Screeeech!

[trims]

My new A3 SB TDI Quattro arrived Wednesday. Its back in the garage already.

Driving home last night I noticed an faint intermittent high pitched metallic scrape / whine from the back of the car. Then over the speed bumps approaching home there was a clanky metallic sound followed by some loud metal-on-metal screeching. Speed dependent but not related to brake use. Intermittent. Looked under the back of the car, but nothing seemed to be adrift to my untutored eye.

Any offers - wheel bearing? Something scraping on drive shaft? Haldex??

Dealer can't look at it 'til Monday, so its Shanks' Pony for first week of SB ownership.

 

[stewarta13wsb]

Your new car packed up within a week and the dealer didn't find you a loan car??? How shoddy is that

 

[Nelson_R32]

Your new car packed up within a week and the dealer didn't find you a loan car??? How shoddy is that

You can't expect a Centre to just 'find' a car when a breakdown turns up unannounced. Besides which its Customer Cares job to find a vehicle for the Customer so they should be sorting it out.

 

[stewarta13wsb]

Take your point but I'd have thought they'd have a courtesy car lurking somewhere, or a demonstrator, or even at a push one of the salesmen's cars!

For what Trims will have spent on that new one he deserves something in its place - he certainly shouldn't be on foot!

 

[Nelson_R32]

Take your point but I'd have thought they'd have a courtesy car lurking somewhere, or a demonstrator, or even at a push one of the salesmen's cars!

You'd think that; but I've been working at an Audi Centre for 5 years now and theres NEVER a spare vehicle when you need to use one and it's the same no matter where you go. If Courtesy Service Vehicles are booked up 2 weeks in advance the chances of having one spare for a Customer are slim to none.

The Roadside Assistance person should've explained the process to trims when the car was recovered If not Phone Roadside Assistance because you are entitled to 48 hours use of a Courtesy Vehicle; from then on its up to the Dealer to supply a vehicle.

 

[Vertigo1]

TBH if my new car had failed that soon I'd be expecting Audi to pick up the bill for a hire car if they didn't have one of their own to lend me!

 

[coupe-se]

My new A3 SB TDI Quattro arrived Wednesday. Its back in the garage already.

Driving home last night I noticed an faint intermittent high pitched metallic scrape / whine from the back of the car. Then over the speed bumps approaching home there was a clanky metallic sound followed by some loud metal-on-metal screeching. Speed dependent but not related to brake use. Intermittent. Looked under the back of the car, but nothing seemed to be adrift to my untutored eye.

Any offers - wheel bearing? Something scraping on drive shaft? Haldex??

Dealer can't look at it 'til Monday, so its Shanks' Pony for first week of SB ownership.

If that had happened to me, I would have left the delership with a loan car. I wouldn't have cared if it was a demonstrator being used by a salesman, but I would have driven out.

If they had refused or said it wasn't possible, I would have rejected the car and asked for a refund in no uncertain terms.

For you to spend that much money on a 'Premium' brand car and get service like that is completely unacceptable.

Hope you get it sorted quickly mate!!

 

[trims]

In fairness to the dealer I didn't turn up until 2pm, after the service department had closed. Their courtesy cars for servicing are booked up two weeks in advance and I couldn't expect to deprive someone booked in for service on Monday. I've emailed a detailed account of the problem (I suspect its a wheel bearing) and hopefully they'll fix it on Monday. I've asked for an alternative vehicle if its going to take any longer as I need a car for work. If this is not forthcoming I think I shall then be in a position to make a fuss.

As I work in a 'consumer facing' industry I'm fairly sanguine about this. It isn't the dealer's fault that Audi have delivered a duff vehicle, so there's no point in getting angry with them. Equally, given the complexity of modern vehicles, I guess Audi are bound to get occasional duff parts from their suppliers, however good their quality control is. Its just intensely disappointing for this 'consumer'.

I appreciate this forum btw - excellent counselling for a disappointed newbie!

 

[coupe-se]

You spent a serious amount of money at their dealership and I'd expect them to do all they could to give you a temporary in light of the car only being a few days old.

My dealer provided me with a loan car for 5 days at a few hours notice when there was a problem tranfering my private reg to my new car. They didn't have to supply a vehicle but appreciated the hassle it would cause me if they didn't ............ ie tax ran out on my px vehicle and would need to be re-taxed for the sake of 4 days and transfer my insurance back to my px vehicle.

Fingers crossed its very minor and back with you soon.

 

[Vertigo1]

As I said, if they don't have a car they should tell you to hire one from Hertz or Avis or whoever and pass them the bill.

 

[steve184]

nelson its exactly ur stinky attitude that makes my blood boil about grages in general!!!!!! My brand new audi broke down the day after i took deliver back in 2004 and it went into the garage and they said they cudnt look at it for 3 days and no courtesy car... wrong answer: i just paid over £23k for a car and i when it breaks im within my right to DEMAND a courtesy car. I don't care about your dealers stupid money saving 'have one less courtesy car available than you need' technique just to keep costs as 'lean as possible' i just want putting on the road immediately.

Funny tho cos there was one occasion when i was having some work done on a sat morning and they couldnt finish the job that day and they found me a car straight away so there obviously are spare courtesy cars for last minute emergencies and so there should be!!!!

 

[A3simon]

I have had this noise before it is just a small stone between the brake disc and splash guard. Or ir was for me it was a very high pitched screech noise all you do is bend the splash guard back a touch.

As for the dealer my one did this to me when i took my dads a6 in they said i was too young even though i bought a new a3 a couple days before. They offered to give me a lift into town but that was it. I told him if my car ever comes in i will demand a courtesy car or take the car elsewhere

 

[Nelson_R32]

nelson its exactly ur stinky attitude that makes my blood boil about grages in general!!!!!!

