hi there

just over 3 weeks ago I bought a 2004 Audi a4.Igot an AA inspection carried out, for piece of mind. Now, I LOVE this car. I have wanted one for ages and am so pleased with it...... well I was until the oil pressure light kept coming on and beeping at me. to cut a long story short the oil pump in the sump is broken and the repair bill is almost £900!

I have contacted the dealer to explain the problem and told him I dont want to return the car (not that it can drive anywhere anyway - its stuck in the garage until parts come)

I would much rather deal with it on a "friendly level" rather than making threats. what are my rights? should I be looking to reclaim the entire cost of repair or is this un reasonable? Im waiting to hear back from the dealer, but would like to not sound like a gibbering idiot when I do!

should also mention that the AA insection does not cover the part which is faulty.

any ideas on how to proceed would be great

many thanks

You must give them the opportunity to repair the car, which they can insist they do, they will have to recover it. or with their agreement get it repaired locally and they will pay, but doubt they will do that as it will cost them more; alternatively reject the car, not fir for purpose and ask for money back.

Thanks for the reply

Sorry, I left out quite a major piece of info in my opening post. I am in Essex but I bought the car from Scotland. as the car risks the Engine totally seizing if it is driven it would have to be taken on a low loader all the way back to return to the seller.

for that reason I dont think he will want to recover the car.

really hoping he will stump up for repair

Would you like to name the dealer Alex (or give very good clue) as im' presently prepairing a dossier on a dealer who repeatedly rips the public off here in Scotland, and intend to give my findings to the authorities. If dealer offers to repair, then fair enough, but the one i am thinking about will try and wriggle out of their responsibilities. What warranty was given with car? Mind you, it's very difficult, if not impossible to know when an oil pump is going to pack up. Best wishes.

I would first take it to a reasonable sized garaage and ask them to test the oil pressure before condemning the pump. The pressure switch could just be faulty.

You do need a garage that can remove the switch and put a test guage in it's place.

strangely, my Seat Leon which this car was bought to replace has a dodgy oil pressure switch, so I thought I was jinxed and history was repeating itself! faulty switch was my own first thought.

I took it to an audi main dealer on tuesday, where they have done diagnostics on it and the oil pump is the problem.

they are keeping it there waiting for parts. if I end up out of pocket doing it myself, thats what I will have to do. I cant be without a car for work and am getting by for a few days with lifts to the office and train journeys to meetings. Added problem that I have 3 kids and its the school holidays!!!

thank you for the offer to name and shame, although I dont think it will be the same dealer, this is a small independant? I would like to give it a chance to sort it out amicably first. there was no warrenty given with the car, although what I have read seems to say that the sale of goods act covers you for 4 weeks at least........ it all seems a fairly grey area.

the car cost almost £8000, so its a fair sized percentage to put on the price. to make matters worse I saved and bought it outright so as you can imagine the final push has drained all reserves for such a big repair bill

thanks for all your suggestions and advice

Alex

A car valued at £8000 should surely have a warranty. If vendor won't pay for all repair costs then you have an excellent case under SOGA, which is fairly straight forward. By sending car to local Audi dealer, unless by prior consent of vendor, you may have invalidated any chance of claim under SOGA. You can only hope that a letter from Audi dealer will convince dealer to pay up. Because you chose Audi agent, who use a phone book to get numbers to put on invoice, you may well find that if vendor offers anything at all, it will be what an ordinary garage would have charged to supply & fit new pump. As a last hope---long shot, you may get help from consumer direct under "Car not fit for purpose". Keep us posted as to how you get on.

I know what you mean about the prices:eek:

We didnt even think about the permission from Vendor. the oil light was on, so was the engine management light, the car couldnt be driven at all. I have left it at a place near my work as I couldnt risk driving it home. As I said, I really cant be without my car for work and needed it fixed ASAP

To be honest, everything has been so busy and I love the car, It was only that evening that I realised I had only had it 3 weeks!

had it been a faulty switch, I would probably just have paid up.

