Time to break open the piggy bank again...

[Golfather]

Audi warranty.
Worth its weight in gold.... whatever the price.

[MalcolmSu]

Latest estimate...... Wednesday (delivered)! Oh, and I phoned them...

anyone care to guess what happened today?

[MalcolmSu]

hi did i see someone telling us that A1 don't take the engine out when they take out the gearbox, ???
if true how???? the turbos are rapped around the gearbox and you can't take the bolts out from the engine!!!! no wonder they break bits off , to me it don't matter how much expertise thay have in transmission if they do not do the extraction and refit properly whats the point. thay also have to set up all the lamba's etc etc etc can they do this ????

sorry Malcolm ( don't want to be profit of dome)

as part of my bill I've had to pay for two lambda sensors. I haven't seen the full bill yet so can't comment on what else. Actually I don't think I'll see the full bill as contrary to previous warranty claims the warranty company are picking up the bill direct with A1 PT and I've only squared up for the proportion of parts (40%) that I'm due because my car has done over 90k. Normally I've been left to pay the full bill and then claim what I'm due back of the warranty company.

[marv8]

Supprised your not going full Norman Bates by now
Did they even have the courtesy to call and let you know?

[MalcolmSu]

I feel awful that I said that (in my experience) A1PT were OK...

In truth my customer experience was light years ahead of this.

Sorry Malcolm!

To be honest I think they're just over run with work and don't know when to say no. They've had my car over four weeks now and I had to wait over a week before they could collect it. As each deadline approached (collection 1, collection 2, 10 day repair, next week now, next week now) I've phoned them several times to get info. Not once did anyone phone me back. The only once they've phoned me back was to take payment (even then they said I'll phone you back in 20 minutes and it was the next day before they did!!)...

[MalcolmSu]

Sure you can use an uncapped labour rate, if you want, as long as it's under WD's (unnaturally low) preferred supplier quotation.

I've had plenty of time to think the options through over the past 5 weeks but it all comes down to money at the end of the day. Sure it's unacceptable that it's taken this long but what alternatives did I have? Audi warranty - probably would have been cheaper in hindsight but that option's not available to me now with the mileage on my car. When the warranty premium you pay is significantly less than the repair itself you'll always be at the mercy of the warranty company who will want to mitigate their losses as much as possible. The only option is to build up a slush fund of your own to cover the repairs - I've tried that and the slush fund always disappeared faster than the repair bills...

My car will be up for sale after this and I fear for the future of many of these beasts. As the price inevitably falls below £10k the type of buyers will be those that can't afford a £2-3k gearbox repair or even a £1k brake change. The sale prices will continue to fall and then what will happen to them?

[HYFR]

and then what will happen to them?

remember these ....



no, me neither

[iR8V10]

^ such a shame...

[chunky79]

Any more news on this Malcolm?

dunc

[marv8]

Bump - come on Malcolm spill the beans... You must have the car back by now??? (dives for cover)

[bam_bam]

Bump - come on Malcolm spill the beans... You must have the car back by now??? (dives for cover)

+1

[MalcolmSu]

I eventually got my car back on Thursday 28th July and promptly went on holiday the following day so it's been sitting in an airport car park for the past just over two weeks. I got back earlier today so once I've cleared the decks I'll post more details...

[MalcolmSu]

...as I said, I got the car back on Thursday 28th July when the previous estimate was the Wednesday. When I phoned them the day before that I was told there was no driver available so it would be the Thursday before the car was delivered, but it would be early morning. On that call they said they were busy just now but would phone me back in 20 minutes to sort out the payment. In actual fact they never phoned me back until the next morning. I think that's the one and only time in the 5 weeks they had my car they actually phoned me.

However, there was a bit of a pleasant surprise in that call in that I only had to pay the 40% portion of the parts (plus £50 excess) to A1 PT as the warranty company paid them direct for the balance of the parts and the labour. I had been expecting to pay the whole bill and then claim from the warranty company as had been the procedure in the past. This unexpectedly actually helped me out as I had a contingency plan for being short of cash over my holiday and not being able to claim until I came back...

