I know that people have differing opinions of dealers, and I wish they were cheaper, but I also beleive that if you are good to them, they will be good to you.

I took my 2 1/2 year old L&K DSG for an 80,000 mile (yes, correct mileage) to Palmers of Watford on Wednesday. Arrived at 8am, car went in straight away (as I was sitting and waiting). I advised them that I was loosing coolant and could they look into it. At 10.30, the service manager came over to me to let me know that the loss of coolant was the water pump was leaking.

The car is not under warranty anymore, but they are aware that I have a 3rd party warranty.

Whilst I had been sitting there for 2 hours, three people had come in and asked for courtesy cars whcih they did not have of.

When they advised me that they would have to keep the car, before I could say anything they said we can get you in a car all be it a Citygo.

That was the first 5 stars I would give them.

Then, my 3rd party warranty covers me for £60 an hour, palmers are over £100.00 but as I had just paid for a service, they agreed to meet the £60 per hour.

They said that as the car was having a new water pump, it would make sense to change the timing belt (as it would need to be done in 20k anyway) and they did this without any extra labour charge. they also discounted this for me.

I picked the car up today, the bill was big, however it was far less than it should have been.

I think Palmers Watford actually deserve a pat on the back.

~(credit where credits due)

Nice to hear a good luck story for once. Not all garages are "stealers" My father used to get some cases where he'd fix a car and the owner would return 2 weeks later complaining about something totally unrelated, expecting a free repair.

Good to see a positive thread and thanks for spending the time to let other local owners know about Palmers

Good result.

I appreciate your car is out of warranty by 20K but it is still less than three years old and I assume it has a full Skoda service history?

I hope Palmers therefore approached Skoda UK for at least a contribution to the cost?

Did your warranty company cover the water pump and labour and you just had to pay for the timing belt kit?

Seeing as to replace the water pump the timing belt has to come off and therefore has to be replaced anyway, I would have pushed for that under the warranty as well. If the water pump was leaking the chances are that coolant had contaminated the belt, so again it has to be replaced.

A good job on getting the labour rate down to something sensible though.

Good result.

I appreciate your car is out of warranty by 20K but it is still less than three years old and I assume it has a full Skoda service history?

I hope Palmers therefore approached Skoda UK for at least a contribution to the cost?

Did your warranty company cover the water pump and labour and you just had to pay for the timing belt kit?

Palmers were great. They offered to contact suk, but as they have down the work under my warranty, there is no reason for them to get involved (unless I want my excess back).

I have had to pay for the timing belt as my warranty company will not as it was not damaged. I would have to do it in six months or so anyway.

It was £180 I did not need to spend right now but actually in the long run it has saved me a lot as I won't have to pay for the labour.