He still has not got back to me 2 days on now, so not looking very good.

will keep you updated on how I go.

Thanks again

Hi all

finally got a reply......... but it was not good. A lot of abuse and then he hung up on me!

he says being in the motor trade for 20 years he knows his rights and that Im not due a penny.

Happen to have a friend at the company I work who has a degree in law who said he will take it on for me BUT, consumer law is not his thing, let alone cars! he does at least know how the system works

So, opinions folks! before I throw a lot more time and money at this, do you think its worth doing?

many thanks

Alex

What was the oil pressure at any given rev as diagnosed by the Audi Dealer?

How many miles has the car covered?

the oil pressure was at 2.2 and it should of been at between 3.5 and 4.0 according to Audi. The car has done about 68,000 miles

whats the verdict Conniff??

Sorry Alex, I am a sceptic and don't trust dealers any more that the man under the railway arches, I was too long in the business.

They should have given you a chart starting at tickover and then up by 1,000 to running speed at about 3,000 revs.

They want the business as does anyone now. Personally, I would go in and ask to see the equipment they tested it on and ask 'how' the test was conducted.

I know that all mechanical things can fail including oil pumps, but they are rare as they are so swamped in oil. It's usually wear on the end plate and the replacement of a shim to a thinner one or a rub on an oilstone is usually all it requires.

Pressure switches on the otherhand are ten a penny and not reliable.

Before you condemn it and take out a remortgage to pay for this new oil pump, I would want to be certain that is what it is.

I believe that the seller is responsible, but if you should end up having to fork out the money from your pocket, first I would go to Halfords and buy a capillary type oil guage and remove the pressure switch and screw this on in it's place. They usually come with an adaptor so that you can screw the pressure switch back in.

They are accurate enough to do the job.

ah... good to see a fellow sceptic.

I too didnt quite believe it myself, but searching for possibilities I found it was a common problem for this engine and car to have the oil pumps fail. something to do with the build of the engine and the oil getting too hot against the turbo, it causes the oil to become gunky (for want of a technical term!) and ruin the pump. In America it is seen as a fault and the engine has a warrenty of 8 years....... unfortunatly not in the UK.

only synthetic oil should be used and regular oil changes are needed.

I also phoned the Audi dealer closest to my home to talk to him about the verdict and he was confident it was the problem. The pressure switch should not cause the engine management light to come on.

thanks for your input, it is much appreciated

Alex. Surely you got a warranty with an £8000 car? The way you have been treated by this dealer, you should give great consideration in reporting him to TS. I personally wouldn't think twice about sueing the B-----D.

No warranty at all.

It has not come from a main dealer, but an independant place that offered no warranty. not knowing about cars I thought I was being clever getting the AA to do a full check on it but they only check what they can see (parts wise).

I thought i had taken all the steps to be a clever car buyer, but it turns out thats not the case. Did the HPI check and the VOSA checks.......... didnt get me anywhere, just cost me more money.

On that note, Im going to go for it! He ignored me for well over a week, emails and calls. Strangely an unknown mobile number to call rather than my own home, office or mobile and he is there after all.

Will keep you up to date on how things go. in the meantime, if anyone has anything to add that may be of use I would be very grateful

thanks again

Alex

Alex, i can assure you, you do have some protection. It is impossible for a dealer no matter what size of operation to sell a vehicle without some protection for the customer, even if the dealer emphasised that the car was "sold as seen". Never mind £8000, it would apply to £800. Have you been in touch with TS or Citizens Advice?

not as yet, But it is my next step.

I wanted to give the dealer a chance (thinking he may of been on holiday) but Friday was the first day I spoke to him. I thought I would try calling consumer direct as a first port of call and see where I go from there.

he seems to sell allsorts, from fiesta's to ferrari's, but does not offer a warranty. In fairness to him, he wasnt to know there was a problem but that does not excuse his behaviour since finding out. I hadnt even demanded 100% of the bill, just ask that he call me to discuss coming to an agreement between ourselves

thanks

Alex

There will be some sort of warranty given the time you've had it. In the first instance do check the oil pressure switch. They are notorious on Volkswagen Audi Group engines for failing. Tell tale signs are puddles of oil under the car.

