What is the point of Skoda's Retailer Approved Warranty Services of Skoda Approved cars?

I recently bought 54 plate Octavia from a dealer near B'Ham (110 miles from where I live) and on the way home realised the Cruise Control wouldn't work. OK, I thought, I'm covered by a warranty. I call the dealer I bought it from and he says to contact the local dealer once I have the warranty docs. I wait for nearly three weeks for the warranty docs to come through so I can get this sorted. I phone my local Skoda dealer today to ask about getting this fixed and he wants to charge me £80/hour at first to diagnose the problem before he will fix this under warranty!!! I'm outraged. WTFP of having a warranty if they are going to charge you for fixing a problem.

I have got back to the dealer I bought the car from and he is being very helpful in trying to sort this out for me.

Sorrry to rant but I am LIVID!!! :mad: Shame on you my local Skoda "stealer" - I shall not name you - just yet......

Cruise not working is a common problem on earlier cars, mine does not work either. The problem is caused by the switch in the indicator stalk, and the whole stalk will need to be replaced.

It should be fixed under your warranty, but I would have thought that the dealer would not have charged you for the diagnostic work once it became obvious the fault was with the stalk.

I think you should name and shame. Its not right for dealers to take peoples money like that!

Do your brake lights work ?

Over the past 6 months I'd had nearly £1000 of warranty work done on my 54-plate Octavis vRS.

Name and shame the dealer, to be honest!

It is a not a new car warranty, it is a third party warranty that is likely to be administered by a specialist warranty company. It is standard practice for such warranties not to pay diagnostic charges. Given that, you are expecting your local dealer, who you did not buy the car from, to spend their time diagnosing your cruise control problem for nothing. They have already stated that they will fix the problem under warranty, but obviously want to get paid for the time they spend on it that will not be paid for by the warranty.

You have 3 choices:

1. Take the car back to the dealer from whom it was purchased for diagnosis and repair.

2. Pay your local dealer to diagnose the problem.

or

3. Get the selling dealer to agree to pay your local dealer directly for the diagnosis. If the selling dealer is any good, they will agree to do this.

There is no need to name and shame the local dealer, as quite reasonably they need to recover all the costs associated with the repair.

namr and shame dude, name and shame

It is a not a new car warranty, it is a third party warranty that is likely to be administered by a specialist warranty company. It is standard practice for such warranties not to pay diagnostic charges. Given that, you are expecting your local dealer, who you did not buy the car from, to spend their time diagnosing your cruise control problem for nothing. They have already stated that they will fix the problem under warranty, but obviously want to get paid for the time they spend on it that will not be paid for by the warranty.

You have 3 choices:

1. Take the car back to the dealer from whom it was purchased for diagnosis and repair. - NOT AN OPTION - 110 MILES AWAY

2. Pay your local dealer to diagnose the problem. - SORRY NO F'KING WAY!!

or

3. Get the selling dealer to agree to pay your local dealer directly for the diagnosis. If the selling dealer is any good, they will agree to do this. - THE DEALER HAS BEEN HELPFUL IN TRYING TO RESOLVE THIS

There is no need to name and shame the local dealer, as quite reasonably they need to recover all the costs associated with the repair.

As I said - it is a Skoda Warranty on an Approved Used Skoda that is three years old and has only done 28k miles. The warranty is issued by Skoda and the terms and conditions and exclusion are clear - this is covered by the warranty. I paid more than I wanted to on this car because it is in A1 condition compared to a lot I looked at prIvately. I went to a Skoda dealer to get a warranty because I wanted peace of mind motoring. There is no f'king way I'm paying out on warranty work on a car that is covered!

I spoke to the dealer I bought it off and he agreed that this was not right. He took the details of the dealer I am having the problem with and then rang Skoda UK on my behalf. Both the dealer and SUK agree that this is covered by the Skoda warranty and that the local dealer is way out of line trying it on with this charge. I will approach the local dealer again tomorrow with this info and make sure they honour the warranty agreement. I will also take the name of the service manager and write to both SUK and the local manager expressing my total disappointment with this treatment. It is shoddy and unneccessary and gives the franchise a bad name. I will not name them until they have had the opportunity to reconsider their position. With this level of customer service I might be considering the next nearest dealer for my servicing in future - only 12 miles away, instead of 1, so not too bad...

Still mighty mad about the whole situation though....

