Thanks for taking the time out to read my post. My car is a 57 5 door skoda fabia hatchback. It is a petrol engine 1.2. I bought the car in February 2009 with 16k miles on the clock in Watford. Six weeks later the power steering failed. I took it to my nearest skoda dealer who said they fixed it overnight. Very next day the same thing happened. Back it went to my local dealer. To cut a long story short, it went to three different dealers another 5 times. Eventually after Skoda customer services said I could reject the car (THANKS FOR TAKING SO LONG TO TELL ME. I wrote to the dealer I bought it from and they tok the car away for three weeks. When I got it back it was fixed but I have no report on what work was carried out, even though this has been requested on many occassions. Then drving back from the coast in May 2010, I heard a knocking noise. A friend of mine stated that it sounded out of oil. Took it back to local dealer who charged me £120 to refill the engine with oil. No oil light came on and this car was serviced the previous September as supposed to. Local dealer told me that if I wanted it investigated I would have to pay for it. I said no, it is still under warranty. Basically they blamed me saying that I deliberately let it run out of oil. I was then told to put a litre on oil in a month, which I did, always checking before any long journeys. Car was serviced again last August. then on the way to Scotland this April car breaks down again with no oil in engine even though I put in a litre a day before I went, a litre on the journey and the AA man had to put in 3 and half litres. I have only done 21k in this car and I have had it just 27 months and now the dealer wants £3,500 to fix it as it is out of warranty even though it first occurred while still under warranty. The car cost £5,500 of which I am still paying for! Dealer I bought it from blames local dealer for not fixing it properly and skoda customer services less then helpful when I told them the first time. HHHHEEEEELLLPPPPP

Go to your local Citizens Advice Bureau, they are great at helping with well worded letters quoting relevant sections of law. Put the stealer over a barrel quote the law and they'll realise they cant fob you off. Oh and make sure you hand deliver or send the letter recorded delivery so they cant say they didn't get it. Good luck, it will be a long fight.

No way should the car be using that much oil. You have a strong case against the garage(s) involved if your information is factual.

How can a Skoda main dealer be this crappy to one of their customers?

My guess is that Skoda UK or the dealer you bought it from, would say you should have come us in the warranty period for the highoil consumption problem to be sorted out. You can tell them that you did, several times and the problem persists. Yes, a letter to Skoda UK and a copy to your original dealer is required, Pronto.

Thanks. I thought I was going mad! I love my skoda when it works but there hasnt really been a period that I can say I was totally reliant on it!

i think that domonic littlewood had something very similar on his show a few weeks ago with an Vauxhall astra were he had to get his engine replaced because it had ran out of oil, even though it had just been serviced 1 month ago. It's on "Don't get done get dom series 5 episode 2" if you can find it online.

Do you have RAC or AA membership? These typically include legal assistance cover (the standard £38.50 RAC membership does), so they can help you with where you stand legally (you have rights separately from and in addition to any warranties, although these will be against the supplying dealer). It may be a long phone call though, as you'll have to explain everything!

As a question, how often were you checking the oil? Just assuming you were checking the level on the dipstick regularly, and topping up as required, rather than blindly putting 1l in on the first day of the month, and that you'd been checking it prior to the initial "out-of-oil" breakdown? (i.e. the oil useage was fine and then it "all fell out of the engine one day")

The kind of oil consumption you stated does sound to be excessive (as-in, out of spec).

Anthonyh90

I saw that programme in Scotland after I broke down. I contacted Dom Littlewoods office and they said they would supply me with a copy of that episode for £17.50!

Martinch

I do have AA membership, so I shall look into that. I was checking the oil regularly but the dipstick was misleading. One day fine, empty the next. Wouldnt anything show up on the two services I had? One after 10k the other after 20k?

I suspect that the faulty power steering light and the faulty oil light are linked. However the dealer in Watford has failed to provide me with the report of what they actually did to my car in that three weeks. Where all the engine management sensors checked?

Wouldnt anything show up on the two services I had? One after 10k the other after 20k?

From what I remember from the service booklet, the services are a case of do a visual inspection, remove oil, replace oil, read fault codes (paraphrasing). If there wasn't an obviously visible leak, or a complete lack of oil coming out during a change, then...

I suspect that the faulty power steering light and the faulty oil light are linked. However the dealer in Watford has failed to provide me with the report of what they actually did to my car in that three weeks. Where all the engine management sensors checked?

Not sure where you stand on this. I know if you're billed for it, they must give you a breakdown when asked (Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008), but if it's "free" I'm not sure. Didn't they put some notes in the service history?

Best bet is to get proper advice - with the RAC they take details and get a solicitor to phone back.

The 1.2 only holds 3.0 from empty so if the AA man put in three and a half litres it's overfull even though it wouldn't have been empty. Sounds very odd.

Also can't see how a PAS problem would be related to engine oil consumption.

Well it has been a couple of weeks now and the Watford dealer has not contacted me regarding my car. I shall not be contacting them until my solicitors have sent them an intent to sue letter. I will never recommend a Skoda again and have saved one of my neighbours from buying a Yeti! Would not want them to have the runaround I experienced.

