UPDATE: 9/03/09. The car is with the service agent at the moment. Skoda UK have authorised the replacement of the roof. Hope to get it back tomorrow.

That is good news, will possibly be quite a big job?

Wouldn't have thought so, it'll be the same as replacing a windscreen I'd have thought, as in most cars these days that is "structural" as well...

I was told it would take 2 days but yesterday I got a message t say that as the headlining has to be removed it would take longer. Still waiting.......

Not a job they do very often, then!

The car is back now with a new roof! As they had to drop the headlining it took longer than anticipated. As PM commented it's not a job they'll do very often, probably never again.

The work was done by Rivervale Skoda in Portslade near Brighton and they were very helpful all through the saga. A loan car was offered but declined as my Wife's car was available. In total the car has been into them 3 times over a fortnight; service, replace headlight under warantee and replace the roof. It was washed on each occasion and cleaned internally, very impressed.

Fred

Yikes, lets prey no scroats go on a wrecking spree. Sounds like a bitch to get fixed.

I like the way eveyone was quick to jump and blame the garage for the roof crack..

Had the vehicle been anywhere else, maybe for new tyres...? I have heard of a few cases of this where non franchised dealers raised the vehicle incorrectly and twisted the chassis, causing a stress fracture in the roof glass.... Rivervale sound like they handled it very well for you.

I like the way eveyone was quick to jump and blame the garage for the roof crack..

Had the vehicle been anywhere else, maybe for new tyres...? I have heard of a few cases of this where non franchised dealers raised the vehicle incorrectly and twisted the chassis, causing a stress fracture in the roof glass.... Rivervale sound like they handled it very well for you.

You don't work for Riverside do you

You don't work for Riverside do you

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a cynical mind!

You don't work for Riverside do you

If he doesn't he really should get commission for having that nose that far up their posterior.

Who's Riverside??

Who's Riverside??

Ok Rivervale or whatever

Ok..I don't work for Rivervale, or Riverside as it has now been renamed..! Nor am I male, which was also assumed. I'm heavily involved with warranty for Skoda UK, among other franchises. As I made the point in my previous post, there have been numerous incidents like this...Mainly occuring after the vehicle had been to a non skoda dealer for work. There are specific points that need to be used to raise these vehicles to stop the chassis twisting. I think Rivervale did handle this well. This could have been passed off as an external influence, thus passing the cost onto the customer..Most manufacturers would not cover this defect, in the same way they do not cover windscreens.

I've been reading this thread with great interest, especially as I have one on the way, and half wishing that I hadn't! I've had a look at the on-line Owners Manual which doesn't appear to mention any special precautions for jacking using the supplied jacking equipment when having a roadside puncture for instance. It must surely be rigid enough to cope with jacking up on one corner?

Seems like it mght be a good idea to advise owners of the possible problems so that they can check that tyre replacement company knows about the correct way to lift this vehicle. The last time I had a puncture in my vRS I was 200 miles away from home, on a Sunday and reasonably close to a well known tyre workshop who were open. The choice was to drive 200 miles home on the "compact" spare up the A1, not exceeding 40mph, or drive 5 minutes down the road and have it fixed imediatly. I would have done exactly the same with my future Roomster 3 not appreciating the possible snag.

Ok..I don't work for Rivervale, or Riverside as it has now been renamed..! Nor am I male, which was also assumed. I'm heavily involved with warranty for Skoda UK, among other franchises. As I made the point in my previous post, there have been numerous incidents like this...Mainly occuring after the vehicle had been to a non skoda dealer for work. There are specific points that need to be used to raise these vehicles to stop the chassis twisting. I think Rivervale did handle this well. This could have been passed off as an external influence, thus passing the cost onto the customer..Most manufacturers would not cover this defect, in the same way they do not cover windscreens.

Ahhhh ... the mole surfaces for air It would appear that Rivervale did handle this well, but for this 1 story of warranty success you can find 100 other stories of warranty woes on Briskoda. For example, how does the fitting of an aftermarket anti roll bar create problems with the LED's in a Mk2 Octavia door mirror ....... Or how about the time customer service left me stranded at a dealer after 2 coilpacks failed simultaneously ... I could go on .... but won't

Well done Rivervale, work harder SUK.

I've been reading this thread with great interest, especially as I have one on the way, and half wishing that I hadn't!

Mine has a panoramic roof, and has been up on drive on wheel ramps and been jacked up using the jack in spare wheel well to do my own wheel rotation and adjust my front ARB. It's done just over 20K now, has 40mm lower Eibach springs, Neuspeed RARB and Whiteline FARB which does make the car stiffer and the roof (so far) has been fine

It could be a combination of things, not least of which the OP could just have had a potentially faulty roof fitted at the factory. You will always find that Brisky makes rare faults come to the surface and get debated upon, this may well be the only roof SUK have changed in the Roomsters lifecycle, it's the only one that's surfaced here so far (where's that wood I need to touch )

The one thing you do need to do is to check with your insurer, exactly what glass is covered under the 'windscreen' clause... and its a darn sight easier to do this before anything has happened...

