Blubyu12

Well they finally found the problem that was causing the problem..it was the fuel transfer pump (go figure...) in any case, dealer had an enormous amount of time in the car (40+ hours). The warranty covers the parts and labor and any time it took to diagnose the problem. Here's the catch, they pull their diagnosis times from the "National Recognized Labor Manuals" and according to the manuals, it should have taken 1 hour to diagnose the problem. What that means is I have to cough up 9 hours of diagnostic time. I would think that the dealer could have explained to the warranty company the amount of time it took to diagnose the problem and not go by the manual.

8Pack

Hopefully my prior post helped them zero in since the symptoms were IDENTICAL...

I would negotiate with the dealer aggressively since you mentioned this to them and provided them with documention recently on what the problem was.

Since the book says diagnosis is an hour i would think that is all they can charge you for.

If a repair takes longer than the book amount they usually have to eat it....

Congrats on finding the problem

Rtrn4Deposit

because *I think* it was one or two of the members who posted here that had the right answer way before your mechanic did.

This place is amazing.

I would negotiate with the dealer. Print out the original thread and sit down and show him that this was not a problem totally unique to your car. Therefore it should have not been so difficult to diagnose within a more resonable timeframe.

PaulW

....if a mechanic fixes something in 1.5 hours and the book says 3 hours.....guess what....you get charged for 3 hours, plus he gets paid by the dealership for 3 hours.

Just because they are stupid doesn't mean you should have to pay for it. For god's sake, they have the manuals, factory training and the factory "fault finding tool" that they no longer share with the customer.

However, if you gave them an open check book, then I guess you'll have to pay.

JimTheBarber

Flat rate cuts both ways. If they couldn't diagnose it in 1 hour, why is that YOUR problem? It's not like you are the one that trained the mechanic.

Aarononymous

wouldn't have to diagnose it in the first place.

Blubyu12

This how I see it. The book says .75 hours to diagnose the problem. From my stand point (and trust me I'm not defending the dealer) that would be to diagnose the component to see if it's good or bad. Problem is, they had to narrow it down to that particular component...that's what took all the time. I know they have at least 35 hrs in it...I even called Audi of America to get them involved (They were very nice by the way). I talked with my warranty company again and they said if the dealer needed more than the allotted time that's quoted in the manual, they have to justify it with detailed write-ups. Bottom line, dealer (service) will be closed this weekend and won't re-open until Tuesday. I paid for the 8 hours of diagnostic because I wanted my car back..3 weeks in the shop is a long time!! They will be contacting the warranty company on Tuesday to provide them with all the necessary documentation in an attempt to recoup my payment. I will be talking with the service manager and Audi of America again on Tuesday if it doesn't go my way. I'll let you know what happens... Thanks for all the info and support!!