I've recently bought a 2002 Fabia via a Skoda Main Dealer, which is covered by Skoda Approved used car warrenty for 12months.

I've taken the car back for a few warrenty items, and I have some questions

I've owned the car now for about 8weeks or so.

during this short time I've found a number of things wrong

Faulty Front Passenger window switch - replaced today under warrenty

Faulty re-circulation motor flap - replaced today under warrenty.

Clonking noise from front suspension when braking sharply, and also when going over speed bumps at any speed (including very very very slowly) - diagnosed today as broken/worn bush/es in the front suspension - also covered by warrenty, but I don't know what bushes they specifically are. Any ideas? this work will be carried out asap by them.

Rear Heated Window only demists the top 1/4. The rest of the lines don't heat up. Upon closer inspection the lines that don't work seem to be damaged from previous removal of Window stickers of various sizes. Not my doing btw..

I only noticed the rear heated window to not work last week (first time i've needed to use them since I've owned the car). I asked the dealership to look at this under warrenty too.

Today the dealership fobbed me off on this saying it wasn't covered by warrenty!

I was shocked to say the least.

I explained that I've not done anything to the window, and therefore it must have been sold to me like this.

they replied with there's no way they can check the window unless it's cold and misty inside - which sounds like a complete fob off. I replied by saying u can feel if the window is hot, or u can spray a fine mist inside the glass to see for yourself.

They said they'd need to speak to the salesman that sold me the car, but (as it was 530pm) they'd have to do that tomorrow.

I said I can't see the logic in speaking to the salesman - after all his job is to sell the car, not to make sure it's mechanically sound. But I replied that I'll let u speak to whoever you want, but I expect the window to be replaced.

Also last week I was driving along, and the plastic undertray (which is underneath the drivers side of the car) came loose at the front whilst I was driving along the motorway!

Fortunatly it was only 3 clips (out of 8) that had come loose/disappeared). I drove slowly to the nearest skoda dealer and bought the clips and reclipped the undertray there and then.

I noticed that the undertray had suffered some damaged in that there was a hole where it had dragged on the floor, so it's damaged now, but still ok to use, but just annoying to know there's a whacking hole there now.

I explained this to the dealers today, but they said any external body work is not covered by the warrenty, so it's bad luck i'm afraid.

Felt that this is another bad experience from this dealer, as I personally believe this car could not have recieved any sort of thorough going over before being sold on by them.

The passenger window switch didn't work when the first person that sat in that seat tried it (i didn't try it on my solo test drive).

The re-circulation never worked from the moment I got the car, and it was picked up straight away by a friend who did a vagcom scan.

There is a plastic strip running along the underside of the bumper (sort of air dam/*** splitter) that wasn't clipped into place

Flat battery when I collected the car (after being handed over the keys!)

Petrol filler cap nipple unclipped itself the first time I popped over the filler door - had to scramble in the boot to refit the nipple/lock back.

sorry for the long post,

But where do I stand with the Heated rear window? It doesn't specifically say in the warrenty book I was given that it's excluded. Surely I have a strong case for this to be replaced by the dealership?

No to replacing the window, that's just stupid.

Yes to them repairing the demister lines, however.

No to replacing the window, that's just stupid.

Yes to them repairing the demister lines, however.

Fair enough,

How would they repair the lines though?

The service dept girl told me that halfords sell repair kits, and that I could fix them myself?!?! The lines are damaged because stickers have been peeled off the inside of the glass at some point (you can see retangular marks and a couple of big fat squares - L plates perhaps?) so the lines can't be making a full circuit.

Warranties cover against defects in workmanship and materials, so any damage isn't going to be covered. Your alternatives are to have the screen replaced or repaired with all the costs or a sizeable contribution from the dealer. You may have a case under the sales of goods act (any warranty given is additional to this), though the cars age at 7 years won't be in its favour.

SOGA can be found here:

Sale of Goods Act Fact Sheet - BIS

Considering you got the car from an authorised Skoda dealer under their approved car scheme, I should think that you paid a higher price than getting the car from another source, which should count in your favour under SOGA.

You need to look at the terms and conditions of the 'warranty'.

Most used car 'warranties' are in fact some form of mechanical failure insurance and cover you against mechanical/electrical 'breakdown' of an item - they may not cover against what could be considered to be wear and tear or normal deterioration on a 7+ year old car.

The rear window can be repaired with a metal-loaded paint (available in a small bottle, like nail varnish, from motor factors).

