Karrie please don't forget to keep us updated on the action. you all have our full support here at Briskoda.

remember if the car is still in warranty and you do not get any luck with the dealers you could try to BLOW the BOX altogether forcing them to replace the whole lot.

if you want to do that i obviously would suggest you don't mention it on here, but perhaps driving the car and forcing the box into gears without using the clutch will eventually damage the teeth on a gear, keep doing it continually until the box break. doing say 20mph rev the engine to 4000-5000rpm and without using the clutch force it into 5th gear, this will cause the box to grind, keep repaeting until the box breaks, though it might take a few days to ruin it altogether.

some people on here could say that what i'm suggesting is fraud, but then arguably the Skoda dealership has been defrauding you......

remember if the car is still in warranty and you do not get any luck with the dealers you could try to BLOW the BOX altogether forcing them to replace the whole lot.

if you want to do that i obviously would suggest you don't mention it on here, but perhaps driving the car and forcing the box into gears without using the clutch will eventually

damage the teeth on a gear, keep doing it continually until the box break. doing say 20mph rev the engine to 4000-5000rpm and without using the clutch force it into 5th gear, this will cause the box to grind, keep repaeting until the box breaks, though it might take a few days to ruin it altogether.

some people on here could say that what i'm suggesting is fraud, but then arguably the Skoda dealership has been defrauding you......

Fraud ??, I would definatly do it especially if I was having these kind of issues

Guys, that's really not recommended and would almost certainly land Karrie with a huge bill since it would show she was an incompetent driver if she continued to drive with a duff clutch, and confirming what Skoda has already indicated that it was not a warranty issue but a driver problem. They would lay the blame directly at her feet. To destroy a gearbox takes time, they are very very tough and you couldn't normally do it by accident. You should have seen what my driving school cars used to go through and they didn't suffer any damage at all!

Thank you all for your concern and suggestions.

I am not going to cause any intentional damage to my car, for a few reasons. I am not trying to trick anyone, I am just asking for Skodas help to get to the root of a problem.

Apart from the dishonesty (and, although I am peeved, I am not dishonest) I can't see that this would achieve anything. I don't want to cloud the issue, I want to know what is happening and to get to the bottom of it.

An update so far:

SUK have been a lot more helpful. The letter seems to have had a far better effect than my phone calls. They have phoned me back twice and left messages. At the moment they are saying if a problem is not presenting then they can not fix it. Whilst I understand this I feel that cars do not self heal and therefore it will happen again surely. The dealership have agreed that the car is showing no sign of clutch wear and I think the whole documenting of the problem will help strengthen my case when/if it reoccurs.

This is not ideal, I wonder each day if the car will drive well. So far it is driving very well (weird?!) I am even wondering if the car has been fixed but they aren't telling me as I will then know the last £600 was wrongly charged. My husband thinks this is a ridiculous thought but I reckon it is no more ridiculous than a car that wouldn't go into gear at all that then, miraculously, fixed itself. Who knows!!

I must again thank everyone for their help. I have no doubt at all that without the confidence and technical help I received here I would already be the owner of clutch number three and be at least £600 poorer again. Thanks folks.

Karrie

Not bad! My local taxi firm has one 08 Fabia 1422cc PD TDI estate on the fleet which got to over 183k before he needed the clutch changing. Not bad for a consumable item eh! He now has over 220k on the clock (miles not km's) and it goes like new, still using no noticeable amount of oil either. I'm watching closely to see how many miles it goes before something gives. They all drive it like lunatics.

Trust me these havent been looked after either by the drivers but ive looked through history of 10-15 cars with this sort of mialage and they dont have anthing major,they all get normal service stuff,disc and pads,shoes,track arms,rear shockers and bump stops and there is a bosst pipe that this one ive bought has had 5 of them,aparantly its got a bracket that breaks or somthing.

Excellent Karrie, they are not saying they won't fix it....so that's all good. The fault will happen again for sure at some point. If you need recovering then get the patrolman/woman to document the facts in a report that is sent to you. This may cost a very small fee but may be worth it. You can then forward it to the dealer and onto SUK as well. Skoda in my experience always meet their obligations and then some, so I think what you have done so far is good and will lead to a happy outcome eventually. Very good luck with that and keep posting when you can about any problems you experience. The guys and girls here have a bucket load of experience and can help in lots of ways. Bye for now.

Hi Karrie, This is shocking to hear! I am about to have to bite my own bullet and fork out for a new clutch, at around 32,000 miles and I think I am unlucky!

Its really amazing that a faulty clutch is not covered under warranty from the main dealer, yet after market clutch suppliers, like Mr. clutch, can offer a two year warranty on a replacement part! You may even have had a better warranty on YOUR replacement part, without realising it!

I would certainly think about getting a clutch specialist to replace yours this time... I am only gong to use Skoda this time myself, whilst the car is under warranty, so they cannot blame another supplier if anything else turns out faulty! That and the fact that I negotiated a 20% parts and labour discount for the time I own the car, when I ordered it! I know I am living in the past, but I remember clutches used to cost around £150 to replace... I recon around £300-£350 would be about the modern equivilent!

Have you tried taking it to another manufacturer in the VAG group? I am aware my engine is the same as the Polo, not sure about the gearbox/clutch. They may be more helpful or better trained to spot a fault or even deal with a higher proportion af vehicles, offering a bigger insight into issues arising!

Hope yoou get to the bottom of this and have no more trouble. Would be good to know the outcome, for anyone elses sake here, as well as your own.

If there are issues concerning faulty manufacturing, it should then revert back to a warranty claim!

I find it odd, that in my dealer, they offer an extended warranty, after expiration of the manufactureres one, and list a clutch at £600, giving cuctomers the opinion it will be covered... I am going to ask about that because if its not, the poster ad will be mis-leading! If it IS, however, then WHY the french connection is it NOT included from new, when the whole car should be operating at optimum efficiency anyway?

Edited 18 January, 201214 yr by mrgf

UPDATE, Not sure if it's too late for Karrie but Mr. Clutch quoted me today, £350 ALL IN, for a new clutch, with a two year, 20,ooo miles warranty on it to boot! Compare that to £600 (Plus) and only a 6 month, 6,500 mile warranty Skoda offer and I think it's a no-brainer!

BTW, my earlier post suggesting around £300-£350 being around the area I would expect a clutch to cost was pretty bang on!

mrgf, you may want to check it's a new clutch of good quality that will be fitting. Mr Clutch often used to use reconditioned clutches or cheap replacement pattern parts that I personally would never fit. I confess to not having looked in on them recently so they may have moved up market with better parts, but just check because a good clutch will outlast a poor one by two to one in terms of miles covered and without the judder that cheap after market or recon clutches often produce. You usually get what you pay for with clutches. £600 is about right for a good quality clutch including labour. My Skoda dealer is £80ph which means most of the cost is in the clutch parts. Not saying don't use Mr Clutch but just be sure of what you are getting mate.