I wont bore you with the detail so ill try and keep it as short as possible. My Red VRS is now getting on a bit 55plate 72k miles but very well looked after. I mean i change the oil in between services that sort of stuff. Had its first little prang recently reversing out of a parking space and someone ploughed into the rear slight scuffs to my bumber totalled every panel of his Nisan micra **** shouldn't have been doing 40mpg in a car park. Coughed up £600 for excess (wife sorted insurnance didn't realise until to late). Swinton Broker, premier undewriters sent it to a repair shop in shefield not my choice theirs. Well turned up no pickup truck so they drive the car to sheffield not happy take photo of millage and avg mpg. Comes back repair is crap and car has been thrashed they reset the trip only one reason for doing that. car is empty when it gets back even though they assure me they put £15 fuel in. Every light is on dash ABS, TYRES OIL LEVEL ETC. I inspect the rear of the car Spoiler completely scratched up and f**ked (not even involved in accident). rear right light cluster still cracked and steamed up from accident. I send back say not happy. Car collected and i give them warning that it best come back in good nick this time. Car comes back all lights turned off and paint work corrected not great but im passed careing at this point. Ive been driving it around for a few weeks and somethings not seamed right. I go to check the oil today and open the filler cap too find a creamy mess where nice black oil should be. It looks like someone has squirted a can of cream into the engine. Ill take a photo tomorrow but im guessing they have either thrashed it that much that its bust the head gasket and let water into the engine. or in an attempt to fix the low oil warning light they have put some liquid other than oil into the engine to make the light go away. Either way im guessing this is terminal. The car still drives but im unsure what to do? i can't afford anything expensive. Any ideas good samaritans who can suggest a cure?

A light white residue is natural on the inside of the oil filler cap, especially on petrol engines at this time of year.

Condensation collects here. Usually a good long run with the engine well up to temperature cures it.

With a £600 excess I'd have wanted to chose where the car was repaired, preferably an approved Skoda bodyshop.

A light white residue is natural on the inside of the oil filler cap, especially on petrol engines at this time of year.

Condensation collects here. Usually a good long run with the engine well up to temperature cures it.

With a £600 excess I'd have wanted to chose where the car was repaired, preferably an approved Skoda bodyshop.

Like i said missis sorted the insurance i was expecting £150 excess or similar. Ill take a pic tomorrow and get your opinion if ok, light white residue is a bit of a relative term. This looks like thick gunk theres even a streak on the dip stick! but might be ok. I change the oil and filter about 6 months ago using vw 502 00 or 504 00 Can't remember which but it was the right stuff. The coolant level hasn't dropped its been on Max ever since ive had it. had the water pump change when the cam belt was dun at about 60k so i think they would have flush and replaced level.

Sorry to hear of all the trouble you have had really stinks! What was the name of the repair place perhaps you can help save any other members giving them money and a shot in another nice well maintained VRS!

Nation wide Sheffield. If its a shot head gasket then cant really prove they did it apart from the young kid who picked it up the first time obviously caned it back to sheffield. Although if they have topped the oil up with some fluid that aint proper oil to get the light to turn off on the dash then i give up! Thing is the car drives ok so maybe i noticed in time and a quick oild change will fix it.

Regards the quality of their repair i don't think anyone has the same sort of standards as me and it would be very difficult to make me happy although the spoiler wasn't even involved in the collisions and was scratched to buggery so they obviously took it off to paint the tail gate and just chucked it on the floor.

Like i said missis sorted the insurance i was expecting £150 excess or similar. Ill take a pic tomorrow and get your opinion if ok, light white residue is a bit of a relative term. This looks like thick gunk theres even a streak on the dip stick! but might be ok. I change the oil and filter about 6 months ago using vw 502 00 or 504 00 Can't remember which but it was the right stuff. The coolant level hasn't dropped its been on Max ever since ive had it. had the water pump change when the cam belt was dun at about 60k so i think they would have flush and replaced level.

Hi Mate,

Sorry to hear you've had such **** service from your insurer. From your previous posts I seem to remember you use the petrol 'cause of the short communte to work, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's just as silver suggests. The fact you're coolant level has stayed the same is encouraging- I assume there's no oil in the coolant? if no oil then could be ok as you'd expect the coolant level to drop if the head gasket had gone.

It's a bit late in the day but might be worth contacting your insurer listing all your complaints and get a valuer out to see for themselves- if it's a reputable insurer they might do something about it for you.

