Paul1.9L&KOct

The V5c does not show it as being an import. I'm thinking that I need to take this up with Skoda UK for a definitive and final answer?

An update. Not really sure how I'm feeling now... On one hand, the dealer is being deliberately obstructive; I have asked outright to find out whether the car is an import or not and I have told him that I want written confirmation of this. The answer I got today was a load of crap: remember this is from an official Skoda appointed retailer network dealer: "the car is exactly the same as any other UK car. All skodas are built in the same place and it just depends if the boat drops them off to dealers in the UK or in Ireland." He then tells me the car was built for the UK market and originally sold by a dealer in Ireland. He assures me the vehicle is not a grey import, and therefore has no affect on the purchase price/trade in value, and should not affect my insurance. Now firstly, I find it extremely difficult to believe that "it just depends where the boat drops them off" is how Skoda manages their shipping and importing operations. Secondly, is there some technical difference between an 'imported car' and a 'grey import', as he seems very keen to emphasise that the car is not a grey import. Thirdly, looks like I'll be taking the car back there when I do want to sell it as they won't offer me a reduced price for the car!! On the other hand however, and in his defence, he has openly offered to pay the repair bill from the other skoda dealer, and he has offered to put a full 12 months Skoda warranty on the car from now, which therefore exceeds the date that the original manufactuers warranty would of expired. As previously posted above, for various reasons, I would actually still like to keep the car. At the end of the day I am happy with it, and had no plans to change it for some time. So, given that the repair bill will be paid, and I will have a warranty in place for the 12 months, am I being unreasonable to expect anything else from all of this mess? Is it really worth pursuing any legal routes if I don't really intend on handing the car back? Which I guess is where most legal routes would have me end up on the basis the car was miss sold. I just feel like the suplying dealer is treating me like an idiot by expecting me to believe what he has told me above. I suppose ultimately, it's just another one of life's lessons you chalk down as experience. I guess all the evidence is pointing towards the fact that the car is imported, but without an official definative written answer either way, I don't know what to do about my insurance, and that really worries me!! And just to top it all off, I've got a blinking headache now!! :wonder:

I can categorily state that at no point was I advised when buying the car that it was an import, there was nothing advertised to this effect - I still have the ad. The sales man never mentioned it, and none of the vehicle documents suggest it was imported. I emailed the supplying dealer Friday night, and the sales manager has replied saying that he will look into it first thing tomorrow morning. According to his records, the car was 1st registered 11/08/2009, which is what my V5c says. Right now, I envisage 2 outcomes... 1) My local Skoda garage has got it wrong, and will have to cancel the invoice and process the works under warranty, or 2, the supplying dealer have sold me an imported car, but either didn't know, or deliberately with-held that informtion from me. Either way, a Skoda main dealer, selling a 9 month old Skoda, should know the cars origins, and I believe that I can easily prove that they hav miss sold me the car, which will be against the terms of the finance companies conditions. If it comes to light tht the car is imported, what factors do I need to consider discussing with my supplying dealer to resolve the situation. I would like to keep the car ideally, for financial, logistical and personal reasons, but I would like the remainder of the warranty period covering; not much to ask really, but what if I break down in a different part of the country? How much less would an imported car be worth at trade in time, compred to a UK car? If the car is imported, will this affect my insurance, and would it be reasonable to ask the supplying dealer to contribute to the additional policy price? Any other factors that I need to consider? Cheers Paul

Will be checking the V5c as soon as I get home, but just been and checked the service book for the supplying dealer Pre Delivery Inspection stamp, and there is no dealer stamp or details, just a signature in the box

Haven't spoken to SUK yet, wanted some advice first before being committed to anything that SUK might throw at me. I already have the car back as the work was carried out a few weeks ago, I just had a phone call this afternoon telling me that they will be sending me an invoice for the works carried out. I didn't/don't use the original dealer as they are an 80 mile round trip, whereas my local Skoda garage is a 10 mile round trip. My car has been to the local garage before for warrenty and servicing work, and never reported back about the cars origins.

