A stone ship on my rear wheel arch, that is.

I finally got round to giving my Yeti a proper wash yesterday, after driving it around with weeks of accumulated winter road crap adoring its flanks for far too long. And lo and behold, there it was: on the nearside rear wheel arch, a nasty white stone chip a couple of mm across.

Now the thing is, I bought the car through Autofinders. Apart from the price being acceptable, the real deciding factor was that the supplying dealer had it in stock, so I could pick it up within weeks rather than months (and avoid the VAT increase in the process). The supplying dealer was in Carlisle, which is not particularly practical to visit from here.

I'm wondering how helpful my local Skoda dealers (Chathams, or West End in Broxburn) are likely to be about taking this on as a possible warranty repair/fitting the foils. I presume if it is a warranty job then they get full reimbursement from SUK for their time. And if they're nice to me over this then of course I'm much more likely to use them again for general servicing and other bits and bobs.

Has anyone else had the need to use a dealer other than the one that supplied the car to get repairs done under warranty?

Edited 6 March, 201115 yr by ejstubbs

A stone ship on my rear wheel arch, that is.

I finally got round to giving my Yeti a proper wash yesterday, after driving it around with weeks of accumulated winter road crap adoring its flanks for far too long. And lo and behold, there it was: on the nearside rear wheel arch, a nasty white stone chip a couple of mm across.

Now the thing is, I bought the car through Autofinders. Apart from the price being acceptable, the real deciding factor was that the supplying dealer had it in stock, so I could pick it up within weeks rather than months (and avoid the VAT increase in the process). The supplying dealer was in Carlisle, which is not particularly practical to visit from here.

I'm wondering how helpful my local Skoda dealers (Chathams, or West End in Broxburn) are likely to be about taking this on as a possible warranty repair/fitting the foils. I presume if it is a warranty job then they get full reimbursement from SUK for their time. And if they're nice to me over this then of course I'm much more likely to use them again for general servicing and other bits and bobs.

Has anyone else had the need to use a dealer other than the one that supplied the car to get repairs done under warranty?

Hi, my Yeti is going in to West End Garage tomorrow to have paint chips done and foils fitted under warranty.

I had it serviced a couple of weeks ago (18,600 miles since delivery last April) and they checked the rear door arches, took some pictures and sent images to Skoda UK for warranty repair approval. Car was serviced on the Thursday and approval came back on the following Monday morning so very quick in my case. In my experience West End Garage have been excellent to deal with so far for both sales and service which is why I use them even though they are 35 miles away and have three other Skoda dealers closer to my home.

Del

I was thinking of trying West End first, although Chatham's new place is actually closer to my work. I've heard generally good reports of West End. Chatham's were very helpful with test drives but they were disappointingly intransigent on price.

I didn't get mine at Chathams but they were quite happy to carry out the work under warranty, mine to going back on Wednesday as my first foils got bubbles, other than that dealer has been really good/helpful.

Washed mine yesterday and discovered loads of small chips here and there and also a chip/crack in the A pillar and and a small dent in the roof, winter has not been kind at all especially with the crap grit (stones) Edinburgh council use!, got most touched in though so not too bad I guess, could be a lot worse.

I'm just glad cars these days don't rust in 30 seconds like cars of old. Though if these bad winters carry on then I can see the bonnet/bottoms of doors getting treated to a spray over for all these chips in a couple of years, esp as I plan to keep my Yeti 4-5 years.

I was thinking of trying West End first, although Chatham's new place is actually closer to my work. I've heard generally good reports of West End. Chatham's were very helpful with test drives but they were disappointingly intransigent on price.

I've used both West End and Chathams (Dunfermline) for warranty work and servicing for my previous Octavia, which wasn't purchased from either,and I've not had any problems with either.

Re buying a new car at Chathams - I had a similar experience to you and so did my father. They don't seem to be interested in trying to match better deals offered elsewhere.

+1.

I actually got to test drive a 1.2tsi at Chatham`s (Dunfermline) as they were the only dealer in Scotland that had petrol demo at that time. I tried to do a deal with Steve but the cost to change (traded in a Mk5 Golf) was not very competitive and their was no real attempt by him to negotiate either.

To be fair I had similar responses from Ingrams at Ayr and Henry`s in Glasgow. Parks at Hamilton were a bit more flexible but kept steering me towards their Demo Yeti which was a 4x4 140bhp Diesel Elegance and not what I wanted.

Got the best deal from Stuart at West End, easy to deal with and really knew the product so he got the Sale and West End garage also got my service business as I value customer service and support quite highly.

Maybe some of the Sales guys need to look beyond the Sale and factor in repeat business and service revenues.

Del

I've got a long trip coming up this weekend, so I'll keep any eye on those rear wheel arches. Think I'll be giving West End a call when I get back. For those who have had the work done by them, did they offer you a courtesy car?

