Dealership service problems with ACC

[scottfree.sp]

A couple months ago my car took a hit from a piece of a tire. It hit the bottom driver side ACC sensor, I tried resetting it with OBDEleven, the codes are cleared but the ACC would only stay working for about 30 minutes and then give me the error again so I took the car in to the dealership to see if I could get it replaced under warranty since there were no visible signs of damage. I also wanted to see how trustworthy the dealership was so I didn't mention scanning or anything, and wanted to see what they would find... A day later they call and say it just needs to be calibrated for $560, so I agreed. Few days later I get a call saying they were not able to calibrate the system and that I will need a new parts costing 3800$ But not to worry because I can just make a claim on my insurance.. as if they just give money away and don't make your premium go up... I said OK which parts will I need? After he tried to avoid telling me for a day or 2 for some odd reason, he said "be prepared it's a big name, distance control regulator module"… I assumed he was talking about the sensor? Because I can not find a part with that name. Plus the car was hit with a piece of tire so I know which sensor is probably damaged.... and I had to ask the dealership now 3 to 4 times for the work order so I can see what is actually going on, Because I want to make sure they are replacing the necessary parts.

When I originally got the car my ACC broke but Audi covered it under warranty… But during that time I've watched fellow members threads and never seen anyone have such high cost associated with one sensor and nor have I ever seen a dealership be so secretive about the cost of fixing something. Ive had to ask my service advisor 3-4 times to send me the work order with the cost of parts and labor so I can see what's going on before making a claim. I feel like I can't trust this dealership like they're just trying to swindle me into making a claim and performing work which may or may not fix the problem, because like I said when scanned it shows no errors and the alignment is in range. How come they couldn't even find a broken "distance control regulator module" as he calls it before calibrating it? How do they know that the part is broken now? Still waiting for him to email me the work order so I can actually see what parts they say are broken. I don't know if I'm being paranoid and just need some advice on what to do...Last I heard the service advisor said he will send me the vehicle inspection report. Why will they not send me the work order with estimate of parts and labor?

[Alabama]

Always good to be prudent; even good dealerships can have a "bad apple" employee. My understanding is that most insurance won't cover "road hazard" damage; they'll say you should have driven around the piece of tire. I've never had anyone - dealer or independent - not be able to be precise about the proposed work, even when unexpected. However, in my limited experience, part "names" seem to be very variable and not standard, as opposed to part numbers. Others on AZ hopefully can comment on the technical part of your problem. Good luck.

[2k16A6]

If you're trying to get them to cover impact damage under warranty instead of going thru your insurance, I'm not sure they're the swindlers here....

maybe they found obvious damage from the impact after inspecting it and rightfully feel that they're being swindled?

[scottfree.sp]

If you're trying to get them to cover impact damage under warranty instead of going thru your insurance, I'm not sure they're the swindlers here....

maybe they found obvious damage from the impact after inspecting it and rightfully feel that they're being swindled?

Like I said there was no visible signs of damage. The car looked perfect, And when scanned the sensors showed no errors, I didn't know what the problem was or if the tire had caused damage to the sensor and if it wasn't covered and under warranty thats fine, but at this point I'm just trying to find out what part they were replacing and not just replacing some random parts they "think" will fix it. With no visible signs of damage, and if they cannot find the problem before calibration how do they know what the problem is now?

[daytona rs7]

If you're trying to get them to cover impact damage under warranty instead of going thru your insurance, I'm not sure they're the swindlers here....

maybe they found obvious damage from the impact after inspecting it and rightfully feel that they're being swindled?

i agree with this. pot calling the kettle black....

with that said, you need it fixed. if you are to go through insurance, they will need an itemized bill. part numbers will be on it, so you can then cross reference it with what they want to replace.

as far as your concern of paying for the incorrect part, have that discussion with your service advisor.
Ive always been under the assumption that if im paying for diagnosis and repair, i expect the repair to actually fix my complaint. if the part they want to replace doesn't fix the issue, you should not pay. or you pay and the payment is deducted form the actual repair. this is part of the benefit of paying a premium for dealer repair vs mom & pop shops.

