Last week I bought an 09 V8 with 15K miles, and had it shipped from California to Maryland. One of the reasons why I went out of my way to buy that specific car was because of its one owner history, flawless condition, and complete servi...
Last week I bought an 09 V8 with 15K miles, and had it shipped from California to Maryland. One of the reasons why I went out of my way to buy that specific car was because of its one owner history, flawless condition, and complete service history. The car was literally perfect. The seller was an older fellow, and has taken great care of his beloved R8.
Fast forward a week, the car finally arrived in Maryland, and I spent the entire weekend getting to know the R8. This is where I ran into a bout of bad luck. While driving on a road I was not familiar with, I hit a pothole and the resulting impact caused a stress crack in the windshield and a piece of plastic to break off inside the headlight. The force of the impact was not very significant, I did not damage either my wheels or tires; however, as the shock traveled through the vehicle frame it must have tweaked the windshield and the headlight.
On Monday, I took the car to Audi of Silver Spring thinking that this will not be a big deal to get fixed under warranty. After all I have the Audi Extended warranty and the car is one month out of its bumper-to-bumper coverage. Boy was I wrong. These guys went out of their way to point out to me that this was a used vehicle bought from a private party, and as such the damage was likely from either shipping the car or from the previous service. Way to pass the buck Audi! They found scratches on the metal tabs used to hold the plastic trim pieces under the hood, and signs indicating the windshield wipers were removed. Of course these parts were removed; you have to yank all of these things out to change the brake fluid!
As far as the headlight, I was I told that it is likely from shipping or something else that happened previously. Why does this matter?! There is a piece of plastic inside of my headlight rattling around, that?s a pretty good reason to get it fixed. Unbelievable.
I called Audi of America, sent them pictures, send them a PPI indicating its flawless condition, and so far I have been told that they will not be able to help, although they are investigating the matter further. What a cluster.
At this point I am thinking of driving out to AoA headquarters in VA, and having a face to face chat with someone there. Maybe I?ll bring the car with me and show them the damage.
If you have a good point of contact at AoA, or can help escalate this, PM me.
Thanks for listening to my monologue.
Pics of the carnage...
Headlight Damage.jpgWindshield Crack Closeup.jpgWindshield Hood Overhang.jpgWindshield Crack Wider View.jpg