Hi All,

First post, and hopefully not my last, but we'll see...

I bought my 57' plate VRS (42k miles) from a dealer in March this year. I traded in my 08' Fiesta ST, as I wanted something with the same (or more) power, but better fuel economy. Don't get me wrong, I love getting 45-55 mpg on a commute, the amount of power to hand (or foot), the boot space is immense, and it feels like a pretty solid car..... but i'm starting to think thats where the love ends :(

In the 7 months I've had the car, the problems I've had are:

Bonnet release failed - known issue - £40

Oil in Coolant - Coolant flush - £50

Oil in Coolant - seal gone in coolant pump - £500

Fluctuating Engine/Coolant temp investigation £30

Raidator temp Sensor failure - caused by oil in coolant above - £130

Injector recall - Known issue - £free (but lost use of the car for 4 days whilst repaired).

Drove home from the gym last night, no issues at all... get in the car this morning and as soon as I fire it up, ESP light came on. Drove the car for a bit, checking brakes working etc, all seems fine, 'rebooted' the car, light still there...

Started to worry when looking on the forum that this could either be a sensor issue, or a pump issue, ranging from £200 to £1400. I still have warranty on the car until Feb, for some reason the dealer gave me a year, and know i'm starting to think he knew what was coming, and I will no doubt get this sorted one way or the other...

I guess the reason for my post is, will things get any better? Should I persevere with the VRS or just cut my losses and spend the afternoon trawling autotrader for something not Skoda?

I really do like the car, but it just gets me down that i've had the car 7 months and i've probably spent approx £100 a month on repairs and 16 days in the garage.

If there's a light at the end of the tunnel, it's probably the reverse lights of a tow truck coming to get me :(

Can I ask why it has cost you financially when you say that the car came with 12 months warranty?

For the minor issues, it's more hassle than it's worth going through the warranty, so I don't mind paying.

The Coolant issue, well I called the warranty company and they said take to any garage and get the garage to submit a claim to them. When they tried the warranty company said I should have completed a form prior to taking it in for repair, something that was not mentioned to me on my initial call to them (a mistake I will not be making again)!

So my own fault for being naive enough to take the warranty companys advice at face value, instead of reading through all of the fine print in their 50 page t&c's document!

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but the two very common and expensive problems have still to hit you.

Get ready to learn all about (and curse) DMFs and DPFs if you don't already.

Start reading up on the provisions of the Sales of Good Act - the dealer should be stumping up for those things (especially as if it happens in the first 6 months, they have to prove it wasn't like it when they sold it).

Cut your losses mate it only gets worse.

Cut your losses mate it only gets worse.

Rubbish.

The seal in the coolant pump is a first for me, you've been unlucky. The sensor as you've mentioned was as a direct result of the duff seal. It cost you but as you say it didn't have to.

Replacing the injectors was free. It can be done in a day so not sure why you were without the car for four days. It's also well over £1000's worth of work that's been done for no cost.

The ESP issue is common and affects Seat, VW, Audi and Skoda. Its well known and well documented and Skoda UK have paid to have this done for free on cars out of warranty with service history. At worst if you had to pay yourself it's a £300 fix.

That leaves the bonnet release which more than likely was down to a careless previous owner / mechanic.

So all in all it should have only cost you £40 or £5.71 per month.

Skoda appeared in the top three of this years JD Power Survey for a reason, they are bloody good, reliable cars.

Trust me the grass is rarely greener on the other side.

The grass is greener its just your blinded by branding fella.

That's the beauty of Skoda, the brand is of little value.

I've eaten some of the grass on the other side (Ford & BMW) and both mouthfuls left a nasty taste in my mouth.

Cream - read more on here and save some £££

I had the bonnet release problem - Skoda assitance sent out the RAC who opened the bonnet and installed 3 cable ties so it can't happen again.

The next time you have a problem search in here for the solution.

Theres always issues with a new car.

Thats what helps with the circle of life - You get a new used car and you spend time and money getting back in tip top condition.

Think of it this way, the more problems you find and fix the less you have to worry about for a long time. Your future proofing your car.

As said some of the issues you have had so far are just down to bad luck and even more bad luck that the warranty company wouldnt pay out based on a technicality. You paid a premium for the car for it to come with a warranty so use it as much as you can.

The main known issues are the ESP (now a fix kit that will cost approx £400 fitted), Aircon compressor/pump (Approx £500 for a new one fitted less for a recon unit) and on diesel vrs the dpf (if it happens just get it removed Approx £400) and the dmf (but I thought that wasnt so common on the vrs).

Sometimes its a hard decision to make but as you have fixed a few things so far and spent your own money on the repairs you are building up a large amount of knowledge adding to the cars history which should start to increase your confidence in the car. At least you know what isnt going to go wrong again

I agree that the grass is never greener. There are good cars and bad cars for every make and model but overall on balance Skoda have scored high on relaibility for a number of years for a reason. Theres no escape from paying your money and taking your chance. The next car could have fewer but more expensive problems or non at all. Thats the gamble that everyone buying used has to take.

