Ranson

then how does one get reimbursed for a rental from Audi? I've heard is approx $25.00 a day.
If I use an indepedent garage (Audi certified of course) does that change anything?

Todd

April

You have trip continuation assurance which kicks in if you are a certain distance from home and need a rental car or hotel ( 100 to 150 miles ).

Unless Audi has changed the policy, they only reimburse the dealer for loaners when doing regular maintainence. It is up to the dealer to provide a loaner ( at their cost ) to you if warranty work is being done. Audi does this, to speed warranty repairs and make sure they are a priority to the dealer. Dealerships that make enough money, may have loaners for this sitiation while others that work on a tight budget, do not. Some provide loaners only to customers who have purchased there, or on a loyal customer first, others come second basis.

Ranson

The problem I'm having is pay MSRP locally for the "Service" or save $2000 and go to a dealer willing to take less profit (2 hour drive). I'm just looking for a workable solution if I get pushed to second class list in the service dept. at the local dealer. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to go around the local guys, but I don't know yet what to expect.

So there is no independent garage that could do warranty work or at least do the scheduled maint sign-offs so that I cover my bases during the warranty period?
I've read many of your posts appreciate your knowledge/opinions.

Todd

April

service dept before the sale, and see what you think.

As for one dealer being so much higher than the other, this is odd if they are in the same area. If the closest dealer is more expensive but has the better service facility, I would get a sales bid signed by the manager of the lower priced dealer and show it to the local dealer. That makes it easy if they come close to the bid. If they won't, it is your call, but any more than few hundred dollars difference would be a little odd.

calberto

he brought it in for service last week and got a VW Golf in return! He was a little pissed because the time before that he got a Jetta. I wonder if the dealer is making out by giving out non-Audi loaners...

April

to use a rental company. Also, most dealers can sell every car they can lay their hands on. A car that becomes a service loaner does not get included in the monthly sales quota, and therefore reduces the monthly allocation ( allocations based on customer satisfaction and number of units sold ).

If you could see how trashed loaners get, you would see why many dealers don't try to do it themselves. Bumpers ripped off, parts stripped (for what?)s, pare tires stolen, tires swapped out for worn out crappy ones, food spilled everywhere, seats torn, baby diapers stashed under seats. Often, the dealer can't pin blame because the perpetrators return the car on the weekend when the service dept is closed - so they can claim they turned in the car and it was OK - something must have happened to the car in the meantime. Given that dealers are short of qualified staff, finding someone to take care of a loaner program, is sometimes not possible. A loaner program can be a real liability if you don't have enough people to staff if properly.

As for the A8, dealerships are supposed to have an A6 or two available to A8 owners. If a bunch of A8 owners came in at once.... there are only 4500 A8s sold in the US in a year.