It is a not a new car warranty, it is a third party warranty that is likely to be administered by a specialist warranty company. It is standard practice for such warranties not to pay diagnostic charges. Given that, you are expecting your local dealer, who you did not buy the car from, to spend their time diagnosing your cruise control problem for nothing. They have already stated that they will fix the problem under warranty, but obviously want to get paid for the time they spend on it that will not be paid for by the warranty.

You have 3 choices:

1. Take the car back to the dealer from whom it was purchased for diagnosis and repair.

2. Pay your local dealer to diagnose the problem.

or

3. Get the selling dealer to agree to pay your local dealer directly for the diagnosis. If the selling dealer is any good, they will agree to do this.

There is no need to name and shame the local dealer, as quite reasonably they need to recover all the costs associated with the repair.

The way skoda sell their used car warranty, it sounds like if you buy a used skoda you get 12 months minimum of skoda UK backed warranty and that it's the same level you would expect on a new car.

It's certainly the impression I get from looking at their used car adverts.

If there's no name and shame, can you tell us which county the dealer is in... just so I can make sure it's not near where i'm gonna be taking mine! :0D

The way skoda sell their used car warranty, it sounds like if you buy a used skoda you get 12 months minimum of skoda UK backed warranty and that it's the same level you would expect on a new car.

It's certainly the impression I get from looking at their used car adverts.

It's certainly the impression I've got from having work done, too!

Just called the Warranty department - they claim that as I noticed the Cruise Control was not working on the way home from the dealer that it was a "pre-existing" fault and won't cover it any way!!! WTF!!! Bunch of wangers

:mad::mad: very

I will fight this all the way

Could some one expalin as to why a diagnostic check is not covered in the extended warranty package ???

My Mk 1 Octavia broke down the other day and to cut a long story short, I had to have an ignition coil replaced by the RAC and then have the car checked by a dealer. I was charged £46 for a diagnostic check, even though I provided the reports from the RAC chap...............:( AND they complained that the RAC fella had not cleared the fault codes :eek:

Is the extended warranty worth the paper its written on?????????????????

Just called the Warranty department - they claim that as I noticed the Cruise Control was not working on the way home from the dealer that it was a "pre-existing" fault and won't cover it any way!!! WTF!!! Bunch of wangers

:mad::mad: very

I will fight this all the way

A call to trading standards or BBC Watchdog may be in order...............:(

Is the extended warranty worth the paper its written on?????????????????

Yup

The thing is, they potentially charge you with a diagnostic fee, but if they diagnose something that is then replaced/fixed under warranty, the fee is paid by Skoda (or whoever)

What about refusing the car, is there no moneyback guarantee. They may want to sort it then.

What about refusing the car, is there no moneyback guarantee. They may want to sort it then.

I might just do that - £8.5k refund or fix a part that cost about £30...

I still have 10 days left of my 30 day money back guarantee...

Having just purchased an "approved" used Skoda.

From what I was told the warranty will either be the remainder of the original (mine was a 20 month old, so I got 16 months warranty) or you'll get one years Skoda warranty - not 3rd party but with Skoda direct.

If that is the case then I don't see why the OP is being asked to pay anything.

Unless the dealer claimed it was an approved used, it wasn't and the warranty is indeed with a 3rd party.

Just called the Warranty department - they claim that as I noticed the Cruise Control was not working on the way home from the dealer that it was a "pre-existing" fault and won't cover it any way!!! WTF!!! Bunch of wangers

:mad::mad: very

I will fight this all the way

Before the dealer registers the warranty, they must do a used car multi point check on the vehicle and rectify any faults before the warranty starts. Clearly, the supplying dealer has not done this as the cruise control would have been fixed. I can fully understand why the Extended warranty won't cover this fault as it was almost definitely there before the warranty commenced.

You're best option is to insist that the supplying dealer repairs the fault at no cost to yourself.

Just called the Warranty department - they claim that as I noticed the Cruise Control was not working on the way home from the dealer that it was a "pre-existing" fault and won't cover it any way!!! WTF!!! Bunch of wangers

:mad::mad: very

I will fight this all the way

Name & Shame, if you won't do that, a county or town will do, sounds very similar to the sort of attitude I got from a local dealer.

Before the dealer registers the warranty, they must do a used car multi point check on the vehicle and rectify any faults before the warranty starts. Clearly, the supplying dealer has not done this as the cruise control would have been fixed. I can fully understand why the Extended warranty won't cover this fault as it was almost definitely there before the warranty commenced.

