No - I wasn't wrong - since I want my car to have a full service record in the manner I believe it should.

Hence my £299 Service Contract paid for what my book gives as two Inspection Services but which Skoda only reckon to be one main service and one oil change. As it happens the garage only claims the official cost of an oil change service from Skoda - and you'd be surprised how low that was (£69.31) - but doesn't believe that is appropriate for an annual inspection and thus goes beyond the strict requirement to check other relevant issues. It then checked the Inspection box on the service record - but I only found this out when I queried it with them.

I believe Skoda are wrong but they are alleging otherwise - however despite my request for written evidence which they promised to action they have either subsequently refused to give it or cannot find any.

Does anyone pay as little at a Skoda dealer as £69.31 for an oil change service? If so the £299 Service Contract potentially isn't worth buying in the first place (except you also get vouchers...)

I am surprised that no one else here has admitted to having a Service Contract or have experienced this problem.

DRJ, thanks for this post. I too have a similar Service Contract which was included in my VRS purchase from a dealer last xmas. Gonna try squeeze in an inspection service shortly as i'm approaching +20K since i bought it.

Anyone got any experience getting their door seals done under warranty?

If you bought it at Xmas last year then you'll have had an oil change service in mid-summer at 10k miles so will be having a normal Inspection service now and it shouldn't be an issue - it's only an issue when you try to justify two Inspection services with Skoda owing to only doing 10k pa.

My garage refused to accept that I should have a 12 month warranty as the Skoda website was saying they offered, merely a three month guarantee and the door seal issue became noticeable at four months so no chance with me to claim.

Don't know if this is the same but I got this:-

My Car, Octavia Vrs DSG Tsi, Registered Aug 2011

The car was serviced before I picked it up in July 2012

I took out a service plan as follows:-

2nd year service

3rd year service and 2 Protected Mot's. all for £149:99

What it states in the book at those service intervals , it gets.

T

That is correct, none of the MK1 Fabias can be run on QG1 (Variable) service regime as the car is missing a number of key sensors used to calculate when a service is due. However as mentioned it is perfectly fine to run the car with the same oil as used in a variable service, but it must be changed every 10K miles.

This was the subject of a debate several years ago on Briskoda, and eventually resolved when Skoda HQ in CZ confirmed that a MK1 Fabia cannot be run on variable.

Seem to remember that one of our resident Techs said likewise. But, some garages think otherwise. Place I go for an MOT was angling fof business and told me that it was possible to change to variable with VAGCOM.If they think that, it's one reason to go elsewhere IMHO.

Edited 4 November, 201213 yr by VWD

Very entertaining thread

My garage refused to accept that I should have a 12 month warranty as the Skoda website was saying they offered, merely a three month guarantee and the door seal issue became noticeable at four months so no chance with me to claim.

Well, if it develops a fault within 6 months, then unless the characteristic of the fault means that it would not have been present at the point of sale, it was faulty when sold.

Frustrating day today. Took my superb 11 for second service of the 2 year plan. Towards end of day receive phone call to say . Sir you do realise that you really need more done for your car than the 2 year service plan gives you as that only meant for small service and as you done a lot more miles need larger service . All very confusing over the phone . But just does not make sense as the plan doc I have talks about 20'000 mile service which is what the car has done. So in agreeing to do all that is recommended under the service the dealer says I need my free second service having already paid £299 cost £300 and that was after a £72 credit for the plan service. How ridiculous is this. I have no idea now what I should have had or not.

Just goes to show you should work it all out beforehand and agree with the garage and Skoda precisely what the situation is. On paper something which looks like a good deal clearly isn't.

Just goes to show you should work it all out beforehand and agree with the garage and Skoda precisely what the situation is. On paper something which looks like a good deal clearly isn't.

Ah, the golden rule: Never trust a dealer farther than you can throw him. Business is business & if anyone thinks it's not, they will pay dearly. Skoda (VAG) are just like all the other manufacturers:

1. New cars are sold on a slim profit margin.
   
2. Money needs to be made on after-sales to maintain the prices of the new cars.
   
3. Spares & servicing do not generate sufficient revenue.
   
4. Leasing and "service plans" make up the shortfall.
   

Credit to you, DRJ, for raising this issue as a consumer & flagging it for other potential victims of what is, essentialy, a legal scam. As for the nay-sayers in the thread, if you think it is "boring" or "@n@l" for someone to query something they have paid for which doesn't deliver what it promised, you're the ones maintaining the scam & taking the hit, while increasing the garage/dealer/manufacturer's profits. Hope you enjoy losing money!

Ooooookkkkk...

Ill carry on "losing money" servicing my own car using the correct oil at the correct intervals.. stamping the book with the VW main dealer stamp (where i have worked for the last 8 years)..