Some will cover all glass, thats dandy..... some it is as stated, windscreen, so any observation panels or roofglass will then come under the normal comprehensive cover, i.e a bodywork claim.. cos if you do have something like an Espace with a full panoramic roof which has cracked, broken etc, you are not talking hundreds, you are talking thousands... especially as the old one has to be taken out first...:(

Also can a glass firm do it, or dealer only? How long to get and fix?

Dont like glass roofs myself, as they are inherently weaker than metal, and likely to crack or pop out under extreme body flexing from an accident.

Remember crash tests only do front and sides

Remember crash tests only do front and sides

If you watch the tests on cars with metal roofs you will see that the roof structure is integrel to any head-on or side impact crash, therefore the strength of a glass roof is crucial in both cases... I doubt if Skoda or Renault would be allowed to advertise their cars as 5 star or whatever if the glass roof made them less safe. Maybe if the thing was on its side and was hit head on by another vehicle directly onto the roof things may be different, but I doubt even a metal roof would afford that much protection in that scenario, you'd need a full rollcage!

Going back to the "handling" of the claim, I'm sorry, JL, but I do belive that it was caused by something the garage did... just because they are a Skoda dealer doesn't make them immune to mistakes and I'm sure that a crack as large as that would have been noticed by the OP prior to it going in to them! I'm pretty sure that it was a one-off manufacturing defect or dealer error when servicing it and that Skoda and the garage did the "right thing" by replacing under warranty... but I'd have expected nothing less!

Fluffmeister, was this addressed to me : You don't work for Riverside do you If so the answer is that I DON'T WORKhttp://briskoda.net/images/smilies/smile.gif. I'm retired. This subject has certainly resulted in an interesting discussion! Rivervale are a Skoda Service Agent, they don't sell Skoda. Being oldish and creaky in the joints I have to admit to not being able to reach over the roof to clean it so I've been taking advantage of the hand wash provided at our local Tesco superstore. Do the shopping, have a coffee in Golden Arches and return to a shiny car, part with £6 and drive off. Suits me. http://briskoda.net/images/smilies/B_rotfl.gif There's only two of us ever in the car so the rear seats never get used and we have the roofshades closed so would not have noticed that there was anything amiss with the roof until it was pointed out.

Fluffmeister, was this addressed to me : You don't work for Riverside do you If so the answer is that I DON'T WORKhttp://briskoda.net/images/smilies/smile.gif. I'm retired. This subject has certainly resulted in an interesting discussion! Rivervale are a Skoda Service Agent, they don't sell Skoda. Being oldish and creaky in the joints I have to admit to not being able to reach over the roof to clean it so I've been taking advantage of the hand wash provided at our local Tesco superstore. Do the shopping, have a coffee in Golden Arches and return to a shiny car, part with £6 and drive off. Suits me. http://briskoda.net/images/smilies/B_rotfl.gif There's only two of us ever in the car so the rear seats never get used and we have the roofshades closed so would not have noticed that there was anything amiss with the roof until it was pointed out.

Now you really have lost me, I quoted the post I was referring to in my post so am I missing something?

Tried checking with my insurers, "More Than", as to how they would treat the glass in the panoramic roof. They mention items such as "windscreen" cover and "windows" cover in the policy document and also appear to know what a Roomster "3" is. But as regards the glass in the roof, which is neither a windscreen or a window, no response yet!

I'm collecting it on Mon under the 7 day "drive away" Skoda policy, so when the dust has settled I will be asking the same question to Zurich. As they are the Skoda official insurers, surely they will know what I am talking about? On the other hand, maybe not!

It has been a fascinating thread and I will be checking this glass regularly!

Thanks to all, G8ZQA

Fluffmeister,

>Now you really have lost me, I quoted the post I was referring to in my post so am I missing something?<

The only thing you are missing is the part where I said I was oldish and creaky in the joints! Perhaps I should add that I didn't read your post correctly, Ooops!

The thread has raised the point about insurance covering "glass" and it seems to be something that owners with glass roofs should check.

Anyway, the job is now done and I'm happy.

Fred

. But as regards the glass in the roof, which is neither a windscreen or a window, no response yet!

From when I looked at a Roomster, before an evil blue Superb tempted me to the other side, the glass is basically a window to the sky...as it does'nt open..

Now my reckoning would be that many policies will cover glass but not sunroofs (as these can be hellishly expensive as in 4 figures with these panoramic open 27 ways jobbies..) and if it it dont open then the bit of transparency in the top really isnt a sunroof in the original sense as these should open to let the sun in.. but a piece of glass...

Explaining it that way could get you cover, but I would get name address pack drill and written confirmation.. as if it comes to claim..

And that it is a replacement service (as per windscreens) that dont affect yer no claims.. although I see on my insurance policy that all is now listed in the minutest of detail, be it an SP30, a windscreen or some ****ed sod that swiped the car and drove off..

Have fun...