Certified pre-owned my butt!

I bought a CPO 06 GTI a few months back. The car is pretty much perfect except for an intermittent transmission rattle or clunk. It's been to the dealer three times now and they claim nothing is wrong. Today, after about 4k miles of ownership I did my first oil change. After removing the belly pan this was staring me in the face.

I'd say a huge hole in the bellhousing falls far out of the "we can't find anything wrong with it" category.

Also, that oil pan looks awfully shiny and new compared to everything else...

Yikes! That's scary. It's an unfortunate truth that an automaker's CPO program is only as good as the dealers selling the cars, and some are far worse than others. About 5 years ago I purchased a CPO Honda Accord that I wound up making the dealer buy back as a lemon when they refused to address a front end shimmy. Lousy dealership refused to comply with the arbitration award until I got the DMV involved and they were within 12 hours of having their dealer license suspended when they finally called to inform me that my check was ready. On the other hand my experiences with BMW's CPO program have been magnificent (and is the only way I'd buy a late model BMW these days).

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when you have a frank discussion with the dealer's service manager about their diagnostic procedures...

Looks like it met a curb or other soild object, thats actually pretty common with those. If you are going to keep it, check for leaking on the read main seal, they are easy to put in wrong, although if the pan was off too its probably ok.

Would it be totally unreasonable to go to the dealer tomorrow and ask them to fix it? I don't want a new trans, but if that's what it takes...

I bought a CPO car to avoid this kind of BS. I mean, what kind of inspection could they have done that didn't include a cursory glance under the car?

That car went on a lift, there is almost no way they didn't see it if they did their 74 kazillion point inspection.

That's terrible . Guess they didn't count on you doing your own oil changes.

Wait, you mean thats not just an inspection port?

MrJoshua wrote: Wait, you mean thats not just an inspection port?

I actually LOL'd on that one. Needed that it's been a rough day at work.

Ouch! I would be very furious with them! Let us know how it goes...

skruffy wrote: Would it be totally unreasonable to go to the dealer tomorrow and ask them to fix it? I don't want a new trans, but if that's what it takes... I bought a CPO car to avoid this kind of BS. I mean, what kind of inspection could they have done that didn't include a cursory glance under the car?

It would be totally reasonable to expect them to fix it. That is exactly why you pay the extra money, to avoid that kind of BS.

CPO, or not, though, I'm surprised this is the first time you've been under the car.

...meanwhile at a Volkswagen dealer

Skruffy said: I was changing my oil yesterday and saw that there was a chunk missing from my transmission. I bought your CPO car thinking it would be in good shape.

Salesweasel said: That's how we were able to certify that it was previously owned, possibly by a kid that couldn't drive. Have a good day.

Skruffy said: The oil pan also looks new, are you sure this car is ok?

Salesweasel said: Better than it was, the old one wouldn't hold any oil. Dunno what the kid, um pervious owner hit.

They'll say you did it.

They can't the cover is intact and the pan is not damaged

Litttle bondo and that thang'll be fixxed rat up.

Make sure they give you a loaner... a nice one.

I may be wrong here, but that bolt looks like it would have had to go through the part that is now missing. If they installed the oil pan (notice the label on it) then they would have installed this bolt. Notice how it is bottomed out. That would imply that the piece that is missing now was missing then, yes?

Perhaps it is a trick of the camera, but that bolt sure looks like it would have to go through the part of the bellhousing that is now MIA.

So I assume this is the car you mentioned in another thread as having been to the dealer three times for other reasons. So has it been to the dealer a total of six times now?

"July 17, 2009 9:41 a.m. -skruffy - I just bought an 06 GTI and I've only been in for warranty work three times. Still a better sport compact than anything the big 2.5 can offer. One was a TSB fix for the stereo, one was a recall for the PCV system and an AC pressure switch, and one was for them breaking my oil cap when they did the PCV fix (hooray for dealer service departments). "

Yeah, and I still like it better than anything from the US. And it's only been to the dealer three times, I mentioned the sound at each visit and they told me nothing was wrong.

I'm waiting until monday to take it in. In the meantime I'm going to contact the original dealer in VA that's stamped the service book a few times and see if they know anything about this. I'm going to be quite prepared when I have a talk with the local dealer I bought it from.

I say let them purchase the car from you for what you paid plus any interest you paid (if any). If they decline offer to hand them their testicles on a platter with a very attractive DMV logo embossed thereon.

This is the very thing you paid them to “inspect” The tech saw it as an easy 1-1.5 hour flat rate pay to do the inspection but didn’t pull the belly pans to check every thing. That would make me wonder what else he didn’t check. It more than likely ran over something in the road or a curb to cause that damage. Wonder where the alignment settings are? Bent wheels? Check the floor pans carefully also.

skruffy wrote: Yeah, and I still like it better than anything from the US. And it's only been to the dealer three times, I mentioned the sound at each visit and they told me nothing was wrong.

That my friend sounds like blind lunacy!

It will need a new transmission to fix it. A guy I know actually was given one that looked just like that from a curbed vw someone he knew bought to fix and resell.

skruffy wrote: I'm going to be quite prepared when I have a talk with the local dealer I bought it from.

If it doesn't go well don't be afraid to share which dealer so other locals can avoid them.

make friends with an attorney. Get them to send the dealer a letter. They'll bend all kinds of backwards to help you after that letter.

I wanna drink some of this GTI koolaid

ManofFewWords wrote: I wanna drink some of this GTI koolaid

I'm sure a 16 year old (like the one that curbed the one being featured in this thread) with a shocker sticker on the back of his GTI would be glad to give you some.