I hope you get everything sorted and learn to love the car but if you have lost all confidence then theres only one answer for you and thats to move on.

Rubbish.

The seal in the coolant pump is a first for me, you've been unlucky. The sensor as you've mentioned was as a direct result of the duff seal. It cost you but as you say it didn't have to.

Replacing the injectors was free. It can be done in a day so not sure why you were without the car for four days. It's also well over £1000's worth of work that's been done for no cost.

The ESP issue is common and affects Seat, VW, Audi and Skoda. Its well known and well documented and Skoda UK have paid to have this done for free on cars out of warranty with service history. At worst if you had to pay yourself it's a £300 fix.

That leaves the bonnet release which more than likely was down to a careless previous owner / mechanic.

So all in all it should have only cost you £40 or £5.71 per month.

Skoda appeared in the top three of this years JD Power Survey for a reason, they are bloody good, reliable cars.

Trust me the grass is rarely greener on the other side.

Well said.

You also have to remember that its mainly negative comments that get discussed on forums hence why visiting a forum can make you think that particular car is unrelaible. JD power surveys and the like say a lot about overall nationwide car reliability and as said skoda fair well here but some skodas have more problems than others, you maybe have just been unlucky or previous owner didnt look after the car.

Edited 12 October, 201213 yr by Jockdooshbag

The Coolant issue, well I called the warranty company and they said take to any garage and get the garage to submit a claim to them. When they tried the warranty company said I should have completed a form prior to taking it in for repair, something that was not mentioned to me on my initial call to them (a mistake I will not be making again)!

So, you phoned them and they told you to take it to the garage, who would sort out the claim on your behalf, and then rejected your claim because you hadn't submitted a form they didn't say to submit? Is the "warranty" of the "insurance policy" variety*? If yes (to both), submit a formal written complaint to the warranty company, stating that they gave you incorrect instruction which led to a claim not being paid and causing you financial detriment - as a result, they have failed to treat you fairly. They will have 8 weeks to reply, If they fail to reply within the 8 weeks, or if they issue a final response rejecting your complaint (they may well reject it with a spurious reason - it seems fairly frequent), send a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) - this is a free service (well, the insurer always pays), but their findings are binding on the insurance company, and likely worth the cost of 2 stamps. I would note that this process involves the writing of 2 letters, and, due to the time allowances and the FOS being backed-up, will likely take 6 months.

FWIW, I helped a friend who had had most of a breakdown repair policy claim rejected. I did the complaint letter for them, which the insurer basically ignored, so the matter was forwarded to the FOS. After they examined it, the insurer was obliged to pay the remainder of the claim (i.e. the amount they failed to pay), plus the equivalent of "statutory interest" on the sum from the date of the claim to the date of payment at 8% per annum.

* Have a look in the policy document - if it says regulated by the Financial Services Authority/Ombudsman, then it's an insurance policy. Obviously, if it's not classed an insurance policy, the above doesn't apply.

EDIT: Just thinking about it, depending on how the warranty was purchased, you might not be classed as the customer (the dealer might be), which means you don't have the right to complain to the FOS. However, for £500, I would say it's worth trying.

Edited 12 October, 201213 yr by martinch

Guys, thanks for the comments... like I say, I do love the car, it is a pleasure to drive, I think i've just been lucky with previous cars/bikes that have never had issues other than wear/tear...

I normally take the car to Rainworth Skoda, don't get me wrong the customer service I have had from them is great. The only reason I have lost the car for a few days is because I book it in for a Friday, and if the job takes too long or theres a problem (like with the injector recall, one of the new ones in the set was damaged, and they couldn't get another til Monday), it means i've lost the car for 4 days. So probably my lesson for the future is to get it booked earlier in the week!

The other thing with Rainworth is that they won't contact my warranty company about any work that needs to be done under warranty, so I have to find someone else to do the work. A friend of a friend has recently opened his own garage near where I live, but if anyone has any garage recommendations near Newark, Mansfield or Nottingham, the advice would be appreciated.

Regarding the DPF, if that does go, and would end up costing approx £400, I would probably take it to Shark (as it's not far from where I work), as they do the bypass and a remap for £550, so it doesn't look a bad deal!

I do try and look at this forum whenever I've had an issue, as some of the times I wouldn't mind having a go at fixing myself, but i'm just a computer nerd, give me a pc/laptop, i'll strip it down, clean it up and put it back together no probs, cars i'm not so confident with! but hopefully with time, i'll get a bit braver!

OCTIMARK - Agree with you on the getting things fixed so you know what won't go wrong... My mate says that all the time, may be I should pay attention to him for once

I'll bear with the car for now, hopefully things will get better!

Have a great weekend all of you!