Mash

Been to Skoda dealer this morning: £52 to reprogramme current spare key £188 to get a new key and reprogram existing spare. £408 (!) to change all locks, get new keys etc. Insurance unfortunately doesn't have key cover, so will go down the route of getting the new key and reprogramming the existing one. On a lighter note, our holiday insurance had better cover than we expected so sounds like there are some things that we can claim back (if they approve it), however we will still be VERY out of pocket. So, big lesson learnt there chaps....don't take your eyes off your bags for a second, no matter how safe you feel, it could cost you dearly.....

We were hoping for that too, but were told at the airport that a few months ago this may have been possible but they've really tightened up the controls around this recently. Also, we have literally no photographic ID as all of our documents were stolen, including my wallet / wife's purse. There is literally nothing to say who we are other than those emergency passports. Ah well, back home tomorrow...

Was reading about that in the local english papers at the Consulate - seems that's a very common thing at the moment - We had an enormous sticker on our back window advertising that it was a rental so ripped it off straight away. There were also a few reports of Romanians (again) jumping in cars at the supermarket while they were being loaded up with shopping and driving off with the owners little kids still in the car. One was an Audi Q7 owned by some British woman loading up her shopping, the bloke jumped in and there was an 18 month old in the back. He just drove off and got caught by the police a little later - what did he get for it? A 2500 Euro fine. Unbelievable. I'd want him strung up by the nuts for that.

See this thread on Pistonheads where I had a bit of a rant the day after it happened: http://www.pistonhea...ieving *******s Thanks for the replies guys, I'll pay a visit to Skoda dealership first thing Monday to sort the keys out, and will keep my fingers crossed regarding the insurance - A serious lesson learnt by me though, not to turn my back for a second - Having spoken to other people out here in Spain, there is a LOT of it going on, apparently mostly by Romanians. They are targetting the beaches, and in particular parked rental cars - when we were in the British Consulate getting emergency passports there were quite a few people coming in that had everything stolen. One couple in particular that had just got to Spain with their elderly mother, parked at a Lidl to get a bottle of water, when they came out absolutely everything had been taken from their car - all they had were the clothes they were stood in. Really felt for them. I know this could happen anywhere, but I for one, will not be coming here again.

I live in Northampton, so if anyone is able to help with programming the keys I'd be most grateful, will be back on Sunday... The car is currently at East Midlands Airport and we've been in touch with the car park to ensure that it isn't taken from there (our car park ticket was in the bag also!) - I'm so hoping that our travel insurance covers everything but have a horrible feeling that it doesn't - I think the wife was more concerned with ensuring we had good cover for cancellations/medical and didn't pay much attention to thefts / loss of possessions so the level of cover on those may be quite low. Maybe the home insurance will cover some of it...I really don't know until we get home :-( Have spent the last 2 weeks fretting about this. As we really don't know how these thieves work, we had the house locks changed straight away (plus the locks to the villa here in Spain), hopefully they were just opportunists, but the way they did it suggested that they do this regularly, and even the police admitted to us that it happens about 3 times a day in that car park! You'd think it would be safe in a car rental car park, but for some unknown reason they don't have any barriers to get in/out so it's an easy escape.

Will be checking all of our insurances to see what cover we've got - All in all this theft has probably cost us a couple of grand so anything that we can recoup will be be good!

Just to update on this, I took the car back as the engine management light finally came on - seemed it was the exhaust pressure sensor - first one I've had go on the CR engine - My last PD170 had 3 go. Also had an ECU update while it was in and so far so good....Am not saying it's perfect yet as I don't want to tempt fate until I've driven it for a while...

I've just had to pay out 496 Euros for emergency passports just to get the 4 of us home so the least I can pay the better! (not to mention replacing everything that went missing, changing locks on house etc). Just hope the holiday/home insurance covers some of it...

So let me get this straight - you said "When you code they new keys, you can wipe all keys and add only the new ones to the immobiliser, so they can't just drive it off", yet they can still get in and turn the ignition on - but I assume they can't start the engine because of the immobiliser right? Or have I misunderstood? So they can get in the car but they can't start it....

And how much is the lock set on top of the price of the new keys? I'm hoping these thieves were just chancers and nothing else will come of it, but can't be too careful...

Great thanks, damn expensive holiday this has been :-(

Last week I arrived in Malaga airport only to have my hand luggage stolen in the car rental car park - Unfortunately along with all of my money, passports, driving license, ipod, ipad, camera, tomtom, villa keys, baby's change bag, the list goes on....were the keys to my Octavia vRS. I return to the UK on Sunday and will have my spare key brought to me at EMA, however I am now worried that as someone has my car keys and address, if they have posted those keys to anyone they know in UK, then it would be easy for them just to take the car from my driveway. So I have 2 questions: 1) Is it possible to get the car and the existing key 'remapped' so that the stolen one no longer works? (not sure if remapped is the word I'm looking for but you know what I mean)... 2) How much does it cost to get a replacement key?

