My Review Of Schaumburg Audi:
Schaumburg Audi initially appeared to be a pleasant place to purchase an Audi, but after my experience I am extremely disappointed with the dealership. I would strongly advise anyone thinking of purchasing an Audi to look elsewhere.
I recently bought a 2010 model that was certified, pre-owned, with an extended warranty and still under the original manufacturer’s warranty. Unbeknownst to me, the vehicle was sold with a severely worn clutch. A week after I took possession of the vehicle, it had problems. It would not shift properly, would get stuck at times, and would emit a burning smell. In addition, the heated seats did not work when I bought it and there was also a malfunction with the electronic locks. The certified inspection was a joke.
Regarding the clutch, the dealership has claimed it is not covered under the warranty, even though there is a technical service bulletin on the issue and it failed to properly inspect the clutch before conditioning the vehicle for re-sale. Now I am stuck with a bill of about $5000. I have filed a dispute.
Don’t buy from these guys. First, they improperly certify vehicles and then fail to service/cover them under warranties. They give Audi a bad name.
EDIT:
In reply to the dealership's response, I would like to clarify several points. First, the vehicle was sold to me in late February. While there was an inspection done, it did not include any kind of thorough inspection of the clutch, which is a key item in a manual transmission vehicle. The dealership only checks for the "feel" of clutch, which is insufficient for a car of this nature with a performance engine, and with over 44,000 miles already on it
During my test drive, there was a problem with the shifting (I have provided other witnesses' statements about the problem during the test drive to the dealership, as I had two other passengers in the car, along with the sales rep.), but I was assured any problem would be covered under warranty, and that this was an Audi, not a used car dealership trying to rip people off. When a vehicle isn't warrantied, iit is good practice to have a mechanic inspect the vehicle. if you're at an Audi dealership, that is warranting that the car is free from defects and has warranty coverage as well, you'd think it'd be safe to assume you can trust their word for it and you don't need a mechanic. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
I called Audi and reported my concerns about the clutch issues I had noticed within a week after I purchased the vehicle. However, I was only able to bring the car in for service at a later time since I am a Wisconsin resident. The drive from my place of residence is over 150 miles away. The multiple trips back and forth from Schaumburg to Wisconsin have been a significant fraction of the mileage accrued.
The point is this - the clutch was severely worn when the vehicle was sold to me, but just above the threshold so it passed the basic inspection. The problems of the clutch were only visible when put in dynamic/sports mode. These problems would evade detection in normal day to day driving. When the vehicle was first checked in for service at your dealership, i asked the dealership to look thoroughly at the clutch, as it felt off, imprecise, spongy/creaky, etc. Service said there was no issue with it. And the clutch issue occurred again, as the problem was not addressed, so it was brought in only a week after for the second time.
I have not said the dealership has not done anything. But the dealership is shifting the blame on to me for the wearing of the clutch when they failed ti thoroughly test/inspect the clutch condition, with a vehicle with over 44000 miles. The dealership could not identify the problem during the initial pre-sale certification inspection, or when I brought the vehicle in for service. It was only after insisting there was an issue, and once the dealership mechanically inspected the clutch was it able to see it was worn.
Andy is correct in what the dealership has offered, which is $1000 off the repair cost. However, this is unacceptable for a luxury vehicle that was recently purchased, covered under both the manufacturer's warranty and an extended warranty.
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Response From: Schaumburg Audi
Added: 4/25/2013 5:20:57 PM
Mr. Ahmad,
I just want to make sure that you have a clear understanding of what the history is on your vehicle, and to once again cover the topics that we have previously spoken about over the phone. I feel that I may not have clearly explained everything that we have already spoken about.
First, we performed the 300 point certification inspection on the vehicle on February 5th, 2013 when the vehicle has 44,394 miles on it. At this point in time we did not experience any issues with the clutch, the way the vehicle drove during our test drives, and the locking system and seat heaters were also working properly at this time as well. While the vehicle was not driven an extensive amount between the time the inspection was done and the time you purchased the vehicle, there was no concern brought to the attention of the service department that there was an issue with the clutch, the locks or the seat heaters after any test drives in the vehicle.
Next, you brought in the vehicle to us on March 27th, 2013 with 47,947 miles on it; so nearly two months and approximately 3,550 miles since the inspection had been performed, with the concern about the driver’s front door not opening properly intermittently. We repaired this under the vehicle’s factory warranty that is still in effect by replacing the door latch and Bowden cable with updated components according to a technical service bulletin pertaining to this concern. With the amount of time in-between the inspection and the concern, it is entirely possible that the failure happened after the vehicle was purchased and not as a result of a missed item during the inspection.
After this, the vehicle was brought in again the following week on April 2nd, 2013 with 48,368 miles on it, almost 4,000 miles since the inspection had been performed on the vehicle. The concern that it was brought in for is “while driving in dynamic mode at 4,000 to 5,000 RPM’s, the clutch will not shift and will smell burning”. After the transmission had been removed for inspection, you brought to our attention that you think the driver’s side seat heater does not get as warm as it should, an item we will be happy to look at once the transmission can be put back into the car and we can supply power to the vehicle again, assuming there is an issue we will take care of it under the factory warranty for you. Getting back to the clutch, we have now found the clutch material worn and there are signs of overheating on the pressure plates. This can be associated with the concern of not shifting properly and the burning smell that you were experiencing, items that had not happened on the vehicle during or in the time after the certification inspection was performed until now, two months after the initial inspection and 4,000 miles later.
I may not have been as clear on my explanation regarding the technical service bulletin that pertains to the clutch release lever, release bearing and associated components when we spoke on the phone. We did in fact look into this as a possible cause, the bulletin states to look for abnormal or excessive wear on the release lever and release bearing, unfortunately neither shows any signs of the wear noted in the technical bulletin. If it had, we would have already replaced the affected components and the clutch and charged the whole repair to warranty with no problem what so ever and you would have already had your vehicle back in your possession.
Wrapping things up, while we have had your vehicle in here for the past three weeks, we have given you use of a loaner vehicle for the entire amount of time your vehicle has been here to help with the inconvenience of not having your vehicle and while the repairs have been delayed during your talks with Audi of America. We here at the dealership have also offered to help with the cost of the repairs by absorbing $1000.00 of the cost of the clutch replacement for you. So it truly cannot be said that Schaumburg Audi has done nothing to help you with the concerns that you have had with the vehicle, unfortunately the items causing the concerns have clearly appeared well after a proper certification inspection had been performed on your vehicle where there were no noted issues.
Please feel free to contact me at the dealership if you would like any further explanations on anything.
Sincerely,
Andy Emberton
Service Manager