Honest Johns take on ESP problems

[JohnMcL7]

I have a 56 plate car coming up for 21K miles which I've bought second hand from a Ford dealer which has a six month warranty so in a way I'm hoping the fault will occur sometime soon as it seems the prime time for it. I'm not sure what to do in six months if the part hasn't failed, I've looked into warranties but to cover the ABS/ESP control units it looks to be about £350 a year which is a lot of money given it's unlikely to cover any other repair as most work is gong to be wear and tear. I've no idea of Skoda will extend any goodwill to me as I'm not the original owner although the car does have a full Skoda service history.

John

[blueR36]

My warranty is with warranty direct and cost me £225, but i do low mileage but it will cover that and is more comprehensive than skodas if you pm me nearer the time and give my reference you can get 1 month free too :thumbup:

[JohnMcL7]

My warranty is with warranty direct and cost me £225, but i do low mileage but it will cover that and is more comprehensive than skodas if you pm me nearer the time and give my reference you can get 1 month free too :thumbup:

Is that the higher option? I got two quotes from Warrantydirect and I'm not a high mileage driver (average under 5,000 miles a year), one was around 230 and one 330 but looking through the cover it seemed the lower package wouldn't cover the ESP failure.

John

Edited 28 April, 2010 by JohnMcL7

[blueR36]

Went for the higher one and haggled ! speak to them direct you can pm me i will tell you who you need to talk to

[Aspman]

Any way to...erm.... encourage the fault to manifest itself before warranty finishes?

[willskoda]

Component: ESP FRONT MK60

F**K

[Stu999]

Just had my unit replaced today. £434 all in. I contacted Skoda UK who after a long wait said they would not be able to offer any good will. I pointed out the amount of Skoda's that are owned within my family and that we would not be buying any ever again if this was not resolved. They said they would look further into it and get back to me. After another long wait they offered 30% towards the cost. ( Quoted £868 for replacment at my local dealer where I bought the car.)

I then contacted the dealer who offered 20% in addition to Skoda's offer.

Still p*ssed that it's cost me £434 but alot better than £868...!

[JohnMcL7]

Any way to...erm.... encourage the fault to manifest itself before warranty finishes?

I've not seen any indication that you can prompt the issue unfortunately :(

John

[Bev.Elliott]

I have a Skoda Octavia 4x4 1900cc I recntly had the warning light on the dash ans the ESP light remain on. The diagnosis by Skoda technicians was the ABS pump has failed. Cost of replacement with customer discounts and vat. £1349.61p. Customer services say they will pay 35% of the cost. Stll leaves me with a bill of £877.25p. This apparently is a widely known problem. What should I do?

[Bren512]

Hello there,

Just want to say a big thanks to all you Skoda owners out there who have posted on this subject. I have an Audi A3 (one of the other models fitted with the Teves Mk 60) that is just out of warranty and I recently got the constant orange light telling me I had an ESP fault. Audi denied my A3 was fitted with the Mk 60 (it was when we checked the diagnostics) and denied they were aware of any issues with the unit.

With the info from everyone on here I was able to convince Audi I knew there was a recognised problem with the unit and they supplied the replacement ABS pump for free and the dealer coughed up for 50% of the labour. A £1,500 job has only cost me £188 - thanks again!

[Auric Goldfinger]

Hello there,

Just want to say a big thanks to all you Skoda owners out there who have posted on this subject. I have an Audi A3 (one of the other models fitted with the Teves Mk 60) that is just out of warranty and I recently got the constant orange light telling me I had an ESP fault. Audi denied my A3 was fitted with the Mk 60 (it was when we checked the diagnostics) and denied they were aware of any issues with the unit.

With the info from everyone on here I was able to convince Audi I knew there was a recognised problem with the unit and they supplied the replacement ABS pump for free and the dealer coughed up for 50% of the labour. A £1,500 job has only cost me £188 - thanks again!

A Briskoda Result...........

[chr1staylor]

Nice work.

Ironically I've never heard of anyone getting such a positive result from skoda!

[Daveclar]

Just had mine replaced on goodwill. A week outside warranty, just 16K on the clock. Had great service from the dealer. But there still should be some type of recall in place.

[darius]

Just had the dreaded ESP light on problem. Car was brought new in April 05. Now has 44K on the clock has always been dealer serviced.

The fault code was read by a local Bosch service company using a Bosch diagnosic machine which came up with 059B Brake pressure sensor open circuit is this the same as the “01435 Brake Pressure Sensor 1 (G201)” fault. 059B is hexadecimal for 1435 so Im assuming it is.

Specialist Cars in Aberdeen are quoting £1027 to fix before any goodwill from Skoda. But

- there are 3rd party companies that can recondition the unit (for I think around £350) so the total job would be £550 or so.

- if I put the car into Specialist Car's then they charge £80+VAT for the diagnostic before Skoda will look at goodwill.

- the diagnostic is offset against the repair if I go ahead so I would be taking a gamble on getting a large enough goodwill payment from Skoda

- the main dealer is difficult to get to for me at the moment

So I need a minimum of 40% goodwill from Skoda to make the main dealer worthwhile. While Honest John is reporting 100% payments on some VW whats the reality for Skoda (esp a 5 1/2 year old one).

Having had the well known cruise control stalk and DMF failures both out of warranty I'm well POed. My rubbishy old Peugeot 406 was never this costly to keep on the road.

Skoda have manufactued a very unhappy driver - I had planned to trade up to a new superb in a couple of years - not any more - no more VAG group cars for me I'll go for something more reliable like a Trabant (or more likely the new Mondeo is very plush).

