Of injectors and other complicated things

My car has a multiple display panel in the middle of the dashboard.  Controls on the streering wheel allow me to view in this panel, courtesy of the on-board computer, the current fuel consumption, the average fuel consumption for this trip, the length of this trip in either miles or time elapsed, the range available to me with the fuel remaining and so on.  It also tells me when I need to add oil, top up the washer reservoir, refuel and when a service is coming up due - "service in 500 miles or 93 days" or similar.  It had started nagging me some time before we went to France but it just wasn't convenient to book a service with the result that by the time we left it was telling me, "service now!"  It has gone into the local garage today.  But what really got me to book a service was not the nagging, on-board computer with its irritating beep every time I started the car.  No, it was the result of my visit to the supermarket last Friday.  You see, if I had not driven the Old Bat to her session in the diving bell and then gone to do the shopping, it would not have occurred to me to drop in to the local main dealer about my car.

Back in February the car broke down when we were in France and it ended up being carried off the autoroute on the back of a transporter.  The diagnosis was a faulty injector which I duly had replaced at considerable expense.  Some weeks later I happened to see in the weekend motoring section of my newspaper that VW had issued a recall of some cars because of faulty injectors.  So I determined to visit the main dealer at some time to see if my car should have been recalled.  It was purely by chance that my route on Friday took me very close to the dealer and I had time in hand.  I was attended to by a very attractive young lady at one of the service reception desks and she quickly confirmed that yes, my car is one to be recalled.  However, the dealership is sending out recall notices in batches and they have not yet got round to me.  When I explained that I had already suffered a breakdown, she spoke to her boss and gave me the phone number for the VW customer care department, telling me that my first step would be to contact them.  We also arranged to have the other three injectors replaced.  As I don't want the main dealer to service the car, I needed to act quickly.  Luckily, my local garage is very accommodating.

Meanwhile, I have decided against contacting VW customer care.  I will instead write to the branch of the dealership from which I bought the car as my contract is with them, not VW.  I think it is their responsibility to reimburse me, and then claim it from VW if they wish, or if nothing else, they should contact VW and fight for me if only to provide good customer service.  I see an interesting time ahead but I shall not give up as the cost of rep[lacing that one injector came well into three figures.

The car broke down as I was crossing a viaduct.  I had often wished I could stop to take photos - but I would rather not have done it this way.  Anyway, this was the view.

The lady on the other end of the emergency telephone was most insistent that we should get out of the car and sit on the grass.  I did try to explain that the nearest grass was 200 feet straight down but she didn't seem to understand.