As mentioned above, SOGA also offers you protection, but the baseline is 'what can be expected from a car of this age' - you can't buy, say, a 10 year old car, and expect it to be in the same condition as a new car.

Which Dealer ?

Thx.

Sorry to hear of your rotten experiences with Skoda dealer. We bought our first Fabia 6 years ago from the main dealer because of the supposed comprehensive VAG check and warranty. Big mistake. The back window exploded for no apparent reason the first evening we had it. Skoda wouldn't cover the cost because it's deemed as glass, therefore it had to come out of our insurance. They did at least give us a courtesy car while they did it. The saga with this car just continued and the majority of things I found out later went wrong because it hadn't been taken back on recalls.However, the last straw was its thirst for oil and coolant when taken on a motorway run. Skoda just would not accept there was anything wrong with it, despite an RAC inspection by us which found other major faults which any dealer's inspection should have picked up. In the end they were adamant there was nothing wrong with the car, so on that basis I said they wouldn't mind it back as a trade-in. How could they refuse? and since then we've had 4 others which have been absolutely fine, but we don't use that dealer any more.

If the car was advertised with "heated rear screen", then it's a clear breach of SOGA

Update:

The dealership called back today to confirm that they would not cover the glass.

They told me that there was no way they could test every single line before the car was sold - all they do is check to see that the Heated window light comes on at the button!!!!!!!!

I said you've got to be joking - that's not a test is it, that's blatantly saying you don't test the window fully for it's function.

I said you can't tell me you'd sell a car with defective parts (within reason), you wouldn't sell the car to me if the fan blower wasn't working?!

Anyway further discussion with the service manager, he has agreed to try and 'remedy' the broken lines by using a line fix kit (i suppose it's a metal based tippex type pen?).

But having closely looked at the screen tonight after work, I've noticed where the lines are broken, if you breathe onto the glass (and therefore mist it up) you can see a bloody local football team's sticker and writing beneath it.

So it's obvious to me now that this sticker has caused this damage.

Now whether I can pass this blame onto the Dealer, i'm not sure. (the car was obviously sticker free when I bought it)

I bloody hate football too.

the dealer will remain nameless at the moment, I want to give them the chance to rectify this problem.

btw, To me the lines look far too past being repaired. there's big old sections missing on the lines from where the sticker has obviously sat there for so long, it's bonded itself to the glass. That's why you can still make out where the sticker was (even after cleaning the glass with glass polish!)

I think your Skoda dealer has done well fixing all your problems except the HRW, That is a bit of a grey area, glass and exterior paint are not normally covered by any other warraty either.

Are you GTI fly from UKmkiv forum?

I think your Skoda dealer has done well fixing all your problems except the HRW, That is a bit of a grey area, glass and exterior paint are not normally covered by any other warraty either.

Are you GTI fly from UKmkiv forum?

Moving on from Warrenty - shouldn't the HRW been fully functional when I bought the car?! I haven't owned the car that long, and I reported the failure pretty much within one month of owning the car.

HRW is pretty standard part of the car isn't it? to me it's like any other electrical item,

They wouldn't have sold the car with defective electric window switch regardless if it was physically damaged or not. You just can't put a car onto the forecourt like that.

So why do they feel the HRW is any different in this case? It's not my fault I didn't notice that it didn't work earlier on. I reported it as soon as, (within one month), it's not been exactly COLD in July/August was it?!

What annoys me is that this dealer plainly didn't put this car thru the checks properly because of all the stuff I found out wrong with it within the first week or weeks.

1) Flat battery upon collection

2) Fuel Filler Flap nipple unclipped first time I filled up (1mile down the road from leaving the dealership after I'd bought it!)

3) Front splitter not clipped into position (surely they would have picked this up during the million and one pre sale checklist)

4) child door locks both activated on back doors (I couldn't get out of the car when I sat in the back for a laugh to see how much space there was!)

5) passenger electric window switch not working within day 2 of owning the car - surely this was broken before I bought the car?!?! no one except me had been using the car... So why wasn't this picked up before I bought the car?

6) Broken Recirculation flap (noticed this the first time I prodded the button on the way home from work.. ) got my friend to Vagcom it after asking for info on this forum - confirmed by vagcom that the motor was faulty. Again surely this problem was there before day 3 of owning the car - so doesn't this highlight that this car couldn't have been properly prepped/looked over before selling it on? surely you'd vagcom a car for faults?