Damn, I knew I shouldn't have said anything....symptoms came back tonight

So having taken the car in about 3 or 4 times for the same issue (including having the fuel filter replaced), Skoda still said they couldn't find anything wrong with it. Was completely hacked off with the car, but on deciding to clean it at the weekend, I thought I'd pop the bonnet and in doing so immediately noticed that something wasn't quite right. (In my defense, I haven't actually looked under the bonnet to see if anything obvious was wrong as having had the car in for a service, and Skoda having looked at it numerous times I wasn't expecting to see anything). Anyway, I noticed that there was a cover missing from the air scoop behind the grill and therefore the air wasn't being directed down the pipe and through the air filter. (see red circle in image, ignore the red arrow). Was quite surprised that something so blatantly obvious was missing - I'm far from mechanically minded and noticed it straight away. Luckily I found it wedged between the wheel arch and the engine. Put it back on, and hey presto now the car is running so much better. I say that with all fingers crossed, touching wood etc just in case, but it seems to have done the trick. Guess it must have been left off by Skoda when it went in for a service, I can't see that it would just fall off as you need a screwdriver to get it off. Have to say I'm pretty disappointed that they never found out what's wrong...

Ok, am taking the car in tomorrow to have a puncture fixed, so at the same time will get them to swap the fuel filter and see if that makes any difference. Will update once I've driven it for a bit...

Not yet - been so busy with work haven't had a chance to book it in. And typically since starting this thread I haven't noticed the symptoms quite so much Now I've written that they'll probably start again, so will book it in when I get a chance...

^^ this. If it was just when going down steep hills I could live with it as its pretty flat where I live, but the fact that it is now constantly feeling like its being starved of fuel is doing my head in. Gonna book it back in tomorrow, they can keep it until they rectify it. Hopefully it will be something simple like the fuel filter as mentioned above... Funny though, considering so many people have had the downhill issue, according to my dealership Skoda uk say they've never heard of it?!

When it was just on the crest of a hill it didnt bother me too much. Its just that it seems to be happening more on the flat that is bothering me...

Had a service a few weeks back (the first time I mentioned the problem to them) but don't think the filter was changed as part of that. It seems like that would be the obvious place to check first so would imagine they've checked it - maybe not

So my CR170 vRS (MY59) lately seems to be down on power. I have sent it back in to the dealership twice now but they come back saying there's nothing wrong with it. I find it hard to describe the symptoms but it seems to have started since I noticed the power cutting out on the crest of certain hills, which now seems to happen when going all the way down very steep hills, and I'm sure I'm not getting paranoid but it seems to happen on normal flat roads just for a split second - almost as if it's not getting enough fuel. It sounds rougher than usual aswell. It only seems happy when you've got your foot flat to the floor, which obviously isn't exactly practical. I can only describe it as the car not breathing properly. It doesn't drive half as smoothly as it used to. Have done the usual dpf burn etc, but doesn't seem to have made any difference. I know this all sounds rather vague and I'm having a real job explaining it to the dealership, and then typically they're not seeing the problem - I guess as they're not used to driving the car and don't know the difference. I know there's definitely something not right and with my warranty due to run out in September and the horrendous issues I had with my last vRS once the warranty ran out I am getting rather worried. Anyone else had anything similar in theirs?

Well as expected no fault was found in the service. They've raised a report back to Skoda to tell them I'd complained of this happening but guess that isn't going to help in the short term. Guess my only option now is to find a hill close by that does it, then take the technician there to feel it happening. Oh well, glad I live somewhere flat as that would do my head in if it was happening all the time.

That sounds just like it, I started to notice it when going over the crest of hills, but now it seems to happen all the way down a hill if it's steep enough). Living in Northants I don't have a lot of steep hills to navigate so it's not a huge problem to me, but often go to see friends in Yorkshire and it does it all the time up there... So based on the thread you linked to above, looks like I'm not gonna be in much luck of Skoda actually doing anything - but I will definitely mention it to them.

Its a CR 2009 (59).

Apologies if posted before, have searched but couldn't find anything....so I've noticed recently that my Vrs starts to stutter every time I go down a steep hill. Feels like its being starved of fuel and acts almost like its misfiring. The car goes in goes in for it's last service before the warranty runs out in a couple of days so if there's anything that can be done to fix it I'd like to get it done. Anyone else experienced it? If so, was it fixed? I'm expecting the dealership to just fob me off but I'm sure I've read about this being a problem (just can't remember where).

Yeah, the last vRS did too...think I might change brand this time