I purchased my car in August
Name: haileyj
State Purchased: California
Model Year: 2004
Purchase/Lease Date: August 2004
Story:
I purchased my car in August of 2004. I bought it in California, because I had just recently graduated college and my father lived in California. He thought it would be nice, as a graduation gift, to help me with the down payment. The dealership, Chico Volkswagen, was fully aware I lived in Kansas and assured me a VW would be excellent in all types of weather, even the extremes of the Midwest.
I had had the car about ten days before I noticed a rattle in the glove box, not anyhting unbearable, but irritating. By the time my husband and I drove it home, the armrest on the door had begun to peel and the seat lever on the driver’s seat had popped off.
After quite a bit of hastle, warranty covered the seat and the door, and the service documents said the glove box had been addressed. But after about 30 miles down the road, the box began to squeak, and after further inspection of the paperwork, my husband noticed the technician had blamed the squeak on a few items I had stored in the passenger door, no way close to the glove box. We let it go and attributed the squeak to the cheap faux leather of the interior.
Things never got really out of control until this summer. It all began at about 39k miles. On my way home from a shopping trip in May, about 80 miles away, (on my birthday, no less) the car began to cut out at a high rate of speed. I was running about 70mph with the cruise control set, when all of a sudden, the car slowed, as if I had braked. It dropped to about 60 mph, then suddenly shot back up, practically giving me whiplash. I at first thought the cruise control had given out, so I turned it off and proceeded to drive manually.
After about two more miles, it did it again, this time dropping to nearly 40mph, and then again shooting way back up with a startling jerk. After about ten times of this, it eventually dropped to the point that forced me to down-shift to 2nd, where it eventually sputtered and died.
At first, we were not that alarmed. We felt the fuel pump might be going bad, and so I called road side assistance and had it towed to the nearest dealership, 170 miles away.
After two days, they called and said nothing was wrong. In fact, they attributed it to bad fuel. I was told to use higher octane. Which I did, despite ridiculous fuel costs. So my husband and I drove the 170 miles ourselves and went back to get it.
Two days later, same story.
To make a long story short, the car died on me again today, stranding me 90 miles from home and 30 miles from anywhere, in about 103 degree weather. It wouldn’t even run long enough to run the ac and cool the cab off. I called roadside assistance, and after baking for nearly three hours, a tow truck finally showed up. Yet I still had to find my own ride home.
Keep in mind, this is the fourth time in two months the car has been towed for the same problem. In fact, we have only had it home two weeks, and clearly, nothing has been fixed.
While VW pays to come get the car (and according to the driver that picked it up today, they pay $1,200 a pop!), we have had to go get it each time on our own time and at our own expense.
To make matters worse, I noticed while I was sitting in the car waiting for the tow this afternoon, the door panel that the warranty replaced last year is again peeling. There’s only one conclusion: this car is junk! I’ve threatened lemon law, defamation, even legal action, and nothing helps. No one has any explanation except, “I’m sorry, I completely understand your frustration,” which is crap. Obviously, no one at VW understands what it means to be 26, to be broke, and to have a piece of complete junk on their hands all the while dealing with people who have no degree of sympathy. I have paid every single one of my car payments on time religiously, even when my husband and I struggle financially. In my mind, this shoud be compensated. But as of yet, it hasn’t been.
Bottom line: this car is junk, and I would attribute it to more than the model. VW, as a company, has been the most bogus, counterfeit group of “professionals” I have ever dealt with. Word to the wise: buyer beware!!!
