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Audi extended warranty


GCab
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So, I took the car in to West London Audi this morning, for a couple of things.

I have a 2006 A4 cab, and bought extended warranty tihs year for the first time (up till now I've traded in and changed cars when the 3 years ran out).

Among the things to look at today:

1. Satnav has failed with same fault as before. Service advisor very helpful; techs fail to find problem same as last time when they 'suggested'/forced me to splash out £300 on a new DVD disc (http://www.tyresmoke.net/forum/car-electronics-satnav-i-c-e-multimedia/125617-rbs-e-recurrent-fault-disc-unreadable-again-advice-handling-dealers.html). So far, so bad.

2. I mention that clutch is starting to smell burnt; I'm told it would take many hours to dismantle gearbox and check clutch pads, and (if it's put down to wear and tear) it will cost me £1500 just to have it checked out. Sort of fair enough I think, as I've had similar problem with previous car and it's hard to argue to wear and tear when it comes to clutch, but the "if we decide it's that, then you're liable for the whole cost, warranty or no warranty" approach starts to grate - I mean, how am I supposed to know before they even start? This sounds uncomfortably like, "if you even begin the warranty process, we'll hold the threat of you having to pay for it all over your head, so best not". But I'm happy to take it as friendly advice from a service advisor who's keen not to see me put to additional expense, plus I think he's right, and I can see that 6 hours work on a vague customer suspicion of clutch pad smell, has to be paid for somehow.

3. This is what hacks me off (along with the repeated pinning of satnav DVD fault on "it must be the disc"): the passenger seat no longer slides forward using the top clip (the shoulder-height thing) - to get rear passengers in involves scrabbling at floor level to use the lower lever at passenger's right ankle. Asked them to look at this, and was told, if they look at it and (they decide) it's not covered by warranty, it will cost me upward of £200 as it involves dismantling the seat mechanism, so do I want them to go ahead with this on those terms.

I'm sorry? This cannot possibly be wear and tear (I've carried rear passengers maybe 30 times since buying the car, if that), and it's blatantly a quality fault if something as basic as a clip and spring cable fails after a few years.

More importantly, they're saying that before asking them to look at a fault under paid warranty, I need to sign up to the full cost of examination work if they then find no manufacturing fault - at their own estimation. Ths is after <4 years since production. If I don't want to take this, then I'm stuck with a warranty I've paid for, and a supposedly premium car which is an embarrassment whenever I want to give friends a lift, unless I want to gamble >£200 on an examination for which I have only a 50:50 (their quote) chance of warranty cover. And I need to make that decision before they even look at it.

Isn't this blatant price-gouging and an attempt to dissuade you from having anything at all looked at under extended warranty? You pay your extended warranty and then, instead of getting another year of "Seat jammed, Sir? Of course we'll look at that, I'm sorry this has bothered you", you get "double or quits? Fancy paying for the full cost, do you? Do you? Or let's say, why don't you just walk away and we forget you ever mentioned it, how about that?" delivered in a highly professional manner along with a cup of complimentary coffee. Let's be clear here, I have no beef with the service advisor, who I'm sure is just offering his best advice on company policy: my problem is with the policy.

What is the point of a warranty if taking it in for any fault, however minor, is going to result in, "well we can look at this, but if we don't find anything we're prepared to admit to, you'll have to pay for the labour costs even if there's nothing wrong" - which can run to hundreds or thousands?

I'm quite tempted to take this further - the service advisor was fine but clearly working under rules set by Audi (or Sytner, hard to work out which) which now seem more and more similar to the "you pay us a premium and then we do everything we can to avoid paying out" policies used by the less scrupulous insurance companies.

Any thoughts, guys?

I'm irritated enough by this that if someone was to now say "BMW would never treat you like this", I would seriously consider changing manufacturers next time I upgrade/change. Given that I live round the corner from W London Audi and have bought my last 3 cars from them (but also given that BMW have bought their last showroom which is also just round the corner, and Mercedes are next door and Porsche are just down the A4 towards town), this is quite a long term decision. I pay premium German car prices so as to get treated accordingly, not to be gamed by "ah, here's a loophole we can use".

Edited by GCab
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What is the point of a warranty if taking it in for any fault, however minor, is going to result in, "well we can look at this, but if we don't find anything we're prepared to admit to, you'll have to pay for the labour costs even if there's nothing wrong" - which can run to hundreds or thousands?

Sorry to hear about your clucth issues, past experience shows that problems like that will normally be labelled "wear and tear", the stealers might be able to try a "goodwill claim"?

Think all the stealer is saying is can you commit to paying the inspection fee (maybe an hours labour) in case no fault is found and you're just being paranoid or something... that way some poor harry hasn't been working on your car a whole day and not getting paid for it (either by you or by the manufacturer). IMHO fair enough, say 9/10 they'll be able claim the cost of the inspection and the fix back from the manufacturers and maybe 1/10 times theres no fault or the fault isn't covered by warranty in which case at least you know what the problem is and get an estimate for fixing it. They never inspect the car for free!

If you're saying all problems should be covered under extended warranty then I say sign me up, that would be bliss, but can't say it ever happening from a practical point of view... its like saying insurance will pay out everyone for anything and everything - people will create problems just so they can all walk away with new cars and there wouldn't be enough money in the pot to pay for it all.

Anyway, good luck with it mate. If it's not decided to be a warranty fault you would have had to pay the inspection fee afterwards anyway on the road to getting it fixed yourself.

Fly

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