money from your state’s lemon law. If it doesn’t look like you can, and you will never enjoy or trust this vehicle, I’d advise you to take the goodwill gesture and immediately sell it, and take whatever financial lumps you incur.
It’s just not worth the aggravation to stretch this out over months or years and suffer over something as trivial as a car. Karma will catch up to them.
Good for you! I’m glad to hear you’re still fighting. Ditch the lawyer, they’re either clueless or not interested in your getting a new car because they won’t get any cash unless you pay them. Use the channels available and you’ll be better off. Good luck!
Have you taken the vehicle to another Audi dealership? If no,why not. What has the District Rep. for Audi said about this issue? When you mention the word “sue”,the brick wall emerges. You should be able to exchange this car for another.I would never purchase an Audi, since I worked at dealerships that sold these vehicles.Thank God I worked on BMW,s.
I also wonder under what type of influence is a decision to purchase an Audi is made. Right next in line to different types of cars that have a name ending in “Rover”
Thank you all, for your suggestions and advise.
Have any of you, or do you know of anyone that has actually won a Lemon Law case? Did you get a full refund or an exact exchange. I have read what the State Law says I am entitled to, but does anyone know of a case where it was enforced and the manufacturer paid up?
Yes, absolutely, people do win these cases. I have seen close to ,getting near 10 buybacks, suprisingly most were BMW, like I mentioned in another thread my Chevrolet dealer bought back 2 1999 Cavalier convertibles due to water leaks.
OK, let me re-phrase, I never saw one go to court, they all setteled before that level.
Well this gives me some hope, that I am not spinning my wheels for nothing.
Thank you
Hi Oldschool,
Like I said this gives me some hope. But what is the best way to go about this.I went the lawyer route, and even though my case is solid they were unwilling to fight for me. How have YOU seen these cases settled? Can you give me more detail, without compromising yourself?
Maybe you should see if you can trade in the car on a 2011 when they come out. The dealer may be willing to give you a good deal on a trade-in as a way to resolve the dispute. Even if you lose some money due to depreciation, that’s better than keeping an expensive lemon that will give you headaches for years to come.
I don’t know how the cases I became aware were buybacks got through the process of the repeated attempts at the same problem and then the negotiation for what the buyback price would be (it is not full price). Never once did I even know I was working on a car that perhaps would be bought back.
It was just a mention from someone in management like “You know that Cavalier you tried to fix the water leaks on two months ago, we had to buy that back”. It would be more someone who was in the management end of the Dealership that would know just how the process works.
A thought came to mind that perhaps can at least stimulate someone else to come up with a correct apprasial of what is really going on here.
Two questions, Why is the buyback offer from Audi ($2500.00 I think) so low? what is being said (I am saying, what can we “read between the lines here”) by this offer and why is your attorney acting the way she is? The reported behaviour of both Audi and your attorney is to say the least “way out there”. So I ask (without any type of finger pointing) what is going on here?
Audi knows that no one will say “Yes” to their offer and the attorney is not presenting you will even a hit of direction here.
Dump the Audi, I have friend’s and family that owned Audi’s all have had horable experiences.
I have spent less money on boats!!!
Good luck
I don’t know what is going on here, that is the reason for the frustration. $2500 is an insult when I’ve spent so much for the car and since day one they have handed me a load of Bull. The car has had several problems the worst being the noise which has never been fixed.
The lawyer said that since it’s a noise problem and not a major defect that is all Audi is willing to offer. But no one knows is this noise can lead to a major defect. They can’t find it and they have fixed the brakes which clearly wasn’t the problem because the noise is still there.
I have gathered all my records, invoices, repair orders , letters to and from the lawyers, and I am submitting them to the Consumer Protection Agency.
OK. Try this: go to the dealer you bought it from and tell them you want to trade it in and see what they will give you for it. If it is less than $2500 off the trade-in value, ask why. You might reasonably expect that the noise will reduce the value of the car. Audi should have to increase the offer by the difference betwen what the dealer offers and a reasonable trade-in value less $2500.
In the meantime, you might try a different dealer. IIRC, you said that ou bought it from Valley Motors, which I asume is Audi of Hunt Valley on York Road. You might tRy Len Stoler Audi on Reisterstown Road in Owings Mills. All I know about them is where they are located, but maybe they can solve your problem for you.
I went to Len Stoler , the third or fourth time. The mechanic there was so pleasant and he seemed to know what the problem was. He told me of a service notice that was posted on A4’s. He even gave me his cell # if I had anymore problems. Service Rep. told me point blank, that since “I did not by the car from them, I should take it back to where I bought it.” How is that for customer service?
I went to Valley with the service notice number and they told me that work did not apply to my car, they eventually did the work. But I still have the noise.
I could kick myself, at least I could lie and say that since I could not pull up TSB’s on 09"s I am in the clear. Well in any case Audi has put out the strangest TSB I have ever read. It is for noise from the power steering (from 2008 all A4’s). It reads “check the power steering level before replacing any parts” well that sure was helpful.
What I gather is Audi knows about this issue.
OP see if you can find a way to look at TSB’s from 2009 and see if you car really is excluded, they sure included a lot of 2008’s.Don’t just accept that they say your car is not included,this will be easy to tell.Not a home run, but helpful to your claim. You should have mentioned that you knew about a TSB, I should have checked.
Check TSB’s, 2nd step in any repair.