For various reasons my wife is less than happy with the dealer she bought her Fabia from. The car (100 bhp pdi) is soon due for its 1st. service. Have any members experience of servicing their Skoda at either a VW or SEAT dealer whilst still under warranty?

I'd be grateful for comments - cheers.

I haven't had it done, but you should have no problems at all with regards the warranty and their willingness/expertise. They'll be using the proper parts and are VAT registered, which are the only two criteria for maintaining warranty...

Rob.

They can certianly service the car for you but are unable to process any warranty claims unless they hold Skoda Authorised Repairer status. Which is highly unlikely.

Get mine done every 10K by "word of mouth" recommended garage -

Are there not any other Skoda dealers near you that you could use? http://www.briskoda.net/reviews/showcat.php/cat/111

You might find that you get charged slightly more at VW dealers as you're paying for the brand "prestige". Obviously depends on how much you pay at your Skoda dealer

Chris

You might find that you get charged slightly more at VW dealers as you're paying for the brand "prestige".

Pretty sure there's not a whole lot in it these days...it does depend on the dealers though...

Rob.

Pretty sure there's not a whole lot in it these days...it does depend on the dealers though...

Yep agree with that. I just think my local Skoda dealer are nice and cheap Oh, and steer clear of Audi dealers :eek:

Chris

my 10k service at the dealer i purchased from is gonna cost

my 10k service at the dealer i purchased from is gonna cost

What about Alex Lawrie in Liverpool Bert if your wife isn't happy with your 'current' one? :(

Assume Bert won't be coming to 'our' dealers opening bash next week then ey Liam?

I was charged

I don't think so... shame really. :(

Alex Lawrie in Liverpool charged me

Thanks for comments:

My wife had a run in with a well known dealer in a new showroom (nuff said!), also can't get a solid quote for the 1st. service; quote 'depends on the work to be done'. That, of course, is rubbish because the work to be done is fixed. Probably will go to Liverpool but the local VW dealer is within walking distance.

Like many forum members what really irritates us is that the only 'real' work to be done is an oil and filter change which I could do myself very easily. Everything else is 'inspection'; i.e. the sort of things that most sensible owners do every week. I'ts just a licence to print money and build flash new showrooms (I'm glad I got that off my chest!).

interesting.

on cupranet various people have taken their seats to skoda dealers to get serviced...

my 10k service cost under 80quid from memory...car is same as fabia vRS, so that should cost the same.

Thanks for comments:

My wife had a run in with a well known dealer in a new showroom (nuff said!)' date=' also can't get a solid quote for the 1st. service; quote 'depends on the work to be done'. That, of course, is rubbish because the work to be done is fixed. Probably will go to Liverpool but the local VW dealer is within walking distance.

Like many forum members what really irritates us is that the only 'real' work to be done is an oil and filter change which I could do myself very easily. Everything else is 'inspection'; i.e. the sort of things that most sensible owners do every week. I'ts just a licence to print money and build flash new showrooms (I'm glad I got that off my chest!).[/quote']

Could not agree more mate, the only reason why I use a franchise is to keep the warrenty valid, however I'm sure if you use skoda parts you can still keep your warrenty valid by using another garage.

Could not agree more mate, the only reason why I use a franchise is to keep the warrenty valid, however I'm sure if you use skoda parts you can still keep your warrenty valid by using another garage.

Tony:

Unfortunately non-franchised servicing is a big grey area and until someone tests whether a warranty will still be honoured I'm not willing to take the risk. The Fabia only does a low mileage so there will only be the 1st and 2nd year service to worry about and keep the warranty valid.

Tony:

Unfortunately non-franchised servicing is a big grey area and until someone tests whether a warranty will still be honoured I'm not willing to take the risk. The Fabia only does a low mileage so there will only be the 1st and 2nd year service to worry about and keep the warranty valid.

This is what SkodaAuto UK say about having your car serviced by a non-Skoda retailer:

You are of course free to choose where you have your vehicle serviced. However, we would always recommend that a Skoda Retailer is used as they receive full training in the servicing of Skoda vehicles and are kept up to date with technical information. Having a service completed at a non-franchised retailer will not in itself invalidate the warranty. However, should any difficulty arise that is deemed to be as a direct result of incorrect/incomplete servicing, any remedial work required would not be covered under your new vehicle warranty.

I was charged just over

Tony:

Unfortunately non-franchised servicing is a big grey area and until someone tests whether a warranty will still be honoured I'm not willing to take the risk. The Fabia only does a low mileage so there will only be the 1st and 2nd year service to worry about and keep the warranty valid.

Thanks for the information.

My friend is a very good knowledge of cars, he has built his own kit car, so after the 2nd service, I will trust him rather than the garage to perform the services. I least know that the job will be a proper one!

I have nothing against the franchises in general and my local skoda garage is very good.

I just cant justify how a 10k annual service costs over