Issue with audi a3 following repair work....

terrydel

I had an accident a month ago, entirely the fault of the 3rd party.
I left my car into my own insurer's approved repairer.
Its an 04 1.6 petrol a3.

I went on holidays for 3 weeks and when I returned and inquired whether the car was ready, I was told all the repair work was complete, but that now the car wasn't starting. At first they briefly mentioned the alarm, but gave very little detail.
They said it was now with audi themselves.
4 days later I am still trying to get answers as to what is going on.

They are being very economical with details imo.
After confronting them today, they have mentioned the ecu has been reset and audi are still working on it. They mentioned the oven where the repairs where done may have caused something, but again they are saying very little.

My take is that they have messed up something while repairing the car.
I still have no idea when it will be ready, and am very worried that I will get it back only for it to have more problems which they will then wash their hands of.
Anybody got any experience of situations like this?
What is the possibility of bodywork repair in an oven causing ecu/whatever problems?
And is this a huge potential cost if so?
I have made clear that it happened on their watch and I will not be paying a penny, the 3rd party insurer who are footing the bill for the repairs have also stated this cost will not land with them.

Any help/advice very much appreciated.

terrydel

Update.
I've spoke to the garage and the car is now ready to be collected.
The issue was apparently the ecu shut down during the damage repair process, not sure why, but it has now been reset.

I am not overly familiar with this area, so my concern is that the ecu has not been replaced, and its only a matter of time now before it packs in again.

Anyone have any opinions on the above?

listermint

terrydel wrote: »

Update.
I've spoke to the garage and the car is now ready to be collected.
The issue was apparently the ecu shut down during the damage repair process, not sure why, but it has now been reset.

I am not overly familiar with this area, so my concern is that the ecu has not been replaced, and its only a matter of time now before it packs in again.

Anyone have any opinions on the above?

They may have blown some fuses / over loaded a relay or removed the battery during the repair process. This may have caused havoc with the on board diagnostics or ECU unit.

They obviously needed the codes reset from the dealer and may not have had the equipment to do so.

Was there airbags deployed ? This would also require ECU work.

Lucky the ECU wasnt fried thats an expensive fix. But its all on the third partys insurance so not your dime i suppose.

Make sure you keep all the repair paperwork for when it comes to sale time.

terrydel

listermint wrote: »

They may have blown some fuses / over loaded a relay or removed the battery during the repair process. This may have caused havoc with the on board diagnostics or ECU unit.

They obviously needed the codes reset from the dealer and may not have had the equipment to do so.

Was there airbags deployed ? This would also require ECU work.

Lucky the ECU wasnt fried thats an expensive fix. But its all on the third partys insurance so not your dime i suppose.

Make sure you keep all the repair paperwork for when it comes to sale time.

Thank you for your reply.
Airbags where not deployed.
The issue is that the 3rd party's ins company are not willing to pay for this as it is not as a direct result of the accident.
So I am relying on the garage to fix it properly and not on the cheap.
Its clearly as a result of something they did.
I am worried that the garage f*cked up and to avoid a huge expense on their part, will go for the easiest option and hand me back a car that is liable to pack in in the near future.
How expensive would a new ecu be would you have an idea?

MuppetCheck

Also ask for a breakdown of the repair from Audi if that's where they have sent it. Don't be afraid to call the dealer that carried out the repair to discuss the matter.