Did you even bother to read my posts? I said the customer is entitled to a vehicle; just not from the Centre your car gets recovered to. But from Audi UK/Roadside Assistance. If you don't like what I'm saying, please refer all complaints to;

Audi UK
Yeomans Dv
Milton Keynes
MK14 5AN

To suggest that not being able to supply Courtesy cars to Customers is money saving is frankly ludicrious. At the end of the day as someone else said on here. How would you feel if you had waited two weeks for a Service and Courtesy Car and when you got there the car wasn't because 'we had an emergency'. I would do my nut if that happened to me.

If your week-old car is recovered to your supplying Centre then chances are that they will find a car for you while its in the Workshop. But the Official Process is for Monodial/RAC/Audi UK (whoever does Roadside Assistance now; can't remember at this precise moment, too early in the morning!) to Hire you an Audi for 48 hours, then in that time the Centre has either already repaired your car or has time to find you a car.

and they found me a car straight away so there obviously are spare courtesy cars

Most Service departments only have a limited workload on Saturdays due to only being open 1/2 day. So they would nearly always be able to supply one if you were recovered on a Saturday morning; usually only if you returned the car on the Monday morning though.

The reason trims probably didn't get one of these spare cars at the time is he arrived there when the Service Department was closed and the Sales Department wouldn't be allowed (or probably don't even have access to the keys) to just give a Customer a car without permission of the Servicing Department.

 

[Nelson_R32]

For your reference though; the only breakdowns I've ever had on one of my cars was my SEAT Ibiza Cupra TDi which broke down 5 times in the time I owned it. I only once got a Courtesy Car through the AA and I immedeatly took that back to Avis car Rental because they delivered a Kia Picanto.

I told them I'd rather walk, which I promptly did; back to work...

 

[trims]

Thanks A3 Simon - I do hope its something this trivial. Sounded more expensive somehow. Will feel a bit of a plonker if that's all it is!

 

[steve184]

no - actually when you buy a car the contract of sale is between the supplying dealer NOT the manufacturer or manufactureres representative (in theis Case Audi UK) as per the sale of goods act they are legally responsible for all problems relating to that sale - had this pushed into my face one or two times by Audi CS - come on nelson you cant have it both ways just when it suits.

Its down to the dealer to ensure they have enough courtesy cars to cover bookings and last minute needs such as this - if they don't do this then they are not providing a satisfactory service - as i said in an earlier post - if my car breaks down within a few days of collecting it like this (which it did) i will EXPECT a courtesy car there or then no questions answered - or as another person has said a FULL REFUND - make your choice - but what is ludicrous is to expect a customer who has just spent thousands to be inconvenienced in ANY way.

 

[Nelson_R32]

no - actually when you buy a car the contract of sale is between the supplying dealer NOT the manufacturer or manufactureres representative (in theis Case Audi UK) as per the sale of goods act they are legally responsible for all problems relating to that sale - had this pushed into my face one or two times by Audi CS - come on nelson you cant have it both ways just when it suits.

But why should this even matter when it's Audi UK's responsibility to its Centre's to supply vehicles to Customers off-road? You're confusing Process with your own personal experience. Many people buy there vehicles 100's of miles away from where they live; so what good is the Sales and Supply of goods act when it gets recovered to your nearest Audi Centre whom you did not purchase the vehicle from? That's why Audi UK offer the 48 hour Courtesy vehicle when your vehicle breaks down. As you said the contract is with your Supplying Dealer, that doesn't mean every Dealer.

Its down to the dealer to ensure they have enough courtesy cars to cover bookings and last minute needs such as this - if they don't do this then they are not providing a satisfactory service - as i said in an earlier post - if my car breaks down within a few days of collecting it like this (which it did) i will EXPECT a courtesy car there or then no questions answered - or as another person has said a FULL REFUND - make your choice - but what is ludicrous is to expect a customer who has just spent thousands to be inconvenienced in ANY way.

We could debate on the 'not providing a good enough service because of lack of cars' comment all night. But the fact is our Centre could put another 5 vehicles as Courtesy Cars on our fleet tomorrow and there STILL wouldn't be enough, where do you stop?

Most cars supplied to Customers by Audi UK after a recovery are delivered within to 2-3 hours. I'm sure we'd all like to walk into our Centres after a breakdown to be greeted by a female Service Advisor with massive knockers holding a set of RS4 keys. But it the real world that just doesn't happen...

 

[ianspibs]

I've had a couple of breakdowns and found that if you try booking in to a dealer they don't have a courtesy car available at short notice due to the number of advance bookings.
Ringing Audi Roadside Assist means you get the car checked out sooner than the dealer can look at it, they will fix it there and then if they can, if not they will arrange for a courtesy car.
They arranged one for me at midnight beacause I had to leave home at 5am one morning and drive to London. (The guy from the hire car company actually apologised because they only had a Mondeo to replace my A3, even though he had been dragged out of bed).

What I am getting at is, if something is causing so much concern that you don't drive your car then you should call Audi Assist rather than waiting to take it to your dealer 3 days later. If they decide to tow it into the dealer you will definately get a replacement vehicle.
Yes, you would expect your dealer to sort things out for you when you had just bought a car from them but I expect it just isn't possible at short notice.

 

[trims]

Pleased to report a happy ending.

A3simon wins the prize for diagnosing the fault - it was indeed a stone caught between the left rear disc and guard.

Will also follow advice from the list and call Audi Roadside Assist next time something like this happens. They could probably have fixed it on Friday.

Thanks for all your help guys (and gals).

Back to enjoying the new motor now harmony restored. :thumbsup:

 

[Nelson_R32]

Glad to here you got it all sorted. I remember a stone got stuck it my brakes at JBS; scared the hell out of me! Especially as I was about a 7 hour drive from home!