Hi

Been informed by Skoda dealer in Exeter that I will be completely voiding my warranty if I get lowering springs fitted to my car, even if they do it! I was quite disappointed with this, as I'm aware other people have lowered their cars and only voided parts of their warranty, i.e. the suspension. This now means I must wait until end of June 2004 until I can get anything like this done. The only perk may be a lowering and remap at the same time

BRAKES : Dealer told me I need new discs/pads at the back. I'm surprised, to say the least, that its the backs that went first as they only take 30/40% of the braking pressure. They said it was wear and tear, but I'm not convinced... 36,000 miles should not use up a set of rear brakes, unless something's wrong with them. Dealer went on about mud in the callipers sticking the pad to the disc, blah blah blah. I'm looking at

More than likely Kevin has given you a price for some Group N ones rather than just boggo standard ones.

Have you tried Halfords?

Dunno about the grouping - He said that normal ones were about

The rear pads on my RS have also worn more than the fronts, although still have loads of life left

Dev,

I was told that fitting the springs would affect my suspension warranty and nothing else. You could try:

a) finding a copy of your warranty and reading it properly

ring Skoda UK and ask for the "official" statement re: warranty (just don't give your details!!)

Mine's having the work done today...

Anyone got the number for Skoda UK?? I'll give them a bell if necessary, as I believe my dealer is probably just covering their posterior...As for the official warranty document, I don't remember ever receiving one, but I'll look at all my car documents tonight - I had them all out to tax the car on Saturday anyway - Means I'm poor again *sniff (although I consider myself lucky to save

Devon

If you do ring Skoda UK re your springs , I'd ask them if they expect a set of rear discs to last more than 36000 miles , coz I'm bloody sure I do!

Replaced my rear discs at about 50k. Not because they were worn but because I wanted to fit grp N grooved ones. Onlty did it 'cos pads needed replacing so thought, time to upgrade the rears to match the fronts.

Maybe I drive like a granny

Originally posted by TaviaRS in this post

Maybe I drive like a granny

Got that right.

Des

Quote from page 28 of Skoda Octavia Service Schedule:

WARRANTY CERTIFICATE FOR NEW CARS

In accordance with the warranty terms for new Skoda vehicles - as stated in the contract of sale - the following warranty is offered effective from the date of delivery:

* 1 year warranty covering freedom from defects and

* 3 years warranty on the paintwork.

* 1 year on Skoda Genuine Parts and Skoda Genuine Accessories.

Please understand that natural wear-and-tear and damage resulting from rough handling, improper use or unauthorised modifications are not covered by this warranty.

There is more about Body Warranty, plus a footnote that specific differences to the warranty terms may exist in individual export markets.

My understanding is that Skoda UK provide 3 years warranty covering freedom from defects and that 2 years is the norm if the car is an import.

My car was purchased secondhand from a Skoda Dealer and came with the balance of Skoda UK's warranty. What it didn't come with was a statement of the warranty terms for new Skoda vehicles. Had it been a new vehicle, the new/used order form states that "....we will use our best endeavours to obtain for you from the Manufacturer or Importer the benefit of any warranty or guarantee given by them to us. These warranties and guarantees are in addition to and not in replacement of any warranties or guarantees given to you by us."

So the bottom line here is that I think I have the balance of a 3 year Skoda UK warranty - the terms of which I haven't a clue - but I don't have that in writing although I do have a new/used vehicle order form from a Skoda main dealer. So would I have been any the wiser had the car been new? I doubt it.

I think that Devonutopia's dealer is talking rubbish. The relevant excerpt from the warranty terms above is as follows: "... damage resulting from ... unauthorised modifications (is) not covered by this warranty." It would be for the dealer to prove that any damage claimed for was directly due to non-Skoda springs being fitted. I would threaten to complain to the Office of Fair Trading about an unfair contract if Skoda UK were to support that line.

PS If anyone has a contract of sale which gives more detailed information on the terms of Skoda UK's warranty, I would be grateful for sight of it or its contents.

