mcgaskins

Hello all. I've been dormant on this forum for quite some time, but I've had several Audis in the past and have rejoined the club with a purchase of a 2011 S4 I found on this forum. The deal went incredibly smoothly, and the car is in impeccable shape with complete service records. I had the car shipped from Houston up to Denver where I live, and it arrived in great condition with no noticeable damage.

My wife and I went out for our first drive in the car and headed straight for the mountains for lunch. I drove the car up there maybe 15 miles on the highway, then we switched places for some more driving. A few miles into the drive, I was playing with the MMI learning how to operate it, and my wife yelled at me to stop messing with the brake settings. I kinda chuckled because I obviously wasn't changing anything that would affect the brakes, but she yelled again that she didn't have any brakes and started to freak out. Sure enough, I looked over and her foot was on the floor, but we weren't slowing down. Fortunately, we had just pulled onto the highway from a winding steep 2 lane road, and we were able to downshift and pump the brakes over a pretty long distance and barely got the car stopped on the shoulder. She was pretty shaken up, and I was pretty confused.

I got out of the car and immediately noticed brake fluid all over the road, and I noticed it was streaming out of the passenger side rear wheel. Upon closer inspection, I saw the rear caliper was completely unseated and laying inside the wheel spewing brake fluid everywhere (until it ran completely dry of course) which explains the sudden loss of braking. We had it towed to a local dealership on Saturday about 4 hours after I took delivery of the car.

My first theory was the shipper caused the damage by pulling the loading straps carelessly catching it behind the wheel. The dealership called and said they don't think that's likely because the two bolts that hold the caliper in place were completely missing and didn't appear to have scuffing or damage. The prior owner has impeccable service records, and the last time the brakes were replaced dates all the way back to February 2014 which means it's highly unlikely he was driving around with a loose caliper all that time. It was also recently serviced within the last 5k miles at an Audi dealership for the 75k service which was long after the brakes were done. As a result of the incident, the car at minimum needs a new caliper, carrier and brake line which the Audi dealer quoted at nearly $1,900.

Since the shipper isn't willing to pay for any repairs, I am wondering if the CPO can and should pay for this repair. The car still has several months and 20k miles left on the CPO warranty, and I'm thinking since Audi did the most recent service something like a brake failure should be covered. I REALLY, REALLY don't want to be out of pocket for almost 2 grand for a car that I have owned for literally one drive, and I do not believe the prior owner had any knowledge or any part in this mishap. He's been nothing but stand-up and honest. In my communication with the Audi service adviser, I've sent 3 emails asking if he will check to see if CPO will cover the car, and I get no response until he will come back and say "the parts are here - let us know if you want us to do this". I may go into the dealership to meet and discuss face to face since the car was towed in after hours. Do you all think this should be a CPO covered event?

As much of a massive pain as this, I keep thinking back to how fortunate we were that the failure happened exactly when and where it did. Had it been a few minutes earlier or later (or when I was driving much more...enthusiastically ), I honestly think it could have likely ended with a high speed accident on a windy mountain road with no guard rails!

Here are pictures of the incident:

Taking delivery Saturday morning:


Pulling over on our first drive:



That's not good:



Closer look:



I don't see a caliper on there:



Yep that caliper is definitely not in the correct spot:

togatown

Wow, that is crazy, glad you and your wife are OK, that could have been a terrible disaster. Since it wasn't bought directly from an Audi dealer, unless you can somehow prove that an Audi dealer caused the failure, I doubt CPO would cover it. Now, if they just did the brake service recently, maybe.
You should go in and at least plead your case and see if they can cut you some type of discount.
Good luck and keep us posted!

plat27265

+1. Glad you and your wife are OK after losing your new S4's brakes.

My understanding, by reading between the lines is that you purchased the car through a private party. Fortunately, the car still has CPO status that is still valid.

There is no assurance of what occurred between the last Audi service and the time the car was sold to you. Brake calipers do not just fall off like that. It is obvious that someone removed it and forgot to return the securing bolts. Whoever it is was in a big rush to get it done. The reasons for removal could me brake rotor replacement, brake pad replacement, or a brake caliper replacement (as in Big Brake Kit removed and switched back to OEM).

Unless it could be proven that the Audi dealer is at fault, it will be impossible to claim damages through CPO or to the dealer directly.

This incident could have been prevented if you had the car inspected by a trusted mechanic before deciding to purchase it. Used cars purchased sight unseen except through a bunch of photos is a very risky move. Even if it carries a perfect CarFax report and other documents that seem like it is a great find, a used car inspection is still a good way of catching things like undocumented repairs or loose brake calipers.

togatown

This sounds like a plausible scenario if the previous seller had upgraded brakes, and wanted to return it to stock just prior to sale. Also, the wheels don't look OEM to me.

mcgaskins

Thanks guys. I typically do a PPI, but with the records and relationship I built with prior owner (private party) I skipped on this one. I have purchased quite a few cars and motorcycles sight unseen and had them shipped, and this was the first time I've had an issue. I don't believe the PO had a BBK on it, and I don't believe he made any changes to the car before I took delivery. It is an extremely odd occurrence no doubt, and there doesn't seem to be an obvious answer as to what happened (and when the bolts were taken out of the carrier).

If the shipper won't cover it and Audi won't cover it, would you suggest taking it to an indy mechanic? Being in Denver, there are several good shops that I would presume would be far less expensive than having the dealer work on it. I have been in contact with a couple of other shops, and they won't give me any general estimate until they have seen the car which is tough considering it's inoperable and will need to be towed (again). It's a tough pill to swallow no matter what considering I only got to drive the car once before it has incurred a huge expense. My biggest fear coming back to Audi was expensive repairs, and this one only lasted me 4 hours before that fear came true!

togatown

You could definitely save a lot by avoiding the dealership if they won't pay for a repair. You are probably looking at $ 800-900 in parts, and honestly, changing a rotor,brake line and caliper carrier plus bleeding the system is not a tough repair. I'd just be a little concerned about the EPB since you need to retract it to get all of that off normally and if it ripped everything loose, something else might have gotten damaged.

QS4

CPO coverage is like insurance. Certain components/systems will be covered under certain circumstances. Is this failure due to the work someone did or was it a component failure?

My wife is a claims adjuster and she thinks the responsible party for this event is the person/dealer that did the brake work. The previous owner would hold the key to that detail and my be your best option to get anything. The wife also says you may consider filing a claim with your own insurance. Your typical insurance concerns will apply. She says your company may seek reimbursement from whomever did the brake work, but seems unlikely with your scenario because of the amount of time and distance involved. The shipper is unlikely without proof.

If you paid the previous owner the asking price you may be able to convince him to give you an agreed amount in return, but not likely the entire $1900.

It's good to know that you and your wife did not have an accident but unfortunate that ownership starts off with this!

togatown

If you had hit something and it then broke, or if it had broke and then you hit something, then you might be covered under your collision coverage of insurance. Mechanical failure alone would not be covered, and it would be tough to go and subrogate against a shop, unless the car was involved in a serious accident causing Bodily Injury or Property/Physical damage.

DrGP

I realize that brake pads and rotors will not be covered under any warranty. BUT if some part/parts failed, wouldn't that be covered?

plat27265

I don't think there was a failure. The way I understood the OP issue, the brake caliper bolts were missing, not broken. Even if the bolts were broken, the bumper-to-bumper warranty on the car has expired so it won't be covered. The Power Train warranty might still be available but you cannot claim warranty under that because the brakes are not part of the Power Train.