JRyder

I took it to the indy I found in the end (Autotechz in Stapleford if anybody is in Nottingham and looking for a specialist). I could have saved some money by taking it to a non-specialist garage, but I'm really pleased that I did now because I got an excellent service. I thought it would just be an interim oil change but they did a proper inspection of the car, and cleared some fault codes from previous repairs. He even told me what had been replaced by the garage that I bought it from, so I knew he'd literally checked the whole car over. And he brought to my attention the potential issue with the silicone bag in the coolant bottle, which I wouldn't have been aware of unless it burst. I got that fixed at a later date and he showed me the old bottle that he'd removed. The guy spent around 15 minutes talking to me about Skodas and sharing his knowledge and anecdotes. It was a great experience and worth the extra money over a general back-street garage. I intend to keep the car for as long as possible so to have a garage that you trust to look after your car for the next x years is worth a little extra I think. Just to say thanks to everyone who has chipped in on this post. Much appreciated!

Yeah. I personally don't like randoms washing my car as I'm pretty sure that maintaining your paintwork is low on most people's agenda. 😄 I always wash my car prior to taking it in anywhere so that they don't bother, plus I always hope that if they see that the car is well looked after and clean then they'll treat it with more respect compared to taking it in looking all grubby. I guess you can't go wrong with vacuuming though.

I meant to reply to this sooner so apologies for a late response. That really is an excellent summary comparing indies and dealers. I especially like the last main dealer point of having the opportunity to steal tiny bottles of screenwash. Thanks again for taking the time to reply with your thoughts and experience. The information is really useful to me, and I'm sure it will be useful for anyone else that finds this thread when they're weighing up where to get their car serviced/fixed.

Thanks a lot for replying - it's put my mind at rest! I've read so many posts on various forums where the advice is not to get a car serviced at the dealership once it's out of warranty as you pay extortionate prices. I was therefore surprised when this VW specialist quoted only £25 cheaper than Skoda, so I just wanted to check that I'm not getting ripped off. Maybe Skoda aren't as greedy as other car dealerships. Anyway, thanks for the information and advice, which I'll take forward with me. The Octavia is a really great car - ticks all the boxes - and I can easily see myself keeping it for a few years now. Perhaps I should learn a few DIY jobs myself, such as changing the oil. Anyway, thanks again for your help. Best of luck with your car and your 200,000 mile journey together.

I can't edit the title but I meant to say '60K Oil Service - Quote from Indy'.

Hello, I am now the proud owner of a Skoda Octavia and I'm really pleased with it. Anyway, it's telling me it's due an oil change. The last service was oil change + spark plugs + brake fluid at 50K. Previous to that was a 44K service with just an oil change. Skoda Nottingham offer fixed servicing for £195 for oil + inspection, or £235 for oil + inspection + pollen filter. I called an indy garage which is about twice the distance away and the quote is £210 for oil + inspection + pollen filter. The garage has good reviews but I wasn't expecting it to be close to the dealership price. Does that quote sound reasonable? I'll do the pollen filter myself to save some money. I guess the other benefit to taking it to a VAG specialist with good reviews is that they generally take better care of your car and they have often have more knowledge/experience. Thanks!

Really appreciate the additional information! I'll make a note of this. Thanks very much! 👍

That's great advice. Thanks!

I'm really sorry - I didn't think to include the additional service information. It looks like it's had the necessary additional work carried out on it (see below). The servicing checklist was useful - cheers. No reference of a cambelt change, but from what I can gather, the MK3 Octavia has a timing chain. I think I'll just take the car as is and do as @Gammyleg suggests and get the next service done at an independent garage. It's probably only got 400ish miles left before it asks for the next service, but at least I'll have more confidence about getting the correct oil. Thanks very much for your advice @toot @Gammyleg. I wasn't really expecting any responses as I thought it might be a dumb question but I feel more confident in buying the car now. Thanks again!

Hi all. I've found a 2016 Octavia VRS that I like and I'm about to pull the trigger. The car currently has just over 59K on the clock. Current servicing (all by Skoda): July 2022 - 50219K - Oil change Nov 2021 - 44382K - Insp + oil change Nov 2020 - 36441K - Insp + oil change Dec 2019 - 28427K - Oil change Apr 2018 - 19840 - Oil change Etc etc... I presume it's been set up for servicing every 9K/372 day, so my guess is that a service will be due very shortly. Do you think it's reasonable to ask them to service it prior to delivery, even if the car isn't requesting a service? Thanks for any advice!