I've had my car nearly a year now and already the front is absolutely obliterated, so are the sills just before the rear arch, as is the front of the rear bumper, a pillars, bonnet and indeed the windscreen.

My previous cars have all had the same motorway punishment and never looked anywhere remotely as bad as the skoda and they all covered 3x the amount of miles before being sold. The skoda just seems to have 'soft' paint. I don't really know what to do to protect the parts from getting any worse than they already are!

It's not like I can take it in and moan, so are there any real world, reasonable measures to be taken, apart from avoiding motorways and slowing down.

There is the clear film which skoda put on the leading edge of the rear wheel arches on octavias.

I was told its the same/similar stuff as used for wrapping, only clear. Perhaps a bit of an investigation in that direction may unearth something?

At least you can take it off for resale.

My current skoda seems far more chip resistant than the last one.

I've had two Octavias (different colours) and both seem to attract stone chips like you wouldn't believe!

 

Comparing another Silver Octy in work which is just 6 months newer it has hardly any chips at all! I will have to find out the mileage but it cant be far off mine being that age.

 

The paint does seem soft.  Either that or its a stop chip magnet since they love to hit the windscreen too! 

Perhaps you are in the habit of following other vehicles too closely?

The bonnet of mine is also peppered with stone chips. I baught a stone chip repair kit which has a little paint brush and a clear coat stick, but the colour doesnt seem to match anywhere near to the original paint despite it being a genuine kit.

I don't think I follow people closely, however I do get people cutting me up regularly.

I think the best plan is to buy a proper chip kit

yep, mines the same.  previous vrs was the same, gti before that was the same too.   modern paint is more prone to chips i think  - prob something to do with being water based for enviromental reasons..?

 

you can either stress about it and fiddle about with touch up sticks / protective film / amend your driving style / bubble wrap the vehicle / take the bus instead, OR just accept this is going to happen, relax and enjoy the car

My vrs is 1.5 years old now but I have only done 8k miles and very little motorway driving so apart from a couple of little stone chips on the front bonnet and some small ones on the front bumper which is to be expected, my car is in great condition but I dare say if I racked up some motor way mileage things would be totally different.