Audi Mrktg Genious (was:1st A4 drive)

[Fisher, Scott]

Derek Daily writes:

> There ARE dealers out there refusing service on ANY
> part of a car just because suspension has been changed
> (for example). 

I completely forgot about warranty service.  The confusion is clearly my
fault -- beginning in the mid-1980s, I've used so-called "classic" cars
almost exclusively.  All but three of the 19 or so cars (discounting parts
cars) we've owned between roughly 1985-86 and acquiring the '93 100csq in
March 2000 have either been marques that have been orphaned in the U.S., or
models that were so far out of date that the dealer didn't generally stock
parts (or at least wasn't the best source for them).  When something needed
doing on one of these cars, out came the wrenches and the Moss Motors
catalog (or iPd or AR Ricambi or Dave Bean, depending on which car needed
what).  You learn to hook into the clubs, network with other owners, and
find sources for parts and for the specialized services you can't undertake
at home.  And, since about 1987 or so, you hook up with the mailing list.
It's not the easy way -- it's probably not even the cheap way -- but it
certainly gives one a different perspective on cars, repairs, and
responsibility.

For me, a warranty is something the guys in the electronics store try to
sell me on the TV or VCR or fax/printer/copier I'm buying.  The idea that
there IS a factory dealer in the U.S. for a car I own is still somewhat
foreign to me; the idea that the factory is recalling our eight-year-old
vehicle to replace potentially leaky fuel injectors, at their expense, is
almost unfathomable.  And the idea that if something goes wrong with my car,
the manufacturer would assume ANY responsibility for fixing it is just not
part of my fundamental and automatic world view.  So I tend to forget that
part of what people pay $30,000+ for in a new car is not to have to worry
about who pays for it if something breaks.  

I really, honestly hadn't thought about the possibility that changing the
sway bars and shock absorbers on my car might give the dealer an excuse to
stick me with the tab for everything.  

Reading those two factory bulletins has certainly chilled my enthusiasm for
the prospect of buying a new Audi and making it the way I'd like it.  Thanks
for the reminder...

--Scott Fisher
  Tualatin, Oregon