VW Good Will Policy: Interesting Insights

Hey Screwbear,
'I posted about my control arms (on my 1998 3B) some time ago. I was then directed to the troubleshooting threads. I printed them out, went to my local mechanic's workshop, and slammed them on the table, saying: 'What do you think?' (I had already been there a few days before: three control arms were defective, costing 600 euros).'
Today I received a call: The materials will be fully covered, but I have to bear the costs of labor and small parts (screws, etc.) myself, totaling 200 euros. Oh, and my mileage at the time of the inquiry was: 148,000 km.
'So, I'll just take it like that, right? There's a 2-year warranty on the new parts. If I had installed it myself, the cost of the materials would have been about 170 euros. It's nice to have something positive to report for once. Thank you to the operators of this site!!!'
Best regards,
Alchard

Hello!

It's truly surprising how different goodwill cases can be. I had the same repair done on my Passat. (Manufactured in 10/97, 67,000 km).

I just received an invoice for 289 EUR (for all the materials). However, my car dealership will cover 100% of the labor costs.

And the car dealership also covered the labor costs for replacing the broken catalytic converter. (I paid 315 EUR for the catalytic converter itself.)

Greetings.
Ernst.

hi,

'I can relate to that. My A4 was manufactured in April 1997, and in the fall of 2001, the entire front axle was replaced. I had just bought the car, and I noticed the following noises: every time I drove over a bump, the control arms would make a noticeable clunking sound in their bearings, and everything also seemed to squeak... I went back to the dealer, and he tried to convince me that it was normal. However, I had printed out Audi's warranty policy from an old forum and was 'armed' with experiences shared by others here. So, I insisted on a free replacement, otherwise, I would have returned the car and demanded a refund due to fraudulent misrepresentation. In the meantime, I had also called Audi, and they confirmed that there was a recall campaign for my model, which my previous owner had probably missed. In addition, the workshops vary greatly in their warranty policies. When I asked how they could sell me a car without checking it, considering that the problem was known to Audi, I didn't receive an answer... but I did get a complete front axle for free.'
I would also like to give the following advice to everyone who has damaged ball joints: If you don't receive any goodwill coverage and have to pay for the replacement yourself, don't cut corners. I mean, don't just replace one side or one part, but always replace both sides completely, so both ball joints, both tie rods and track rods, and the rubber joints on both sides. In my case, it happened at 90,000 km, I now have 110,000 km and so far everything is fine, but who knows how long that will last...

Hi Stephan,