All the best

Ade

Hi Mate,

Sorry to hear you've had such **** service from your insurer. From your previous posts I seem to remember you use the petrol 'cause of the short communte to work, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's just as silver suggests. The fact you're coolant level has stayed the same is encouraging- I assume there's no oil in the coolant? if no oil then could be ok as you'd expect the coolant level to drop if the head gasket had gone.

It's a bit late in the day but might be worth contacting your insurer listing all your complaints and get a valuer out to see for themselves- if it's a reputable insurer they might do something about it for you.

All the best

Ade

Well insurance arn't even going to challenge the liability for me even though the other driver had polio and severly disabled and couldnt walk properly he was a salesman at nissan main dealers and was showing customers the car. As he was coming down a ramp through the car park decided to run into the back of me as i was reversing out of my space. I was checking my mirrors and inching out or creeping out is probably the word. He failed to stop in my opinion it was a sunday the carpark was empty he had about 100 meter visibility why he plowed into the back of me i will never no but the fact that his disabled leg couln't press the brake pedal must have had something to do with it (He could hardly walk dragging his right leg). Not getting at people with disabilities but if he has a disabled badge and his car is modified to enable his disablility then should he realy be showing customers a brand new unmodified car?. Was he even insured under nissan umbrella insurance policy? i will never know as the loss adjusters i was dealing with have gone bust and recievers have been called in rendering all my suporting evidence and photo's useless. Apparently if your reversing then your automatically in the wrong. Normally i would agree with this but in a private car park where i was following correct procedure i couldn't have done anything differently, whereas he could have stopped or took avoiding action. GGGRRRRRR! its just getting worse. 6 years ive looked after the car incident free almost.

Scribbler, relax. The first time I saw this on my TFSI my 1st reaction was identical. I do short journeys of 10-20 miles with occasional long runs. As soon as the temperature drops I start cleaning my oil cap weekly. The recent cold snap left a small residue of mayo on the dipstick. As long as your levels are constant in the engine and header tank, it will be the same as Silver1011 said. Check it by cleaning the cap and taking it for a 50 mile run. The mayo will be back within a day or two if the temperature falls.

Yep looks like mayonaise thank god for that i was thinking the head gasket had gone or something serious. This is why its good to use the forum like minded people with similar experiences. I'm still a little consearned but not having the cardiac arrest that i was earlier. Thanks guys!

If you feel your insurance company are selling you short and not representing your case adequately, in addition to the poor efforts from the repairer, I would consider contacting the insurance ombudsman. I don't know the procedures involved but it sounds like you are getting an unfair deal.

Aww mate, I'm sorry to hear about your troubles... didn't you just replace your wing mirror too?! I hope the insurance company will sort you out with either a gesture of goodwill or something.

I hate it when companies just let any monkeys do the job, they charge the insurance company £££'s in repairs, and do a half arsed job, while making everything worse!

I've had repairs before where overspray was all over the car, they never even bothered covering the windows properly, left smudgy primer hand prints all over....it's f'in irritating these businesses do it all the time!!! And some poor sod would just accept it and either not notice or would be too soft to complain!

Hope you sort it out!

As you can see damage very minor due to my very slow speed reversing. He was doing considerably more speed and thus damaged every single panel on the car.

(Should have been able to stop) Nation wide accident repair of sheffield apparently valued the repair as nearly £1000. I Think they should visit specs savers, at the time i had no choice but to hand over the £600 excess (and beat the wife) but im guessing that would cost no more than £150 in paint and labour to repair?

So is it the damage on the drivers side rear bumper ? Tbh if it's just the bumper that they have replaced I guess it would come to around £1000 to fix. I would say that if you are dissatisfied with the work report it to the insurer not the bodyshop, that way you should have their backing.

They didn't even replace said bumper just filler and paint like i said £150 tops. zoom in its just a scratch and the reflector smashed.

Im sure the insurance company and 'their preferred repair centre' are in cahoots i.e. cash envelope at Christmas for ridiculous repair figures that defies logic

I've been there too

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/162292-car-back-from-coachworks-not-happy

I'll never ever let an ins company get their choice of repairer again. Feckin cowboys. Took me months to get the car sorted. The good bodyshop I eventually used said the paint was like "******* sandpaper" and although it wasn't the worst repair he'd ever seen it was just about.

I only had a large scratch down the driver doors but due to the ****ty insurance repairer eventually the whole side of the car had to be sprayed twice and both front alloys.