Secondly, get it to a reputable garage. Can you say where in Essex you are as I can recommend some who will take it on and look after you.

Thirdly, if Audi have a service campaign for this failure in the states, it is highly likely it exists around the world. I have a contact at VAG UK who will confirm. It seems like the BMW bore wear problem which they obviously denied but fixed anyway.

Otherwise, as Scania suggests reject the car.

Alexandra, your story is very similar to my own! I bought a 2002 Kia Sedona on 17th July from a garage in Halifax, about 25 miles from my home. It broke down in the outside lane of the motorway in pouring rain on the way home from collecting it! I thought initially that it was out of fuel, so sheepishly called the AA and got towed off the motorway to a filling station.

The following day (Saturday) it kept losing power and overheating, spitting hot water everywhere, so I called the dealer. He swore it had been perfect all week and that he’d been running around in it, and asked me to take it up to him on the Sunday.

Sunday, I checked the oil and water and set off. It behaved perfectly! All afternoon, he had it running, had me driving it around town trying to reproduce the fault and nothing! On the way home, it broke down again, same fault. I called him and he refused to do anything, saying to drive it home and take it a local garage Monday morning. The garage was one he recommended.

I left it with them, and had a call later to say the cylinder head gasket had gone. I called the dealer, he asked me to pay half, I told him I couldn’t because I had no money, so he said he’d “sort it”. After several attempts to speak to him that day I finally got hold of him about 7.30pm. He said he’d arranged to have it collected by his local garage and he’d get the job done cheaper.

I begrudgingly hired a car. Fast forward 2 weeks, I collected the car from the garage; the dealer again asked me to pay half. I told him I couldn’t, and that either he paid or just gave me a full refund and I’d go buy another car. He mumbled something about it having been done, and off I went.

A week later, it broke down AGAIN! We were about 40 miles from home, late at night, freezing cold, with all the kids in the car. I got the AA to recover us home again. This time there had been a rattling then smoke poured out from under the bonnet.

I called him the following morning to tell him what had happened, and saying that under the SOGA I wanted to reject the vehicle. His response was that the SOGA was b@ll@cks and that he’d just spent £400 on a repair. I was at my wit’s end so arranged to have it repaired locally.

It’s still in my local garage, fuel injector was apparently blown and am now faced with another £500 repair bill. In the five weeks I’ve owned the car, it’s been on the road a week. I work 40 miles from home so can’t get to work without a car. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I should proceed? I paid £2,495 cash.

Hi all

just to update really. The car is fixed and running perfectly! very thankfull to have the car back.

I wanted to thank you all for your offers for help and ideas re. a garage, please dont think I have ignored it. I weighed up my options taking into account the diagnostics I would have to pay for at the origional Audi garage, cost of moving to another place and time without my car and decided to go ahead with the repair where it was. if I had wanted to keep the option of rejecting the car, I couldnt of used it. added problem that I have holiday booked to visit family and further delays would of forced me to hire a car. Of course repairs have been paid for by myself.

I have sent another letter to the dealer that sold the car but have yet to recieve any repy. I have said I will pursue it through the court if required. I have sent copies of the invoice and given until Friday for a response.

As Im a member of the RAC I called them and they were quite helpful. I realise that he should of been given the option to fix the car himself or nominate a garage, but as he was at first ignoring me and then refuses to accept any responsibility I felt I had no option but to proceed with repair and then reclaim costs.

will let you know how I get on, but as it stands it looks like I am going down the long messy route to recover some of the money.....

Scarlett - I really feel for you and hope these lovely people can offer you some great advice too! will be very interested to see how you get on

alex

Thanks Alex. Glad you're sorted. I'm lucky that I can pay the bill and chase the dealer later; I'd have been in a fix if that wasn't an option! Consumer Direct were less than useless, telling me to give him the car back and put everything in writing. Meanwhile, all I was wondering was what the heck do I drive in the meantime?