Consumer Complaint Detail

VOLKSWAGEN / BEETLE / 1998

Recalls
0 Injured
Investigations
0 Death
Complaints
Yes Fire
Components - Details
NHTSA Complaint Number: 003275098 Incident Date: Jul, 14 2003
Consumer's City: Consumer's State: CA
Vehicle Transmission Type: AUTO Manufacturers Name: Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.
Model Name: BEETLE Model Year: 1998
Vehicle Involved in a Crash: Yes Component's Description: Unknown or other
Vehicle Involved in a Fire: Yes Persons Injured: 0
Vehicle's VIN#: 3VWBB61CXWM Date added to File: May, 25 2021
Date Complaint Received: Jan, 14 2004 Complaint Type: CAG
Incident Reported To Police: No Purchase Date: -
Was Original Owner: No Anti-lock Brakes: No
Number of Cylinders: 0 Date of Manufacturer: -
Was Vehicle Towed: - Description of the Complaints: I bought a 1998 volkswagen beetle from torrance nissan on 5 january, 2003: since the date of purchase, this car had been overheating off and on. i returned it to the dealership but was informed that it was nothing to worry about.? they went as far as taking it to a vw service rep on 5 and 6 january, 2003 for confirmation. i found out later that vw has no record of ever servicing or even seeing the vw until 1 april, 2003! during the months of february and march, 2003 i still experienced the vehicle overheating and each time i called amir, i would follow up with a visit to torrance nissan. their replies were always the same, they could not find a problem for the overheating? there were many times i told the dealership that i no longer wanted this car and even submitted it in writing on 15 april, 2003. on 1 april, 2003 i took the beetle to volkswagen myself and had it fixed, but the water pump broke again and was replaced on 4-9-03. three days later, the car was getting hot. i told both volkswagen and torrance nissan that i no longer want this car! i have proof of all the repairs performed and still it overheats! on 12 april, 2003 i took the car once more to volkswagen to thoroughly check it out and they called their technical support. a few days later they found a cracked head on the engine block. to top it off, i had a car accident on 28 april, 2003 on my way to work and had to be towed to the long beach honda body shop. later that night the car caught fire and was burned down with 3 other cars in the body shop. before the car caught fire, i was in process of a valid claim under the lemon law & magnuson-moss warranty act with the adam krohn of the consume law center. issues: rental car $1,607.78 (my insurance only covered $600.00, my insurance covered only actual value of $10,788.31; leaving me with a balance of $1,043.00 out-of-pocket. which my insurance informs me make a claim against the body shop for difference on balance and $ 1007.78 of the car rental.