Questions and Answers

Volkswagen Jetta Bent Rear Axle? Q. I have a good friend who recently ran over a relatively small, yet apparently respectable enough piece of lumber, or something, on the highway. This has obviously bent up a couple of the suspension parts on one side of the rear of his 2002 Volkswagen Jetta. This is a front wheel drive car, so the back is basically just a straight shaft across joining to the control arms and other components.

He has been told by his auto shop that the rear axle is bent and will need to be replaced to the tune of $5,000.00. My question is simple, do you believe they are being straight with him and that the axle is bent, or are they just assuming it is due to the other components and looking for extra money from his insurance company, which will cost him in premiums for some time?

I must ask this because it does not seem logical to me. I thought to diagnose problems such as this they would first have to replace the bearings and all other components to assure they are good, and then attempt a rear alignment and see if it will go into specification.

They also gave it very little time during the diagnose, maybe 15 minutes. I could be way off there, but I'm an amateur shade tree mechanic myself so I know a little, very little, something about cars.

Could you give me some general information as to how they would go about accurately diagnosing the rear axle? That way we can call this shop back and ask them how they determined it was bent and see if their description jives with what the right procedure is, and we can be better armed when dealing with whatever shop will be doing our second opinion.

Jay

A. It is feasible that if they put the car on a modern four wheel alignment rack they could have determined that the rear wheels are out of adjustable tolerance backed up by a visual inspection which should take no more than 10 or 15 minutes. Many shops work on the premise that they don’t wish to attempt to repair replaceable parts due to problems that may occur down the road and the ensuing liability they may face.

I would recommend that the car be brought to another alignment shop that indicates that they are more willing to perform feasible repairs such as component straightening etc. This may save the owner some money in the short term and a reputable shop should be able to repair it sufficiently but there is always a risk factor when repairing versus replacing.