But servicing thousands of VAG cars (with the same 1.9 PD 130 engine as the VRS) hasnt given me a better idea of when interval/ lube/ inspection services are due than a couple of keyboard warriors who have clearly based far too much of there car knowledge on information posted on line by other keyboard warriors....

:D lol :D

Please explain - what don't you agree with?

On 5 February 2011 I wrote to Skoda thus:

Skoda Finance

Brunswick Court, Yeomans Drive, Blakelands, Milton Keynes, MK14 5LR

For the attention of Mr David Heathfield, Head of Customer Services

Dear Sir,

ŠKODA FABIA vRS SE #731 – 1HTU

I record receipt of an undated letter in respect of the £299 two year/ 20,000 mile servicing deal I took out when I bought my car second-hand from Winner of Cinderford. Firstly please note that the address on that letter is wrong! (You’ve omitted the house name)

Secondly I am actually writing to you because your letter sets out the wrong servicing schedule for my car. It is a Mark 1 Fabia and hence is required under the servicing schedule to have an oil change every 10,000 miles and an Annual Inspection Service. Hence your schedule is incorrect in stating:

1 x Oil change at 10,000 miles or 12 months

1 x Inspection Service at 20,000 miles or 24 months

Rather - since I expect to do less than 10,000 miles p.a. - it should state:

2 x Inspection Service at 12 months

I request written confirmation that you accept this change and that the agreement will cover 2 x Inspection Services (besides other scheduled items) – otherwise I shall have to reconsider whether it’s worth paying £299 since clearly I am not getting what I expected from the deal.

Yours faithfully

I didn't get a response...

I followed it up recently saying:

Skoda Finance

Brunswick Court, Yeomans Drive, Blakelands, Milton Keynes, MK14 5LR

For the attention of Mr David Heathfield, Head of Customer Services

Dear Sir,

ŠKODA FABIA vRS SE #731 – 1HTU

Please note I await a response to the attached letter – please send without further delay.

Yours faithfully

I have now eventually received a response:

Thank you for your letter dated 4th June regarding the fixed price serving plan.

With regards to the servicing regime, the plan is in line with the servicing regime recommended by Skoda. Your vehicle requires an oil service at 10,000 miles or 12 months and an inspection service at 20,000 miles or 24 months.

Your Skoda Fabia does not require an inspection service at 12 months and it is for that reason that the plan does not cover an inspection service at the end of the first year.

I trust this clarifies the si****ion, however should you wish to discuss this further, please contact us on 0870 010 2022.

Kind Regards

Chris O'Donnell

Customer Services Advisor

VWFS (UK) LTD

Clearly I will be taking this matter up with him and the garage who sold me the contract since I believe it was mis-sold.

Has anyone else tried to resolve this discrepancy between what the small-print of the service agreement says (which crucially I didn't see until the documentation from Skoda arrived in the post) and Skoda's official service schedules?

**** - the forum software clearly cannot properly differentiate between completely satisfactory words and swear words. Why can't it allow S I T U A T I O N !!!!!

It's also not indenting properly...

I didnt agree with this ^^^^

So replyed with this...

regardless of age the vrs along with ALL 1.9tdi pd engined VAG vehicles should have

an oil (lube service) every 12months or 10k

and an interval service every 24months or 20k whichever comes sooner.

the inspection services are ONLY due every 40k or 3years (whichever comes 1st)

this is the correct service regime for VAG TIME + DISTANCE servicing

U responded with this...

Sorry - but you're completely wrong there.

The Service Schedule is perfectly clear that the Mark 1 Fabia vRS should have an ANNUAL Inspection service.

And "gt-cri" reponded (along time afterwards) with this..

Ah, the golden rule: Never trust a dealer farther than you can throw him. Business is business & if anyone thinks it's not, they will pay dearly. Skoda (VAG) are just like all the other manufacturers:

1. New cars are sold on a slim profit margin.
   
2. Money needs to be made on after-sales to maintain the prices of the new cars.
   
3. Spares & servicing do not generate sufficient revenue.
   
4. Leasing and "service plans" make up the shortfall.
   

Credit to you, DRJ, for raising this issue as a consumer & flagging it for other potential victims of what is, essentialy, a legal scam. As for the nay-sayers in the thread, if you think it is "boring" or "@n@l" for someone to query something they have paid for which doesn't deliver what it promised, you're the ones maintaining the scam & taking the hit, while increasing the garage/dealer/manufacturer's profits. Hope you enjoy losing money!

Clear now?

Absolutely not.

Your June response is wrong - absolutely wrong. All Mark 1 Fabias should have an Annual Inspection Service - all the documentation I've seen confirms that fact.

Here is the incontrovertible proof of that assertion. I'd welcome seeing what evidence you have to the contrary since I've not been able to find any.

Here's the correct part of the service book:

The words "Annual Inspection" can only mean an Inspection Service once a year can't they?

If it was every two years it should say "Biennial Inspection".