I'm not expecting anything to be perfect, i'm a car lover, so I do persist on getting a lot of things fixed MYSELF, but to my principle the HRW should be bloody working when the car was sold, and I don't appreciate being told tough luck, we wouldn't have tested it before it was sold to you.... WTF

and yes I'm same user on UK-mk4s

Edited 30 September, 200916 yr by Gti Fly

The front splitter is not a Skoda item but they did fix it -- commendable.

The HRW , is it electrical item or glass item-- I don't know. Some friendly negotiation required there. Think back to how the VW stealers would have treated you.

I come from UKmkiv as well (Bernie), had a TDI 130 and now the VRS with the same engine albeit highly tuned and loving it. Theres a couple of others that have changed allegience as well, Yohan being one.

The front splitter is not a Skoda item but they did fix it -- commendable.

The HRW , is it electrical item or glass item-- I don't know. Some friendly negotiation required there. Think back to how the VW stealers would have treated you.

I come from UKmkiv as well (Bernie), had a TDI 130 and now the VRS with the same engine albeit highly tuned and loving it. Theres a couple of others that have changed allegience as well, Yohan being one.

Think u mis-understood mate,

The splitter (plastic strip underneath the bumper completely out of view) was unclipped probably because someone had driven it into something (a garage ramp/kerb parking etc).

I had to jack the car up, and unclip it, and re-attatch it.

Not rocket science, but a sign of un-tidyiness on the behalf of the dealership.

On the otherhand, I love this little car. It's perfect for my commute to work

Lots of car dealers say they do a 150/200/300 whatever point check on their used cars but I don't believe any of it, theres just too much work to check what they say on so many cars. At least the good uns do fix the faults found under warranty. Is it just the HRW causing you grief now? Maybe a friendly but firm chat with Dealer Principal will help.

Yeh I too believe that certain things needed to be fixed myself, I'm not that bothered getting things fixed myself to a certain extent, and the dealer have been good so far, I'm patient - I work in retail myself, so I believe I'm being fair with them too.

I'll let them do what they feel is correct, then I'll speak to the big boss and see where we get.

Come one Gti fly, these are pretty small things to get really worked up about. Nothing in this world is ever perfect.

Come one Gti fly, these are pretty small things to get really worked up about. Nothing in this world is ever perfect.

LOL

HRW is pretty important to me as part of the car.

Everything else is petty from one point of view, which is why I didn't want to list them. I listed them as a fact that they should have been performed/rectified before buying the car. They were/are being rectified, but i believe the window falls under the same catagory too.

It should have been working from the start.

Not a big deal to some people

But saying you want the whole glass replaced is a bit OTT considering it's not a manufacturing fault. And with regards to the HRW I could make one using the repair paint on a std piece of glass. You can replace an entire (multiple) line (s) of element with repair paint no problem.

Edited 30 September, 200916 yr by auroan

That's good to know. I've not used/seen how these repair kits work. I'll let them do their best and see if it fixes all the lines. Fingers crossed, because like I said, the lines are very damaged (not scratched, but missing in big chunks).

I'll update again once they've had a go

But saying you want the whole glass replaced is a bit OTT considering it's not a manufacturing fault. .

I'm saying that the fault was there when I bought the car,

so much like a broken window regulator, or jammed seatbelt, or a flat tyre, it should be rectified before the car is sold on their forecourts.

They replied by saying they don't check every line in the window before it's sold. Infact their test is simply if the light comes on when you press the button! I told them that this is rediculous, and indicates why I've been sold a car with a faulty screen. It wasn't picked up by them, and unfortunatly for me I found out within the first month of ownership.

The warranty doesn't come into it on two counts , it doesn't cover glass or damage. Trying to get the dealer to sort it out under warranty is a dead end. The bottom line is who is going to pay to fix it. Your only leverage over the dealer is SOGA, which is open to interpretation with used cars.

Is it reasonable to expect that standard equipment on a 7 year old used car works perfectly? With heated rear windows, my opinion is that 2 or 3 broken elements is acceptable. On the other hand if the dealer pointed out to you that the HRW did not work correctly when you collected the car, then you would have deemed to have accepted the fault. I've had much older cars where they have worked perfectly.

If you don't get a satisfactory result after speaking to the boss, get some advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau and have a word with trading standards. Given the Fabias ability to let water in with the subsequent condensation, a HRW is a must.

The dealer is only dragging its heels on this one because they could end up paying for it. The right thing for them to do would be to take it on the chin and put their hands in their pockets.