So my story begins at around 1am on the 18 December. Driving back from a night out, I hear a loud screeching sound coming from the engine bay.... seconds later the car looses all power! OMG!! First thing that comes to mind is the cambelt 
Oddly enough residential power on the road I am driving down also goes out at near the same time... so there's a blackout at the same or near split second near, the same time as my car dies..... strange! I'm looking in the skies at this point 
lol!
So I try turn the key and start the engine..... and get back a BIG FAT nothing! Have a look around the engine bay Panic sets in as I am a few miles away from signs of life So I search google on the iphone (thank god for technology) scanning the road on Nav (again thank god 4 tech!) and ordering a cab. Just my luck the RAC membersip I had run out a couple of weeks prior and my lazy *** hadn't got round to renewing as I thought I have a trawl for the best cover from all providers, which I never did... anyway I digress. So I find a cab firm and ask if any of the drivers have jump leads.... Somebody loves me upstairs as low & behold jump leads are available, but the driver with them won't be able to collect me for 45 mins!
As I sit, in the freezing cold unable to use the heating, I ponder my situation over a malboro light
and come to the conclusion that a jump start will not help as power died while the car was moving so I call the cab firm back and ask for immediate pick up it's getting very cold now and I'm tired n ****** off too!
Fast forward to the next morning, RAC membership now in place (+ cost of getting them out for emergency due to lack of cover at time of breakdown) and we have ourselves a diagnosis of the problem the alternator pulley has broken, the end the has the belt has literally come broken off stretching the belt and upon snapping spiraling it off into the unkown
Have a quick search on the way to the garage on the iphone and see a thread on a similar subject here, seems like a simple job to sort at a relatively low cost, so a little relief sets in. As the garage is closing for Xmas and they have a lot on the techs cannot asses the car until after Xmas!! So I has to wait until then to get word back.
Well the relief at finding the thread here re- the alternator pulley was to be short lived as when the car is fully diagnosed by the techs after Xmas they discover that the alternator belt had found its way into the section where the cambelt is housed, resulting in the cambelt being effected, resulting in the engine being damaged glass of water please!
I was utterly dismayed, and totally flabbergasted that such a small problem (or what at first seemed to be pretty straightforward problem) could go on to cause such devastation! Please excuse my bad explanation technically of the resulting damage from the pulley breaking I'm pretty ***** when it comes tech talk.
A week later & few bottles of champagne over news years later... still car less. In the meantime I had contacted my warranty providers to alert them to the problem with fingers crossed that all would be covered. The final diagnosis comes in that a new engine will be required! still no word back from the warranty co. so I am really pacing now... Warranty co. finally send out assessor to inspect the damage and a few days later I am greeted with the first bit of good news re the car in a while. The warranty co is covering the initial problem and all consequential damaged caused. :icon_thumright: Thank god! The bill for the engine, fitting and other bits required was £5500+ I really was relieved to hear that I wouldn't have to shed out for that, trust me!
The new engine is now in the car, and they are road testing it today and tomorrow before they invoice my warranty co, get paid, then give me my car back!! Hopefully this will all take place in the next week as I have now been without car for 1+ months... Had a rental for a bit, which was too costly, so got the bus/ train, as the courtesy car was already out... Just got the courtesy car after 3 weeks without, absolutely ****** about the whole affair but glad the warranty seems to be coming through.
Lessons learned....
1) Have a warranty!!! I cannot stress this enough, as long as my warranty provider does as they say they will- pay for all repairs resulting from consequential damage. Then I have saved £5300 (cost of repair circa £5800 - warranty £500 for year £500) Make sure your warranty covers you for consequential damage.
2) Have breakdown cover!!! If you ever need it you will rue the day you didn't but it. Especially if you are in the middle of nowhere and they charge you an extra £110 on top of regular fee for yearly cover as it's an emergency pick up.
My car is with Russell Automotive, they seem fully capable and have won Audi driver Awards in the previous 3 years for service etc. What they have lacked in my case is communication, I have had to constantly ring for updates and to chase the courtesy car down. Although this is somewhat due to the length it took for the car to be inspected by warranty co. I feel some good will should have been extended prior to this point or at least some sqaure talk - ie: we are awaiting the inspection before releasing the courtesy car or can we have a deposit on the work we will do before releasing... whatever I feel they could have been more forthright with their stance on this.
