Never happened with my previous cars but I've started to notice a trend since taking delivery of my Yeti last year... I keep getting approached by strangers in car parks (ooerr) who want to know my opinion of the car. I'm still very pleased with the car and have been giving positive reviews of the car (but not my local dealer).

Is this a common thing for others?

Seems quite common.

There has been a trend around where I live of extremely attractive East-European girls asking for lifts home, in return for sexual favours. Expectations are usually met (woo-hoo) but with the unfortunate side-effect of a missing wallet.

I would strongly advise all owners to remain vigilant at all times, I was taken in last Saturday, again on Tuesday, twice on Wednesday, & again this morning

I do not suffer from this phenomenom. Maybe I should ditch the Blackline and get a Yeti, maybe I should stop parking 100m away from the nearest car, maybe I should get out more.....

I've been asked more than a few times about my Fabia vRS and the Skoda brand in general. As you say, generally accosted in a supermarket car park!

Same sort of questions including what I think of Skoda, the car, customer service etc. Usually, questioning tends to be from the *ahem* 'older' generation, whose preconceptions about Skoda seem hard to overturn.

If I had £1 for every time I recommended both my local dealer and the Skoda brand in general I'd be a rich man indeed.

Never happened with my previous cars but I've started to notice a trend since taking delivery of my Yeti last year... I keep getting approached by strangers in car parks (ooerr) who want to know my opinion of the car. I'm still very pleased with the car and have been giving positive reviews of the car (but not my local dealer).

Is this a common thing for others?

Hi fox.

Glad you're loving your new Skoda.

I'm just curious why you're not not recommending your local dealer.

We've had this about half a dozen times in the last year.

Used to get asked a lot when I first had the yeti ...but in the last year nothing, I think most people know how good it is by now

Yup, many times in car parks I've been asked about the Yeti by people thinking of buying, several have asked if they could have a look inside. Last March I was asked about Betty by the owner of a ski chalet company in France and he had a sit in her. This year, when I went back to another chalet owned by the same company (Ski Bonjour), there was a Yeti bedecked with the company's name and logo ... "I was so impressed by yours I went and bought one, I love it."

Skoda Al Coda, where exactly do you live? Where are these car parks of which you write so eloquently? I feel that Betty needs a bit of a run to blow the cobwebs away and, well, the West Midlands are so scenic and I've long been wanting to visit the area again.

...

I would strongly advise all owners to remain vigilant at all times, I was taken in last Saturday, again on Tuesday, twice on Wednesday, & again this morning

And you're driving a Roomster? One suspects all parties involved are wearing too dark sunglasses in these encounters!

I was held up in driving snow at our local tip (sorry 'recycling centre') last week by the security guard (sorry 'service attendant'), who wanted to know all about the Yeti. I was offered no favours, but neither did I lose my wallet.

"I'm still very pleased with the car and have been giving positive reviews of the car (but not my local dealer)."

At least three of a statistically small group seem to share this view. How come the reputation for excellent customer service? Yes, there must be a few!

I think customer service judgements rely on so many different things, not least whether someone wanting a new car gets what is, in his/her view, a good deal or not. I have expressed (at length!) my views about MSB (Darlington) in the dealers section on this site. My main beef with them, as with so many businesses, was around lack of communication. To be fair, they have improved: I'm not claiming the credit, but my first post did provoke a quick and constructive phone call from the owner, so I would say the customer should always be honest in expressing their views so that s/he can expect honesty in return. MSB listened to me, have improved, and the Yeti L&K I now have on order with them will be the fourth new vehicle I have had from there (including my wife's cars) in the past 5 years, which I think says it all.

Similar experience with my dealer - very good but poor communication with the salesman after the order is booked.

However, having got the name of the admin lady, I now talk to her, and she always follows up with information.

Service guys have been excellent.

I'm not sure just how many cars I have bought over the years but overall I rate the Skoda dealership to be one, if not, the best we have used.

Some time ago I ran a series of Smart Cars as a second vehicle. They prompted lots of car park interest. One day a couple approached and asked if it was electric. I said 'no....its gas powered'. They both looked at me ..... and I promptly opened the boot to show them the Calor Gas cylinder I'd just collected for my patio heater.