There was a further slight hiccup in that A1 PT would initially only deliver the car to my home address but I did manage to persuade them eventually to deliver the car to my work address - a shorter, easier journey for them and I didn't have to take time off work.

The car was driven up from Biggleswade on Thursday morning by an elderly (late 60s, early 70s?) gentleman who said that he left around 03:00am arriving with me around 08:45. I had thought it was being trailered up but actually this worked out better for me as I wasn't able to test the car to any length before going on holiday. The delivery driver putting over 400 miles on the clock but testing everything out for me... He commented on how much fuel it had cost him - "well over a £100" I think he said...

I gave him a lift to the station in the centre of Glasgow and chatted to him on the way. He said he did quite a lot of 'test' driving for A1 PT, that they were extremely busy and that many times he was told to give cars a lengthy test drive - 'don't come back until the tank's empty he was told' was his comment.

Having now driven the car myself I can find nothing wrong with it. The gear changes are as 'smooth' as they were before the failure. The only slight difference I can feel is that knocking it over the right to put it into manual feels a bit stiffer than I recall. Are there any must do tests that anyone can recommend??

One other fault I had has even disappeared - the rear parking sensors weren't working. They are now...

I suppose you're all interested to learn how much it cost?

If you recall I already had a bill from Stirling Audi for the Valve Body replacement which failed to fix the fault. If you're interested that broke down (ex VAT) as follows;

Labour £440.40
20l of ATF at £9.71 per litre (£194.20)
Various gaskets and washers £21.82
Oil strainer £29.85
Sender £32.49
Valve Body £968.07

My cheque for that arrived from the warrant company when I was off on holiday (100% of labour plus 60% of parts minus £50 excess).

The complete bill (again ex VAT) for the repair at A1 PT was itemised as follows;

Labour to remove and refit the box - 16.6 hours at £58 ph £962.80
Labour to strip and rebuild the box - 12.8 hours at £58 ph £742.40
Torque converter £240.00
Master overhaul kit £208.64
Bearing kit £51.21
Filter assembly £28.66 (wondering if this the same 'strainer' Audi fitted??)
ATF £44.63 (compare that with the Audi bill)
Lambda sensors (x2) £143.66 ( I has to pay for these in full - i.e. no contribution from warranty)
Collection and delivery £240.00

I don't know how they make the collection and delivery pay at that price - I know it took over a £100 of fuel to drive it up; the driver then had a "on the day" train ticket to buy; plus his wages plus the initial collection costs...

The invoice also states some interesting facts;

"...unit is subject to a 12 month or 12,000 mile guarantee subject to... correct oils and service schedules. All units must be checked for oil tightness and monitored regularly. We will not replace gearboxes burnt out through lack of oil! This is your responsibility." These last two sentences being in capitals and bold on the invoice!

Whilst I'm grateful to get the car back, having paid a small fraction of a £4,914.91 total bill (inc VAT) , I have written to the warrant company about the length of time my car was off the road. I'll let you know what response I get.

I know there's been various comments previously about how this wouldn't have happened if it had been sent to garage X or garage Y but as others have found, the warranty company has the upper hand if you want them to foot (or partially foot) the bill. I struggle to see, even with the benefit of hindsight, what I could have done differently.

[bam_bam]

I know there's been various comments previously about how this wouldn't have happened if it had been sent to garage X or garage Y but as others have found, the warranty company has the upper hand if you want them to foot (or partially foot) the bill. I struggle to see, even with the benefit of hindsight, what I could have done differently.

This too true, WD have the biggest hardon for A1P that there's no way for them to allow you to use anyone else, well not for anything more than £2,400. It's not that they have the cheapest labor rate, it's just that remove the 'box with engine in situ. This undercuts everyone else by ten hours but as with most shortcuts...

[Shoppinit]

I think it would interesting to know what the potential risks are in removing the engine with the box in situ. This would help evaluate whether it's worth the extra cost in having the whole lot out. I don't hear anyone complaining about the shortcuts involved in changed the lambda or EGT sensors in situ, even though it is explicity explained why the engine must come out in the workshop manual.