V.... aRSe-ended

[naimiac]

So.....

5.15am yesterday, up early to go watch the F1 with my father.... short journey - 1.2 miles and 3 turnings.

120 yards from my last turn off the pillock in the Micra who had been getting ever-closer decided to ignore the fact I was indicating left. He then decided to ignore the fact that I was gently slowing... and then decided to use the front of his Micra to check the paint depth on my vRS rear bumper.

Aaaaargh!

All 3 of his passengers called him a pillock (or worse), and I doubt that his mum had the greatest of mothers days as it was her micra.

Two cars on a large, broad road. Nothing else.... plenty of room for him to pull out and go past as I executed the manouvre if he didn't feel like slowing down. Simply, a 5hy7e driver.

I've noticed on my daily 13 mile commute around London's suburbs that EVERY day someone tailgates me, and every day I will end up following three different vehicles with less than the full set of working brakelights..... what the hell is happening to driving standards in this country?

Anyway.... Darth Skoda is in at CDG in Crawley, reckoning on a week away. As the microbe was with the same insurer I have an Insignia SRi to tool around in, but it's a big old pudding of a thing with throttle response akin to a paddle-steamer. Oh well.

Edited 19 March, 2012 by naimiac

[vRS19TD]

Bloody hell, sorry to read that. :(

Since moving to Surrey just over 2 years ago, i have noticed a lot more in the way of tailgaters and people that won't let you pull out of junctions compared to the West Mids, though that's not to say the West Mids doesn't have its fair share of idiots!!!

Hope you get it sorted.

[Rsrob]

Sorry about the car :'( hope you get it sorted :yes:

[naimiac]

Not too bad really, needs a new bumper, a bit of panel-beating to the lower edge of the bootlid, and to the back panel just below the boot lock, two new rear light clusters and some paint.

My 25kg of ballast bolted to the rear crash structure did a serious number to the Micra. It was a glancing blow at about 60 degrees as i was almost all the way into my turnoff when the guy hit me.

So impressed with the build quality of the vRS. Utterly shocked at the Microbe, and very glad the insurance sorted me a hire car rather than the standard issue Microbe courtesy car. That would have added insult to injury.

[naimiac]

SO....

Having had "words" with LV (who insure both me & the other party in the microbe) they agreed to have my repair work done at CDG in Crawley... from whom I bought the vRS... and who did the work on my Octavia vRS estate a year back when I was arse-ended in that by some herbert driving his mum's Pug whilst apparently sleeping.

How is my luck????

Anyway - LV relented and let me go via CDG. They appointed Enterprise to supply a hire car. When I pointed out that I wouldn't accept a gutless and smaller hatch they opted to provide a Vauxhall Insignia SRi.... wow.

Erm, sorry... not wow at all.

It's all very big & swoopy... but they seem to have replaced the accelerator with a pedal which serves only to make the engine sound louder. Although there is a speedometer" on the dash, I suspect it's actually a noise meter which has been incorrectly calibrated in MPH instead of db

Any effort to make progress involves pressing this pedal down, listening to a horrible loud wailing noise from where the miniscule engine lies, many many feet away under the vast bonnet. However, any sensation of forward motion fails to make itself present!

I guess it just goes to show how spoilt I've been driving Skodas for the last 5 years

Oh well.... vRS is due back on Wednesday next week, and with a recode to the XDS too so I can enjoy cornering again.

To anyone with a claim in after an RTA - argue the toss with our insurers and get a Skoda dealer bodyshop on the case... peace of mind is important.

Edited 23 March, 2012 by naimiac

[RockyVRS]

Glad to hear your finally getting it all sorted

[sharkrider]

PMSL at your description of the insignia

[Octygone]

SO....

Having had "words" with LV (who insure both me & the other party in the microbe) they agreed to have my repair work done at CDG in Crawley... from whom I bought the vRS... and who did the work on my Octavia vRS estate a year back when I was arse-ended in that by some herbert driving his mum's Pug whilst apparently sleeping.

How is my luck????

