[V8] Audi Dealership

[sdewitt at stx.rr.com]

This is very interesting, I worked at a BMW and Audi dealership in the early to mid 90's and BMW warranty work was the single largest revenue generator for the dealership. Audi sales were half what BMW were but BMW warranty work was maybe 50 times greater than Audi warranty business. The dealership also sold Porsche and VW, it was an interesting mix of business. Eventually Audi went away and recently the same dealer sold off VW and Porsche.

What amazed me was the number of control units we warrantied, and these weren't cheap, I winced at the thought of a $3,000 main body module going bad on the owners dime, and it seemed like 3 out of 5 7 series cars had to have that module replaced under warranty at one point. I would not recomend owning a BMW out of warranty!


---- cobram at juno.com wrote: 
> Audi of America would orphan any car out of warranty if it could.  There
> was a V8Q "red carpet" treatment for US owners, when the car was their
> flagship.  
> Transmission and Instrument Cluster problems "out of the box" and other
> major warranty problems turned many owners who bought brand new to steer
> towards other high end cars.  I remember when the V8Q's were just out of
> warranty, original owners were dumping them for BMW's, Mercedes etc. and
> NOT buying another Audi.  When I was looking for V8Q #1 a friend of mine
> who was the exotic used car manager for a large dealership did a
> search....just about EVERY V8Q available was found at another brand
> dealership, they weren't traded in for another Audi.  V8Q #1 was a low
> mileage sorted car which was being wholesaled at a BMW dealer, it had
> been traded in on a new 180K.
> These cars trickle down to the enthusiast (or sadomasochistic) market,
> which AofA could care less about.  Many people blame the "unintended
> acceleration" BS for their low sales, well, yes it contributed, but I
> have the paperwork on just about every Audi I've ever owned (most one
> owner cars) and the amount of warranty work is ridiculously high when
> compared to MB's or BMW's.  I have a folder about 2 inches thick worth of
> warranty work receipts done on my 200TQA, one problem was addressed about
> 7 times before the dealer evidently gave up or wore out the original
> owner (the coolant light fix I have on one of my web pages), NOT really
> something someone who shells out the price of 3 or 4 Toyotas @ the time
> should be expected to deal with, or want to deal with again.  
> Audi should take a lesson from Mercedes , I've posted many an experience
> with MB dealers before, Mercedes goes out of it's way to treat it's
> customers right, they'll take in ANY car, any year, they'll fix known
> problems decades and hundreds of thousands of miles out of warranty.  Is
> it any wonder they have such a rabid following among high end buyers,
> even when some of their models fall far short of the competition?  
>  
> BCNU,
> http://www.geocities.com/cobramsri/
> Democracy: 3 wolves and a sheep voting on what's for lunch.
> 
> Dag_B=F8sterud?= <dag.boesterud at consulgranada.net> writes:
> > Here in Norway, the Audi dealerships have to have special 
> > certificates to 
> > work with the V8 and A8-models.
> > I assume this applies to the rest of the world. My local dealership 
> > won't 
> > touch my V8, and I won't let them either.
> > When they say that the car doesn't exist, how can I trust them to 
> > hold a 
> > spanner within 30 yards of the thing?
> > 
> > /Dag
> > 92 V8 4.2
> > 200 000 miles
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "Coleman, David" <David.Coleman at blackrock.com>
> > To: "Lanier Pratt" <lanierpratt at mac.com>; "V8 Fans Audi" 
> > <V8 at audifans.com>
> > Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 4:00 PM
> > Subject: Re: [V8] Audi Dealership
> > 
> > 
> > AoA is covering their butts.  They can't keep techs for five years, 
> > let 
> > alone 18.  Because I work for a bank doesn't mean I'm up to speed on 
> > 
> > counterfeit silver certificates...
> > 
> > Plus, it's practically a guaranteed money loser for them to work on 
> > our 
> > cars...  I know when I first got mine I learned right quick that the 
> > dealer 
> > was the last place to go.
> > 
> > David A. Coleman | Vice President | BlackRock | 100 Bellevue Parkway 
> > | 
> > Wilmington, DE 19809
> > ' 302.797.2106 | 7 302.797.2211
> > David.Coleman at BlackRock.com
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