Comments, violins, pats on the back of sympathy, hell just sympathy in general more than welcome
Oddly enough residential power on the road I am driving down also goes out at near the same time... so there's a blackout at the same or near split second near, the same time as my car dies..... strange! I'm looking in the skies at this point lol! So I try turn the key and start the engine..... and get back a BIG FAT nothing! Have a look around the engine bay Panic sets in as I am a few miles away from signs of life
So I search google on the iphone (thank god for technology) scanning the road on Nav (again thank god 4 tech!) and ordering a cab. Just my luck the RAC membersip I had run out a couple of weeks prior and my lazy *** hadn't got round to renewing as I thought I have a trawl for the best cover from all providers, which I never did... anyway I digress. So I find a cab firm and ask if any of the drivers have jump leads.... Somebody loves me upstairs as low & behold jump leads are available, but the driver with them won't be able to collect me for 45 mins! As I sit, in the freezing cold unable to use the heating, I ponder my situation over a malboro light
and come to the conclusion that a jump start will not help as power died while the car was moving so I call the cab firm back and ask for immediate pick up it's getting very cold now and I'm tired n ****** off too!Fast forward to the next morning, RAC membership now in place (+ cost of getting them out for emergency due to lack of cover at time of breakdown) and we have ourselves a diagnosis of the problem the alternator pulley has broken, the end the has the belt has literally come broken off stretching the belt and upon snapping spiraling it off into the unkown
Have a quick search on the way to the garage on the iphone and see a thread on a similar subject here, seems like a simple job to sort at a relatively low cost, so a little relief sets in. As the garage is closing for Xmas and they have a lot on the techs cannot asses the car until after Xmas!! So I has to wait until then to get word back.
Well the relief at finding the thread here re- the alternator pulley was to be short lived as when the car is fully diagnosed by the techs after Xmas they discover that the alternator belt had found its way into the section where the cambelt is housed, resulting in the cambelt being effected, resulting in the engine being damaged
glass of water please! I was utterly dismayed, and totally flabbergasted that such a small problem (or what at first seemed to be pretty straightforward problem) could go on to cause such devastation! Please excuse my bad explanation technically of the resulting damage from the pulley breaking I'm pretty ***** when it comes tech talk.
A week later & few bottles of champagne over news years later... still car less. In the meantime I had contacted my warranty providers to alert them to the problem with fingers crossed that all would be covered. The final diagnosis comes in that a new engine will be required!
still no word back from the warranty co. so I am really pacing now... Warranty co. finally send out assessor to inspect the damage and a few days later I am greeted with the first bit of good news re the car in a while. The warranty co is covering the initial problem and all consequential damaged caused. :icon_thumright: Thank god! The bill for the engine, fitting and other bits required was £5500+ I really was relieved to hear that I wouldn't have to shed out for that, trust me!The new engine is now in the car, and they are road testing it today and tomorrow before they invoice my warranty co, get paid, then give me my car back!! Hopefully this will all take place in the next week as I have now been without car for 1+ months... Had a rental for a bit, which was too costly, so got the bus/ train, as the courtesy car was already out... Just got the courtesy car after 3 weeks without, absolutely ****** about the whole affair but glad the warranty seems to be coming through.
Lessons learned....
1) Have a warranty!!! I cannot stress this enough, as long as my warranty provider does as they say they will- pay for all repairs resulting from consequential damage. Then I have saved £5300 (cost of repair circa £5800 - warranty £500 for year £500) Make sure your warranty covers you for consequential damage.
2) Have breakdown cover!!! If you ever need it you will rue the day you didn't but it. Especially if you are in the middle of nowhere and they charge you an extra £110 on top of regular fee for yearly cover as it's an emergency pick up.
My car is with Russell Automotive, they seem fully capable and have won Audi driver Awards in the previous 3 years for service etc. What they have lacked in my case is communication, I have had to constantly ring for updates and to chase the courtesy car down. Although this is somewhat due to the length it took for the car to be inspected by warranty co. I feel some good will should have been extended prior to this point or at least some sqaure talk - ie: we are awaiting the inspection before releasing the courtesy car or can we have a deposit on the work we will do before releasing... whatever I feel they could have been more forthright with their stance on this.
Comments, violins, pats on the back of sympathy, hell just sympathy in general more than welcome
