Dova80

Well guys this is first and last Audi, below is my review of Stevens Creek Audi or San José Audi, and Audi of America's handling of the issue.


In short I purchased an Audi CPO with everything marked "meets Audi Requirements" on the CPO checklist, and Carfax showed zero accidents on the car. A year later paint is flaking off the door, Audi offered to fix the door but the entire car is has been repainted, to properly fix the car would require the entire car to be sanded and painted. From what I can tell, Audi does not have any specifications on paint with what is required on their CPO's, just that there is paint. How this was missed or accepted in the CPO process is beyond me if they have specifications for paint thickness. Audi stated this was all acceptable and the dealer at the time of sale had no wrong doing. The decision came from Audi of America's executive offices, I can go no higher from my view point.






"I purchased an Audi of America CPO 2011 A5 S-Line from San Jose Audi or Audi Stevens Creek in February of 2014. Overall the experience of purchasing the car was not horrific, typical used car games of “well we have someone else looking at the car right now”. When the car arrived in Salt Lake City, UT from San Jose, CA I sent an email with pictures stating the wheels were not “free of damage” as the CPO checklist states. The dealer proceeded to tell me that under the Audi of America guidelines they were acceptable.


Fast forward a year to February 2015, and paint starts flaking off of my passenger car door. I take it to my local Audi dealer, who stated the car looks to be repainted and I should take it to an Audi certified body shop for review Paint flaking is not an Audi of America issue, but a dealer issue, and you must return to the dealer you purchased it from. The Audi certified body shop stated the entire car had been repainted with one body panel being replaced. San Jose Audi offered to repair the door, or buy the car back for “fair market value” and proceeded to send auction prices for cars similar to mine, not even CPO prices.


I contacted Audi of America’s Executive offices for assistance in the matter, finding the low level of quality difficult to accept from a German automobile brand, with their highly touted 300 point inspection. They sent a regional representative to review the car, who returned to the Audi certified body shop. The Audi certified body shop found the frame to be straight and every panel has twice the thickness of paint compared to a factory car, excluding the fender that was replaced which has a paint thickness less than a factory car. Refer to Audi CPO checklist section 3 exterior of Vehicle, (insert section of the car) exterior, door panel alignment and paint, (NOTICE there are no measurements listed for paint thickness), just a “meets Audi requirements” Yes, No, repaired, N/A. None of which were marked repaired, on my CPO checklist, everything was marked “yes” or N/A since it is a two door. Audi notified me via email the frame was straight , and stated there was no wrong doing of this dealer, at the time of certification my car met all of Audi’s standards.


I now have a car that is an Audi of America CPO, that had been completely repainted, with one body panel replaced, rims that are extremely scuffed up, and all of this at the time of certification met Audi of America’s standards. Audi of America will side with the dealer on the 300 point inspection. You will take a substantial financial loss with the deprecation of a wrecked car, CPO or not. Not to mention any unknown mechanical issues that might come up later due to the unknown accident. "

RickFLS4

It is unfortunate when people learn of Audi CPO standards (which, by the way, are shared by other manufacturers) this way. Short of title problems, frame damage or flood damage, cars can be certified and sold as CPO under AoA guidelines. Accidents do not preclude CPO certification. Further, individual dealers may apply a stricter standard than the lowest common denominator specified by AoA, so there is a wide range of "acceptable" across the dealer network. My last car was an A6 with significant accident damage that my dealer didn't certify and ended up sending to auction after trade in. Another Audi dealer picked it up at auction and resold it as CPO.

IMO, "CPO" is more of a marketing platform to sell used cars and warranties than anything else and even if certified, it would be in a buyer's best interest to have an independent inspection. What other product purchase relies on an inspection and certification completed by the seller?

All that said, I've never heard of a dealer saying a warranty claim is a selling dealer issue. The CPO warranty is AoA, not dealer-specific. If paint is covered by the CPO warranty, I'd have them repair the door and then take it back to them for every other issue that arises in the future. If paint is not covered by the CPO or original warranty (perhaps due to respray?), that really sucks.

Sorry to see this situation - I feel your pain.

TexasSpartan

I guess I would never buy a car without me personally or a trusted friend inspecting the car prior to purchase. Dealers are there to sell cars and give as little detail as possible about the car. Personal example, I purchased a 2012 VW Beetle for my daughter (brand new) from a VW dealer here in Houston. After getting the car home, the next day the power windows were acting up. We called the dealer and they said "oh yeah, there's an issue with that on some Beetles and the parts are backordered from Germany". Took two months to get the car fixed. Lesson learned. I'm now looking to sell my M3 and get into a new S5 and have been to the dealer 3 times already trying to learn everything I can about the car, and the dealer for that matter. But that's just me.

Eich442

I recently looked at a 2013 CPO Audi S5, As soon as I got there, I immediately noticed that both front fenders had been painted. I have an eye for this as I've done paintwork in the past but it was pretty obvious that there was dry spray at the top of both fenders where the gloss and texture didn't remotely match the rest of the car.

I asked the salesman how that car is certified looking like that and he said, "Well, just bring it back after you purchase it and we'll have it sanded and buffed and looking perfect". I said, "YOU fix it first and then I'll let you know if I have any intention of buying it!!".

On this same car, the rear bumper looked like an angry animal thought it resembled a snack.

I'm not impressed with the CPO certification checklist, when it comes to the body. And by the way, Mercedes is exactly the same. I've seen some AWFUL looking CPO Mercedes on the dealer lots.