I've got a long trip coming up this weekend, so I'll keep any eye on those rear wheel arches. Think I'll be giving West End a call when I get back. For those who have had the work done by them, did they offer you a courtesy car?

My warranty work was quick to do so I just waited but I did get one when my car was serviced.

My warranty work was quick to do so I just waited but I did get one when my car was serviced.

I had a courtesy car when my car was serviced. (Octavia estate).

I put my Yeti in for the warranty paintwork and foils yesterday and have a Fabia courtesy car while the work is being done. Just need the paper copy of your licence and pay for the fuel you use. No hassle.

Del

washed mine yesterday and was gobsmacked by the large amount on chips under the paint on the rear arch(driver side 0nly) :wonder: ....it certainly looks like rust under the paint!!!...no foils on mine, so a trip to the dealer again!!!...wish me luck

I was under the impression that rust shouldn't develop that quickly if at all? Galvanised panals and all that, I stand to be corrected however.

Front and rear doors were bad on mine, but warranty only covers the rears :(

it certainly looks like rust underneath as the paint is bubbling in loads of small places'....looks like a teenagers face not an happy chappy, as well as stupid oil consumption...

Mine didn't look like bubbles, just little spots of metal/white where paint/laquer has been bombarded with stones.

Mines is going back tomorrow for foils to be refitted after I got bubbles in the last lot, wonder if I should mention the fact the lower doors are just as bad as the rears were, see if a further claim can be made

Mine didn't look like bubbles, just little spots of metal/white where paint/laquer has been bombarded with stones.

Mines is going back tomorrow for foils to be refitted after I got bubbles in the last lot, wonder if I should mention the fact the lower doors are just as bad as the rears were, see if a further claim can be made

Be interested to know if you have the standard mud flaps fitted front & rear :wonder:

Oh came across this site recently, wonder if they do a kit for the Yeti.

My link

Regards,

TP

Edited 8 March, 201115 yr by The Plumber

Be interested to know if you have the standard mud flaps fitted front & rear :wonder:

Oh came across this site recently, wonder if they do a kit for the Yeti.

My link

Regards,

TP

I do indeed have mudflaps front and rear, doesn't seem to have made much difference :( will def ask dealer to look at lower front door tomorrow for their opinion on the paint finish.

I do indeed have mudflaps front and rear, doesn't seem to have made much difference :( will def ask dealer to look at lower front door tomorrow for their opinion on the paint finish.

Many thanks nokiauk,

hope the dealer will get it all sorted for you. Condition of our roads is shocking and I've noticed particularly the nose and offside wing plus lower flanks on both our Fabia's are taking quite a beating from stuff thown up by cars going the other way, or overtaking through all the left over grit and broken surface dressing laying in the centre of the road :(

TP

Thanks

Mentioned the front door this morning and they will examine them and take photo's etc to send to Skoda, they also admit this sort of damage shoudn't really be evident on a 8 month old car. They will also take paint depth readings as some panels have been found to be thinly painted.

Hopefully find out the verdict later today

Oh ! I washed the car again at the weekend and there are no new stone chips BUT I have now got a swirly scratch about 1cm long right in the middle of the front passenger door. I suspect it's a car park scratch - it looks like someone opened their door against my car and then scratched up and down as they got in or out of their vehicle. It's very obvious and it's equally obvious that it's not a warranty issue :|

As I was browsing in Halfords the other week I noticed that they do a "Skoda Black Magic" touch-up kit for ~£12. Does anyone know if these things are any good - what sort of finish do you get from them? Or would I be better off getting the local Chips Away rep round to do it?

I've had a Halfords Black Magic touch up before for a Fabia, seemed ok and easy to apply but only used it for stone chips and not scratches. Chips Away guys vary in quality of work, but could be worth a try if you can get a recommendation.

There's a Chips Away guy who lives just round the corner from me. He fixed some blemishes on my Scooby a while back and seemed to do a good enough job. More expensive than a £12 touch-up kit from Halfords, though. On the other hand, the online instructions for the kit make it sound like a fair old faff...

Having put it off all spring and summer, I have finally been driven to do something about stone chips on my Yeti. Previously I had thought that the big (5-6mm) one on the nearside was the only damage it had suffered (apart from at least two scratches thanks to the kind of numbnuts who are too stupid to open their car doors carefully after parking next to you). I'd patched that chip with Halfords' Black Magic Pearl touch-up kit and kind of hoped that would be it. Giving it a good wash at the weekend, though, I noticed a rash of small marks on the rear wheel arches on both sides. Running a fingertip over it you could also detect what felt like the start of paint raising from pentration damage.

So I called West End Garage and they had a look at it today. Mark on the service desk was very helpful, quickly agreed that there seemed to be damage, and took some photos to send off the SUK. Now I just have to wait on the verdict...