:p

devon hello how are you just my 2 peneth worth on the question of brakes it's quite possible to wear out rear discs/pads in 36k i see it all the time especialy o/sr ( i dont know why but o/s/r always wears out first) yes the pads do get stuck in calipers therefore wearing out pads faster if your dealer was any good then he would (on services) remove pads and re-grease ( although this is not part of service schedule) but common sense ( i do) ( well most of the time unless extremly busy). on the part of warranty if you lower car than your suspension warranty may become in-valid along with many other things (ie body if you lower car it makes car more rigid and prone to cracking chassis take it from me it does i had only 3 coils in my estelle and was about 3" of floor i cracked floor from back to front) and also wheel bearings take more load ( as you lower car the wheels seem to sit in more) but if you had some sort of resonable dealer (like me) they would say we will put in a claim as standard but telling customer that if warranty rejects then we will look to customer for payment. just my point of view and principal. hope this helps regards big k.

Big K, you really need to give out your location You'd be taking on so much extra business in servicing

Q.

Interestingly, although Big K's principles properly restrain him from doing so, his firm has already received praise in other threads in this forum. Quality tells!

I feel a surge of PMs coming on

BTW, I feel this is another example of Skoda UK's distinctly boring stance towards modifications. My lowering was done by the dealer, following close cooperation with the supplier to get a customized solution - with warranty being upheld, of course.

Is it Swindon.....or is your address a red herring to protect the innocent, Nick?

A herring? Am I herring you correctly? Are you trying to seduce me with your fish? :Cat:

big k,

I would be interested to know a bit more about the way a Skoda warranty claim works...

If a dealer puts in a claim for example, do Skoda send someone to verify the claim etc and check it out?

I doubt they would have time to do this surely and it cant be very cost effective. Do Skoda just take the dealers word for it on warranty issues?

Could this be why some dealers are less bothered about modifications, as at the end of the day the dealer can put in a claim for labour charges and any parts used I assume.

Could you clarify this, thanks.

warranty claims hmmm we can put in a claim for wot ever but we have to be able to back it up ie. we have to have a job card signed by the customer and with workshop clockings. (all this is get aroundable (if u wanted too). periodicaly the warranty dept will request parts back and inspect and if deemed not manufactuer defect they will reject claim (therefore leaving dealer with cost which they may put back to customer or not). also every year we have a warranty audit which goes through 3 mnths worth of claims making sure we have clockings customer signatures etc. by the way we have to keep all parts for at least 3 mnths (of which skoda can recall back) yes if i revealed my dealership name i proberly would double my workload that's why i want to remain anonymous cheers big k.

trouble is dutch 4x4 is if you have engine designed for 180bhp and chip to 200-300 bhp would you be willing to pay for warranty repairs ?

In Holland they would. In fact, they are.

good on them then !

Oh, only with approved suppliers, of course. And only up to a certain level, so 210-215bhp max coming from the 150/180hp RS/4x4 engine.

BTW, warranty in Holland covers just two years, so it's a simple matter of odds. What are the odds of something happening in those first two years? Exactly.

Meanwhile, the importer, dealer and "official" mod supplier (Abt, Oettinger, Wetterauer) see a great opportunity between themselves to make wads of money, doubling the price over non-warranty upgrades, using a small slice of their fat margin to insure themselves against any eventualities (maybe one or two cases every few years) and pocketing the rest.

And they will probably earn so much money off of it that they can afford to show leniency in the case something engine-related breaks within, say, 3 or 4 years, or whatever the average lifetime of the given standard part is supposed to be (which is how long the real warranty should last, according to the latest EU consumer laws, which in fact make factory statements about a "2-year" or "3-year" warranty null and void).

And the customer? He's bought himself some very expensive peace of mind. (So in my case, I'm happy my bosses paid the bills. It's mostly their peace of mind! )

Devonutopia...is there an official lowered suspension kit available like there is for the Octavia???

I thought the old golf rear brake caliper seizing was a thing of the past?!?

Yep - msport.co.uk has a lowering kit from "Eibach" for about