[scottfree.sp]

Ive always been under the assumption that if im paying for diagnosis and repair, i expect the repair to actually fix my complaint. if the part they want to replace doesn't fix the issue, you should not pay. or you pay and the payment is deducted form the actual repair. this is part of the benefit of paying a premium for dealer repair vs mom & pop shops.

That makes me feel better, I just find it so odd that they will not send me an estimate of parts and labor associated with the repair before I submit a claim.

[daytona rs7]

That makes me feel better, I just find it so odd that they will not send me an estimate of parts and labor associated with the repair before I submit a claim.

that is bad business practice. i would want a clear estimate preferably in writing, or at least over the phone, of exactly what was to be done and cost. whether you pay out of pocket or through insurance, this is how it should be done.

[bahula03]

There's a lot to parse here, and a lot of it sounds like communication and expectation problems. Thoughts,

- In your first post, the car gets dropped off hoping it'd be repaired under warranty and at some point this turns into an out of warranty repair. What happened there? If the car is still under warranty, why are they refusing to cover it?

- As far as parts cost, one possibility is the relevant control module (4G0-907-107-E) which has a retail price of $835 and the left radar sensor (4G0-907-541-A) at $2600, which would explain most (if not all) of the $3800 parts quote. You probably don't see those parts costs in other threads because a) pretty much no one out of warranty buys new parts from the deanship when used parts are readily available, as well as discounted new parts online and b) people are usually replacing just one sensor, or the control module, not both.

- "...when scanned it shows no errors and the alignment is in range." all this shows is that the tools you have and troubleshooting you're capable of say that nothing is wrong and yet. If you don't have confidence in this dealer doing the diagnosis that you aren't capable of, that's fine, tell them you no longer feel comfortable with them working on the car, settle the bill, and take it to a different dealer or indy.

- As others have mentioned, and you can look up the applicable laws where you are, shops are required to get authorization (usually in writing) from the responsible party (whether that's you or insurance) before starting any work, and are again required to get authorization (usually verbally) if the cost is going to exceed the previous estimate. Where I am, a detailed invoice with labor billed and parts used is usually only provided when the work is complete. If your service advisor isn't providing the info you need to feel warm and fuzzy about things, escalate to the service manager (or however far up) to get it sorted...part numbers isn't exactly asking for the moon IMO. The flip side of that, which goes back to the previous point, is if you've asked them to diagnose this problem then how are you going to "...make sure they are replacing the necessary parts."?

Sluggish and incomplete communication is always going to be frustrating, but at the end of the day you need to figure out if, and how, you can trust this dealership or not. If it's impossible for you to trust them, probably time to take your business elsewhere.

[scottfree.sp]

Yes the car is still under warranty and I found out this morning why they are refusing to cover it... because of outside damage. I had them send me pictures, and yes there is some damage underneath the car which I did not look for... oops. BUT its only a little piece of the wheel well, on the opposite side of the suspected damaged sensor so I'm pretty sure they're not related but I will find out when they are done

The way the service advisor explained it was that 1 part cost $3800, the forum threads I'm referring to are from members that had the work done at Audi dealers with OEM parts ordered from the dealer. When my ACC stopped working the first time, even though it was covered under warranty I still became familiar with the cost of parts, and over the years have followed other forums/threads out of curiosity because it's one of my favorite features on the car.

At this point I have bigger fish to fry and the car is already at the dealership an hour away and I don't really want to go through the hassle of moving it to another, and after talking with my insurance company they said my premium will not go up so now they can deal with it. But they definitely agreed that my service advisor should have already given me an estimate of parts and labor.

[Sima-Koya]

If dealership refuses to solve your problem,I can maybe help you if you source the second hand part.
Member Audisthesia has Vas5054 interface which I can use to align component protection and code part to your VIN.
For interface reach out to him.
Then only thing left to do is go to ADAS calibration device and make calibration.

They are not so expensive either,you can get them for 200 to 300 USD.