Warranty on Imports

[jbinks]

I've an S3, imported from Ireland and to cut a long story short I've had a few problems with it recently and had to put it into the stealer for a new ESP sensor and a windscreen washer motor - £600 of work!! How they dream these prices up I don't know.

Anyway, the car was ex demo when I bought it and was bought from Audi in Apr 2002, in S Ireland. You would think the 2 year warranty runs from when the car was bought, as with any other good or service. But no, not with Audi - apparently they say the warranty starts from when the vehicle was imported. In this case originally into S Ireland (Oct 2001) and will not pay out on the car. I'm still onto them and am not giving up without a fight (even considering Watchdog!) and the people who bought the car originally from Audi are also on at them but I just wondered has anyone heard of this before? Looks to me like they are trying to pull a fast one as I've already felt the dealers here have it in for people that import their cars and don't pay the full UK price..

 

[MingBluS3]

i dunno mate, mines is an import from Germany, it came with extended 3 yrs warranty and i've had no problems yet.

sept 2001 it was imported and it expires sept 2004.

I really dont think they will change there minds, at the end of the day you bought a second hand car which had already been on the road and the warranty would have begun the day it was driven out of the showroom or when it was registered, it sounds totally normal to me.

And i thought that all imports only came with 1 yr warranty unless you had it extended yourself.

good luck anyway mate

 

[pwnorman]

Mine's an import and the stealers told me that anything registerd after march 2002 got the same 3 year warrant as uk cars. But the warranty starts as soon as the owner drives off in the car think its pretty much the same for all makes of car. I'll be checking again with the stealers in the morning to be 100% sure about mine having 3 years waranty though, alredy asked them twice but you can never trust them.

 

[garethj]

The two year warranty will run from the day the car was put on the road, any warranty past that (like the UK third year) is paid for by the dealer. You are highly unlikely to get Audi to cough up the full amount but you may be able to get the original dealer to pay part and Audi pay another part as a goodwill gesture. Get the original dealer to talk to Audi and see if they can broker a deal.

 

[jbinks]

Um.. may have left out a crucial part of the story there actually, I've just realised - oops /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif I bought the car from a guy in Belfast who had bought the car brand new from Audi in Dublin in Apr 2002, so even though it's me that has the car now, the first time it left the forecourt at any dealer was then - April 2002. They are trying to say that the warranty should not run from then but from when it was imported.. and you know the rest from my confused rambling in the original post.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[garethj]

In which case Audi don't seem to have a leg to stand on, looks like you need to open the Yellow pages under S.

 

[MingBluS3]

i got my first S3 in belfast and it was a UK car on a Irish plate, if its was registered in northen ireland then it's not classed as an import.