Audi Approved Used & Warranty - Not worth the paper its written on ?

[Adrian E]

There are issues at several levels with the way the network of Audi dealers, which are predominantly all parts of large dealership chains that sell many brands as franchised dealers.

The part where Audi does have SOME control is over the quality of the cars offered for onward sale to Audi dealers as approved used through returning ex-lease vehicles etc. The dealers bid for these vehicles unseen, but with a description. Before they are offered to dealers they should (IMHO) go through a pre-sale inspection to ensure they are prepared to the standard you would rightly expect, for the premium you are paying. I doubt they do - one dealer told me they do sometimes return vehicles on delivery as not being as described.

Other stock will come in directly from other dealership chain members (some not Audi) as part-exchanges, or through other sources.

All should have the PDI that Audi make such a fuss about, which seems to vary significantly in quality in my experience. Bodywork will not be rectified at all, in my experience. They will wait to see if a potential buyer notices before spending any of their profit margin on rectification. I've been close to buying an S3 Sportback priced at nearly £20k which needed 1/3 of the car painting to deal with various accident damage (RNS 3/4 panel, rear bumper, roof, bonnet) and the dealer wanted a £1k deposit up front before they'd even consider sorting it to what it should be displayed as. That deposit was not refundable if they got a local back street garage to blow it over! They don't use their own bodyshop for prep work as they charge the full hourly rate between departments internally...another main dealer low miles S5 Sportback we looked at which was described as 'immaculate as you would expect for a sub-15k mile 3 yr old car' had deep trolley dings in every wheel arch, various other dents and scrapes and an undisclosed accident repair requiring a new front nearside wing which had a poor fit with uneven shut lines and bad paint! That was £23k!

Mechanically cars can be in fairly poor condition and still be acceptable for sale. I forget the acceptable tread depth under approved used, but it isn't much above the legal minimum and they're not too fussed about mixing or correct spec either. If they pass an MOT then they're happy.

As alluded to above, part of the problem is that ANY fault with a car that's bought in will get charged to the sales department for rectification, so it comes off the sales staff's bottom line. They're much happier to ship it off site for cheaper repair, if they must. Ideally they don't want the customer to notice until after they've collected and then it's the battle with the warranty company.

The issue with the warranty companies is that after 2 years of manufacturer backed warranty, the 3rd year is covered by Audi UK (not owned by Audi Germany) and after that you're in a relationship with Mondial Assistance on a commercial basis. They're as bad as any other, although I recall Amar being full of praise for them on some work his RS6 needed.

What the answer is I'm not too sure. No solution that genuinely results in customer service at an acceptable level is going to be cost free, which means prices go up or profit goes down. Audi Germany could follow the lead of the Koreans and offer 5 or 7 year manufacturer backed warranties. They'd have to build the cars better though....Audi UK could subsidise the cost of extended warranties and be prepared to offer better goodwill when expensive bills crop up on stuff that really shouldn't break. Here I'm thinking big ticket items like engines, gearboxes and anything else that should last as long as the car is roadworthy. Case in point here is my dodgy instrument cluster on our S5 which has flickering LEDs. Local dealer, without batting an eyelid, presented a quote for £1k to replace it and agreed that was the only solution. No suggestion of any goodwill and I'm still waiting for the call back on that 2 months later....

I filled out a customer satisfaction survey after our last service on the S5 and when I marked them down they enquired how likely I was to buy another Audi. I said highly unlikely given they don't seem to last the distance like the older models. No response to that from them at all, despite me leaving my details as being prepared to discuss my feedback. Maybe they've already accepted they'll lose me as a repeat customer and aren't that bothered?

With all these brands that were once premium, but now sell more cars in their sector than Ford do, the customer service needs to improve or the impression will be that the brand is moving ever down-market.