The point is that even if they do fix the car, there have been other problems with it, and if and when I sell it, anyone interested in it will do a carfax check and see how many times this car has been in service. This will greatly reduce the value of the car, no matter how good it looks and no matter how low the mileage .
Carfax MAY tell a subscriber if a car has been wrecked and/or received a salvage title, but I’ve never seen a Carfax report that would tell how many times a car was serviced, dealership or not. It’s not infallible on wrecks either. If the wreck is not reported to the police and/or an insurance company, there is no record for Carfax to look up. Yes, it happens all the time.
What exactly shows up on Carfax?
And no, a car that has been in a bunch of times for servicing is not worth any less than another car that hasn’t been, if they both have the same number of miles, and are both working perfectly at the time of sale.
My gf has been going through a fairly similar situation with her Chrysler Crossfire since she bought it in Oct '08. In January '09, it started having electrical issues, where it then spent about 2 months in and out of the shop, steady, until they finally tracked down the cause to one nut that grounds several computer systems. It was loose from the factory. This loose nut cost Chrysler over $12k in warranty parts and labor, and multiple computers for the BCM, ECU, TCM, and the Air Bag system as the electrical gremlins kept changing location with the new parts installed.
The car was fine from March '09 through May of this year, when the clutch stopped working smoothly. So now the car spent the last 3 weeks in the shop to replace the flywheel, friction plate, and pressure plate, again, under warranty. The pressure plate had a weakness in the fingers, and it caused the friction material to get glazed, and hot spots formed on the friction surfaces of the flywheel and the pressure plate, sending them to the trash bin.
When they gave the car back to me, as soon as I drove it off the lot, the check engine light came back on, and the car lost 3 cylinders (out of 6). I handed it back to them, and asked them to actually test drive the car next time. Turns out the brand new flywheel was dropped during manufacture, and one of the fingers on the tone ring was bent. Since this wasn’t noticed at the time of install, when the car was run, it damaged the Crankshaft Position Sensor.
So, they had to order a new flywheel, and CPS, and that caused my gf a lot of stress while her car was gone for another week while they waited for a new flywheel to arrive from Germany. Again, all under warranty.
She finally got to drive her car to and from work yesterday for the first time in a month, and when she got home, the huge smile on her face told me that all the stress and frustration, and lack of trust she had developed in the car had vanished, once again, like it always does, when she gets to drive it.
Her car has tipped the warranty replacement value at over $20k worth of parts and labor, but that doesn’t change the value of her car one iota. Chrysler has taken a huge loss on her car at this point in time, because someone (or several people) at the factory in Germany was slacking off, the best we can tell.
I’m sorry for what you are going through with your Audi.
Have you tried taking it to an independent mechanic, with all your warranty service receipts, and asking them to diagnose the car? Sometimes a fresh set of eyes, who have no dealer ties and restrictions, can actually tell you what the problem is, and tell you what needs to be fixed.
Then just take this info to your dealer and say “FIX THIS!”
Good luck to you.
BC.
We went through a similar problem with a new Toyota 4Runner back in 2003. We hadn’t had the car 3 days and the serpentine belt started chirping. The car went back to the dealer for a new belt. Two days later, the new belt started chirping and the 4Runner was leaking oil. It turned out that the technician put the belt on wrong and pulled out the crankshaft oil seal. The service manager assured me that they had put the dealer’s best technician to work on the car. Two days later, the belt started chirping again. My wife wanted me to take the 4Runner to our independent mechanic and pay them to put it right. I decided to return to the dealer and asked them to buy the 4Runner back. They were reluctant to do this, but finally agreed to a loaner car and would buy the 4Runner back if they didn’t get it right in one more shot. Well, they did get it right–the spring in the belt tensioner was bad. We’ve had no more problems since that time. However, our independent shop does all the servicing on the vehicle. My wife won’t let anyone else touch her baby.
Within the last year, a new Toyota dealer has opened up about a mile from my house. I purchased a new Sienna from this dealership in March. So far I have had no problems. I geuss I’ll use the service department of the dealership since we are considered loyal Toyota owners and we get 2 years of free oil changes.
I’d suggest that you contact the Consumer Protection Office of your state Attorney Genersl’s office, get the forms and the protocol for filing under the Lemon law, and initiate the paperwork to start the process rolling. At that point the decision whether or not to buy the car back or replace it will be out of the dealer’s hands. Those will be the only two “offers” the dealer will be abe to make.
