From new Audi Dealership purchased and VWFS financed A4 (June 2019) - now with known CV joint / boot issue - Audi refusing to help. **RESOLVED**

[XR4Y]

I purchased an Audi A4  brand new in June 19 through an Audi Dealer and used Audi finance. Fast forward to March 2021 and I have an issue with the CV joint / boot on the vehicle. It is squeaking / whining under full lock and sounds awful. 
 

The dealer inspected the car and said they have found the noise and can reproduce it (sent to me on Audi cam), however that it is just a characteristic of Audi’s therefore they are not going to repair it, they have also spoke to Audi UK who have said they know about the problem and to basically put up with the noise. 
 

my argument to this was that I was never told my car would do this just under 2 years old, and it certainly wasn’t sold to me as being one of its  characteristics. Therefore the vehicle is not as described. 
 

it should be noted that I have both an email and video from the dealer confirming this is normal behaviour and no further resolution will be made.

To me in law terms means they are refusing to repair a known fault which I believe gives me some legal ground as clearly the fault was there when I bought the car but has taken to now to appear, and if we use their terminology It is a “common” issue with no solution, so a repair would only be a sticky plaster until the fault occurs again? 
 

Where do I legally stand with this, being that Audi Finance have some interest in the vehicle as they own part of it. I have complained to them but they said it will take 8 weeks to look into it. Although the ladies first comment was we will give you £100 compensation or you can proceed with the complaint  

I’m not uploading the video or email here incase it gets used against me. 

Edited April 9, 2021 by XR4Y

[BankFodder]

I have no idea why you would imagine that anything you upload here would be used against you. You should upload the video to YouTube and then post a link to it here so we can fully understand.

I completely agree with you that if this is a known fault that occurs with this particular model of Audi then it is something which they need to address and it shouldn't be your responsibility.

I think you need to find out from an independent source whether it can be fixed or whether it is so inherent to the design that you should replace it with a different vehicle.

I can scarcely believe that all of these Audi vehicles are suffering from this problem. Therefore I imagine that it is a common weakness and some of these models are displaying it and some of them are not. This puts you in an even stronger position.

I suggest that you write to the dealer immediately and tell them that you are putting an independent inspection in hand and that if there is a fee for this then depending on the findings of the inspection you will be looking to them to reimburse you the cost of the inspection as well as repairing the fault.

Get the inspection and a quote for repairs and come back here. Make sure you let Audi know in advance that this is the action you're taking

[XR4Y]

Thanks for the reply. In terms of the inspection that has already been completed by Audi and recorded on video and sent to me. The cover and joint are both replaceable, however they are not willing to do this as it’s a “known” fault and a “ characteristic“. 

 

will upload video when home. 

[BankFodder]

And have you had a quote for the cost of the work? In fact you should get two quotes.

Of course they will say that the car was of satisfactory quality because it is all that a reasonable consumer could have expected from that particular model of vehicle as it is a known fault.

Your position should be that it is not of satisfactory quality for a car and that as an ordinary consumer, you could not have been expected to have known about the particular quirk of this model which you bought.

It would help if you got more than one opinion.

[XR4Y]

Sorry for the late update on this one, things moved much quicker than I ever expected them too. 

 

Short version of it is that I contacted VWFS, and explained the situation late Friday afternoon, I had a call back on Monday morning to say they are looking into it. 

 

Outcome of that investigation came today at mid day, they agree that the vehicle is defective and it cannot be fixed by Audi. As the vehicle is nearly 2 years old they agreed that they would VT the vehicle and cover the £5K shortfall to that and also refund my deposit I paid for the vehicle once it has been collected. 

 

I did quiz them on why a VT, they explained if they went down the complaints route i.e Consumer law, they would have had to get the dealer involved and it would have taken them weeks / months to resolve which much back and forth. 

 

In fairness to VWFS, they have been extremely reasonable in my opinion, and very quick to act, I genuinely thought i'd be at this for weeks / months not a matter of days....

[BazzaS]

Are you happy with the outcome that you will have, in effect, been renting it?

(you aren’t getting any money back for the car, barring your deposit, but will have had use of it in return for what you’ve paid so far .....)

 

Usual caveats : copy of the agreement in writing before you hand it back, take videos of the car’s condition inside & out so they can’t say “handed back in a poorer condition than described” 

 

[XR4Y]

To me it’s the only viable and fairly painless outcome, like you say , effectively it’s been rented but I’ve also had 20K+ miles of use as well so can’t really argue that. Indeed it will be thoroughly documented in writing and pictures of vehicle etc 

[BankFodder]

If you are happy with the result then that's good. Congratulations.

However, their story that getting the dealer involved would mean that they would have to go down a consumer law route and that will take extra time is not true.

They are completely liable themselves and any consumer law issue is between them and the dealer. You are being misled and they are taking the route which is most advantageous to them