Swann extended warranty is it really worth it for T5 Auto?

[Transporter]

Were these comments directed towards me?

No, they were dirrected at the post above (Sunny43.5) that I deleted.

A little appreciation to the technician that shares the knowledge.

[Sunny43.5]

Sorry every one I have sent PM to our friend , it was not my intention to offend him . Howard

[WambyMc]

So at the end of the day.. what is the deal with servicing the automatic transmission? My local VW service agent told me last week the AT is sealed for life. Is this the case or can it be serviced at regular intervals?

[kotim]

Got my quote for a complete rebuild as their were lots of things wrong. Basically full rebuild cost is $8,100.00 The transimission people advised me late Friday afternoon. They also said they spoke with SWANN who will basically pay 6 grand and I the other 2100. Have not had a chance to respond/deal with SWANN Insurance yet but certianly my words the other day may have made some difference as they advised me that they would want me to pay 50% of whatever cost initially. As we know it is just a game of too and fro till the outcome is decided, only problem is that it is time consuming and costly.

Anyway. I shall deal with SWANN and VW on Monday. I will be asking VW on MOnday to pay out the remaining 2100 or deal with SWANN over the issue. I am quite prepared to lodge civil action against VW whether I go down the small claims arena or simply through the perfection of a commercial lien.

Basically SWANN are saying that sealed for life might be correct but "life' is over at 150 odd thousand ks. Should be interesting what VW's response is on 'life' because its puts them in a terrible bind if they have to admit life of gearbox is no more than 150 thousand ks.

Anyway I shall deal with VW and SWANN this week.

[Diesel_vert]

So at the end of the day.. what is the deal with servicing the automatic transmission? My local VW service agent told me last week the AT is sealed for life. Is this the case or can it be serviced at regular intervals?

Yes, you can (and always could) drain and replace the ATF - the transmission isn't literally sealed for life.

[Transporter]

I think they use the term "The lifetime fill".

[Cousin]

Got my quote for a complete rebuild as their were lots of things wrong. Basically full rebuild cost is $8,100.00

I'd suggest that's also an inflated price

My rebuild nearly 16 months ago was $7,000
And I've heard through my mechanic the technology (for rebuilding these boxes) is trickling down and rebuilds can be had for around 5g now

M

[kotim]

Today once again spoke with VW and it is clear they don't care, They naturally enough won't give a life span on an auto gearbox. However I rang the VW Australia at about 1.20pm and spoke with a lady their and I asked her about a sealed for life auto and does it need servicing or is it non serviceable. She advised that she would get further technical assistance and put me on hold. A couple of minutes later she gets back to me and tells me that the gearbox is a non serviceable item, sealed for life needing no service/oil change etc.

I ring up a couple of hours later and speak with another person about some other issues surrounding the car relative to the gearbox and that person gets a person to call me back who states that the gearbox is required to be serviced every 60,000 ks and it is in the documentation that they supply service agencies.

Anyway I ring VW in Rockhampton and speak to a service tech there who says it should be serviced every sixty thousand. I then called the Bundy VW agency where my 60,000 and 120,000 services were done and no gearbox servicing was done at all and my records indicate no such servicing was done. ON top of that they also tell me via email that- "THERE IS NO EVIDENCE ON VOLKSWAGEN SERVICE SCHEDULES THAT GEARBOX OIL IS TO BE REPLACED AT EITHER 60,000KM OR 120,000KM SERVICES."

VW service agencies are clearly all over the place when it comes whether or not to change oil and service the gearbox. Those two agencies above are not the only ones who differ on what is or is not required. It is also clear to me that VW Australia are also all over the place.

So either VW Australia have failed to advise all agencies of service schedule requirements or individual agencies are making mistakes.

Either way I cannot see this as being my fault. Either the agency is at fault for not carrying out Servicing as required or VW Australia is at fault for failing to appropriately advise such services or are attempting to backdate a cover-up because they are aware of the issues.

The transmission place where my vehicle is being looked after advised that the transporter/multivan auto type gearboxes start to noticeably go bad from about 110,000 k's onward. They said that it basically comes down to the fact that they are not being serviced(mostly no oil change), and state that the oil goes bad and then bad things start happening inside the box.

Because the vehicles are mostly sold to fleet/lease buyers with a 3 year warranty they only need the transmissions to last 3 years, as that is what keeps the ongoing cost down and allows VW to sell their vehicles.

The way I look at it, I don't give a damn about SWANN, but as I said, before I claim anything further from SWANN it is my intention to get VW to pay for the outstanding $2,100.00 that SWANN won't cover for the rebuild. It may take me a while but I don't see how I can lose now. If they play hardball then I will play hardball. A sidenote to this is that the transmission place said that I should count myself lucky SWANN are willing to pay 75% as normally it is 50% from their experience.

Amongst other thngs I also advised VW Australia today that should the appropriate answers not be received by me, that I will in due course start a website up advertising that VW's transmissions are only built to last less than 150,000 and so forth.

It is clear to me that looking at these forums and speaking with various agencies that VW are more than aware of gearbox failures early in life but don't want to admit them for the liability that comes attached from such admission.


Anyway onwards and upwards.

[Transporter]

It would be better to have all the above what they said in emails rather than phone calls. I trully wish you luck.

[kotim]

Yeah I know Transporter and the fact that the Bundy dealership has not replaced the oil etc on both the 60 and 120 thousand service and admitted so in email as well as saying that in their service sheduling they state their is no servicing required, that creates a massive hurdle for either VW Australia or the dealership.

The interesting thing when talking to the auto transmision specialist today he personally was of the belief that when VW say sealed for life, they are in fact only referring to the 3 year warranty life. Naturally VW would neither confirm nor deny such a thing.

Either VW Bundy is liable or VW Austrlaia, depending upon circumstances. VW Australia by telling me that Servicing needs ot be done at 60000 ks intervals irrespective of whether they have told people or not would suply the evidence that servicing needs to be done or failure will occur etc. If VW Bundy have evidence that it is not a servicable item according to the informatin they have received from VW then VW Australia is sunk becasue they admit that it needs to be serviced at 60 k intervals.

Worst case scenario, I sit back whilst they fight each other to detemrine who is liable for my gearbox failure.

---------- Post added 24-04-2012 at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was 23-04-2012 at 09:23 PM ----------

Spoke with VW Australia this morning and guess what, they made some mistakes in the information they supplied to me. Funny how they only realised their error once I pointed them to the servicing centre who did not change oil on my geabox. Aparently the 08 model 6 speed gearboxes ARE SEALED FOR LIFE requiring no service/oil change etc. Of course they now have to carefully word their reply to me so they won't supply me a written reply until the end of the week. They are now trying to tell me that is only the new 7 speeders are the ones that require servicing. Don't you just love the Tango dance. Interesting is that since this has occured, talking with various transmission specialists, they state outright that there is no way that a geabox can be expected to last any genuine length of time/kilomters without the oil being changed. They simply state that the oil will become acidic under Operating temps and will inevitably fail.