3.5 Year Old VW Passat - £1,500 of repairs

mickyd67

Hi all - just looking for your thoughts / advice on this scenario:

I bought a VW Passat from Arnold Clark in 2009. The car was a 08 plate with <10,000 miles on the clock. Cost was around 12k.

Whilst buying it I was asked if I wanted to take out the Arnold Clark 'Autocare' extended warranty. The salesman told me that it was pretty much an extension of the manufacturers warranty and it would offer peace of mind. He handed me a flyer with all the areas covered.

I have a flyer from the time (I can't embed it as I'm a new user) - if you delete the space in http below you can see what it "covers"

ht tp://sdrv.ms/L1KpGV

Now, at the time the salesman told me there were exclusions - but he made it clear to me that these were things like brakes / tyres / general wear and tear, which was fully understandable for me. I expected that. However things like the engine / turbo / gearbox etc were all covered.

So, based on that - and at a cost of £395 - I decided to go for it. It meant my car would have a warranty until October 2013.

The manufacturers warranty expired in October '11 - so the Autocare warranty kicked in from then.

2 weeks ago my engine light came on and the onboard display said "Engine Fault - Workshop!".

So I took the car into the Arnold Clark dealership I bought it from. They ran the diagnostic check and called me to say it would be £400 to fix. I said to them I had Autocare - so they said they'd call me back as they had overlooked the fact I had this warranty.

When they did come back I was advised that this issue was NOT covered. I required a 'turbocharger boost control pressure sensor' - and it was stated in the "book" as to what was / was not covered.

I didn't get a book. I got a flyer.....

So all this was news to me. I asked if this fault would have been covered under VW warranty, I was told "yes" - so, based on what I'd been told, I'd have expected this "continuation of the manufacturers warranty" to cover the issue.

I fought my corner told them that I was mis-sold the policy and they looked into it. Their customer services called me back to say I could have a refund as they had no proof of giving me the full T's & C's.

Result... or so I thought.

So, I took the car to a VW specialist garage (i.e. not Arnold Clark) on Thursday. They ran the same diagnostics checks and came up with 2 errors. Same one as Arnold Clark's diagnosed and an EGR issue (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) - total cost of repairs would be £480.

A bit gutted at the prospect of having to shell out that amount - but what choice have you got if you want / need a car? Besides I had a cheque for £400 coming to me for the mis-sold warranty from Clark's.

So I turn up at the garage yesterday to pick up my car and hand over my £480. When I get there I am told "the repairs might not fix the issue".

Apparently even though they've 'repaired' the car the turbocharger might need replaced at a cost of £1,000+

For a car at 3.5 years old, a make like VW, and with the car only having done 54,000 miles it's a bit of a shock.

I drove the car away yesterday and within 45 minutes I was getting the same engine fault alert on my dashboard. Disbelief doesn't quite cover it.

I feel as though I've spent £480 but not actually made any progress.

So... my issues: did Arnold Clark know this and rather than have to go through with costly repairs under warranty they've decided to dress up a refund as good customer service when in-fact it might be a get-out clause? I've, as yet, not cashed their cheque.

Secondly, should the garage that did the repair not be able to tell me, before carrying out any work, that the bill might not be £480 at all but £1,480+?

That, right there, would have afforded me the opportunity to decide what to do with the car.

They may argue that they wouldn't have been able to tell that under these initial repairs were done - but surely they have to present you with the facts before you give them the go-ahead?

I had prepared myself for the outlay of £480 - and if that was the car fixed then great.

I had not prepared myself to pay £480 for me to feel no further forward.

I was considering changing car in the coming year to another Passat / Passat CC. However having heard the garage say that these faults were common with 3+ year old Passats I am beginning to wonder. Maybe cars with a 5+ year manufacturers warranty is the way to go?

Any thoughts / advice folks?

