Warranty

[disco666]

Hi,

Just purchased an RS6 Avant, 2003, 85k and a (slightly) patchy service history.

Can anybody reccommend a decent warranty for this?

I'd rather pay a bit more and know everything is covered- I would not want to have to fight with the company every time something needs doing. Ideally looking for a no quibble warranty.

Thanks.

[Mr V10]

Get an Inchape warranty through Swindon Audi, lots of people here who have had gearboxes etc replaced no quibble.

[Mr V10]

The warranty costs are as follows plus a £350 inspection fee, comes with roadside assistance too.

12 Months - £999
24 Months - £1299
36 Months - £1599

Works out at £533 a year if you go for the 36 months, Warranty Direct are £950 a year with no roadside assistance... plus they have a crap rep on here where as I have heard from loads of different RS6 owners that Inchape have been great, any claim under £2k is auto approved and you can take it to Audi or an Indie.

[swannny]

are you still with warranty wise Amar?

just wondered how good they are, i'm about to get my suspension done, hopefully can claim for it.

[Drummerman]

I've got Warranty Direct on my RS6 for £775 that includes main dealer rates and a few extra bits like air bags and fuel system. Whether they stick to their word I will let you know as I am taking the car to Unit 20 tomorrow due to a knackered gearbox.

[disco666]

Thanks all, especially Amar, appreciate your help.

I have had a browse and it seems Inchape is the best for me. I'll get in touch with them and see if I am eligable.

[disco666]

Just wanted to update, re Inchcape warranty, for interest and maybe to help others in future.

I was booked in yesterday at Audi in Swindon for my inspection.
They found a couple of oil leaks which meant they were not able to include the engine or gearbox in the warranty. (Leaks at either end of gearbox).
It seemed pretty pointless to go ahead (£1599 for 3 years, as correctly stated by Amar) on this basis so I did not take out the warranty.

It is frustrating as the warranty would have been a green light to enjoy the car to its fullest. As it is I'm worried that every time I stamp the gas a voice in my head will be saying 'New gearbox £10k+, slow down!'

However, I cannot praise Audi Swindon highly enough.
Due to the fact that the warranty was a non-starter they reduced the charge for the inspection to £80 (even though they already quoted me £300) without me even asking for it.
They were all completely helpful and polite all day, and even turned a blind eye (ear?) when telephoned by the police informing them that somebody was driving 'way too fast and overtaking inappropriately' in their courtesy 4k old A6 demonstrator. Not me surely....
(A6 in question was also very impressive despite being a diesel, and if I had not been standing outside of it I don't even think I would have noticed. 10 years ago I would never have thought I would run a diesel but with the modern ones, only a fool would rule it out completely)

So I am as I was, and have a few options:
Get the oil leaks sorted (£1k just to strip it down, plus more to fix whatever is causing the leak, then another £300 for another inspection, and £1599 for the warranty)
Do nothing, keep fingers crossed and have £10k on standby for when/if the gearbox goes
Try another warranty company- (drummerman how did you get on claiming for your gearbox?)

Any advice from you guys would be much appreciated regarding-
How much of a problem are the oil leaks? Does it really indicate anything more serious wrong?
Would other warranties have the same level of inspection before hand?

[Drummerman]

Well at the moment the car and its engine are with Grizz and the gearbox is somewhere else being stripped and waiting for the WD man to look at it. Hopefully by end of next week I will know the score

[Maximo]

£10k to replace the gearbox sounds like a lot. You'd be better off scrapping the car and buying another. I think you'll find that your look at less than half that amount to replace the gearbox and you'll get a full two year warranty with it, regardless of who fit's it.

As your close to Swindon why not head over to http://www.dialynx.co.uk/ and see if they can sort out your oil leaks. I've not used them but they maybe worth a try. If I recall they built a manual RS6 a few years ago just to see if worked.

Plus to Swindon Audi, when I've used them in the past they've always been good to me. So much so I'm on their VIP list for some reason.

[disco666]

Thanks Maximo,

I have done a little more digging, and you are right, I can get my box reconditioned and fitted for around £2-3k, so my current thoughts are to forget the warranty, wait for the box to start to go, then get it done.
Maybe after that I will look at getting the warranty again.

At the moment it drives fine, the leaks are the only sign something is wrong and they could be just a leaky seal.
Fingers crossed!

[Maximo]

At the moment it drives fine, the leaks are the only sign something is wrong and they could be just a leaky seal.
Fingers crossed!

Are you saying your not going to do anything about the leaks then? If so your a brave man in my eyes. At least get someone to look into them for you, I'm sure there are a few seals that can be replaced without major work.

[disco666]

Well, that was my plan, but as always I will be guided by more experienced and knowledgeable people.

It will cost about £1k to drop the gearbox, replace the seals, gaskets etc.
I could do that now, spend £1k, and something else goes wrong and I will have to do it all again- I don't fancy this.

I could spend £3k getting my box reconditioned now, and be done with it.
But working on that basis, it may not give me any problems for ages, in which case I may as well wait until it gives me a problem, then get it done.

I thought that sounded logical.
Are you saying that by leaving it I could make things worse?
In that case I may rethink, but otherwise I don't see the point in spending a lot of money now just to investigate something that may not give problems for ages. If it were £100 to investigate, different story.

Any advice greatly welcomed.

[Maximo]

If your leaking oil from the gearbox it'll go bang at some point in the future, but it all depend's on how much it's leaking by on how long before it goes. The gearbox doesn't need to come out for all of the seals. My advice would be to get it checked out to at least get confirmation as to where the leak is coming from. Remember that if the gearbox goes bang because it's ran out of oil it's likely to take the engine with it. Don't risk it to save a few quid now, thinking you can spend that later on.

Cheers

Garry

[disco666]

Sorry, I do know a little more.
The leaks are coming from Propshaft to Gearbox (suspected crank seal leak), and Engine to Gearbox.
This was picked up by Audi at their inspection.

I also know that the leaks are small because I am not seeing drips under the car, and, when I had the gearbox oil changed the oil was quite mancky, suggesting it had not been changed for ages, but the level was high. If the leak was significant I would have expected to see the level lower.

I have been advised by my local mechanic that it would require separating of the gearbox to investigate and he has advised me just to keep an eye on it for the time being.

I don't want to sound slapdash, like I am ignoring the problem, but after serious consideration and advice I felt it best to wait and see for now.

However, I had not considered your point that a catastrophic failure of the gearbox could take the engine with it, and it does worry me.

Maybe I should get it in somewhere and get it looked at.

There is a company called tsr performance parts, based in Bridgwater (advertise on Ebay) who will recondition my box and their prices look ok.
Anyone used them?

[Mr V10]

Really, gearbox going bang taking the engine out with it? Never heard that before.