Hello

My Superb is now just over two years old. I bought it only three months ago and I now have a problem with the front and rear bumpers. The old story of peeling paint. Right, skoda have held up their hands and said that they would repaint under warranty. Fine so far. My Skoda dealer outsources their bodyshop work, and they had this funny idea that the bumper must have been off in the past. They first started by saying that it was taken off to fit rear parking sensors. I understoon that these are standard on the Elegance. Then they said that the bumper must have been removed to fit the towbar.

Well the boot well polystyrene moulding has a perfect outline of the towball plugin. So my question is, does any know whether these items are standard equipment on a 2010 Elegance CR 170 Estate?

Parking sensors are std, but tow bars are not, so the bumper would of needed to be removed if a tow bar has been fitted.

Seems to be an unfortunately common theme this - Skoda alleging that bumpers have been removed and trying to get out of repairing what's known to be a fault. Stand your ground, its for them to show that the bumper paint was damaged after build, not yours to show it wasn't.

Try another dealer if you can't any joy with your current one.

Mine is due back today from the bodyshop - paint coming off rear bumper.

If you get no joy from the dealer, then speak to John Good at Skoda UK HQ. I dealt with him when my towbar had not been fitted correctly at outset, and he sorted it all out with no fuss (at Skoda's expense).

Then they said that the bumper must have been removed to fit the towbar.

Well the boot well polystyrene moulding has a perfect outline of the towball plugin. So my question is, does any know whether these items are standard equipment on a 2010 Elegance CR 170 Estate?

The space in the polystyrene moulding (inside the spare wheel) is a perfect fit for a detachable swanneck. I've just had a Westfalia detachable fitted and the detachable neck goes nicely into the moulding under the jack.

Sounds like a load of bluff and bluster from Skoda to me. The rear bumper has to come off for a towbar to be fitted. Part of the rear bumper assembly is actually taken off to be replaced by a towbar...that's how Skoda designed the car. However, towbar fitting is covered by an EC directive that says that no car manaufacturer can object to a car being fitted with a type-approved towbar. The directive also makes it illegal to fit non type-approved towing equipment. Check for the make of towbar.

The result is that Skoda cannot complain about the bumper being removed to fit a towbar. Q.E.D.