PsiDOC

These extended warranties aren't woth the paper they're written on. It's simply another comission earner for the salesman
Your problem is common in all diesels that have been pootled about town or driven like a granny going to church on a sunday.
Had the same 2 faults continually appearing on the missus's Astra CDTI. All about on the internet said turbo etc.
Cure? Cleaned out the MAP (boost) sensor and took the car for a good 30 mile thrash.
Diesel is a heavy fuel oil and hence when it burns it's quite rich in carbon deposits. These deposits gum up the inside of the exhaust, the EGR valve, inlet manifold and the boost sensor which usually in the inlet manifold as well. You need to get the engine up to temperature and then work it hard to raise the exhaust manifold temperature to burn these deposits out.
Try it. You have nothing to lose really.
RE: the turbo allegedly failing. How did they come to that conclusion and what was the evidence?

Psi

vax2002

VW garages are not very good at repairing VW, they let the mechanics go and have fast fit new part bays where solutions involve fitting new bits until they get the right one.

Had a newish VW passat for my wife, she wanted a "reliable car", NEVER again, a heap of constantly breaking down temperamental junk that filled with water every time it rained.
The AA guy, told her straight, He spends lots of "Time" with VW, get rid.
She replaced it with a Mondeo Ghia X, faultless 5 years so far, she refuses to update it.

mickyd67

Hello Psi - thanks for the reply.

The MAP was replaced. That was part of the £480 bill.

To be honest I am not sure how they arrived at the conclusion that a new turbo might be required. It's not clear to me.

It didn't show up on their diagnostic check - but they do want me to bring the car back in for a further run on that machine as the warning is still appearing on the dash.

The car actually feels OK in terms of driving - I've had a car turbo go before and you can tell a mile off that it has. This car seems to still be driving OK.

It's when I stop the warning comes on. I can feel a very slight shudder in the engine and then I get the warning message.

Not really sure where to turn next to be honest.

mickyd67

vax2002 wrote: »

What did you sign when you bought the warranty ?
your link

I just signed their standard paperwork - from memory there is a section on it relating to "did you apply / take out Autocare" which was signed.

I don't have the paperwork to hand - so not sure what T's & C's it refers to. I can't imagine it states anything that I was signing to say I had received the full T's & C's or a book of any sort or I'd imagine Arnold Clark would be saying I had signed to say I had accepted under those conditions.

Although, they might still be trying to get out of having to deal with this car in the long run.

Thanks for posting the full link.

PsiDOC

Another question for you.
Did they replace the EGR as well as part of the £480 repair or just strip it and clean it.?

Psi

mickyd67

PsiDOC wrote: »

Another question for you.
Did they replace the EGR as well as part of the £480 repair or just strip it and clean it.?

Psi

It was replaced Psi

mickyd67

Full detail on the £480 was:

MAP sensor (£70)
EGR valve (£220)
Seal (£10)
Labour & diag (£180)

vax2002

Sorry I edited that when I read you got refunded for the warranty.

The Turbo is a Dum part, two fans with a bearing in the centre, no sensors it either spins or it does not, or it either leaks oil or not from the bearing seal.
So they are either working or not.

your link
http://sdrv.ms/L1KpGV

mickyd67

vax2002 wrote: »

Sorry I edited that when I read you got refunded for the warranty.

The Turbo is a Dum part, two fans with a bearing in the centre, no sensors it either spins or it does not, or it either leaks oil or not from the bearing seal.
So they are either working or not.

Ah, I've just seen your edit. No problems.

If I am reading what you're saying correctly (I am far from even being a novice when it comes to car engines etc) then the fact that the car appears to drive OK would suggest that the turbo is working?

So replacing it might just follow the line of your edited post - just keep replacing parts, at huge cost, until that fault alert goes away?

vax2002

We had a similar fault on my wifes, part bolting on commenced, it kept breaking down, until one day the AA man noticed that the lead to the part they had replaced 3 times had not been fastened down right when they changed the air filter on a service and chaffed on the pulley belt, two bits of insulating tape and it was cured instantly .
The AA man said they are just fast fit merchants at dealers, the code reader says airflow, on gets bolted a new airflow, reset and out you go, if the fault returns, they repeat the process, they dont have the skill to beyond fast fit and code reader.
However, that was just the start, never again.
Had a colleague with a constant fault on a passat TDI and he had spent thousands, it broke down in liverpool and a guy from a independent VW specialist stopped to help by luck, they ran it to his garage , he replaced a faulty glow plug at £30 including labour and all the associated faults stopped immediately, he also had spent thousands on just about every part in the engine bay at VW.