Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - Anton Willis

Bought my Audi from a garage in November and had a problem straight away in December. The garage agreed to fix this as it was in the 6 month warranty period. The car was fitted with a reconditioned rear diff and haldex unit supplied by Audi. Now 7 months later I have had an issue with the car again. My local garage told me the rear diff or haldex had broke so I've sent them botb to the place where the rear diff is under warranty with and they said everything is okay, looking at the rear diff which is jointed onto the haldex unit it's the haldex unit which has gone. So I have had it all put back on my car and transported to my local Audi dealer where they have told me they will not replace under warranty due to outside influences and can't prove mechanical failure. The garage where I purchased the car said take it up with Audi and Saudi say take the car back to where it came. Please can someone advice.

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - Avant

Remember that your contract for purchase of the car is with the supplying dealer, and for the repair with the garage who did the repair - not with Audi, let alone Saudi (sic). I presume that your original 6-month warranty period means that the car was over three years old when you bought it.

You'll need to look at the terms and conditions under which the replacement parts were sold to you in December, and whether or not there was a warranty with these. Despite its name, September is nine months after December, not seven.

I'm not sure from what you say whether your local Audi dealer has seen the car before you 'transported' it to them. If not, you can hardly expect them to do anything for free.

Edited by Avant on 28/09/2017 at 22:46

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - Anton Willis

Hi,

The car is 2008 and purchased last novemrbr. Yes the part failed in December and the car had to go back to the garage I purchased it from for them to fix. They had it for a month and had put on a part from audi that comes with 12 months warranty. This part has now failed again and Audi say they cannot prove a mechanical failure on this part. However Audi have addicted the unit needs replacing but because they know the unit was stripped to find the fault before it got to Audi they say it may not have been rebult in accordance with the technical guidelines.

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - RobJP

the Audi S3 first came out in 1999. Some indication as to the age of your car might be helpful.

From what you say, you bought it with a 6 month warranty. That warranty has now expired.

So looking at that, the car has no warranty, and it's down to you to pay for repairs.

The devil is, as always, in the detail. And your post is very short on the sort of detail that actually matters.

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - Anton Willis

Apoligies,

My car is 2008 and currently has around 98k on the clock. Yes the car is now out of warranty however the same part that failed for some reason within a month of purchase has now failed again and I feel this could be faulty goods?

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - SLO76
What age and mileage is on it and how much did it cost? Also does it have the full Audi service history which is absolutely necessary on one of these complex cars?
Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - Anton Willis

Yes, full Audi service history with 98k on the clock. Purchased for 9 thousand.

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - RobJP

It was warranted for 6 months. They fixed faults that occurred within that time period.

It is now out of warranty.

Your problem.

The fact that a part may have failed again, that was replaced within the warranty period, is irrelevant. It's a nine year old high-performance car, and it's probably been driven hard. Things break on them.

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - SLO76
I'd bypass the main dealer and contact Audi customer services to ask for a replacement. If the part they supplied has failed then they should act. However it is possible the garage who fitted it simply didn't know what they were doing and if we're talking about a small backstreet workshop here then this is highly likely. These are complex motors which require specialist or main dealer expertise. It's certainly not something I would've paid £9k for at 98,000 miles.

There's more to go wrong on something like this than a mainstream family hatch and one of those with a near 100k mileage would rightly be in banger territory value wise. My sympathies for your woes but if you can't afford to buy a good low mileage approved used example of one of these then I'd advise not touching. It's very likely this will be an ongoing money pit. Try your luck with Audi direct but I see their point that it's very likely down to outside influences. The difficulty with trying to force the repairing garage to come good comes because a used/recon diff was used, possibly it wasn't reconditioned at all as is often the case with such parts. Scrap dealers just bung it in a box and send it to you.

Sadly I think you'll discover this motor will be a painful lesson in living within your means. If you can't afford a good low mileage example of a highly complex performance or luxury car then don't buy one. Fix it, flog it then buy something newer or something less complex.

Edited by SLO76 on 29/09/2017 at 09:50

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - gordonbennet

I can only agree with the above sensible advice, there are cars i would only consider whilst under a makers genuine warranty, new or approved used, and these too clever for their own good cars i wouldn't go near unless at a price where i could break it and make my money back when it goes pear shaped.

If you want a fast car with AWD, and i don't blame you in the least, then Subaru, given careful choosing, is probably the best bet if for no other reason than their full time 4WD system has been tested over many years and in typical conservative Japanese fashion they don't fix what isn't broke for the sake of it.

These types of cars were bought new for similar reasons that you bought it, so you want simple tough and durable.

Audi S3 - Car repaired in 6 month warranty and broke again - oldroverboy.

It may sound cruel, but your car is 9 years old, had a repair done at a non Audi franchise under a warranty that was for 6 months. If the original repair had been a new haldex unit at an Audi dealer you would have had a 12 month parts and labour warranty, but at a guess your car was possibly given a haldex unit from a "donor" car, ( a haldex repair is a specialized job!) and did anyone bother to tell you that the tyre tread depths must all be in very close tolerance. Otherwise troubles will happen quickly!

I see why the Audi dealer won't help but look here and call these people.

www.fedauto.co.uk/