Problem with Audi dealer

[adrian]

I unfortunately have had the two turbo’s blown my the car in December 2005 and had them replaced with at a cost of £2,381 including labour. I put this down to the age of the car and the mileage 70,000 at the time. Unfortunately one month ago one of the new turbo's has blown again and this has caused the specialist garage and me concern as they were brand new. It was recommended that car be tested for its “Boost level” as the garage felt that it was very unusual for the new turbo’s to blow without an underlying fault/problem.


Having completed the test the car found to be running at a boost power of “23 PSI” when I am advised that it should have been running at “15 PSI”. On further investigation the engine computer (ECU) has been tampered with and the car has been “chipped” with a boost enhanced product not an Audi part, i.e. giving the car more power. I am advised that this has been the problem with the failing turbo’s.


I have clearly purchased the car from the AUDI centre with this non audi approved computer feature in place in 2003. I am now looking for the liability of previous bill and repair of the car to be met by Audi.

I have approached Audi centre in question and and they have decided that the problem is with an air leak and that the boost would not caused the turbos to blow!! They have refused to meet my costs and I have complained to Audi Uk who have not been much help - stating that they can only mediate.

I am looking for any ideas from anyone! - i clearly have been sold a modified car - how can I get the franchise dealer AUDI to pay up; apart form costly legal action??

Thanks

[Marlon]

Sorry to hear that mate,

Surly you would think by law the Audi dealer would have to stump up the cash. At the end of the day they sold you a car that was not as advertised! It is the responsibilty of the dealer to ensure the car is presented for sale as described to the buyer, therefore they should have checked that the car had not been tampered with or modified, and if so this info should be passed to the buyer before any purchase.

I hope you get it all sorted.

Marlon

[adrian]

Marlon,

Thanks for your reply; you would think that is the case - I beleive that the business owner is trying to hold out ; after all I guess the money will come out of their cost centre and ultimately their profit/loss account.

Audi Uk can only mediate I am told; I have now emailed SYTNER regional office to see if they can put pressure on the Audi dealer; I maybe forced to NAME AND SHAME the dealer I guess as a last resort - I wonder if anybody reading this has any suggestions - car magazines, journalists etc who would be interested in taking up the cause??!!

Thanks Adrian

[simple1]

Talk to RS4 John.... he has just had a similar problem with his 996Turbo, the car was sold to him knowingly containing a non Porsche upgrade, and resulted in bent conrods, gearbox failure and a bill in excess of £20K to put it right. He has now got them to cough up the cash, if the dealer did not declare the upgrade, nor make comment excluding failure to the car as a result of the upgrade, the dealer will have their balls nailed to a wall by any court dealing with the matter...providing the parts replaced were genuine Audi parts, they have not got a leg to stand on..... Turbo failure is common amongst upgraded cars running big boost figures, and they are well aware of this. Vacuum leaks do not cause failure as in most cases the ecu will detect the leak and revert the ECU map to limp mode with a ball of errors to download...

[adrian]

thanks for that; I did have non audi turbos fitted in Decemeber when they went the first time; however it does no negate the fact that they went in the first place! How do I contact RS4 John??

[jon@work]

would have been great if you'd have been involved in a crash only to discover your insurance was invalid due to the car being modified

[lengster1]

If you had them done at an audi dealership they will be covered under the 2yr warranty for audi parts that are fitted at an audi dealership,your price looks like you may have had it done elswere maybe?

[simple1]

How do I contact RS4 John??

Send him a PM, or look him up on Trackdayheroes.com

[littleblue]

also worth a phone call to your local trading standards people...they may be able to help you more with the legal side of where you stand. they may already have a file on the dealer....