Skoda Watford have now had my car since the 13th May and have not contacted me since about repairing my car or even collecting it. Is this what 'customer service' is all about!!!!!!!!!

Has your solicitor sent the 'intent to sue letter'?

If the last thing you told them was that you weren't going to pay for the repairs and you would be taking legal action, then the garage would be advised not to contact you.

If your solicitor is taking action, then you need to talk to him/her.

If not, then you need to contact the garage.

Funnily enough no not yet! I have had to chase her this morning. Maybe they arent bothered at all.

Well it has been a couple of weeks now and the Watford dealer has not contacted me regarding my car. I shall not be contacting them until my solicitors have sent them an intent to sue letter. I will never recommend a Skoda again and have saved one of my neighbours from buying a Yeti! Would not want them to have the runaround I experienced.

WOW I cant belive i have just read that.... and you are just going straight to the american 'Sue them for what they are worth' route.

You need to calm down a little i think,

But if the oil problem started in the warranty period and was brought to there attention within this perioud then they cannot use the out of warranty arguement as it is still a warrany issue.

I dont recall anywehre in this thread sating if the car was purchased from a Skoda Dealer just that you took it to them.

Going to the 'Sue' route striaght away seems a bit extreme do you not think, did you go to citezens advice and ask them about the letter? as i cannot see anything which states this, as a a lot of the time when they are involved in this type of matter it does get sorted.

I bought my car from Skoda dealer in Watford 60 miles from where I live. They assured me that I could go back to any Skoda dealer for servicing and problems. As for 'Going to the 'Sue' route striaght away seems a bit extreme do you not think'- No, not when the car was in and out of the garage eight times in the first year of ownership and then when they finally fix that it now develops an oil problem. I have the reciept from when I took it back with no oil the first time when it was still under warranty and Skoda customer services know that too because I asked for my money back as it was still under warranty. It seems to me that everyone thinks that I am 'stupid' driver and that I am at fault. All I wanted was a car that would last more than 2 years when I have driven secondhand Metros which have lasted longer!!!!!

I bought my car from Skoda dealer in Watford 60 miles from where I live. They assured me that I could go back to any Skoda dealer for servicing and problems. As for 'Going to the 'Sue' route striaght away seems a bit extreme do you not think'- No, not when the car was in and out of the garage eight times in the first year of ownership and then when they finally fix that it now develops an oil problem. I have the reciept from when I took it back with no oil the first time when it was still under warranty and Skoda customer services know that too because I asked for my money back as it was still under warranty. It seems to me that everyone thinks that I am 'stupid' driver and that I am at fault. All I wanted was a car that would last more than 2 years when I have driven secondhand Metros which have lasted longer!!!!!

If it was an old style metro its cos its the a-series engine... but thats off topic.

when you have a problem at work, do you go striaght to the MD/CEO?

if you have graised your knee do you go straight to hospital?

Im sorry but that is a little extreme, and yes, any car purchsed at a skoda authorised dealer can be taken to any other skoda authorised dealer to be 'fixed'

Skoda UK is exactly that. Skoda UK they deal with the whole of the United Kingoms market for Skodas so will proberly not be able to respond in the timely mannor like you suggest, they have 100s of dealers with 100,000s customer requests and questions to deal with, so get out of your bubble.

By the sounds of things you told the dealer to fix the car, it failed, demanded they fixed the car, assumed they blaimed you, got hot headed, Directed they fixed the car, put a complaint in, then went striaght for cash.

And noone on here has blamed your driveing.... these faults happen to cars, Mechinics need to rule out user error first (like IT, Household goods etc etc they all need to rule out user error first) this is becuse they will be looking for a problem that dosent exist, and becuse they tried to rule that out you took offence.

If you read (IIRC) 3 posts of people recomending citizens advice beuru (spelling) you promptly ignored said advice and went straight to legal action, this is a little extreme. 8 times in the first year? did you find out what they deem to be accetable amount of time to fix before they could offer a refund/exchange? (Citizens advice would be able to tell you)

Im sorry but it pains me to see someone throw ALL there toys out of the pram like this and i am afraid you are playing the Victim a little too hard, and wish you 'Luck' with your legal action

I hope the OP either gets their car sorted once and for all, or a refund for the full purchase amount. There's nothing wrong with suing IMO as you would only be likely to win the above plus costs of hire cars/taxis/buses in court anyway - and threat of action should make the Skoda dealers quicker to cough up. IMO the dealers involved need to be named and shamed. Post here http://briskoda.net/forums/forum/53-skoda-retailer-network-reviews/

Not trying to have a go at the OP... but. Checking the oil level is part of the driving test, and described in the car manual. Also described in the manual is the function of the oil pressure warning light, which is not a level warning light, but means the upper end of your engine is being starved of oil completely. Checking the oil is easy. The "I'm a woman" doesn't wash with me either. It's no harder than adding 200ml of water to a jug, and... [sexist mode on] I am sure most women can do that AFAIK if you hire a car you sign an agreement, which in one part says it is your responsibility to check the oil, and that any engine damage resulting from low oil level is your responsibility (and you just gave them your credit card details).