Marcan
Senior Member
So my daughter got a very nice looking 2nd hand Audi A3 with only 60,000 Kms on the electronic clock.
A Japanese import and registered in a neighbouring country.
She choose it from a large warehouse in Durban, without testdriving it. On arrival it had a very jittery gearshift in the 6 speed multitronic auto box. A local garage replaced the gearbox oil with the proper German oil, but it did not improve. My son, studying mechanical engineering @ UP did a quick Google search on auto gearbox problems and thought that this gearbox just needed some cleaning.
We took it to a gearbox centre in a bigger town. The owner told us that it needed a new ECU, electronic control unit and it would cost R 19,000. While sitting in his office, he called somebody else and discussed this repair with him. I mentioned to him the car had done only 60 K, when they had at least had not altered the mileage. He replied that it's rather difficult to change mileage on these electronic counters.
I thought this was a lot of money for a relatively affordable import car. I called a local mechanic I know, and he told me that those repairs on auto gearboxes are always costly, and this gearbox place was not even that bad. I called another gearbox place in a bigger town 200 KMs away. But they had to see the car first before they could give me any idea of possible repair and costs.
So we left the car with the gearbox centre. They promised that the car would be fixed in about 8 days. They did not give us any written quote.
I from the beginning was rather uncomfortable with the idea that this rather new car would need such an expensive part and repair. I called the Audi SA customer care and had a chat with a lady there. She said I could obtain prices of the ECU from a local dealer with the VIN, Vehicle Identification Number, as those parts have to be matched individually to your car. So called two dealers, and they quoted R 10,590 and R 10,690.
When I called the gearbox place to ask whether the car was ready, the guy told me that the ECU had to be ordered from Germany, and that also the valve body had to be cleaned.
In the meantime the local mechanic told me it was child's play to replace the ECU as it was accessible through a separate flap on the outside of the gearbox and that the valve body is accessible from the bottom, there is no need to strip and remove the whole box.
I made a query on the website of the RMI, the Retail Motor Industry, doubting the need of the R 9,000 labour costs of inserting the ECU. But never received any feedback. In the meantime several weeks passed, and my daughter desperately needed the car. I also tried to get hold of the correct person dealing with customer complaints at the RMI headquarters, but initially failed to get through to her.
My wife and daughter kind of forced me to accept the high garage charges and collect the car. On collection of the car I really went into discussion with this gearbox character, and now he suddenly told me that he did not replace the ECU, but fixed the gearbox and needed some other parts. He could not further specify the parts, could not produce any proof of these parts or could not tell me how many hours of labour he spent on fixing it.
He became rather intimidating, threatened to charge me a R 50/day storage fee when not paid immediately. He gave me a minor discount. Only because I knew the ladies at home wanted that car to be collected, I paid R 18,400.
On the days after this I managed finally to talk to the correct lady at the RMI, and she told me that according to the CPA, the Consumers Protection Act, the garage owner should have given me a written quote, which I should have signed before the repair. Also he should have supplied me with the old replaced parts. She advised me to go back to the garage and mention the RMI, of which this garage is a member, and discuss the issue again. Putting in an official complaint with the RMI will cost me R 280.
I remember a story of long time ago, from somebody who also imported a car with auto transmission. She also had suddenly problems with this car's gearbox, when the car arrived. She was also charged a large amount for the repair, while just in the case of my daugter's car, it probably just needed cleaning of the valve body. I wonder if those auto transmissions don't just get sticky when not used for some time.
So my final impression is that those gearbox centres collude to charge ridiculous fees for auto box repairs, pretending it's something very complicated, while they just have to do some cleaning and replace the oil. The repair should have costed never more than a few thousands rands, never R 18,400.
Any of you guys having similar experiences or ideas on this matter ?
A Japanese import and registered in a neighbouring country.
She choose it from a large warehouse in Durban, without testdriving it. On arrival it had a very jittery gearshift in the 6 speed multitronic auto box. A local garage replaced the gearbox oil with the proper German oil, but it did not improve. My son, studying mechanical engineering @ UP did a quick Google search on auto gearbox problems and thought that this gearbox just needed some cleaning.
We took it to a gearbox centre in a bigger town. The owner told us that it needed a new ECU, electronic control unit and it would cost R 19,000. While sitting in his office, he called somebody else and discussed this repair with him. I mentioned to him the car had done only 60 K, when they had at least had not altered the mileage. He replied that it's rather difficult to change mileage on these electronic counters.
I thought this was a lot of money for a relatively affordable import car. I called a local mechanic I know, and he told me that those repairs on auto gearboxes are always costly, and this gearbox place was not even that bad. I called another gearbox place in a bigger town 200 KMs away. But they had to see the car first before they could give me any idea of possible repair and costs.
So we left the car with the gearbox centre. They promised that the car would be fixed in about 8 days. They did not give us any written quote.
I from the beginning was rather uncomfortable with the idea that this rather new car would need such an expensive part and repair. I called the Audi SA customer care and had a chat with a lady there. She said I could obtain prices of the ECU from a local dealer with the VIN, Vehicle Identification Number, as those parts have to be matched individually to your car. So called two dealers, and they quoted R 10,590 and R 10,690.
When I called the gearbox place to ask whether the car was ready, the guy told me that the ECU had to be ordered from Germany, and that also the valve body had to be cleaned.
In the meantime the local mechanic told me it was child's play to replace the ECU as it was accessible through a separate flap on the outside of the gearbox and that the valve body is accessible from the bottom, there is no need to strip and remove the whole box.
I made a query on the website of the RMI, the Retail Motor Industry, doubting the need of the R 9,000 labour costs of inserting the ECU. But never received any feedback. In the meantime several weeks passed, and my daughter desperately needed the car. I also tried to get hold of the correct person dealing with customer complaints at the RMI headquarters, but initially failed to get through to her.
My wife and daughter kind of forced me to accept the high garage charges and collect the car. On collection of the car I really went into discussion with this gearbox character, and now he suddenly told me that he did not replace the ECU, but fixed the gearbox and needed some other parts. He could not further specify the parts, could not produce any proof of these parts or could not tell me how many hours of labour he spent on fixing it.
He became rather intimidating, threatened to charge me a R 50/day storage fee when not paid immediately. He gave me a minor discount. Only because I knew the ladies at home wanted that car to be collected, I paid R 18,400.
On the days after this I managed finally to talk to the correct lady at the RMI, and she told me that according to the CPA, the Consumers Protection Act, the garage owner should have given me a written quote, which I should have signed before the repair. Also he should have supplied me with the old replaced parts. She advised me to go back to the garage and mention the RMI, of which this garage is a member, and discuss the issue again. Putting in an official complaint with the RMI will cost me R 280.
I remember a story of long time ago, from somebody who also imported a car with auto transmission. She also had suddenly problems with this car's gearbox, when the car arrived. She was also charged a large amount for the repair, while just in the case of my daugter's car, it probably just needed cleaning of the valve body. I wonder if those auto transmissions don't just get sticky when not used for some time.
So my final impression is that those gearbox centres collude to charge ridiculous fees for auto box repairs, pretending it's something very complicated, while they just have to do some cleaning and replace the oil. The repair should have costed never more than a few thousands rands, never R 18,400.
Any of you guys having similar experiences or ideas on this matter ?
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but no use blaming the car for the guy being taken for a ride at a gearbox centre.