Edited 8 December, 201213 yr by DRJ

Here is the incontrovertible proof of that assertion. I'd welcome seeing what evidence you have to the contrary since I've not been able to find any.

The words "Annual Inspection" can only mean an Inspection Service once a year can't they?

If it was every two years it should say "Biennial Inspection".

The intervals are decided by Skoda + are updated all the time..

These updates are forwarded to the Skoda Main Dealers not jo bloggs who bought a car from them in 2006..

The service book was correct at time of print.. Skoda is correct NOW..

Hense you pay THEM to service your car.

Another example being in 2003 when the vrs came out the printed intervals for cambelt replacement were 60k..

This was updated by Skoda (VW) and is now 80k (or 4 years) for any diesel after 2002..

If u didnt go to a main dealer + went by ur service book then you wouldn't know this..

Again why you pay THEM to service your car

Please provide evidence.

I discussed this with my dealer and they still say an Annual Inspection service is required.

I asked Skoda in writing and on the phone for evidence of a two-yearly Inspection service and they couldn't provide it.

No one on this forum has yet come up with any evidence of any change in the servicing regime.

Edited 8 December, 201213 yr by DRJ

Thats because this is a FORUM about Skoda... this is not an official Skoda service desk..

U need to be going to the Main Dealer

I work at VW so cannot provide u with the Skoda paperwork. There is plenty of ex skoda techs tho there who had a good chuckle at this thread.

We use ELSA which is constantly updated by VW so when u put the vehicle details in it tells u the filters/ opperations due as per miliage/ age + as per my above post.. it goes 10k lube (no inspection) 20k interval oil + pollen (small inspection) 30k lube (no inspection) 40k inspection oil + pollen + fuel (major inspection)... etc etc...

Only differs if it has done 3 years before the 40k inspection then its due its (major) inspection at 3 years

The difference between the interval + inspection services are minute tbh.. the main difference is the time units the tech gets to do the job which ups the labour price so u end up with a more expensive service.

99% of main dealers now do "visual health checks" on every job that comes through the door so even when they do a "lube" u will get the car inspected as part of the "visual health check".

And in answer to the service manager agreeing with you... that can be explained very easily. By complaining you have become a "problem customer" or "VIP"..

They will valet your car.. knock u money off etc etc.. in a nutshell to shut u up.

I have witnessed this on many occasion.. dont agree with it but it goes on at most main dealers because the aftersales managers have no balls lol

I had already gone to the "main dealer" as you put it.

Without evidence as to what is required, how is a potential purchaser to check whether a car does have a full service history if the evidence in the handbook is apparently out-of-date? Someone only having an Inspection service every two years is in danger of having a devalued car if evidence of the new servicing strategy can't be provided. I still fail to see why Skoda cannot provide this.

When I bought the car and took out the 2 year service schedule offer I made it quite clear to them - unfortunately only verbally - that I was doing that because if would pay for two Annual Inspection services - and the salesman agreed. However he'd left by the time the two years was up and was thus unable to corroborate, even if he could have remembered.

As it happens, taking out the £299 service schedule easily paid for itself since the first service would have been £285 and I unexpectedly had £100 in vouchers from Skoda after taking it out which largely covered the cost of the cambelt kit. And I eventually got a Second Inspection service...

Edited 8 December, 201213 yr by DRJ

Ooooookkkkk...

Ill carry on "losing money" servicing my own car using the correct oil at the correct intervals.. stamping the book with the VW main dealer stamp (where i have worked for the last 8 years)..

But servicing thousands of VAG cars (with the same 1.9 PD 130 engine as the VRS) hasnt given me a better idea of when interval/ lube/ inspection services are due than a couple of keyboard warriors who have clearly based far too much of there car knowledge on information posted on line by other keyboard warriors....

:D lol :D

Of course you can. Fair play to you & I bet it's good discounts you get on the parts too! You're dead right about the keyboard warriors as well- that's the trouble with online forums; the great un-washed can claim to have done all sorts of fantastic things & quote the gospel according to (insert whichever demi-god name). I know a few current & ex-main dealer "Service Technicians"(VAG); I wouldn't let any of them near my cars. It's too much like asking the guy who washes the dishes in the restaurant kitchen to create a recipe for you. Just shouldn't happen. ;-)

I've read all the posts, heard the arguments/ opinions for and against and come to my own conclusion; when the car tells me it needs booking in, I'll book it in. I'll let the garage decide what he needs and let them crack on with the job.

Now, anyone know what's the best oil for a 1.9TDi PD ATD :think:

I've read all the posts, heard the arguments/ opinions for and against and come to my own conclusion; when the car tells me it needs booking in, I'll book it in. I'll let the garage decide what he needs and let them crack on with the job.

Now, anyone know what's the best oil for a 1.9TDi PD ATD :think:

LOL- you've just told us you'll let the garage decide, so what do you need to know that for??