Hello there all of you with Golf Mk 6 GTI timing issues.
Here is my little story...
I live mostly in Vienna, but use my Golf Mk 6 GTI when back in England and drive over to Vienna three or four times a year.
I purchased my car (Candy white, 3 doors) second hand, from Listers in Leamington Spa in July 2012. It is an October 59 reg, it had 19k miles on the clock. I fortunately purchased a two year VW warranty with it.
I have enjoyed driving it over the last 21 months and had no problems. It now has 45k miles on it. It has been serviced at a local independent garage, when required. However, a week ago, I flew back to London Gatwick, from Vienna, ready to enjoy a late night drive up the M40 to my home in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands. After 30 minutes, I stopped for a midnight cappuccino to keep me going. When, I turned on the engine again, I noticed the warning light come on and an awkwardness in the starting of the car. Now, I have no knowledge of engines, nor mechanics. I can fill it up with petrol and that is about it.
I drove back home and the following day, I immediately booked it into my local official VW garage - Johnsons. They were really helpful and a lady called Laura was sparkling with helpfulness. I guessed it might be the starter motor, because of the whirring sound when turning the key in the ignition. But as mentioned, I am clueless about engines. I had guesstimated a bill of up to £400+.I waited about 30 minutes and then an engineer came out. He told me the timing chain had gone and the car was undrivable.
Then it was back to Laura. My first question was to ask her how much it might cost in the worst case. She said they would have to investigate properly, but it could be circa £2k ish. My heart dropped and my wallet was screaming at me in my back pocket. I politely told her I had purchased the car from Listers in L. Spa and had a 2 year VW warranty. She said leave it with me.
I flew back to Vienna last week and until this afternoon had heard nothing. I took this to be bad news and was expecting to be £2k lighter in my bank a/c when all this was through.
Well the wonderful news is I received an email from Laura this afternoon, to say my car would be completely mended in the next few days, with zero cost to me (because of the warranty) and would then be delivered to my home, ready for when I get back from Vienna in 10 days.
Brilliant and so very pleased. Hats off to Laura for her excellent customer service and thank heavens I purchased the VW warranty.