FirstAndLastSkoda

It's nothing new. In the mid 90's the plastic prongs that connects the bulb to the headlight had snapped on my Fiat Tempra. Took it the my local dealer thinking the part would be about £5ish and labour about £30ish. Knew it was bad when the parts guy not only took in an audible sharp intake of breath but actually stepped back from the computer. £600 before vat. Apparently it was Fiat's policy for such repairs to replace the wiring loom also. Took it to a Lucas garage who repaired it for £25. I cannot make out what the actual part is that needs replacing, is it something that could be 3d printed, or is it too big for that?

It would appear the Germans are also susceptible to panic buying. People are using whatever they can get their hands on to ram food stuffs in: trolleys, packing cases, brief cases, holiday cases. It would appear we are now a approaching a wurst case scenario...

Was told by a Skoda tech there was no difference between the springs on a Scout and a non Scout Octavia. Even if there were, I wouldn't spec them, as my Octy Scout was going through springs like a one season calender. I could understand this if I abused my vehicle, or attacked speed humps at maxi chat speed, but I didn't. The only thing I could think was causing this was due to having a non dropped kerb leading up to my shared drive. Speccing Goodyear Vector 4 Season Gen2's, did make a noticeable difference.

You can tell it's getting serious when Lidl sells out off these....

Allegedly you can pick up your missing two boot hooks at your local Skoda dealership in exchange for 48 toilet rolls.....

Just as I thought. My insurance company have stated unless the retail park management accept responsibility for the damage they'll class it as an own fault claim. Absolute wasters! Is it any surprise that my Twitter feed is full of the various sub sections of Police Scotland reporting they've pulled another non insured driver! Note to self: stock up on lube just before insurance renewal time so it's not so bad when the insurance industry takes great pleasure in humping you up the Gary Glitter.

Is anyone else more alarmed and concerned about other people's actions and reactions to the Corona virus, rather than the virus itself? A woman tweeted into her LA that even though her child's school was still open and no-one in the area actually had the virus she was self isolating her family, including her child. Her tweet to the LA was whether she could claim any assistance towards the private tutor she had employed to home school her child......

Thanks George. I wasn't keen to inform them as I'd only owned the vehicle five days when this took place. Advice appreciated. F&LS

I thought you might find this useful....

I found the easiest way to turn Traffic Sign Recognition on in my MkII Octavia was to buy a Honda!

I had rust bubbles showing at the bottom of at least two of the doors. The OSR passenger door had a rust bubble approximately 8cm in length and 1-3 cm in depth. It has been there for at least two years, and the vehicle had only ever been serviced at Skoda garages. Never mentioned during the video VHC, but pitting of the brakes was. I had a physical Service Book from owning the vehicle from new, not once during any of the services was the box ticked for Bodywork Condition Check carried out, even though it was there in plain site.

That's a common problem. I had mine resprayed under warranty in 2016, and it came back in less than 2 years. The local dealer washed their hands of it and told me to sort it out with the body shop they originally sent it to. Your vehicle is still covered under the anti corrosion warranty (it's 12 years), the rust there is a known issue, any dealership that says otherwise is lying. I never got round to getting it sorted as I knew I would be trading it in fairly soon. Unless you live in the Glasgow area, I doubt very much you'll get the incompetent cockwombles I did. Best wishes.

Afternoon, I believe a contractor carrying out spray painting on signage in a public car park has managed to get it on most of the panels and glass areas of my vehicle - the work was not being undertaken when I parked. I have taken photographs of the damage, and of the location where I parked. I also took photographs of the same colour of paint spatter around the post they were painting, along with a cloth and masking tape also covered in the same colour of paint lying on the floor of a nearby cherry picker, which was similar to one I saw parked in the car park earlier that day. The area I parked was not coned off, nor was there any signage put up warning of painting or work taking place there. I have contacted the land management agency responsible for the retail park and they have responded by saying they will investigate. As I also believe this to be a breach of H&S, I have filed a report of the incident with the Local Authority, who have stated they will get back within 10 days. Question now is, do I inform my insurance company about this? Also, what would be regarded as reasonable compensation? Regards, F&LS

I've just traded in my near 10 year old and 110k Octavia Scout. Sometimes my annual mileage could be nearly 26k and other times as low as 6.5k. One advantage of annual servicing that gets over looked is you know roughly when it is going to happen so you can prep for it; every 12 months or 9400 miles, whatever it reaches first. My vehicle came from the factory on variable which suited me fine as my commute was 50 miles each way with regular journeys of 475 miles each way for courses. Unfortunately the vehicle threw a spanner in the works as it stated I required a service at just over 13k, and not the 18k I was expecting. Not good when at that time I was working 7 days on, 7 days off. I got it changed to annual after that. If servicing cost are of concern, you could always enquire if any of your local Skoda dealers offer reduced cost servicing for older vehicles like mine did. I paid £109 for a Minor Service and £159 for a Major Service. Still carried out by Skoda 'techs', still to the same 'ahem' standards or quality as OE, still got software updates, and all on the same Skoda branded receipts that apparently impresses at trade in time. For the last four years my daily commute was approximately 3 miles each way in 30 and 40moh zones. Despite all that, never got any pick up points for emissions either during 7 MOT's or any of its services. Just so I don't upset anyone, and for clarification, I'm currently sat on my sofa whilst I swype this!

Just an update to my previous. I just washed the car today it's actually worse than I initially thought. Even though the car was facing away from the signage they still somehow managed to get paint on my windscreen. And an alloy, the drivers door and the OSF wing. The only panels they didn't hit that I can see were the NSR quarter panel, the front and rear passenger side doors, the NSF wing and the bonnet. There's probably more paint on my vehicle than there is on the shop signage. I contacted the retail park property management company and they are "currently looking into it."

Richter Sounds sell it, may be worth giving them a visit or call. https://www.richersounds.com/search/?q=yamaha musiccast

These come highly regarded... https://www.transk9.com/select/skoda/skoda-yeti/skoda-yeti-2009/b35/

Good to see the Saudi arms embargo is finally taking place...

It's basically like this on all the paneld and glass areas I mentioned above. I'm not sure if it is actually paint or if it's some chemical they use to strip paint or adhesive (I'm sure the pole was previously white it's now a sky blue), as when I initially saw the mark and tried to wipe it off, it seemed to remove the cars paint with it.

It would appear the local retail park has employed both Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles to respray their 'Welcome To...' and shop list signage as they managed to get paint on the roof, tailgate OSR door and bumper of my 'new to me' 5 days of ownership Honda. No warning signs or coned off area. Let's see if they like having their parking enforcement CCTV system used against them. Proof of timings and location date stamped via my tracker.

You don't park anywhere near trees, workshops or a railway line et al? I have trees at one end of the carport and within a short period of time after cleaning the car the windscreen is covered in tree sap. I used to keep a spray bottle of Autoglym Fast Glass handy to give the windscreen a quick spritz to help the windscreen wipers do their stuff.

Apparently this is going......... Viral

And so it begins.....