[Biturbos4] Continental Warranty and worn tie rods.

[Lance Fisher]

Well, this spring I got nervous about the potential for big repair bills 
on my '01 S4 when the factory warranty was about to expire and after a 
little research (too little it seems) purchased an aftermarket warranty 
extension from Continental.  It covers the car until 100,000 miles and 6 
or 7 years (I forget which) and the cost was around $1800.

So far I'm pretty dissatisfied with the policy after two attempted 
claims.  In the fine print it says that they will only reimburse for 
labor at a rate that THEY determine which is supposed to be a "national" 
average and that rate is almost exactly half of what the Audi shop 
charges.  Never mind that there isn't a shop in this state that can work 
on Audis that charges the "national" average.  So on my first claim (bad 
rear wheel bearing), with the $100 per claim deductible they paid a 
little less than half the bill.

Today during a 60,000 mile checkup the technician found a leaking seal 
on the rear diff ($210) and worn tie rod ends ($470).  Of course neither 
of these items are on the list of covered parts so the warranty won't 
even pay half this time.

Now if the turbos blow up or some other major problem occurs and 
Continental actually covers the repair I might sing a different tune, 
but for now I think I would have been much better off going with the 
extended warranty program offered by the dealer.

BTW the shop tells me that worn tie rods are quite common at this 
mileage, anyone else have the same problem  with their S4?

-lance