I would be staggered if the warranty is not transferable; the warranty is for the
car, irrespective of whether or not it has been sold on, or if the has the same owner as new and this is an important point.
Now I'm no legal expert, but reading from the service booklet supplied with my motor back in 2002 it reads, as stated, (pardon me for typing this out verbatim, but bear with me!):
"In addition to the warranty terms for new Audi vehicles as specified in the contract of sale, Audi dealers also give a paintwork and body warranty on vehicles
sold by them. In accordance with the relevant legal provisions, this provides:
* 3 years' guarantee from the date of delivery against corrosion-related paint defects, and
* 12 years' guarantee from the date of delivery against rust perforation in the bodywork.
However, should this type of damage occur, it will be repaired free of charge for parts and labour by any Audi dealer #
#Terms of the warranty maybe different in some countries. Your Audi dealer will be able to give you more detailed information
Warranty claims will not be accepted if:
* damage is caused by external factors or inadequate care of the vehicle
* damage to the bodywork or paint has not been repaired promptly
in accordance with the manufacturers requirements.
* or if corrosion damage has resulted from failure to use
Genuine Audi Parts
After completing body or paint repairs, your Audi dealer will confirm that the affected area is still fully covered be the bodywork warranty against rust perforation."
I interpret the "sold by them" part as, at the
initial point of sale (i.e. from new) and the car must have been obtained from an Audi dealership at the initial point of sale; proof of this would be your service handbook, with the relevant Audi stamp in the delivery inspection page. If you have this, then Audi has to honour the paintwork and body warranty as stipulated above, replacing the affected areas at their own cost.
The only sticking points to which Audi could wriggle out of it is if they deem the car to have been repaired, i.e. been in an accident at some point in it's lifetime, or repainted at some point by a non-Audi garage. The key is when it refers to, "in accordance with the manufacturers requirements".
Such repairs would have been stamped accordingly in the "repair record for bodywork warranty" section of your service handbook. I assume that this would only be applicable if this is stamped by an Audi Dealership, and not if it were stamped by say an Independant Audi Specialist...
Although, in my opinion, it could be argued that repairs done by Audi Specialists should also be granted as acceptable - supplying suitable evidence of the repairwork - as they are carried out more often to a higher standard than dealerships. This is particularly relevant for cars that are affected and are more than three years old.
All this apart, you are on much more stronger grounds, if you purchased the car from new. When I complained about a Mini Cooper I purchased brand new in 2002 and encountered so many problems it spent more time in the garage, than on my driveway in the first year of purchase, I demanded the dealership provide me with a new motor.
After they refused to my request, I wrote a letter by recorded delivery to the managing director of Mini and BMW demanding they take action, quoting the Sales of Goods Act and that my car was, in my eyes, unfit for purpose and not of reasonable quality. Within a week, they agreed to my request. In fact, I got a better specced model and a further years free car tax to boot ! It made it almost worthwhile the six months of heartache, fighting BMW and getting a result....!!!
Under the Sales of Goods Act, you can request action to be taken on faulty goods, up to six years in England (five in Scotland) from the point of sale. The fact that Audi's warranty extends up to 12 years for bodywork and 3 years for paint defects, should help bolster a claim under the Sales of Goods Act, as their statement is in affect a guarantee that your Audi - if it meets the criteria above, as stated in your service handbook - should be free from any bodywork defects for 12 years (or 3 years for paintwork) from the original purchase date.
Whether your car encounters such a problem after six months, or 11 years and 11 months under the bodywork warranty, Audi still has a legal obligation to repair and resolve your problem, if all the criteria has been met.
Sorry for the length of this, but I hope the above has been useful and I attach a link that will (hopefully) help under such circumstances. Obviously if you are reading this from the US or any other European country (although Europeans should have a similar law in place), you will need to refer to you own local regulations and laws. All the best.
http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdot...RCES&itemId=1073792597&r.l2=1074400662&r.s=sc