Hello everyone.
Just got back from a 2700 km trip to Germany, where i had my old OpenSky System replaced by a new one, backed by a two year warranty, yey!
This post should give you the necessary info in order to check if you are eligible for a free repair/replacement of your now defective panoramic roof.
I firstly want to thank bretti_kivi and nuttinnew for their support in arranging this trip and their willingness to help out a fellow club member.
Let me start with a few prerequisites: your car has to be no more than 10 years old from the date of first purchase (you don't necessarily have to be the first owner) and it's last
FULL service has to have been done at an Audi garage. The second one is pretty easy to do but if your car is over 10 y.o., sorry...
As far as i know, the only service where Audi has this free repair deal ( that's "kulanz" in german ) is Rinner Autohaus in Bad Tolz, Germany. Their website is here:
http://www.rinner-gruppe.de/cms/
They have a pretty capable garage that managed to change my whole roof in about 8 hours.
The whole thing was pretty simple to set up. I contacted Rinner's on the phone in order to see if i could benefit from the free repair. They speak English well enough. Then sent them an email with my VIN number and mileage and two days later got the go ahead from Audi Germany. I then called them again to arrange a reservation and that's about it. After i arrived in Bad Tolz, i left them the car at 8 am and by 4 pm it was done. This was a full roof swap with a brand new one. This was done because after some good months ago my roof refused to close on one side, now it degenerated and wouldn't open at all, just clanked when you tried to open it. The technician said that a repair was out of the picture.
The entire cost of the OSS replacement was covered by Audi.
Now for some note worthy advice on the whole operation:
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if your car has or hasn't been last serviced in an Audi garage, it's a good advice to have the full service done at Rinner's. Oil+oil filter+air filter+polen filter+fuel filter+brake fluid service is about 490E, including also a good inside clean, outside wash, shock absorber and brake efficiency test, electric diagnostic, etc.
I've had the full two year service done at an Audi dealership in Romania just before leaving for Germany because it was way cheaper, with the Audi stamp and everything on the service booklet. When i arrived in Bad Tolz i was told by mr. Rinner that the oil change code my Audi garage used in the service chart was wrong and because of that i could not benefit from the free OSS repair ( even though i've sent him a scan of the service chart a week in advance to check if all was ok, so as not to go to Germany for nothing... ).
This lead to me have a second oil change in 1200 kilometers done at Rinner's, for the sum of 291E, now sporting the correct code. Of course he could not tell me what the difference was between the two codes, but going back home with the roof broken was not an option for me considering the distance travelled, and i quote him: "changing your roof costs over 2000E, you can have it done now for 291E..."
To sum this up, don't complicate things, get the full service done at Rinner's and avoid any drama.
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consider booking online a room in Bad Tolz for the time your car is in service. Having a rest while your OSS is repaired is not a bad idea. The town is a small one (and boring if you ask me, because i visited during a terrible snowy weather, but nuttinnew swears it's pretty nice
) and is also pretty far from any large towns or tourist attractions. Also, i arrived earlier than expected at 3 in the morning and the town was dead. Not a man or car on the streets, no place to get a coffee or even an open gas station. Only saw a taxi, and the driver said that just the casino was open, but i skipped on visiting it.
Any other questions i'll be glad to answer them.
Down with the ClosedSky System, long live OpenSKY!