Those bodyshops put in silly low bids to get the work from the insurers then have to do every job on a shoestring in 10min. They don't do any other work simply because they're so bad.

Sent my friend this picture who works at a garage (all be it they do buses) and he said it looks like condensation to

him also. He advised to take if for a long drive to re mix it in with the oil then empty the sump and fill up with better

oil.

I'll never ever let an ins company get their choice of repairer again. Feckin cowboys. Took me months to get the car sorted.

Glad you got it sorted in the end.

Glad you got it sorted in the end.

Aye. Don't let the buggers off with anything and go round your car very carefully. I found lots of problems well away from the repair. The Insurance company should send out an independent assessor after the repairer has had one attempt to fix their work.

My insurer ended up getting landed with a bill for over £1500 to fix the work done by their shop. Their guy was not happy at all on the phone with me which cheered me up no end

Keep plenty of notes and photos.

Hi

I had a similar incident when someone hit me, knocked a couple of the parking sensors out etc and cost no more than £250 to respray and fill the bumper. I think the paint was the most expensive bit!

This was done at a national body work specialist and was about the cheapest I could find locally.

Cheers

Aye. Don't let the buggers off with anything and go round your car very carefully. I found lots of problems well away from the repair. The Insurance company should send out an independent assessor after the repairer has had one attempt to fix their work.

My insurer ended up getting landed with a bill for over £1500 to fix the work done by their shop. Their guy was not happy at all on the phone with me which cheered me up no end

Keep plenty of notes and photos.

Worrying OP from Aspman in his previous link I read end to end with ever increasing anxiety, and it wasn't even my car! I know it's a bit horse/bolted and gate but certainly this has made me think what I'd do in the future if something similar happened to me.

First off is I always choose a reputable insurance company which fortunatley Aspman seemed to have done. Hate to think what would have happened if they'd been as **** as their repairer. TBF to Esure they seem to have at least done their best and what we'll never know is what other issues esure had with that repairer.

This price comparison milarkey is great at saving you a few quid, but needs to be taken in context... personally I refer to the which reports to see what sort of service the insurance company gives when things go wrong, so i can avoid the ones who are less likely to help if things go belly up

Think the idea of taking a video and digi photos prior to them picking the car up, not only sowing the damage, but what is not damaged is a really good idea and getting the repairer to sign for what is/isn't damaged is a good idea too if possible.

Trying to prove they've damaged something without any supporting evidence after is very difficult - if you have photo evidence prior to them picking it up you're on a much stronger footing, without it you're stuffed really.

Guess that's our collective problem- we're just too picky about our cars.... anyway that's what SWMBO says so it must be correct.....

Quality of the repair aside, I think you are misjudging them to some extent. Reset of trip computer cos they thrashed it? Or because they disconnected the battery. Explains the xmas tree light dash too.

Mayonaise? Car has been stood unused in cold wet weather Except for the odd startup to shunt around the workshop. Bound to get condensation. Just needs a thrash to clear it out.

So you agree with the others that looking at the photo above i posted its just condensation and not head gasket?

So you agree with the others that looking at the photo above i posted its just condensation and not head gasket?

I'd say that's absolutely normal.

Wipe all you can off, then take the car for a drive until it's up to temperature.

Then go another 10 or so miles, then drive home.

If you never get the car up to temp, then the oil won't ever get hot enough to drive the condensation off and you end up with that emulsion.

If it's still there after a good long run, then I'd consider getting a HG failure test on the coolant.

Also if you're not losing coolant, then you're not going to have HG failure. (Well not in the emulsion causing way).

Edited 24 December, 201213 yr by cheezemonkhai

As far as I'm aware you can take the car where you want, they will need a quote and have to agree to it but that shouldn't be a problem. However, when it goes wrong your are on your own. I found this out to my cost when wanting our repair on our puma done at a ford garage, the assessor agreed with me but said because you chose a non approved bodyshop it's down to you to sort. Paintwork is one thing I don't skimp on, good bodyshops charge a bit more but it's right first time

You can also lose the guaranteed curtsey car if you go to your own repairer. However it wasn't a problem when I did it and I got a car without a problem (a horrible car but it ran - Neon 2.0).

What you might find as a problem is that a proper shop is going to charge double what the cowboys will and you might have a fight on your hands to get it done.

The guys I went to in the end were recommended through a work colleague but it turned out that was where the local BMW and Merc dealers were putting their cars. Might be worth asking around where the expensive dealers put their cars.