Parting ownership and advice when dealing with issues

[mrmortar]

After several months of troublesome ownership I had sadly departed company with my T6.1 this week. It was a great van but was never right from the first day, transmission issues and then numerous visits back and forth to different dealerships trying to put it right. Sadly on the last repair attempt a new issue was introduced at which point I decided enough was enough and rejected the van.

I'd love to buy another but I don't have any faith in VW van dealerships anymore as the two in my immediate area were tiresome to deal with. With used prices increasing I can't justify the extra money to step up to a more modern van.

I won't name and shame the dealerships as this never serves any value because all dealers get mixed reviews and I think i just got unlucky and was sold a lemon.

My only worry would be for whomever gets my van next!

On a positive front, I have some lessons I learnt from my interactions with VW and dealers which I think will help others if they have problems with their vans:

• If you've just bought your van as an approved used, ensure you report any issues within the first 30day of ownership.
• Always take your van back to where you bought it from if possible when you need to seek problem resolution.
• If buying a used approved, try and get one from a local franchise otherwise the above will be impractical!
• Insist on a master technician to witness the issue you have.
• Don't accept 'its a characteristic', 'its normal' or 'no fault found' - this is a common strategy VW will use to fob you off at first contact.
• If the fault is said to be normal... get the dealer to prove it on a identical vehicle.
• Escalate and reach out to the dealer principle if you start to experience fob offs.
• If things start to drag on, raise a case with VW and get them to track your issue, they are useful to act as a mediator.
• Even then, this doesn't mean the issue is acceptable (depending on what your problem is).
• The more you push them the more they will liase back with VW technical and gain approval for swapping parts from donor vehicles to troubleshoot your van.
• Keep a dated log of all events no matter how insignificant. You need a way to recall everything that has happened.

I hope this proves useful to people of the Transporter community.

 

[helphelp]

Astonished to hear this!

 

[Mike Dean]

Buy from @BognorMotors if you don't want a Lemon

 

[BognorMotors]

Thats not good to hear - Probably best to share the registration so we can all steer clear of it

 

[mrmortar]

Thats not good to hear - Probably best to share the registration so we can all steer clear of it

Well I noticed it must have been sold now as I've just had a letter come through saying the new owner has done a HPI check and there is a query against the mileage. To be fair, if i was buying a vehicle that changed ownership within 9 months and did 6000 miles you would be concerned something was up or it was clocked.

 

[Leaky windows]

Very useful advice mrmortar End of the road with me and VW as well - too many issues .

 

[BikerPa]

I must admit to be in a similar position with mine ATM. Very much on the cusp of never touching another VAG product again, after 3 decades of owning little else.

 

[True Romance]

How can some vans be riddled with issues and others have none? Surely they are all assembled the sane using the same new components. Make the QC pass threshold isn't heigh enough?

 

[mrmortar]

How can some vans be riddled with issues and others have none? Surely they are all assembled the sane using the same new components. Make the QC pass threshold isn't heigh enough?

I thought about this and I actually think it due to a variety of factors; a) that the existing weakness in the design is there for all but not everyone is bothered by it e.g. clutch judders in my case some folk felt was normal but I was never prepared to accept it b)I do believe the van I had was driven by someone who was not sympathetic to it's workings hence numerous components in the drivetrain required replacement to get to the bottom of it, clutch/flywheel/gearbox.
One this is for sure, all the very latest T6.1 drive a lot better than mine did, almost feel like completely different vans to drive in terms of build quality. That said, with all my anxieties of ownership it was enough to scare me from getting an other and facing any future agro of getting the simplest of things fixed.

 

[JonriceT6]

I thought about this and I actually think it due to a variety of factors; a) that the existing weakness in the design is there for all but not everyone is bothered by it e.g. clutch judders in my case some folk felt was normal but I was never prepared to accept it b)I do believe the van I had was driven by someone who was not sympathetic to it's workings hence numerous components in the drivetrain required replacement to get to the bottom of it, clutch/flywheel/gearbox.
One this is for sure, all the very latest T6.1 drive a lot better than mine did, almost feel like completely different vans to drive in terms of build quality. That said, with all my anxieties of ownership it was enough to scare me from getting an other and facing any future agro of getting the simplest of things fixed.

Funny you mention clutch judder, mines just started to do it . Intermittently. Did you get it resolved? What was the cause?
Tbh this is my first transporter and I’ve not been impressed at all.

 

[mrmortar]

Funny you mention clutch judder, mines just started to do it . Intermittently. Did you get it resolved? What was the cause?
Tbh this is my first transporter and I’ve not been impressed at all.

Well since I've never experienced one before I can only tell how it was for me.
The judder through my pedal used to vary in severity, some days worse than others. Always in 1st and reverse and always noticeable at slow speeds when taking up drive at very low RPM i.e. in car parking situations.
You could feel it through the chassis. Also had a host of other transmission related issues included shaking of transmission on startup and the inability to get a smooth gear change - always felt snatchy. It has this horrible wobble through the chassis upon engaging gears at higher revs.

The dealer changed my DMF/clutch under warranty but it didn't completely resolve it and once they said it was changed they refused to acknowledge there were any other issues with it and so the challenge started...
I did after a battle get them to look at it again and another DMF/clutch was replaced... made no difference... no surprise there!
They eventually transplanted a gearbox from another new (donor) van in mine which instantly fixed it so they said.
This instantly fixed the snatchy gear changes and the judders were nearly gone but even then there was still a hint of it.
The shaking of the transmission at startup was still there and they ruined the steering of the van so when under 30mph the steering would momentarily freeze up when making turns e.g. on one round around the steering froze up on me which was scary.

 

[JonriceT6]

Well since I've never experienced one before I can only tell how it was for me.
The judder through my pedal used to vary in severity, some days worse than others. Always in 1st and reverse and always noticeable at slow speeds when taking up drive at very low RPM i.e. in car parking situations.
You could feel it through the chassis. Also had a host of other transmission related issues included shaking of transmission on startup and the inability to get a smooth gear change - always felt snatchy. It has this horrible wobble through the chassis upon engaging gears at higher revs.

The dealer changed my DMF/clutch under warranty but it didn't completely resolve it and once they said it was changed they refused to acknowledge there were any other issues with it and so the challenge started...
I did after a battle get them to look at it again and another DMF/clutch was replaced... made no difference... no surprise there!
They eventually transplanted a gearbox from another new (donor) van in mine which instantly fixed it so they said.
This instantly fixed the snatchy gear changes and the judders were nearly gone but even then there was still a hint of it.
The shaking of the transmission at startup was still there and they ruined the steering of the van so when under 30mph the steering would momentarily freeze up when making turns e.g. on one round around the steering froze up on me which was scary.

Jesus, sounds a nightmare. My whole van judders sometimes, not just the clutch, but doesn’t happen all the time. It’s in for service in few months so will get them to look at it then.

What engine and gearbox did you have?

 

[mrmortar]

Jesus, sounds a nightmare. My whole van judders sometimes, not just the clutch, but doesn’t happen all the time. It’s in for service in few months so will get them to look at it then.

What engine and gearbox did you have?

2.0 TDI 150bhp, 6 speed manual CXHA engine model - if you can make the issue happen then make sure you get the master tech to witness it with you when you take it in.