You're best option is to insist that the supplying dealer repairs the fault at no cost to yourself.

Yes, as I said, the supplying dealer is 110 miles away. To go back there would be considerably inconvenient. The fault with the cruise control is intermittent. It was not possible to check all the functionality of all the controls - i.e. cruise control as the roads and conditions on the test drive did not lend themselves to safely test this function. I first noticed the fault on the way home from the dealers after picking up the car. Not having cruise control before I was unsure if I was operating it correctly or if it was a fault. Last week the cruise control worked for a journey. Now it does not. The fault is intermittent - it is possible the supplying dealer would not have picked this up.

I'm outraged at the attitude of both the local dealer AND the Skoda Approved Used Warranty to this issue. Both seem to want to wash their hands of the obligation they have to rectifying this fault. I don't see why i should have to pay for a fault if I am paying top whack for a car with a warranty - to me whether the fault was existing or not when I picked up the car is of no interest to me. What is of interest is that the fault is rectified by Skoda (local dealer, supplying dealer or Skoda Warranty - I dont care!)

If this is not resolved in a manner that causes me least inconvenience I shall be taking this matter direct to Trading Standards as well as Watchdog and what ever consumer rights avenues I have access to. It's not like I'm asking them to replace an engine is it? Heaven forbid! It's a f'king switch........

I get really fed up with all shops/dealers/retailers all taking this attitude - customer service in this country leaves a lot to be desired.

I feel for you, but as I said, I can understand why your local dealer and Skoda Warranty have taken this stance, the supplying dealer should have rectified the fault before putting the car up for sale. Granted, they may not have noticed it, but that's their tough luck unfortunately.

Imagine that a dealer knew a car had a serious fault, then registered a warranty that cost a few hundred pounds. They then claim under the warranty to rectify the fault,saving them potentially thousands, and costing the warranty company the same amount.

I know your only after a new switch but, can you see where I'm coming from?

The fault here lies with the supplying dealer, rightly or wrongly!

Whay don't you ask that the supplying dealer pays your local dealer to fix the fault, they will probably be able to get a favourable rate too.

I feel for you, but as I said, I can understand why your local dealer and Skoda Warranty have taken this stance, the supplying dealer should have rectified the fault before putting the car up for sale. Granted, they may not have noticed it, but that's their tough luck unfortunately.

Imagine that a dealer knew a car had a serious fault, then registered a warranty that cost a few hundred pounds. They then claim under the warranty to rectify the fault,saving them potentially thousands, and costing the warranty company the same amount.

I know your only after a new switch but, can you see where I'm coming from?

The fault here lies with the supplying dealer, rightly or wrongly!

Whay don't you ask that the supplying dealer pays your local dealer to fix the fault, they will probably be able to get a favourable rate too.

sorry i dont agree there. you can do a full check on a car and give it a clean bill of health and then 5 miles down the road it can develop a fault. is that the suppliers fault? nope!

if you went down that route you would have to prove they knew of the fault before selling it, and realistically its not going to be proveable! its not the suppliing dealers fault imoa, but the OP's local dealer for not wanting to help out a customer, which will result in them not using them for servicing or buying another car when the time comes.

if they diagnose the car they get paid for all the engineers time, its only when they find the fault to not be a warranty issue do they have to charge the customer

And now it takes a new turn...Taking my daughter home from nursery I tried the Cruise Control....and guess what ? It worked? It worked again when I came back to work. Twice in one day. A record. Confused too!

So it is an intermittent fault. No dealer would be able to pick that up in a pre sales check as it might have worked at that time. So now I feel that it is a warranty issue and there is no way on this planet I will be paying for diagnostics on an intermittent fault.

I'll half agree with you there,

I know the fault may genuinely not have been present until after the car was handed over to the customer, but knowing how warranty companies, work, any fault found so soon after a car was delivered will simply be seen as an existing fault that the supplying dealer should have rectified, in the eyes of the warranty company at least.

I sympathise with the OP but do understand why the local dealer wants paying for the diagnosis work, if the fault is not covered by the warranty then the dealer will not get paid for the work, as it's an intermitent fault this time spent could run into hours.

I also appreciate what you're saying about potentially losing a service customer, but how far should they go? If they diagnose the fault at no charge, then discover warranty won't pay, should they then pay for the required parts, just to keep a customer who bought elsewhere happy?