Audi Goodwill gesture

[SteveF1]

After liaising with Audi UK regarding my issues (MMI, warning lights, jerky engine, flat battery, failed window regulator etc) I requested to reject the car between 30 days and 3 months old.

Audi UK have recently offered me a financial goodwill gesture of £500 to close the complaint. I initially rejected this offer and they came back and asked me to reject the car through my finance company and advised me to get them to work with the sourcing dealer to complete a car change request to Audi UK. They stated this way I could keep my current car until Audi UK sourced me another car I was happy with.

Problem is my finance company have said this is not possible as my deal was sourced through brokers and any rejection through the finance company would entail the car being returned to them within 7 days and a refund of my deposit so I'd be without a car. This option only appears to work for cars bought through VW financial services, not ALD who financed my car.

I have gone back to them to see if they will increase their offer. I know those that have received goodwill gestures have declined to reveal their offers but is my offer in the ballpark of what others have had?

 

[AlS3BE]

I would say £500 is insulting on any Audi car as they are all £20k+.
I rejected a car over 7 years ago with Audi and the offer was more that 12x your offer if I got another car from them but it was all financed and bought through Audi.

 

[auzzam_crd]

Friend of mine (the red 8y from my channel) was offered 10% discount on his monthlies for the next 12 months (£500 in total) with a written guarantee if no fix was available by then he could reject the car.

Unfortunately, he has now handed the keys back as the experience he had with his dealership and Audi UK has been terrible.

 

[SteveF1]

I'm not surprised he rejected it. If I had a second car I would have taken my finance companies hand off and handed the car back and gone to another brand. As it is they know I'm stuck without a car and palming me off with mediocre settlement offers.

Sounds like I need to start a YouTube chanel to highlight theirs and the cars failings to get a better deal or maybe lean on car magazines such as Auto Express etc to see if they'd look into it???

In 2016 I had a brand new A4, the car was absolutely bullet proof, nothing ever went wrong with it so it's not like Audi don't know how to make cars. The sign of a good brand is how they deal with their own faults and complaints....

 

[auzzam_crd]

100% agree!

Its how you handle an issue that sets a company apart in my eyes. Cars will always go wrong at one point or another it's why we have warranty.

But being vague/denying issues exist is what drive me up the wall.

The 8y was our first venture into the Audi world, but the dealerships I've dealt with have put me off.

I just hope I won't be needing to go in much.

As for the mmi issues you're facing, have you tried to log in as guest? This dramatically improves the stability

 

[howett]

Both dealership and Audi UK have both been awful in their response to this. From denials to not wishing to disclose what they understand the problem to be. Getting a basic apology has been hard enough. They don't seem too concerned about vehicles being rejected given the demand that's currently there and knowing they will be able to sell them on. I'm working with the media in the hope it will force them to up their game.

 

[Mryolon]

Both dealership and Audi UK have both been awful in their response to this. From denials to not wishing to disclose what they understand the problem to be. Getting a basic apology has been hard enough. They don't seem too concerned about vehicles being rejected given the demand that's currently there and knowing they will be able to sell them on. I'm working with the media in the hope it will force them to up their game.

Agree and have experienced the same.

 

[Tamara023]

I am having the same issues - had the new alternator fitted after the electric system fault and the issue of the car not having the electric seats as per the spec and being delivered with standard seats. My car is also through ALD. Audi offered a one off goodwill gesture of £500 to me as well (I appreciate some people don't want to disclose) I rejected this and they have increased it slightly but by not much and said its their final offer?
Is this the only option I have now to accept it?

 

[Mryolon]

I am having the same issues - had the new alternator fitted after the electric system fault and the issue of the car not having the electric seats as per the spec and being delivered with standard seats. My car is also through ALD. Audi offered a one off goodwill gesture of £500 to me as well (I appreciate some people don't want to disclose) I rejected this and they have increased it slightly but by not much and said its their final offer?
Is this the only option I have now to accept it?

Hey Tamara, sorry to hear you are also having same issues.
You should be able to reject the car due to a mis-build and get full refund.

 

[SteveF1]

I am having the same issues - had the new alternator fitted after the electric system fault and the issue of the car not having the electric seats as per the spec and being delivered with standard seats. My car is also through ALD. Audi offered a one off goodwill gesture of £500 to me as well (I appreciate some people don't want to disclose) I rejected this and they have increased it slightly but by not much and said its their final offer?
Is this the only option I have now to accept it?

There are two ways to deal with this. Firstly you can go through Audi, try your best to strong arm them for a better goodwill gesture but if they aren't for budging go through ALD.

With the finance not being through VWFS we are technically in a stronger position in one way as VWFS try to cover for one of their own brands and know they will ultimately lose out if the cars rejected. This means they are tougher to deal with and I've read they want independent evidence to accept rejections. However, if it's financed through VWFS you are likely to get a better financial goodwill gesture as they balance compensation Vs the loss of value of the car should it have to be sold as used.

For ALD customers, they will not compensate you for a manufacturers failures. They will assess the cars problem (and verify it with the dealer) and if they deem the problems big enough they will accept your rejection and just take the car back without much fuss or burden of proof. I'm told ALD just send the car to auction and sell it, if they lose out financially they record this against the brand and use this to get better deals from manufacturers during their next round of negotiations. If you register a rejection with ALD before the car is 3 months old they should be able to offer you a pro-rata refund of your deposit based on the mileage of the car. If it's beyond 3 months I'm not sure what they will offer you tbf. The problem with this is that if they accept the rejection they usually want the car back within 7 days leaving you without a car. I had 1500 miles on my car when they offered me a rejection and were prepared to give me £850 of my £900 deposit back. This effectively meant I had only paid for 4 months of rentals for the 4 months I'd had it. I felt ALD did really well in dealing with my complaint and didn't expect them to be so generous and willing to take the car back. I think the fact that used car prices are so high at the minute helped as they knew any losses would be fairly small.


I agreed a goodwill figure with Audi about 3 weeks ago but it was only this week that the £750 landed in my account - this is about 10 weeks after initially registering a complaint with Audi UK. I initially refused their offer of £500, I did my best to increase this but they knew (after liaising with ALD) that I could not afford to hand the car back to them as I can't be without a car. Lease prices have also jumped massively since I ordered my car last September, plus wait times are astronomical too. This put negotiations in their favour so after hardballing them the best I could get was £750 or reject the car through ALD. The actual goodwill was paid by the originating dealer who sourced the vehicle for my broker rather than Audi UK so this meant it took longer as it went through various chains of command.

They did offer a car swap which I was told had to be submitted by the finance company. They would request this through the sourcing dealer who would ask Audi UK to find them a car of similar spec and value. Once a car was found that I was happy with they would jus swap the vehicles and I could keep mine while this process took place. However, ALD categorically refused this as they stated the finance and maintenance package I had was tailored to my vehicle and could not be ported over to another one. They explained the process was far too messy and was rejected outright but could be an option for VWFS customers.

My cars in today for the rear window regulator replacement as well as a new alternator as it's not charging the battery. Hopefully this is the last time I see the dealer other than for servicing.

 

[Tamara023]

Also in a catch 22 now, they will accept the rejection but I can't get another car until next year now so have no choice really.

 

[Steve940]

Hand it back and get a cheap runaround....simple

 

[SteveF1]

Also in a catch 22 now, they will accept the rejection but I can't get another car until next year now so have no choice really.

And they know that most of us cannot live without our car and don't want to buy a banger as we wait another 6 months for another factory order. This is why the goodwill gestures appear rather stingy at the minute.