I have a 1998 Audi A4 Quattro with the 1.8T engine and it recently had
a timing belt failure (86,000 mi). I was surprised because the dealer
had performed a related recall ("JK Campaign") just four months
earlier. In fact, the service invoice clearly stated that the timing
belt had been inspected and did not need to be replaced until 90,000 mi
(this was when the car had 82,000 mi). After telling this story to the
guy at my local shop, he advised me to call Audi and he gave me the 800
number. The customer service advocate at Audi was nice enough and he
verified that my wife was the original owner of the vehicle. He opened
a case and asked me what I'd like Audi to do. At first I thought he
was joking! So I told him politely that I'd like Audi to pay for the
cost of the repair and the other expenses I had incurred related to
this breakdown. So he took down more information and said he'd call
back the next day to let me know what they could do. The next morning
he called back and said that if it was in fact the timing belt that
failed, then Audi would pay for the repair and even the towing costs.
But he said I'd have to get it towed to the nearest Audi dealer (about
a $300 tow charge). Since my local shop is good I knew they wouldn't
mis-diagnose a timing belt failure, so I had it towed to a dealer. It
took over a month, but the dealer did replace the engine (head and
block) and there was no charge at all to me. (I did have to go without
a car for a month, though). About a month after that, I got a check
reimbursing me for the towing charges and a charge for three days of a
rental car. (They refused to pay for the rental car gas and my one
night stay in a hotel, though). While the car was in the shop, I got
something in the mail from the dealer that did the recall work (a
different dealer than the one putting in a new engine). It was a
general advertisement stating that there was a high demand for 1998 A4
1.8T vehicles such as mine, and it went on to say that I would be
offered some sort of bonus if I were to trade it in as part of a new
Audi purchase. This was the first piece of advertising mail I had ever
received from this particular dealer... I couldn't help but laugh at
the coincidence.