Total engine failure, Good will from VW ?
The engine of my 56 plate 1.4 TSI Golf has suffered complete failure. It has 41,000 miles on the clock in under 5 years of careful driving and has a full service history through the dealership.
Surely this is highly unusual? An independant VW specialist told me that it looked like the crank shaft had failed/siezed and a cam rod had burst through the engine block.
His recommendation was a new engine at approx £4,000. I spoke to my local dealership and they recommended I brought it in for them to assess before VW would consider any good will gesture. I duly arranged a transporter to take the car to the VW garage.
They then said they would need to do an initial assessment costing £80 - "OK" I thought "that's reasonable, go ahead."
They came back with exactly the same diagnosis that the independant garage gave me for free. So next I called VW customer services to understand if they would consider a good will gesture; their response was that I would need to authorise a full diagnostic from the dealership before they would comment. The diagnostic will apparently be £689! Which of course I need to pay for.
The risk is that if VW decide not to give any good will I will be out of pocket for this plus the new engine which will be £5,000 through the dealership.
I feel I am in a catch 22 - VW won't give me a clue as to whether they will consider a good will gesture without the diagnostic but I don't want to pay £1,689 more than I need to.
What would you suggest I do? Keep pushing VW or just give up and go with the independant?
Surely this is highly unusual? An independant VW specialist told me that it looked like the crank shaft had failed/siezed and a cam rod had burst through the engine block.
His recommendation was a new engine at approx £4,000. I spoke to my local dealership and they recommended I brought it in for them to assess before VW would consider any good will gesture. I duly arranged a transporter to take the car to the VW garage.
They then said they would need to do an initial assessment costing £80 - "OK" I thought "that's reasonable, go ahead."
They came back with exactly the same diagnosis that the independant garage gave me for free. So next I called VW customer services to understand if they would consider a good will gesture; their response was that I would need to authorise a full diagnostic from the dealership before they would comment. The diagnostic will apparently be £689! Which of course I need to pay for.
The risk is that if VW decide not to give any good will I will be out of pocket for this plus the new engine which will be £5,000 through the dealership.
I feel I am in a catch 22 - VW won't give me a clue as to whether they will consider a good will gesture without the diagnostic but I don't want to pay £1,689 more than I need to.
What would you suggest I do? Keep pushing VW or just give up and go with the independant?
Asked on 20 April 2011 by Don HK
Answered by
Honest John
In my experience this is a typical VW attitude to minimise its exposure. But there are increasing numbers of reports of 1.4 TSI failures. Try Googling for more, then join any action group.
Tags:
technical issues
goodwill
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