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After spending enough time in these forums last year, I bought a 2017 Q7 Prestige. I even bought 10 yrs extended warranty on it.
It has been a great drive for the last one year but I got a rude shock last week.
I took the car in because a check engine light came on. The dealer in California came back with a $35000+ estimate (Yes! 35 thousand if you are not reading the 0's correctly).
The dealer said there is damage to the wiring harness from rodents chewing on it. I take good care of the car in the garage and park it in a covered garage at work. When I first heard the dealer estimate I thought the car was all chewed up. But, from the photo he sent, it looks like something a rodent could have done within a few minutes. This seems like a design defect that in such a small time with such a small damage a rodent(don't know what, how or where) can cause such a huge bill. I am reaching out to Audi corporate, press etc. because this seems crazy! They should be recalling this and protecting it!
Has anyone gone through this before?
See the place marked with the arrow. Why cannot they cover this with the plastic box too!!??
The dealer said that is all the damage but they will have to charge a lot of labor to get wires redone to all parts of the car. If there was a lot of damage I would worry about how that damage can happen while I drove it but such minor actual damage causing the bill seems like a simple protection to the wires can prevent!
If that's the only damage, and you don't feel comfortable doing the work yourself, get yourself a professional electrical contractor to splice in a new wire. They might charge a min labor rate, but I bet it'll be sub $500 and you'll be done.
No need for a brand new wiring harness. Also, you need to address the issue with rats/rodents in your garage ASAP: I always have traps setup in the garage - just in case ;/
The dealer said that is all the damage but they will have to charge a lot of labor to get wires redone to all parts of the car. If there was a lot of damage I would worry about how that damage can happen while I drove it but such minor actual damage causing the bill seems like a simple protection to the wires can prevent!
If THAT is the only damage, I cannot see why the entire wiring harness would need replaced. They should be able to splice in a new piece of wire. Maybe that is the only VISIBLE damage? Knowing a lot about electronics and such, I don't see how the "check engine" light would come on because some insulation is missing, UNLESS some of the wire is also missing.. or maybe the rat was actively chewing when you turned on the engine, and it fried the rat with the short circuit, and the electronics detected the short? Anyway, I would get a second opinion about simply "Fixing" this instead of replacing it.
The dealer says if it is spliced they do not warranty it. Could be a way to bill me extra? I have not had rat problem at home. I will still do the traps anyway! I can only assume the garage at work I park at the whole day might have a problem.
I'd get Audi involved here. What does that even mean "they wont warranty it"?? wtf? If the rest of the Q's warranty stays intact, it may be worth going that route anyway. I cant imagine a freak thing like that would happen again
The dealer says if it is spliced they do not warranty it. Could be a way to bill me extra? I have not had rat problem at home. I will still do the traps anyway! I can only assume the garage at work I park at the whole day might have a problem.
No Way! Basicially the dealer is saying that "If you spend $500 to fix this the easy way, the warranty on the entire car is void"... Given the option of spending $500 and losing my warranty, or $35,000 and keeping my warranty, I would drop the warranty. THEN, if something else (unrelated to wire) went out like an engine or transmission, even IF I had to pay for it... I really doubt that it would be over $35k... and they might just see me in court if they want to void a warranty over something like this. Sounds like the dealer is not thinking in the best interest of the customer. Time for a second dealer opinion.
01-20-2018, 01:09 PM
2017 Q7 - dealer asking $35K for rat damage!!
