VW cars trashed by hail storm

[ckember]

A colleague of mine has had a new A3 on order since November, with the new model now out his car was due a month ago, but the delivery date kept slipping.


Today he got a very apologetic letter from VW via the leasing company stating that 12500 VW cars at its export centre in germany had been hit by a freak hail storm in May and they had been badly damaged so about 8000 or so with customer orders on them are being returned to the factory for repair on the production line.

of these 8000 about 4500 are for the UK market. if I remember correctly

Also a container ship was hit by the storm also damaging cars in transport to the UK, these would be repaired before they left the UK depot for dealer delivery.

Audi have now offered him a loaner car FOC- the company will have to insure it though

We are hoping he getrs an RS6 estate to try.

 

[evdok]

A colleague of mine has had a new A3 on order since November, with the new model now out his car was due a month ago, but the delivery date kept slipping.


Today he got a very apologetic letter from VW via the leasing company stating that 12500 VW cars at its export centre in germany had been hit by a freak hail storm in May and they had been badly damaged so about 8000 or so with customer orders on them are being returned to the factory for repair on the production line.

of these 8000 about 4500 are for the UK market. if I remember correctly

Also a container ship was hit by the storm also damaging cars in transport to the UK, these would be repaired before they left the UK depot for dealer delivery.

Audi have now offered him a loaner car FOC- the company will have to insure it though

We are hoping he getrs an RS6 estate to try.

Miracles do happen!

 

[Rory]

VAG seem very unlucky - it was widely reported 30,000 VW's were damaged in a hailstorm the other day:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7477849.stm

 

[ckember]

VAG seem very unlucky - it was widely reported 30,000 VW's were damaged in a hailstorm the other day:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7477849.stm

I think this is the same report but the letter did say May maybe they wanted to check how many where damaged before they sent out the letters

 

[raymont]

Do you think it reasonable that the damaged cars are repaired and then sold as new? Or should they be identified as damage repaired and then sold at a reduced price?

 

[markjay]

Some years ago, my dad left his car parked in the airport while going abroad, when he came back the rear windscreen was smashed and the roof, bonnet, and boot dotted with impact marks... yep, freak hail storm... the car park people were quite good though, they covered all the cars with plastic sheets to prevent further water damage. The insurance paid for the rear windscreen and a full respray. This things do happen...

 

[markjay]

Also, as far as I know there are rules governing what amount of repair you can have on a new car (i.e. a minor paint scratch or broken rear lamp that are being fixed by the manufacturer or dealer), and I think it is in relation to value of the car.... so if the repair is minor the dealer can carry it out and still sell the car as new. But anything like a hail storm will be way over this level.

But even if the cars are auctioned, and repaired by third party and sold as second-hand, this still raises the question of warranty.... the manufacturer would (rightly) not want to honour a say 3-years warranty on these cars, so there are potential consumer legal issues here.

 

[JonnyCJ]

Hmmm

A colleague of mine has had a new A3 on order since November, with the new model now out his car was due a month ago, but the delivery date kept slipping.


Today he got a very apologetic letter from VW via the leasing company stating that 12500 VW cars at its export centre in germany had been hit by a freak hail storm in May and they had been badly damaged so about 8000 or so with customer orders on them are being returned to the factory for repair on the production line.

of these 8000 about 4500 are for the UK market. if I remember correctly

Also a container ship was hit by the storm also damaging cars in transport to the UK, these would be repaired before they left the UK depot for dealer delivery.

Audi have now offered him a loaner car FOC- the company will have to insure it though

We are hoping he getrs an RS6 estate to try.

Can he not take them to court for loss of business ? He was promised the car on a certain date

 

[normanr]

I would not want a damaged/repaired car and pay new price for it

 

[Dieselman]

Can he not take them to court for loss of business ? He was promised the car on a certain date

What loss of business.?

I think the slipped delivery date would be covered by act of God and outside Audi's control. Was that a guarenteed, promised delivery date or an estimated one.?

Why does everyone want to sue somebody nowadays..??

 

[Rory]

When I worked for Ford someone sued a dealer as they discovered their new car had been extensively repaired. The customer lost the case as the Judge said it had been repaired good as new. Judges don't take kindly to people being too fussy about lumps of metal.

You'd be amazed at how many cars have paintwork done before delivery - some makes used to have (maybe still do have) repair centres at the docks where they repair cars en-masse.


Oh, and you can't sue for late delivery - unless a specific date was explicit in the contract, which no sane dealer would ever agree to.

 

[Uberwagon]

I would not want a damaged/repaired car and pay new price for it

A massive amount of new cars are repaired before being sold, accidents happen in shipping, dealers, road tests etc. Aslong as it is to the manufacturers spec then there shouldn't be an issue.

Dave!

 

[crockers]

By offering a free loan car.... how is the owner out of pocket? I agree with Dieselman ..why does everyone nowadays jump on the litigation bandwagon....

 

[C240Sport97]

but it was a Ford

When I worked for Ford someone sued a dealer as they discovered their new car had been extensively repaired. The customer lost the case as the Judge said it had been repaired good as new. Judges don't take kindly being too fussy about lumps of metal.

You'd be amazed at how many cars have paintwork done before delivery - some makes used to have (maybe still do have) repair centres at the docks where they repair cars en-masse.


Oh, and you can't sue for late delivery - unless a specific date was explicit in the contract, which no sane dealer would ever agree to.

 

[Shude]

What loss of business.?

I think the slipped delivery date would be covered by act of God and outside Audi's control. Was that a guarenteed, promised delivery date or an estimated one.?

Why does everyone want to sue somebody nowadays..??

You may remember a recent thread about a terrible service from a local independent workshop...

 

[ckember]

Can he not take them to court for loss of business ? He was promised the car on a certain date

its a lease car so TSB would have to do that. He still has a car at the moment so no loss of buisness

VW are giving him an A3 and today they confirmed it was one of 30000 not the 18000 in the letter they sent him. He did try to get an R8 but they said no.

 

[hash]

not wishing to hijack the thread but same has happened to me today. Was due to get a new A8 3.0 TDI sport on friday, car has been showing waiting shipment on dealer screen. They phoned today and said yes it was affected

So a demo S8 being delivered by dealer tomorrow and a loaner by audi uk in a weeks time (3.0 TDI)

Car will not be repaired but will be a new factory order so likely to be another 12 weeks as i have had it well specced.

So fair play bearing in mind i save 3 months lease payments..........:bannana:

do feel rather unlucky though had a new e65 and that was also damaged before i got it