Anyway - LV relented and let me go via CDG. They appointed Enterprise to supply a hire car. When I pointed out that I wouldn't accept a gutless and smaller hatch they opted to provide a Vauxhall Insignia SRi.... wow.

Erm, sorry... not wow at all.

It's all very big & swoopy... but they seem to have replaced the accelerator with a pedal which serves only to make the engine sound louder. Although there is a speedometer" on the dash, I suspect it's actually a noise meter which has been incorrectly calibrated in MPH instead of db

Any effort to make progress involves pressing this pedal down, listening to a horrible loud wailing noise from where the miniscule engine lies, many many feet away under the vast bonnet. However, any sensation of forward motion fails to make itself present!

I guess it just goes to show how spoilt I've been driving Skodas for the last 5 years

Oh well.... vRS is due back on Wednesday next week, and with a recode to the XDS too so I can enjoy cornering again.

To anyone with a claim in after an RTA - argue the toss with our insurers and get a Skoda dealer bodyshop on the case... peace of mind is important.

Weird but I had a hire car after an accident ....a vectra sri ....and it was exactly the same as you just described the insignificant...(sorry insignia) you have....must still have the same engine

[naimiac]

Well, still waiting

All the metalwork has been done.... But the rear bumper has yet to arrive at the dealership. The same bumper that was actually ordered a fortnight ago.

I was expecting it to arrive at CDG today, so that the car would be ready on Wednesday, but alas...... Skoda parts have decreed that the bumper may, if I'm lucky, arrive at CDG on Wednesday. Based on that I doubt I'll have the vRS back for at least another week.

Harumph!

[vRSy]

Any effort to make progress involves pressing this pedal down, listening to a horrible loud wailing noise from where the miniscule engine lies, many many feet away under the vast bonnet. However, any sensation of forward motion fails to make itself present!

genius lol

[Tech1e]

To retain the paint warranty any repair work has to be carried out by an authorised body shop, so your right to insist that a dealer does it.

[naimiac]

STILL no sign of the bumper arriving at CDG from Cardiff. I can only presume they are sending it by lame Shetland Pony?

It's not good enough at all really - but for a bumper, of which there is stock in the UK available, I would have had my car back 8 days ago... it now looks like I'll be lucky to see it by the end of next week.

What do folks reckon.... I've already got Skoda customer services involved... should I be going after some sort of compensatory gesture here? Free service, Eibachs, or maybe a retrofit of Bluetooth or Cruise Control?

[Guest George512]

What do folks reckon.... I've already got Skoda customer services involved... should I be going after some sort of compensatory gesture here? Free service, Eibachs, or maybe a retrofit of Bluetooth or Cruise Control?

I'm not sure what to say with regards to getting free stuff, all I would say is that you've mentioned your insurers are giving you a "hire car" (the crappy Insignia - great description by the way). The only thing is that I suspect they will be attempting to charge the 3rd party insurers a tonne for hire in order to try and make some extra cash. Obviously this means they could be more likely to try and throw the claim out, also the law states you have to "mitigate your losses" apparently.

I did notice that you mentioned Enterprise were providing the car - hopefully it will be OK in this case.

But I do feel your pain. The point of insurance is to provide minimal disruption and cost in these events, but all it does is cause inconvenience and unnecessary stress. It's wrong!

[naimiac]

Indeed. The insurance company aren't at fault here... they provided a car, agreed the work, and CDG are doing it.

The 3rd party is with the same insurer... so all the money comes from the same pot - it's just whose policy gets the bigger hit at renewal... and it isn't going to be mine (spent 8 years in Insurance and know the biz pretty well).

The folk at fault lie elsewhere in the Skoda network.

Firstly, parts supply of the bumper, after 7 working days wait, was still not giving expected delivery times.

Then, on scouring the network to find a bumper in-stock at another dealer, there was a positive result with a dealer in Wales.

That bumper was meant to go by courier Monday to arrive at CDG Tues.

When I spoke to (the very helpful) Ian at Skoda Customer Services on Tues AM he'd been advised that it was on its way, but may not arrive until Wednesday.

