don't buy a VW
Dec. 29th, 2004 09:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cellioA nine-month-old car with fewer than 3000 miles should not fail inspection.
A dealership should not have a two-week delay before they can even look at the problem, either. Or if they have that kind of delay, then VW should just pay for someone else to fix it. Nope; doesn't work that way.
The problem with VW goes beyond poor workmanship and annoying dealers. The folks at their national office may claim to care, but they don't. They never responded to my letter of complaint about the dealer that allowed my car to be spray-painted in their care, tried to claim it came in that way, and then refused to warrant the paint job against long-term damage from their ineptitude. (Psst. That would be Rohrich VW on West Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh. Do not deal with them unless your quality standards are very, very low.)
I've got three months to go under Pennsylvania's lemon law. Go on, VW, make my day. (Sadly, they probably won't -- there have to be multiple failures in the same system; September's fuel pump and December's wiring problem don't both count.)
I wonder what I could get for trade-in on a nine-month-old car. How much value does it lose when I drive it off the lot? (Obviously I'd be SOL for sales tax, which is not insignificant.)
A dealership should not have a two-week delay before they can even look at the problem, either. Or if they have that kind of delay, then VW should just pay for someone else to fix it. Nope; doesn't work that way.
The problem with VW goes beyond poor workmanship and annoying dealers. The folks at their national office may claim to care, but they don't. They never responded to my letter of complaint about the dealer that allowed my car to be spray-painted in their care, tried to claim it came in that way, and then refused to warrant the paint job against long-term damage from their ineptitude. (Psst. That would be Rohrich VW on West Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh. Do not deal with them unless your quality standards are very, very low.)
I've got three months to go under Pennsylvania's lemon law. Go on, VW, make my day. (Sadly, they probably won't -- there have to be multiple failures in the same system; September's fuel pump and December's wiring problem don't both count.)
I wonder what I could get for trade-in on a nine-month-old car. How much value does it lose when I drive it off the lot? (Obviously I'd be SOL for sales tax, which is not insignificant.)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-30 02:17 pm (UTC)If that does not work I would show up in their show room and start announcing my problem to the receptionist there and to anyone else in the area till the dealership got a clue. There is a time and place for obnoxious consumer behavior and this would be one of them. heh.
For warranty service you can get it done at other repair shops but the paperwork is more of a hassle. Other VW dealerships should be able to do this for you as well.
For your car's current value you can check out Kelly Blue Book (http://www.kbb.com//) or Edmunds (http://www.edmunds.com/) online to get you in the right ballpark. What you can actually sell it for may vary but it is a good place to start.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-12-30 05:52 pm (UTC)I spoke with the sales manager (for my notes: Jan), who was sympathetic but told me they've already got more cars in than they can get through today (they're closed tomorrow), some of which have been there for several days. I pointed out that they have a flaw in their scheduling algorithm in that case, but that's out of his hands. He said there was abolutely no way they could help me today, nor could they share an English-language wiring diagram with my mechanic. He said he would try to get me an appointment early next week, but that's the best he could do.
While I was there, I asked if he could help me resolve my paint problem, after pointing out that this is not the first warranty claim and that I'm really pretty sour on VW and his service department right now. He seemed shocked by my description of what happened and said he would look into it. I said that if, as their service people claimed, there was no permanent damage to my car, then they should be willing to write me a warranty to that effect; if, however, they don't believe that, then there's a problem. (Well, more than one problem, but I didn't enumerate them.) Of course, he may blow me off too, but at least that's one more "responsible" person at VW who is aware of the problem.
Alas, there were no customers in the showroom while I was there.