Caporegime
okay then, its a garage that specialises in toyotas and is called, Toyotech...mate...
Will never buy an Audi again... Advice on new car?
- Thread starter Randy Marsh
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![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
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[TW]Fox;16512497 said:
Hahaha this made me laugh quite a bit!
I agree with this. Definitely take it to an indepndant Audi specialist to get a second opinion and quotation, especially as you've been quoted such high prices.
Do you know exactly what the problem with the dashboard is?
I read recently on the TT forums that a guy was quoted hundreds of pounds to fix a problem with the dashboard of his TT and he ended up getting it fixed for something like £40 at these guys:
http://clusterrepairsuk.co.uk/
It might be worth giving them a call.
My brother has owned numerous Audis over the years and he always gets the work done by a local Audi specialist instead of the dealer. The dealer always charges a lot more and at one time we found that some of the work didn't even need doing, saving him hundreds.
I bet you could get those problems fixed a lot cheaper elsewhere.
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I took it to an independent Audi specialist this morning after picking it up from Audi. Basingstoke Audi were actually quoting even more than I first thought... it had now risen to £2700 to sort the dashboard and replace the coils, catalytic converter, ECU(?) etc...
The independent guy I spoke with said he would sort the immediate motor problem all inclusive for £575. He pointed out the problem with the broken cylinder and also the ECU He did not see any value in replacing the Catalytic converter or associated parts at this stage - this was completely overkill in his opinion.
With regards to the dashboard - he has suggested that rather than jumping into replacing it straight away that I should try the original key that I bought with the car. I paid for Basingstoke Audi to provide me with a new key and do the programming when I first bought the car (another £130...) He said it maybe a problem with the coding on the new key which is causing the immobiliser to kick in unnecessarily and thus cause the resetting problem. If it is a case of needing to replace the dashboard he has offered to send the existing one off to get it repaired so that it is not too expensive as I will not need to reprogram my keys etc
I think the thing that has been clear to me after today is that the official Audi dealerships cannot be trusted one bit. It was apparent on the report they provided that they had done minimal investigation into the problems I was having (e.g. they put they "suspected" I had a faulty dashboard rather than confirming it - and decide I should pay £650 to replace it). The customer service as mentioned before has also been extremely poor there - making you wait for long periods in the showroom to be seen and not returning calls despite assuring they would reply ASAP.
It's a real shame as I think the cars are great to drive but the customer service and dealerships have put me off for life.
The independent guy I spoke with said he would sort the immediate motor problem all inclusive for £575. He pointed out the problem with the broken cylinder and also the ECU He did not see any value in replacing the Catalytic converter or associated parts at this stage - this was completely overkill in his opinion.
With regards to the dashboard - he has suggested that rather than jumping into replacing it straight away that I should try the original key that I bought with the car. I paid for Basingstoke Audi to provide me with a new key and do the programming when I first bought the car (another £130...) He said it maybe a problem with the coding on the new key which is causing the immobiliser to kick in unnecessarily and thus cause the resetting problem. If it is a case of needing to replace the dashboard he has offered to send the existing one off to get it repaired so that it is not too expensive as I will not need to reprogram my keys etc
I think the thing that has been clear to me after today is that the official Audi dealerships cannot be trusted one bit. It was apparent on the report they provided that they had done minimal investigation into the problems I was having (e.g. they put they "suspected" I had a faulty dashboard rather than confirming it - and decide I should pay £650 to replace it). The customer service as mentioned before has also been extremely poor there - making you wait for long periods in the showroom to be seen and not returning calls despite assuring they would reply ASAP.
It's a real shame as I think the cars are great to drive but the customer service and dealerships have put me off for life.
Well, that's good news I guess. In my experience it's not just Audi dealerships that rip people off, a lot of them do it.
Whenever a dealership recommends that I have some work done to the car I nearly always get a second opinion from somewhere else. I've saved a lot of money by doing this.
I had a very similar experience as you with my local SEAT dealership.
So are you still planning to sell it?
IMO, you shouldn't have to sell your car just because of poor customer service from a dealership. I'd keep it and stick with the specialist if you're really happy with the car, especially after getting it all fixed.
Sounds like you overstretched yourself financially in the first place.
Soldato
That's a bit harsh. I certainly don't keep £2000 lying around in case my car needs an expensive repair.
Stop trolling and move on.
yeah I know, I've got £2500 in a special place just in case that common problem of a cylinder breaking occurs.
The service you have seen from your Audi dealer is typical of modern cars sadly. The complexities are such that the manufacturers try and link various sensors to a diagnostic computer so that many problems can be self diagnosed. Now that is fine, when it works, but sadly many problems simply don't appear in the diagnosis computer and then proper experience, which is usually lacking in most dealers is required. This takes time, is expensive in terms of labour and therefore most dealers take the easy route which is change the bits that are 'likely' to be the root cause but without any real evidence that they are the problem. I have had loads of things over the years replaced as a 'precaution' which is fine when you have a warranty but often those things have not resolved my problem.
The days of the mechanic in the main dealers are less and less. Reality is that many turn up in the best of the independents who can't afford/justify the full diagnosis kit used in the dealers so have to rely on good old experience and skill to resolve things.
The days of the mechanic in the main dealers are less and less. Reality is that many turn up in the best of the independents who can't afford/justify the full diagnosis kit used in the dealers so have to rely on good old experience and skill to resolve things.
Soldato
wtf? I think almost anyone is going to feel a bit squeezed at the very least if their car turns up an unexpected £2k repair bill.
Soldato
Soldato
Woah, still going strong with FIFTY THOUSAND miles on the clock...
There's no 'wtf' about it.
If a £2k repair bill is going to put you into debt, ie you have no savings to fall back on, you shouldn't have blown £9k on a car in the first place.
Be quiet. I'm teaching financial responsibility.
If your life savings amount to £10k, you don't splurge £9k of it on a Audi A3. £9k = a spend of £4-6k on a car depending on your approach to risk, with the rest saved for a rainy day. He'll be up **** creak if he was made redundant from his job for example.
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Soldato
Get knotted! You're trolling from a holier than thou pulpit that doesn't remotely approach anything called normality.
To compound it you provide a fatally flawed example. Need some cash? Sell the car and buy a £1k repmobile. It's not like he's had no deposit and got it from Carcraft on finance over 5 years.
Move along now.
He's talking sense for once.