Some opportunities are too good to miss!!

Same here. The security guards where I work wouldn't let me in until they had a full inspection of the Yeti ! (and the works car park has Audis, BMWs, Porsches, Ranger Rovers......)

(and much more interest from neighbours and friends than my previous cars (owned or borrowed), Lexus, VW Tiguan, Jag XKR etc)

Questioned at length in Bakewell car park last week (by an inquisitive prospective buyer, not by the Bobbies) I have noticed that I am asked about the Yeti more often when there is snow on the ground!

Similar experience with my dealer - very good but poor communication with the salesman after the order is booked.

However, having got the name of the admin lady, I now talk to her, and she always follows up with information.

Service guys have been excellent.

I'm not sure just how many cars I have bought over the years but overall I rate the Skoda dealership to be one, if not, the best we have used.

Your experience with Salesman / Admin Lady is fairly typical across all walks of selling, not just cars, but glad to know your overall dealership rating is good.

The guys both sales and service at Progress Skoda in Letchworth, (which I use) are a very amiable bunch.

Well its been go enough for me to recommend two others who have bought cars, one a Yeti 1.2

I've been asked this question many times and have answered positively about the car and negatively about the nearest Main Dealer. I have purchased my last two cars out of area because of the attitude of the local dealer, but had them serviced at a local Authorised Skoda Service Agent. A Plus for Allams Skoda and Rivervale Skoda respectively.

Fred

Get this a lot, supermarket car parks, caravan sites, even on my own drive!

Never had this interest with Yeti but I bought one of the very early Octavias and when I came out of the green Welly Shop at Tyndrum having had lunch, there was a crowd of people waiting to view and ask questions. Delayed our departure considerably.

Hi fox.

Glad you're loving your new Skoda.

I'm just curious why you're not not recommending your local dealer.

Before the Yeti, I bought a new Fabia and a service plan at the local dealer and used them quite happily for my services etc. without serious incident. The plan was to keep the car for 5 years and then change. Coming up on the 5th anniversary and I had booked the car for it's first "paid" service but for a few months prior to this, I'd expressed an interest in getting either a new Yeti or Octavia. Not only were the service dept overpriced (not subscribed to the national pricing apparently) but they also tried to sell me a bunch of extras including a brake fluid change (not due on this service) and wash and vacuum (I thought that was included anyway).

Meanwhile, I was trying to sort out pricing for one of the new cars. Long story short, they weren't willing to budge on price at all. Their best offer was a demo Elegance with a bunch of toys (would have been a nice car) which the sales rep had clearly been using as his commute car. This one was offered at full list price for a new car. No discount, extras or service plan on offer, that's our price and take it or leave it. 2 hours of searching on the internet followed by a couple of days exchanging calls and emails with Lookers in Stockport and I had arranged to buy my Yeti at a cost to change of around £1000 less than the local garage, after they fluffed the original delivery date (still within 2 weeks of my first call) they even threw in a full tank of petrol.

I'll probably still need to use them for service but I don't feel like they showed any sort of loyalty to me as a customer. Still, it'll be another few years before I look to change again so maybe they'll have improved by then.

Happened to me a few times when I first got mine, but these days practically every car you see round here is a Yeti (OK, slight exaggeration - but there are four others within a quarter of a mile of my house) so I assume everyone whose interested has got the message by now.

The Yeti does seem to be the most popular small SUV in these parts, after the Cashcow (with the Joke inexplicably high in the rankings as well). I saw a rare Kuga the other day and was reminded why I didn't buy one: I've found more attractive-looking things in my hankie after a good blow...

Edited 20 February, 201313 yr by ejstubbs

agreed, yetis are common as muck these days. I was accosted yesterday by the guys who were fitting new windows to the house. They were very interested in the yeti but aside from that I've never been asked. I do occasionally get people saying "Skodas are quite good nowadays" and I point out that they've been very good ever since I bought an estelle in the late 1980s :sun: