Unfixable 2010 TDI Touareg

[NeedyTouareg]

I'd have given them one week, after which I'd have demanded something equivalent. At the least they should have put you in a Lexus RX, or another Touareg.

The times I've taken my used, CPO Cadillac ELR in for service they gave me an XT5 (meh) and CT6 (nice) loaner. If they had tried to put me in a Sonic I would have asked if they were out of their minds.

-J

Like I've said before, I'm just not that kind of person lol. I love cars, I don't mind driving a "POS" for a few days and I'm way too easy going to make a thing out of it. But after 5 months... haha. The store is TINY so I have an Enterprise rental, they didn't even have a loaner car to give me. Enterprise had ONE CAR the first time I went, they turned like 3 different people away before I got to the counter, I was nervous already! That was the Mustang that I took back in exchange for this RAV4. After I saw the burn holes in the seat and the cigarette smoke smell in the rav4 I asked if there was anything else I could have and they offered something even worse, so I went w the Rav4. I asked the RCM supervisor if this new store that they're trying to transfer me to would be able to put me in a real loaner, we'll see what happens. As far as what I'd like in a rental/loaner, I would really like to have the features of my vehicle- heated seats, HIDs (rav4 has terrrrrible LED headligjts), auto open/close hatch, and it may be a stretch but AWD/4WD. Even typing it out I feel like a pretentious douche but I don't think I'm asking for too much at this point. Idk, maybe I am...

 

[NeedyTouareg]

The vehicle repurchase price given to the original owner was separate from the $5-10K restitution. So about $5-10K would be removed from the lemon buyback value (or just calculate the vehicle buyback without the restitution portion). The subsection M language may refer to payments already made to the owner. You (the owner and consumer) have been paid nothing. Buyback minus nothing = buyback. But maybe they intended "consumer payments" to describe "all payments ever made for the vehicle"? But if that was true, then instead of the potentially ambiguous singular tense "consumer payments" why not just say "payments ever made for the vehicle" or "payments made to the vehicle consumers"? It would seem that at any given time the only consumer is the owner at that time, and past owners are no longer a consumer. They could stand on their ambiguity to claim your lemon buyback is zero since the amount is less than what they already paid out to the prior owner, but so far they have not. But then there is that "Conflicts concerning the lemon warranty are to be resolved in favor of the consumer." So their own ambiguous wording is against them.


If they pay out the lemon settlement amount, VW would be losing a decent chunk of money because they already bought it back once and resold it for less than the first buyback. But why did VW resell it while the lemon buyback period was still in effect? They even admitted it was not worth fixing the gen 1 3.0 TDI's because of the cost complexity (hence why a buyback was only offered on the gen 1). So they knew exactly what they were getting into by fixing and reselling, and now they don't want to be accountable when their decision bites them.

Any 10 year old lemon would have similarly high buyback, since they go on the purchase price minus depreciation. They rightfully do not base lemon buyback on the current resale value -- which today is very low for these dirty TDI's and their tainted reputation. Who wants to buy a diesel that constantly breaks and the dealerships cannot reliably fix? Anyone?

That's some interesting points. This paperwork is full of ambiguity in my case, it seems like. I like that "conflicts shall be resolved in favor of the Consumer" talk though haha.

That last sentence is a big reason why I'm interested in a buyback. How much can I really trust this car when I get it back?

 

[NeedyTouareg]

And now, a HUUUUUGE UPDATE

After forcing the issue quite a bit about a buyback, my car was finally transferred to another dealer on Jan 20th. By the 22nd, this new service department had discovered an intercooler hose that wasn't even close to properly connected. After attempting to do it right, they found an o ring had been damaged. Ordered the part, properly installed the pipe, all issues FIXED within like 3 days. The service manager was in contact with me personally, there wasn't even a service advisor involved. This service manager is a SUPER awesome guy, big time VW guy like us, and so are most of his techs. He drove it for another 2 days to make sure I didn't end up half way home and have another issue. He checked with me about exactly how to recreate the issue, ran it thru those real world tests, and made sure everything was good. This service manager took it upon himself to ask VW to give me a full detail and a full tank of diesel, nothing I asked for, just being an awesome guy after seeing the history of what's happened. I picked up yesterday morning, Feb 1st. Fantastic people, 100% recommend them, Royal VW in Vestavia Hills on the Southside of Birmingham, AL.

But that's not the end. This morning, Feb 2nd, I went to install my kid's car seat. When I tossed it up onto the seat something didn't feel right. As I reached my hand between the back and bottom of the seat to feel for the car seat anchor, the seat bottom moved. Hm... I gave it a little nudge and the whole seat bottom slid out. I lifted the seat bottom up and not a single bolt was in it. Nuts and bolts littered all over the floor under the seat, the in tank fuel pump cover was laying under there with the pump electricals exposed. I felt the rage rising, obviously. My immediate thought was those ****ing *******s just threw everything back in the car when they found out it was being transferred, to hell with it.

The more I thought, the more I realized, since I picked up my vehicle on September 14th, nothing back there has been done. Theyve replaced a DPF, turbo, glow plugs, MAF, things like that. No one has been under that seat since Sept 10th when my car was called "finished". This wasn't a case of "to hell with this guy and his car", this was absolute incompetence. Ban me, lock this thread, *** ever, but here it is:

Stay the hell away from SERRA VOLKSWAGEN in Birmingham, AL. They had my car for 5 months, five freaking months. They lied to me multiple times, the service "manager" is not qualified to service bicycles, and clearly his bosses don't even care. I felt bad for him because he was clearly in over his head with his responsibilities but that doesn't excuse his attitude about the whole thing and his absolute lack of trying to get something done. The leadership of that store has clearly set an example that this **** is okay with them. I wasn't upset at the mechanical issues, I wasn't upset at the length of time, I was upset at being told multiple different stories if I was ever told anything. A complete lack of communication from a complete lack of give a ****. Never in my life have I ever asked to speak to a manager or taken the time to post a negative review of something, but this is so absurd.


**** SERRA VOLKSWAGEN

 

[frey]

Thanks for the post. Not shocked with the account of your experience. Some VW dealers just do not care about the customer yet continue to rake in the dollars and stay in business through outright fraud. VW America really does not seem to care. We just have to rely on reviews like yours to figure out the honest, competent dealers for when they are the only option for repairs.

 

[NeedyTouareg]

Thanks for the post. Not shocked with the account of your experience. Some VW dealers just do not care about the customer yet continue to rake in the dollars and stay in business through outright fraud. VW America really does not seem to care. We just have to rely on reviews like yours to figure out the honest, competent dealers for when they are the only option for repairs.

Thanks for that. I think somehow I caused enough stir along with the fact I can't be the only person having experiences like this that MAYBE, just maybe something will be done.

 

[Isaac-1]

Sounds about like our local VW dealership (Lake Charles, LA), where we bought my son's 2015 Sportwagen as a low mile CPO buyback car in 2019. Saw it on a Tuesday on their back lot prior to being prepped to be put up for sale on the lot, got a call from the salesman that it was available and on the lot on Friday, drove down there 50 miles away and ended up buying it on Saturday, noticed that the plastic lumbar support lever was broken and just stuck on. Told to bring it in on Monday that the service department was closed for the weekend, but had the part on hand and would install it then, drove down, waited for 2+ hours to be told they can't find the part and would have to order another one and to come back, total of 2 trips and 6 hours waiting around to get a plastic lever installed that took 30 seconds to snap in place. It has only been back for oil changes, and scheduled maintenance, and an under warranty failed backup camera since then, failed backup camera was another similar multi trip in each with multi hour wait, quickest oil change to date has been 3+ hours with an appointment.

 

[DIESELGATESURVIVOR]

The entire Dieselgate situation is absolute and total BS. The "FIX", yeah right, more like...."THE FIX IS IN" if you own one! Dieselgate in a nutshell: Hey your cars get TOO MANY MPG'S, THEY SELDOM EVER BREAKDOWN OR NEED REPAIRS.........we can't have that, so we are going to need to force you to alter your cars software to cause them to breakdown more frequently, and perform poorly.....oh yeah and add and change a bunch of the physical emissions parts that purposely cause a series of malfunctions, and catastrophic failures.....and then after that pay tons of money in fines and restitution, that we will spend ALL of it on MORE DIESEL technology, and thereby eliminating VW leaving the Chevy Cruze Diesel without any competitors for oh say the next 5 years or so. HMMMMMMM what a bs scam, and conspiracy to take down a company, as well as ANYONE else manufacturing diesel passenger cars, while systematically building and selling literally the EXACT SAME diesel engines and emissions technology with a convenient bowtie in front of it. Sounds like Democracy at its finest to me?! And also smells a lot like bs!!

 

[Lightflyer1]

The entire Dieselgate situation is absolute and total BS. The "FIX", yeah right, more like...."THE FIX IS IN" if you own one! Dieselgate in a nutshell: Hey your cars get TOO MANY MPG'S, THEY SELDOM EVER BREAKDOWN OR NEED REPAIRS.........we can't have that, so we are going to need to force you to alter your cars software to cause them to breakdown more frequently, and perform poorly.....oh yeah and add and change a bunch of the physical emissions parts that purposely cause a series of malfunctions, and catastrophic failures.....and then after that pay tons of money in fines and restitution, that we will spend ALL of it on MORE DIESEL technology, and thereby eliminating VW leaving the Chevy Cruze Diesel without any competitors for oh say the next 5 years or so. HMMMMMMM what a bs scam, and conspiracy to take down a company, as well as ANYONE else manufacturing diesel passenger cars, while systematically building and selling literally the EXACT SAME diesel engines and emissions technology with a convenient bowtie in front of it. Sounds like Democracy at its finest to me?! And also smells a lot like bs!!

Well your first post is about 4 years too late. Already had the discussion when it was relevant.

 

[DIESELGATESURVIVOR]

Yeah, I know that dieselgate is wayyyy past the relevancy of a discussion, I just got all worked up again as yet another dieselgate survivor jetta that I was in the process of trying to purchase or work out a deal to get, once again ended up crushed. So yeah, only relevant to me, but I just wanted to blurt out my two-cents on it again while I was venting out my frustrations. I know that you can't save them all, but damnit I should have been able to save that one, and It just pisses me off every time I see a running, driving, no codes, TDI, just thrown away like common scrap, and crushed into a cube. And also, I apologize in advance for this being my second post, as I know it is not noteworthy, or informative, or helpful in any way. Thanks.

 

[Lightflyer1]

Well welcome to tdiclub! Lots of stuff here if you like and own these cars. The discussions now center around trying to get stuff fixed under the extended emissions warranty. Some have little to no trouble and get good work and others the opposite. Some have no clue that they have the extended warranty. I have pointed it out to a few that seem to have benefited from it greatly. Others struggle with their dealers either getting it approved by VWoA or can't diagnose or repair correctly. Join in on some of those. Either side whatever you experience. Good reading and welcome!

 

[DIESELGATESURVIVOR]

Thank you kindly for the warm welcome Lightflyer1. I look forward to being a member of tdi club family, and hopefully I learn a few things, and maybe pass on some knowledge that I have learned as well. All while listening to others experiences and stories, and telling a few of my own too. I love all things Volkswagen, especially TDI's. And I am definitely the odd man out as I have a soft spot for the CJAA engine variant. Those are the ones I have 3 of, and I would have had a 4th but I was too late.

 

[nicklockard]

I bought a 2010 3.0Tdi Touareg too. It's been to the local dealer (North Scottsdale), and they've fixed some emissions stuff (mostly sensors and minor parts) and generally been competent. I tow with it every weekend. I think working the engine harder than usual might actually be good for the DPF and other emissions equipment (help get it to proper temps and such).

My biggest problem is the pack rats eating all the wiring, twice! Ruined my air suspension and made me shell out $1400 for a complete refresh. Not worth filing a homeowner's warranty claim though.

I wish you continued luck. Reading this thread was painful. You've had super hero levels of patience, forbearance, and wisdom throughout. Admirable.