Rejecting an S3

Do dealers do a test drive as part of the PDI process? I know the cars at my local dealers are not always stored on site and are driven up from a storage facility 4 miles away. Once that takes place the car is open to whatever the road throws at it. I can imagine the cars get driven very sympathetically (cough)......
 
Yes there is a short roadtest as part of the PDI

After which the mileage gets reset ;)
 
But they often forget to reset the 'trip 2' counter, which is one of the things you can check at handover.
 
cemerson said:
I thought you have to give them 3 chances to rectify it before you can reject a car? Not sure though.
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This may be true if I had seen the defects after driving the car for a few days but the car never left the showroom.
 
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It was on the PDI road test that my 8P got damaged... That's why I'm demanding that my new one has zero road miles. Only delivery miles. And no waxing/polishing - just a gentle wash after the transport wrapping comes off...
 
My car had its total delivery mileage recorded on the pdi and only 16 miles was on it when I collected the car...
 
Just had an email from the Audi dealer stating that he has spoken to Audi UK and thinks that they should be given the chance to spray the car and make it perfect for me.
He said he's happy to let me walk away from the car and return my £2500 deposit but if I pursue the £750 I lost for having to pay the paint protection company to install film on a car I couldn't except then he will withhold all my deposit as a cancellation.
 
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Nothing like a bit of dealer blackmail is there. Rather cheeky really I think. Weigh it up in your own head. This is your decision to make now. I personally would give them the chance to re spray but that's just me. I can still understand it thought of you get your deposit back and start again
 
PembsA3 said:
It was on the PDI road test that my 8P got damaged... That's why I'm demanding that my new one has zero road miles. Only delivery miles. And no waxing/polishing - just a gentle wash after the transport wrapping comes off...
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It's the "gentle" wash that will do the damage.
 
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Did you pay the deposit on credit card? You can easily get it back if so. I would definitely throw the word blackmail into your response and let them know you think it's disgraceful they would try such a tactic. At the end of the day they should be delivering you a perfect car, and the fact that they didn't has put you out of pocket - it's up to them to remedy that. If they wanted to avoid having to pay for that, they should have picked this up during the PDI and sorted it. They were clearly trying to get away with delivering a sub-standard car and that's not on.

You should give them a chance to remedy it though - demanding a whole new car because of a paint defect isn't reasonable when they are offering to fix it. If they fix it and botch the fix, you can keep refusing delivery, but offering to sort it out is reasonable on their part.

I would still persue the £750 though - at the end of the day you are out of pocket because of their shoddy PDI, so you shouldn't be liable for that cost.
 
veeeight said:
Yes there is a short roadtest as part of the PDI

After which the mileage gets reset ;)
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So the small amount of mileage you normally see on the odometer of a new car isn't the from the factory and PDI tests? They reset it after this then drive it again? Or does the 'special' reset only reset some of the mileage?

---

Going to request that nobody drives mine. I don't mind so much people having a look etc, as It would have been nice to see some of the options that I couldn't when I ordered, perhaps it'll help someone else out. Just wondering if there's a way to check that it's not been test driven.

Interestingly last time I spoke to Audi UK they said that dealers aren't allowed to let people drive customer orders (kinda obvious, but nice to have clarity). Interestingly, they also have to turn the PDI around within 48 hours of delivery.

Cheers.
 
w.h.i.p.p.e.t said:
So the small amount of mileage you normally see on the odometer of a new car isn't the from the factory and PDI tests? They reset it after this then drive it again? Or does the 'special' reset only reset some of the mileage?
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This is the mileage done from build, off the assembly track, onto the rolling road, around the factory ground, onto the train, off the train, into the yard, out of the yard, onto the boat, off the boat, into the yard, out of the yard, onto the transporter, off the transporter, into another holding yard, out of the yard, and finally the PDI mileage.

As long as it's under 100km, the dealer can reset this. Thereafter it might be mileage for a final check, and to the filling station.
 
I can see how this could happen. I had booked a test drive for Feb 28 - in hindsight not a great date given the March 1st madness but they gladly took the booking. I turned up - the rep had forgotten and after sitting around for a bit another rep came out and we went out in a 3 door (I had spent some time requesting a 5 door to test) that was to be delivered the following day. I didn't cane it but even so the roads I took it on during the brief test could easily have thrown up a stone or whatever.
 
veeeight said:
This is the mileage done from build, off the assembly track, onto the rolling road, around the factory ground, onto the train, off the train, into the yard, out of the yard, onto the boat, off the boat, into the yard, out of the yard, onto the transporter, off the transporter, into another holding yard, out of the yard, and finally the PDI mileage.

As long as it's under 100km, the dealer can reset this. Thereafter it might be mileage for a final check, and to the filling station.
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Yes, so any mileage on the clock at pickup is dealer mileage.

What I meant was, surely if someone was going to test drive it they'd probably reset it after that (as they only get one go?) so then they'd have to go out again to put 'some' miles on the clock. Bit naughty really.
 
oedipus said:
I can see how this could happen. I had booked a test drive for Feb 28 - in hindsight not a great date given the March 1st madness but they gladly took the booking. I turned up - the rep had forgotten and after sitting around for a bit another rep came out and we went out in a 3 door (I had spent some time requesting a 5 door to test) that was to be delivered the following day. I didn't cane it but even so the roads I took it on during the brief test could easily have thrown up a stone or whatever.
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In a customer's new car? Wow, that sucks!
 