My 2009 Octavia VRS recently had some work carried out "under warrenty" at a local Skoda dealer I've just had a call from the garage saying that they have tried to process the warrenty paperwork but it has come back that the car was imported from Ireland, and as such was only subject to 2 years warrenty period. Therefore, they will be invoicing me for the work carried out!! I bought the car second hand in May 2010 from another skoda dealership and at no stage was I told that the car was imported, or that the warrenty period was affected by this. How do I stand regarding payment of the invoice for the work carried out? Can I reclaim this from the original dealer where I bought the car from? Do I have any rights in this instance? Or is it a case of payup and shut up? Thanks for any advice. Paul

Is your car currently in limp mode? Mine worked fine since Monday night when the fault first occurred through to Tuesday night, but this morning on the way to the garage, it went into limp mode and the EML was permanently on, and the workshop message and glow plug light flashed and 'bonged' the whole way there. Glad its sorted now though - hope yours gets sorted just as quick

The Octavia car itself is fantastic, loads of space, great road presence, and good quality all round. I'm on my 2nd Octavia now, the first being a company car, which was an 2.0 PD L&K, and then I opted out and bought my own 2.0 CR VRS. Personnally, I would question whether the 1.6 would be a little under powered? But I have had 2.0 diesels for about the last 8 years. Only mention it because we have just changed my mrs' 1.6 petrol Astra for a 1.8 as it was under powered, and the Octavia is a bigger car than an Astra. Coupled with the 0.0% vat and 0.0% interest finnce deals, you will struggle to find more car for your money. Hope that helps Paul

is this for real????? mmmm... Wet Dog air freshener anyone?

Well, after my previous post above, I am regaining confidence with this dealer. Despite a very poor experience with the sales team, I will admit to actually having used this garage now for 2 faults with my 2009 vrs, and I have been very satisfied with their service. The first was a fault with the doors/anti hijack feature unlocking and locking itself at random, which Clock diagnosed to be a faulty ignition unit sending out lock/unlock signals - all replaced under warrenty. And today, an EML light was quickly diagnosed, the part ordered, and car ready to collect. Still wouldn't buy from here, but their aftersales/service team seem brill.

Result... Garage just called, a scan of the car flagged up a faulty Gas Temperature Sensor* in the Turbo, part replaced, and car ready to collect, all done under warrenty. Will pick car up later, but very happy with outcome so far. That reminds me, I must go and amend my previous post under East Midland dealers... * Edit - must of misheard on the phone, the warranty paperwork says Replaced G235 Exhausr Temp Sender Bank 1

Been noticing a rumbling/grumbling noise for months now, mentioned it to the dealer when it went in for another problem back in May 2011, asked them to check the wheel bearings. They reported back saying the rear tyres were castellated. The car was on O/E BRidgestone Pozenta's all round, but the fronts were replaced a few months back. The noise is still there, so I assume it's the backs with the problem - which fits with the dealer saying it was the rear tyres. I'm kind of just putting up with the din, and waiting till the rears need replacing, but problem is, the cars done 30k+ miles, and the rear tyres still have tonnes of tread left. Skoda made no attempt at saying they were aware of an issue with wheel alignment, nor did they advise that the problem affected safety. I did think about rotating the tyres so that the Bridgestones wore down faster, but I never got round to it. Pretty bad that Skoda are implying it's the tyres when the problem seems to affect Bridgestones, Dunlops, Etc.

was struggling to figure out what first 'Bong' meant for a while there... and then the penny dropped!! lol

Update... booked car in to garage for a check over today. As it happens, got in the car to go to the garage, started fine, then the msg and the glow plug symbol flashed, but this time the EML was lit up too, and the car was running on 'limp mode' Just glad it was booked in the garage today!! See what they say when they call me later :S

Don't know if it's reassuring or made worse when you know you have similar fault to others... Yesterday morning, car started fine, got to work, no problems. Left work at half 4, car started fine, reversed out of space, drove 100 yds to exit car park and message "engine fault workshop" came up, along with a flashing glow plug. Car still drove ok, no loss of power, and within 30 seconds, the message and glow plug had disappeared. Started the car again this morning, no problems, reversed off the drive, again drive 100 yds before the warning message appeared and the glow plug flashed up. Same as last night, within 30 seconds, both had disappeared and the car ran fine. The car is a 2009 Octavia vrs, 31,000 miles 2.0 CR diesel What I can't understand is why the message and glow plugs do not show up as soon as the car starts? The message comes up approx a minute after the car has started and I've started my journey. Surely if there is a fault, it would register as soon as the engine starts? Have noticed a couple of times where the engine idles at 1000rpm, rather then the usual 700/800 ish rpm - but never thought this was a significant problem. Could the two be connected?