Start the peperwork. Take the decision away from the dealer. Leave him bound to comply with the lemon law.
Things like that don’t show up on carfax. Sometimes a car that had all the bugs worked out is worth more. For example, a car with a new transmission and 100,000 miles on the odometer might be worth a little more than a car with the original transmission and 100,000 miles on the odometer. The car’s value is influenced by its current condition, not its prior condition.
I know it will be difficult, but jumping through the mediator’s hoops might be the answer to your problem, no matter which way it goes. Refusing to abide by the mediator’s directions and decisions probably won’t get you anywhere. You catch more flies with honey…
A Rep. from Audi took a look at my car last week and was able to duplicate the noise I have been hearing, continuously. He said the problem is not only in the brakes but in the steering as well. This is what I have been saying since I first brought the car in at 300 miles.
The steering gets very stiff. The dealership told me that was normal. The Rep. told me it is not. But he is not going out on a limb and telling me the car is defective. He is giving B.S. saying that this might be normal for this make and model car.
Can anyone out there give me an educated guess as to what is wrong with the car, when you turn the wheel in a lock position and step on the brake, you get a groaning noise?
Would this be rack and pinion?
Any time you turn a steering wheel all the way to a lock position, a car will make a noise. I have been told (during driver’s education in 1989) doing that is hard on the steering components. When you hear that noise, reverse the steering in the other direction just enough that you don’t hear that noise anymore.
Sorry things didn’t go better. Now that the Audi representative checked it out, when will the mediator make a ruling?
I take it back next week to get it fixed. The noise is also coming from the brakes. If they can’t fix it, I guess the mediator will make a ruling. If they fix it then they say I no longer have a problem and I have a car that works.
Just to clarify something, let me ask this.
Does this groaning noise ONLY occur when the steering wheel is in the lock position? (meaning the wheel will not turn any further, left or right)
If so, that can be normal and in reality you should not do this. At all.
If the car makes this groaning noise when the wheel is not in either the L or R lock position then the only possibilities I can think of are the following.
Faulty or loose belt.
Groaning from a sway bar bushing or control arm through bolt.
Noise from a pressure hose that is suffering an odd high frequency vibration. (A long run of plumbing pipe in an old house can do this, depending. A/C hoses have also been known to do this.)
No the Rep had it in the lock position to duplicate the noise. When I drive it I don’t turn the wheel that far or that hard, and it makes that noise. Also sometimes when I step on the brakes coming to a stop sign I hear the same groan.
I WON MY CASE AGAINST AUDI!!!
After I filed my complaint with Consumer Protection, Audi had one chance to fix the car. They replaced the steering rack and pump, and lubed the brakes. After 4 days the noises were back. Spoke to the Audi mediator and told him that the problems were still there. He told me I had to take it back to the dealer so they could hear the noises again.
I told him to send someone from Audi to hear the noise. He did and that person not only heard the noises I heard, he heard more, and couldn’t figure out what the problems were.
He said it looks like we owe you a new car.
Got an Email from the mediator saying I was entitled to a car of equal purchase price as the car I bought, which is a 2009. I wrote back saying I didn’t think that was fair, since it wasn’t my fault that it took over a year for Audi to try and find the problem. Besides they don’t make that model any longer, there are no 2010’s available, so that means I have to get a 2011 which cost more. If I am restricted to purchase price then I am not getting the same car I bought, I am getting much less.
He wrote back saying that I was right, and even though the 2011’s with the features I had are going to cost over $10,000 more, that I am entitled to it. That Audi will just have to absorb the cost.
So I ordered what I wanted, and they put the request in to the manufacturer. I hope to get my car in a couple of months. Meanwhile the other one will not be driven, it stays in the garage.
Perseverance pays off. When you know you are right, fight it and don’t let them get away with giving you a lot of B.S… I learned a lot from this experience. Mostly the dealership can’t be trusted to do the work right and to tell you the truth. Sorry Guys if I offended anyone, I know there are some honest techs out there and service reps. But in dealing with this Dealership I didn’t find that to be true.
My sincere congradulations for having the patience and endurance to stand up for your rights and get the settlement you are entitled to.
Too many of us give up too easily.