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cemerson said:
Did you pay the deposit on credit card? You can easily get it back if so. I would definitely throw the word blackmail into your response and let them know you think it's disgraceful they would try such a tactic. At the end of the day they should be delivering you a perfect car, and the fact that they didn't has put you out of pocket - it's up to them to remedy that. If they wanted to avoid having to pay for that, they should have picked this up during the PDI and sorted it. They were clearly trying to get away with delivering a sub-standard car and that's not on.

You should give them a chance to remedy it though - demanding a whole new car because of a paint defect isn't reasonable when they are offering to fix it. If they fix it and botch the fix, you can keep refusing delivery, but offering to sort it out is reasonable on their part.

I would still persue the £750 though - at the end of the day you are out of pocket because of their shoddy PDI, so you shouldn't be liable for that cost.
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I would expect Audi terms and conditions to be clear regarding responsibility for costs of third parties.
Will likely be classed as consequential and they will have no legal liability towards it.
They might offer to throw in a few freebies to soften the blow, but you'll be extremely lucky to get them to pay the lost cost, the OP is better trying to negotiate with the paint protection company to reduce the cost when the time comes to do the install again (which I assume was a minimal part of the £750 anyway).
 
balsaq said:
Surely that's a big no no? Was this a brand new car?
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I test drove a A7 BE that was in the showroom and was being collected the next day.
Added 15 miles to it.
If a salesman has a sniff of a sale, they will use whatever is at their disposal to go after it.
 
Really sorry to hear of your agro in relation to your car its no excuse but the dealer has to roadtest your car after PDI to ensure everything is right plus they would have had to fuel the car ready for you to collect. The tell tale sign would be the mileage on the clock but dont be to disheatened if this is in the region of 40 miles as this is generally the average now that they come from the factory however again i hasten to add this would be mileage driven at speed or on the public highways. As for the defect in the paint there are no excuses for that I could go on about the pressures the sale men go through at this time of year and that he whole of the network have been waiting for new cars to be delivered from the factory but someone should have picked up on that unless it was just an unfortunate case of poor lighting. If the dealer genuinely cares about you as a customer they should bend over backwards to help you and im sure they could resolve the issues without you being able to tell. Remember the brand doesnt want customers they want "fans of the brand" and lets be honest thats what you and all the other members on this site are. we are fans of the brand. I really hope you et this sorted as the way you have specced your car would make an absolutely awesome motor!! Best of luck!!!!
 
Just to clear this up the dealer is unable to reset any of the mileages on the car other than the ones the end user can. The only way to potentially adjust the mileage would be to replace the dash insert on average the cost of this would be £750 just for the part. A lot of money just to change a mileage.
 
CraigI said:
I test drove a A7 BE that was in the showroom and was being collected the next day.
Added 15 miles to it.
If a salesman has a sniff of a sale, they will use whatever is at their disposal to go after it.
Click to expand...

Had the exact same experience. Given the keys to a brand new A1 that was customer order waiting for March 1st collection couple of years ago. Just slapped on some trades plates and the salesman accompanied me. They went round the back and got it from storage.

Didn't think twice about it at the time but feel some guilt now.
 
Matthaden said:
Just to clear this up the dealer is unable to reset any of the mileages on the car other than the ones the end user can. The only way to potentially adjust the mileage would be to replace the dash insert on average the cost of this would be £750 just for the part. A lot of money just to change a mileage.
Click to expand...

You can perform a one-off mileage adjustment using VAS or VCDS as long as the total original mileage hasn't exceeded 100km.
You can also read the original "true" mileage off the ECU as it was, before the one-off adjustment .
 
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Makes you wonder if anyone drove mine before I did (other than PDI, factory & transport people I mean)
 
oedipus said:
I can see how this could happen. I had booked a test drive for Feb 28 - in hindsight not a great date given the March 1st madness but they gladly took the booking. I turned up - the rep had forgotten and after sitting around for a bit another rep came out and we went out in a 3 door (I had spent some time requesting a 5 door to test) that was to be delivered the following day. I didn't cane it but even so the roads I took it on during the brief test could easily have thrown up a stone or whatever.
Click to expand...

When we went to see our A3 I noticed 5 door A3 S line in Daytona going out for a test drive. I looked at the number plate and... luckily my wife has managed to stop me before I've jumped in front of the car. The car had nearly identical number plate (last letter was different - but only my wife has noticed the difference), I guess the thought of MY car being test driven got me a bit paranoid :)
 
My Black 8V A3 has been back twice now and looks worse now than it did to start off with! It was delivered to me with scratches on a few panels, so i notified them and the lease company. It went back after a few weeks for rectification, came back to me over a week later with many of the scratches still evident. Also some additional scratches, and paint blemishes because it turned out they had sprayed one of the doors.
It went back the second time and attempted to polish out the defects and blemishes and spray additional areas (side skirt). When it returned i was heartbroken, it had more scratches from the buffing, flat areas of paint, overspray and in the sunlight it looks as if it has been attacked with a scouring pad.
The lease company has sent an idependant assessor to view and report on the car, he was in agreement that a new car should not look this bad!
This report was sent to the Audi dealer who is having the car back for the third time to assess themselves. Not Happy so far with Audi service. The car itself is lovely but the issues it has leave me with a sour taste. However annoyingly it has developed a rattle which is frustating me even more.
 
That's an appalling tale. You should log this with Audi UK.
 
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