I used the recommended settings on mine, but wasn't fully happy with the final seated positions, the rubbers seemed too stressed and weren't sat 100% right. To be fair though, the bars never moved and I never had any further problems. I might try and tweak the sizes next time and see if they sit any better, probably try 32 and 29 as a starter!!

Glad you sorted it, any chance of a quick step by step guide as I've just noticed that my passenger side wing mirror repeater is not working, I'm hoping its just the bulb but I can't even see how to get at it and the manual says nowt about changing the wing mirror bulbs :S

I have noticed a fault/feature(?) with my Anti-Hijak auto door locking. On 3 seperate occassions whilst driving along, the auto-lock will suddenly unlock all the doors for no reason. On each occassion, the car had been driven for between 3-4 hours. When I slow down/stop and then pull off again, they will lock again. The first time this happened, they would keep locking and unlocking as I started and stopped with the traffic, but the last 2 times were after a 200 mile motorway journey. so there was not really the opportunity for them to lock nd unlock themsleves. This only happens when the car has been run for a few hours, and is not a problem in usual day to day driving. I just can't work out if it is a fault or some kindd of feature? Anyone else have this problem? Many Thanks

also, the VW oil spec varies depending on the cars servicing setup; ie variable or fixed. You need to check the code on the data label (bottom left hand corner from memory) in the handbook to find out which set up your car is, think its QG1 for variable. This will have another bearing on which oils you should and should not use. Cheers, Paul

PS, the cheapest I found 869 (Aero) Bars and 754 footkit for was £110.99 Including free standard postage on ebay, most others including non ebay sites were around £110-£120 plus postage.

the fitting kit you require is 1360. Does anyone know where you can get them from under £30 including postage? A used set just sold on ebay this weekend for around £17.00 + £5.00 p&p - only set I have seen on there.

Thought the only reason people painted calipers was to make them look sporty... if you don't want a sporty look, then why bother? If it ain't broken, don't fix it

Just a thought... Have you considered whether how/where you park your car affects the level of 'defrosting' required? Only reason I mention it is because my wifes car and mine sit next to each other on the drive, mine on the left, and hers on the right. I've often noticed on cold icey mornings that my drivers side door mirror is less icey than the passenger side - I assume becuase the wifes car keeps it somehow sheltered. Obviously, this mirror tends to clear faster than than the 'exposed' mirror. As I said, just a thought...

Mine is silver, which I wasn't overly fussed about to be honest, I'd of preferred a blue one, but now after owning it for a couple of weeks, it's really starting to grow on me, and like others have said, the blues ones are everywhere. In my opinion, Silver makes the car more subtle out on the road, and you can just let the engine do the talking if someone needs bringing down a peg or two

More tales of woe from Clock Spondon I'm afraid... Recently, my father in law decided to treat himself to his first new car and after my L&K a few years ago he decided to go for one of these. A few weeks ago, we (father in law, mother in law, my wife, 2 kids and I) all popped up to clock as Kev (father in law) wanted to show the good lady the car so she could see if she liked it, but the salesman left us all feeling thoroughly disappointed. After coming over and asking if we needed any help, a simple request for him to 'open the car so we could have a look in it' was point blank refused. Further negotiations as to a P/X enquiry were met with the response of, "well, we can discuss that at a later stage if you decide to buy one" Upon which, Kev said that he was planning to buy one, but was waiting for some money to come through. This time the salesman advised that we should come back when we're serious about buying. Stupid arrogant *****!! Can safely say I will never step foot in that place again!!