italiastar

Maybe a daft question, but why not buy a LHD car in France. Avoids conversion, and much easier to drive on French roads.

I give up I'd shortlisted this dealer thinking they might be trustworthy and better than the larger groups.

Surprisingly not - it's a small business. I had what i thought was a bad experience with a large multi franchise national one, previously but on the pre-sale they were much better and the preparation in areas i've been speaking about here, all done without need to question.

Thx, you telling me what I know, but I just wanted to check that my expectations were unreasonable - how can they be I just want what was advertised at the price advertised, and Skoda say that "All serviceable items within 6 months have been completed. Service history is now up to date if any prior services missed". They did not budge on price, and then had the cheek to add a £49 admin fee, once deal had been agreed - I believe this has to be stated in advertised price and / or T&Cs but is isn't. I won't even start talking about the cracked tyre, odd tyres on one axle, and damaged alloy which they won't fix. The problem is this one has front parking sensors, which is rare in the pre-2020 model, and this is what my daughter and husband want.

Just buying a 5 1/2 year Octavia from Skoda Main Dealer. They have finally reluctantly agreed to regass the aircon, which has never been re-gassed since new, and carry out an oil change service as the next one will be due in under six months. They are refusing to change the brake fluid which was last done 2 1/2 years ago when the car was 3 years old. That will mean that the brake fluid will be 3 1/2 years old by the time the reaches its next service and the brake fluid is changed. Surely a skoda approved car should be sold with everything up to date according to manufacturers recommendations? if the braking system suffers a problem and it has not been maintained properly, then Skoda would immediately wriggle out of the warranty?

Interesting, Looking to buy a nearly 6 year old octavia which has never had a aircon service - asked Skoda dealer selling it if they will service it as part of their pre-delivery service and they said it's not required - I wonder what they'll say when it goes in for it's next service?

I really cant believe the apparent incompetence of Main Stealers who charge top dollar for knowing nothing. Of course a software upgrade should show in the version number - wait until you go back and get the same excuses a we did "Oh, someone must have moved the car before it completed" "We can only install software if the car asks for it" "The software update was released after you picked up the car from us" I have to say, I might be lucky but I've not got any of this rubbish from my wife's Mini.

Jorgeminator Thank you - 🙂 🙂 🙂 - I agree, you can tell when someone working in car sales, and dealer servicing is talking BS - their lips move. The salesperson was adamant that in 7 months at Skoda, and it looks previously at Seat, had never come across problems with the infotainment system, saying "you only hear about bad experiences on the Internet, not good ones"

Can someone please confirm that the 1941 update is not an OTA update please, stealer insists its OTA and car needs to be connected to home Wi-Fi (assuming your in range) or hotspot from mobile phone. Also said engine needs to be kept running during update - how long would a 9gb OTA update take ?? When I asked them why can't they do it, the response was - their wifi is secure and won't allow cars to connect ???

Does anyone know if Kessy can be permanently switched off by the dealers if requested?

£289 for an oil and filter change - parts are around £30 from TPS

Thank you, excuse my spell checker - not sure where "Larry" came from - I meant Warranty T&C's. It is frustrating, when you have trust in a brand, to loose that, but it's the way this was handled, When I asked in advance whether the Infotainment problems were now solved, I was told "You only hear about the bad experiences - no one posts good ones" - then when you report it "I've never come across it" Then to be strung along with no confidence it will not be fixed quickly or without needing several visits ........ it just goes on. I'm seriously considering a Mini Countryman - my wife's one with similar tech has never skipped a beat, and on top of that they bring you hot drinks and quality biscuits while you wait.

Steve, what you are saying is spot on - unfortunately the mater tech i was speaking to turned out to be the After Sales manger, and whilst being understanding and helpful, he did not inspire confidence that the car would be fixed quickly without a number of visits requiring 3 hour round trips to drop off and collect the car and that's assuming they had a courtesy car, as otherwise it would be an expensive day job. Another branch of same dealer told me that the earliest they could look at the car for diagnostics is end of Feb !!!!!!! other dealers even told me that software update i not covered by the post 3 year warranty. Quote from Larry T&Cs - What's Not Covered - Electrical software update or reprogramming unless required due to the failure of a covered part. I am surprised they don't apply the fix by now, and whilst it costs more to them and Skoda, just not change and update all the associated components. The car has been returned for a full refund, which is a shame because as you say, we've potentially lost out on a good car, and this seemed to be a good example of one. Had they been able / willing to extend the return period we could have considered pursuing this, but with something possibly taking months to fix, the wouldn't do this, so we had no choice. Separately, I'm now considering whether I want to continue with my new Skoda which is on order. I have lost confidence in th dealer group and getting close to feeling the same about Skoda. Having owned VW, Skoda, Seat for the last 30 years, the latter two cars being owned from new for 20 years and they never skipped a beat, I am having to reconsider. Thank you all for your help and advice.

Thank you, It sounds like we are talking the same generation of car as hers was registered at the end of October 2020. It's the technology version with the virtual cockpit, which introduces something else that could be impacted - I've read about people loosing the dashboard display rendering the car underivable if it doesn't reset. Thank you for your reassurance. they After sales manager has been helpful today and offered a few options including returning the car. What I find difficult to understand is that he's saying, he can only update the software if the car requests it - contrary to yesterday when it was suggested we could do it via the web. If the car does not request it, he cannot update it, so it's stuck with version 1896. I fully take on board what your are saying insisting they upgrade s/w and firmware, but met with the response given it's going to be difficult if they insist the car must request it - added they don't like being old what to do, especially if you tell them you got the info from the internet. I have suggested they contact Skoda Letchworth as a previous post above suggests that their main tech knows all about this. Can you PM your dealer as it may be possible for us to go to them. Coming from a 20 year old Alhambra that never missed a beat until it was literally crushed by ULEZ, it all frustration. Fingers crossed for your car as these are really good vehicles if this can be sorted.

Thank you. I assume that yours was a new car - How many attempts id it take to resolve? I'm puzzled as to how a 3 year old car can still be manifesting this issue - I would have thought the previous owner would have got it resolved, or has it been going on all this time and they've decided to trade it in. How many attempts did it take to repair yours? My daughter needs her car for work, and as a midwife, not going to work will not only impact her, but others relying on her. The dealer have said that they can take the car in, but only update the software from1896 to 1941 if the car requests it when plugged into diagnostic machine - surprisingly yesterday they suggested my daughter connect the car to her home wi-fi or hotspot of her phone and download it herself, whilst having the ignition running. Another dealer told me that they have had an SOS module on order for 5 months, and that if I wanted to book the car into them, it wouldn't be until the end of January. I'm wondering if getting a newer, say late 2022 / early 2023 may avoid the problem as they really like the car. It would cost an extra £3000 but for peace of mind, I'm willing to give them the money.