A friend of my brothers showed up in an 05 Audi A4 Q 1.8T with 17k on the odo. I asked him about the car since last I saw him, he was driving an Eclipse. He said that it is a friends company car that he borrowed and asked if I'd like to take a spin. I said sure and took the keys. He warned me that the clutch was peddle felt sloppy, almost sticking to the floor. - That's where I should have handed the keys back to him...but no. I pulled it out of the driveway and took it through 1st and second fairly quick but not close to redline and when I went to shift to 3rd, it just wouldn't go in gear. I stopped the car and couldn't get it into first. It wouldn't grind at all, but with the car running and trying to push it in first, the car would start moving, it just wouldn't go into gear. Turned the car off and heard somthing wind down and then I could move through the gears freely. The clutch just wouldn't disengage. I was able to start the car with it in 2nd gear and limp it back the 50yrds that I drove it.

Everyone at the meet can vouge that I wasn't beating the hell out of the car since I drove past them all.

So, this guy expects me to pay for the repair after shifting 2 gears in it and having it break. I'm torn between knowing that I was driving the car when it broke and knowing that I didn't break it, it was just the final straw while I was driving it.

Here is a JPG of the invoice. Total cost is $2221 US. If anyone can decipher what the Audi techs are really saying here, let me know!
Invoice

Company insurance will not cover it because Audi told them that it was clearly a case of misuse and it is not a wear and tear part....as you can see, just about everything they replaced is a wear and tear part... :???

Opinions?

 

mabe the guy before you messed it up and schemed on putting the fault on you by making you drive it. This sounds like extreme bad luck or just straight up bullcrap.

 

Here's my suggestions:
1) Get WRITTEN (NOTARIZED if possible) statements from ANYONE who witnessed you driving the car. The statements should include details of how the car was being driven, how it sounded, etc, while you were behind the wheel. They should also reference how long (time) and how far you went.
2) Assuming the statements support what you are saying above, I would offer the owner of the vehicle exactly $50.00 (that's right, fifty ) dollars for a full and complete release of all claims. That's your cost for being stupid.
3) Owner of said car may take you to court, where you will present (hopefully NOTARIZED) statements as evidence that vehicle was malfunctioning before you drove it.

 

^^^^^^ very very good advice.... hey BPH , do exactly what he said. Dont screw around or your going to get fuc*ked in the ****. I just dealt with legal issues regarding a retarted car accident......I bumped someones bumper and their sueing me for 250,000. I got all the paperwork saying nothing was damaged and all this other bullcrap. If i did not have that , Id be screwed.

 

 

along with those Notarized statements.. have the Audi tech that did the work on the car, write up something saying that the clutch couldnt have been damaged to the extent that it was from 1 day of driving or something along those lines

 

I would'nt pay for the bill! The owner told you before you drove it that the clutch was taken a crap. Most likely because he has been out beating the hell out of the thing.

 

I sent the service manager an e-mail and this was his reply:

You were unfortunate to be in the car when the result of prolonged,repeated
either board shifts or excessive slippage when clutching finally caught up
with the car. The fact that we could use a vacuum cleaner to remove what was
left of clutch disc indicates a lengthy pattern of improper shifting. It is
impossible for a normally operating clutch to develop the type of heat
damage seen in the course of 2 or 3 shifts regardless of the quality of
those shifts. This is clearly a pre-existing condition as evidenced by the
warning from the original driver that 'the clutch feels funny'.
Steve [removed]
Service Manager
Holtz Porsche/Audi/Mazda

and I will certainly get statements from everyone that was there.

Thanks for the tips fellas!

 

sounds like you got things in your favor with the dealer guy just get some whitnesses and your golden