Cheers

D

[scouter2]

Oh bugger. ESP light on...:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 1K0-614-517-MK60-A.lbl

Part No SW: 1K0 614 517 AD HW: 1K0 614 517 AD

Component: ESP 4MOTION MK60-AT 0102

Revision: 00H14001

Coding: 0023170

Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00000

VCID: 69D253C23912

1 Fault Found:

01435 - Brake Pressure Sensor 1 (G201)

012 - Electrical Fault in Circuit

Let's see what the garage say. Car out of warranty by 4 months, 55k.

[uncle bulgaria]

Oh bugger. ESP light on...:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 1K0-614-517-MK60-A.lbl

Part No SW: 1K0 614 517 AD HW: 1K0 614 517 AD

Component: ESP 4MOTION MK60-AT 0102

Revision: 00H14001

Coding: 0023170

Shop #: WSC 73430 790 00000

VCID: 69D253C23912

1 Fault Found:

01435 - Brake Pressure Sensor 1 (G201)

012 - Electrical Fault in Circuit

Let's see what the garage say. Car out of warranty by 4 months, 55k.

Play the "I'm a good customer" and "whats the best you can do for me" cards!

I can say that between my dealer offering me a discount and Skoda Customer Services helping, I had a vastly reduced bill! Even at 4 1/2 years old with 53k on the clock. I was told that what matters is your "Brand Loyalty" and your service/dealer history,

HTH

[scouter2]

Well the car was with the Dealer today and they have confirmed the ABS failure. They contacted Skoda UK to see if they could offer goodwill and the answer apparently was a blunt no. The estimated bill including labour is £1750. The dealer is contacting the factory to see if they can offer goodwill. (the car is only 4 months out of warranty and has always been serviced to schedule by dealer but that changed nothing).

Pondering options, including taking Skoda to small claims court under the sale of goods act if need be....

Edited 8 September, 2010 by scouter2

[Steve vRS]

That's crap especially as VW are offering cheap repairs.

Steve

[uncle bulgaria]

Not being funny, but you need to phone Skoda Customer Services yourself; you are the customer not the Dealer. Just out of warranty and with FSH should count a lot. I understood SUK could offer good will on a car up to 5 years old, but it's on a sliding scale and depends on your "brand loyalty" & all service activity up to date.

Some dealers don't like dealing with customer services as they don't get paid straight away. SUK will ask for a tech report, and base their offer on what it says. They then check with you and if they can go ahead, have to authorise the work. You then pay your portion and the dealer has to invoice SUK.

Anyway give it a try! I've recently found a local independent who can offer a repair for either mechanical or electrical ABS pump faults, significantly cheaper. So if no luck with SUK, shop around!

[Hauptmann]

Well the car was with the Dealer today and they have confirmed the ABS failure. They contacted Skoda UK to see if they could offer goodwill and the answer apparently was a blunt no. The estimated bill including labour is £1750. The dealer is contacting the factory to see if they can offer goodwill. (the car is only 4 months out of warranty and has always been serviced to schedule by dealer but that changed nothing).

Pondering options, including taking Skoda to small claims court under the sale of goods act if need be....

For goodness sake, don't mess about. The dealer and SUK are taking the Mickey on this issue. This is a clear-cut case of a product being insufficiently durable under Sale of Goods Act. Remember, your warranty is a form of contract with the manufacturer and IN ADDITION to your Statutory Rights. Write a Letter Before Action and send it to the supplying dealer via Special Delivery. Quote SOGA and give them 10 working days to respond with offer to repair - with threat of SCC summons if you don't hear from them. And carry the threat through. The SCC Summons does not initially require any evidence or data, just an outline of the problem. Their position is indefensible and I'm sure they would back down. The last thing SUK want is successful SCC actions against them on this problem!

[cheezemonkhai]

For goodness sake, don't mess about. The dealer and SUK are taking the Mickey on this issue. This is a clear-cut case of a product being insufficiently durable under Sale of Goods Act. Remember, your warranty is a form of contract with the manufacturer and IN ADDITION to your Statutory Rights. Write a Letter Before Action and send it to the supplying dealer via Special Delivery. Quote SOGA and give them 10 working days to respond with offer to repair - with threat of SCC summons if you don't hear from them. And carry the threat through. The SCC Summons does not initially require any evidence or data, just an outline of the problem. Their position is indefensible and I'm sure they would back down. The last thing SUK want is successful SCC actions against them on this problem!

I agree on this point.

[blueR36]

Mine was 4 months out of warranty I paid 625 they paid rest

[scouter2]

Not being funny, but you need to phone Skoda Customer Services yourself; you are the customer not the Dealer.

Thanks I intend to - the dealer contacted them directly though without me asking.

[scouter2]

For goodness sake, don't mess about. The dealer and SUK are taking the Mickey on this issue. This is a clear-cut case of a product being insufficiently durable under Sale of Goods Act. Remember, your warranty is a form of contract with the manufacturer and IN ADDITION to your Statutory Rights. Write a Letter Before Action and send it to the supplying dealer via Special Delivery. Quote SOGA and give them 10 working days to respond with offer to repair - with threat of SCC summons if you don't hear from them. And carry the threat through. The SCC Summons does not initially require any evidence or data, just an outline of the problem. Their position is indefensible and I'm sure they would back down. The last thing SUK want is successful SCC actions against them on this problem!

Thanks that is what I am currently looking into. I'm surprised nobody else has done this though and that plenty of folk are happy to stump up £600-750 after a 50% goodwill gesture from skoda.

[blueR36]

Well I paid mine in February before I joined did not know it was such a large problem, would have been more forceful knowing what I now know. We need Americas laws and media on it, then something would be done.I contacted watchdog about 2 months ago but heard nothing!