I Hate Audi

So, the air conditioning in my not-yet three year-old Audi A4 went out almost three weeks ago. As it turns out, the hoses going to and from the A/C compressor need to be replaced. But can you get those hoses replaced? No. You know why? Audi isn't importing the parts right now. So we know when they'll be importing the parts again? Nope. They have no concrete plans to ever import parts to repair current Audi A4s.

But surely calling Audi of America was a help, right? Of course not, Audi of America says it's not their problem and refuses to help.

So, I'm stuck with a $26K car with no air conditioning in the hot Texas summer. I can't sell the car because no one will buy it without A/C and there is no way to know whether there will ever be a replacement part imported into the U.S. again. So, I've essentially got a big pile of German junk sitting in my parking lot that is now nearly competely useless and that I cannot trade in because no one will take it until the A/C is fixed (but again, it may never be fixed because Audi refuses to import the parts to fix it AND it's a CURRENT car. It's not like I want parts to a mid-60s Audi they don't make anymore. They still make this stupid car and still use the same climate control system).

I guess my only option is to break in to Park Place Audi one night and steal the hoses off one of the A4s on their lot. No one will sell me the part, so I'll have to resort to a life of crime just to get my car working.

So keep that in mind if you're thinking of purchasing a new Audi or Volkswagen. You may have to resort to breaking and entering and theft just to get your car repaired, and all the manufacturer will say is that it isn't their problem.

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I called about 20 junk yards and couldn't find the part I need. I tried several parts suppliers, all said they were out-of-stock. Every Audi and VW dealership in the nation (except for two who have one each, but who refuse to sell the parts to me because they don't know if Audi will ever import more of them again) doesn't have the part. I looked on eBay with no luck.

I have been looking for three weeks. Today was just the day I called Audi of America to see if we could nail down when they were thinking about importing the parts again. That's when they told me that they would not help me and that it was not their problem.

Theft or waiting (possibly forever) are my only options at this point if I ever want to get the thing fixed.

I just can't believe that a car manufacturer can sell cars and then not provide parts to repair their current models. There are thousands of Audis/VWs and actually some Porsches on the road with the identical climate control system and nobody has the parts to repair it. And not only does Audi not even care, but they aren't even planning on fixing the problem by importing more parts.

Audi service is horrible. They're just asking for another UA-type incident to kill their company. The most amazing thing to me, though, is that Consumer Reports lists the A4 as a Best Buy. With as bad as the service is (and as often as they need service) how could it possibly be a "Best Buy". My A4 is less than three years old and has spent five of the last 18 months in the shop (most of that time was waiting for parts). Warning lights don't even come on when they are supposed to (causing more damage). Things go wrong that do not go wrong on other cars.

Even the things they supposedly offer like 50,000 mile free scheduled maintenance is a bunch of BS because you can't get in for service. The back-up for service in Dallas has been at least a month every time I've tried to set an appointment. I drove around with broken bushings for a month and a half because they wouldn't let me in for service. I've never gotten any of the free scheduled maintenance because it is too much trouble to wait that long (and bad for the car, I would suppose since I drive so much. I can put enough miles on a car in a month for it to be ready for its next scheduled maintenance).

The most insulting thing, though, is going to get my mail today and finding a letter from Audi talking about how much they appreciate my loyalty and how they'll give me $1,000 off the purchase of a new A4 if I act soon. (The mailing went out to many current Audi owners, it wasn't a suck-up to try and make me feel better personally). Of course, I talked to my Audi dealer about trading for something (they also sell Lexus, Porsche, Mercedes, etc), and they told me they would not even accept my current car as trade without the A/C working. So, I couldn't take advantage of the $1,000 loyalty offer anyway because Audi of America won't import the parts I need to get my current Audi working again (Not that I was going to buy another A4 after all this anyway, but still. It's insulting to get that offer knowing you can't accept it because they refuse to get a part for my car).

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I'm not saying that the A/C should last forever. I'm saying that when it does give out, they should think about maybe providing the parts required to fix the car. That's the fulcrum of my gist. Every car has problems. No other car company refuses to import the parts required to keep their current cars running. No Honda dealer I know has a backup of months and months and months to get parts. No Honda dealer I know has a six-week wait for service, etc., etc., etc.


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I went to the AudiWorld forums, and the advice was the same as here (find one at a junk yard, etc.) So far, nobody has been able to help, though one fellow is going to look in Canada for me. So maybe the folks in the Great White North can help.


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It's not under the manufacturer's warranty. While I'm still golden on the Three Years part, I've exceeded the 50,000 mile part.

Plus, it doesn't matter whether it is under warranty or not. They still don't have the part and still don't have any plans to import the part. Who has to pay for it is really irrelevant at this point.

I don't see how any of this applies because 1. My car is not under the written warranty anymore, and 2. It's not that I can't get it fixed once I have the part, it's that I cannot get the car repaired because the company refuses to import the part to the United States.

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It's not only popularity, it's that Audi refuses to import them in numbers great enough to support their current fleet. We're talking about a current model Audi and a part that is used in thousands of their cars. How many of these parts are in the United States to service those thousands of current-model cars should they need it? Two. Two parts! Just two! That's way beyond just a small amount of underinventory because of a lack of popularity. That's refusing to import enough parts to keep the current fleet running.

And how does Audi/VW address the problem? They don't. They ignore it. They isn't any urgency about importing more parts and making up the severe shortage. There are no current plans at all to import more of these parts.

And if anything, Audis are too popular to support the service network appropriately. If there were more Audis on the road, that would mean there would be longer and longer waits for parts and service.

The thing is, too, that I've not seen these problems with other German makes. I've not heard of BMW refusing to import the parts to fix their current models. I know Mercedes does not have the wait for parts that Audi does (at least not in Dallas they don't). It's just VW/Audi that I know that has decided that it doesn't need to import parts to repair their current cars.

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