Wednesday came and went. No sign of the bumper at CDG. Ian looked into this, was told it was on the way, and if it arrived at CDG by 11am today, then I could be looking at collecting the vRS on Saturday morning.

11am CDG call me and tell me the bumper hasn't arrived.

11.15am my insurers call me and tell me the same thing.

12pm I speak to Ian at Skoda CS... he's been chasing this all morning.... apparently the dealer in Wales hasn't yet bothered SENDING the bumper yet, and because of Easter it now won't leave until after the weekend.

So, we're looking at NEXT Saturday.

It was at this point that some form of compensation for this inadequate service was discussed.

To be clear - I don't expect the insurance company to shell out for anything extra - it isn't their fault. I also don't really expect CDG to have to incur costs - they could have been a little more pro-active in chasing the part, but they haven't caused the problem.

This issue is with a lazy dealership who has failed to send the component, and with Skoda's infrastructure for failing to spot/highlight/act upon this deficiency.

So.... given that I've already paid for a service plan, when the offer was made to pay for my next service, I ventured my interest in perhaps a retrofit instead of something that I'd been planning on adding anyway, with CDG being reimbursed for their labour by Skoda UK,

They may not offer it, they may... but I really do have difficulty believing that it can take so long to access and supply a bumper - the one component you'd think they get asked for most in the event of accident damage?!?

Edited 5 April, 2012 by naimiac

[DaKKs_152]

Jesus, you just can't catch a break, can you? Getting rear ended twice and then this? We have bumpers for the most common cars lined up all along the wall at the shop. The absolute longest you should've had to wait was 72 hours. At least that's Din Bil (Audi-VW-Skoda-Seat Sweden) told me when I needed some parts for a Felly. I got a service package (air/oil filter etc) for free becuse i had to wait a week.

Although, my mate met his wife that way. Read ended her at a red light. Been married for a year with two kids now. Sometimes things just work out.

[vRS19TD]

Although, my mate met his wife that way. Read ended her at a red light. Been married for a year with two kids now. Sometimes things just work out.

There's a joke in their somewhere!!!

[DaKKs_152]

Yeah, I know. But they're both family. Not by blood, but by choice.

Edited 5 April, 2012 by DaKKs_152

[naimiac]

So...

Latest news....

The courier went to collect the bumper last Wednesday in Cardiff, and was told "sorry, we don't know anything about it, you can't have it"

Same happened following day :wall:

Cardiff, however, have now told Ian at Skoda that they will send it out. Should arrive by Thurs, so car should theoretically be ready on Sat.

Phew.

[RockyVRS]

[naimiac]

...and..... Eibachs FOC to compensate for all of the eff-ups!

[vRS19TD]

So does it sound like CDG hadn't actually requested the part from Cardiff if they knew nothing about it??

[newbie69]

I didn't quite understand who's paying for the Eibachs, since as you say it was not the insurance's nor the CDG's fault but instead it was the 3rd party dealership that was asked to provide the bumper. Not that it matters anyway.

Seems like that hit will greatly improve the car's cornering (Eibachs + XDS) after all...

[naimiac]

Skoda Uk are paying for the springs due to their stock control fiasco leading to the long delays. CDG are doing a cheap price for the labour on fitting them, as they aren't entirely innocent (failure to chase deliveries that didn't arrive).

Skoda UK & I are splitting the labour charge that CDG will levy, although Skoda UK are inviting the dealer that failed to release the goods on two separate occasions to consider their position in the matter, and possibly contribute.

[naimiac]

Aaargh

It really is Friday 13th....

Just had the call.... "we've just realised that the back bumper we received has the pre-cut holes for parking sensors in it"

Edit.....

Ok - they'd already painted the bumper.... so as it'd cost them another spraying, and the cost of the bumper they've got to the point of fitting, the reckong was it's easier for the dealership to fit sensors to it for free....

Kind of in 2 minds - I don't think I need sensors, and reckon they're ugly - but if they're free and it means I can finally get the car back, what the hell?!?!?

Edited 13 April, 2012 by naimiac

[32KOFDATA]

You will love the practicality of the sensors... trust me.