anyone recommend a particular smart repair company?

I assume you've reported it to the police - not that I expect them to send a CSI unit round, or even do much to catch the little scrote(s), but if they don't know it's happening, they certainly won't do anything about it.

OK time to name and shame. Surrey police....

A group of youths (C word may offend) smashed the windows of 10-20 cars in a road near where I live. When reported to the police the answer was ' we have only one officer covering the area and we cannot send him out there as it might put him in danger' FFS..

Pretty annoying with a new car! Mind you not many Octavia's actually have any model badge on them at all apart from the vRS, mine is completely blank at the rear apart from Skoda and Octavia badges, don't know why they do this, badges used to be very important on cars.

Pity they don't actually punish the little brats that vandalise or steal bits from cars. I've had numerous wheel trims nicked in the past from various Ford's, stereo stolen once, whole car on two occasions. Thank God for modern security which makes it a lot more challenging to steal cars, you really don't want a stolen car back, it's never the same after that.

OK time to name and shame. Surrey police....

A group of youths (C word may offend) smashed the windows of 10-20 cars in a road near where I live. When reported to the police the answer was ' we have only one officer covering the area and we cannot send him out there as it might put him in danger' FFS..

I think that's grounds for a letter to the Chief Constable and the Police and Crime Commissioner (for all the good it may do). Alternately, you could try the tactic used in the old joke:

 

"I was just going to bed when I realised I had left the garage light on so I went down to turn it off when I saw four figures stealing from my garage so I phoned the police. They said they had no one to attend and that I should lock myself in my house. I counted to 60 and phoned again saying that there was no need to send anyone as I had shot all four burglars. Within 5 minutes six police cars arrived, two firearms units, a command unit, two ambulances and three fire engines. The four burglars were arrested. The officer in charge said "I thought you said you had shot them" I replied "I thought you said you had no one to attend""

I shall be 140 quid lighter after Thursday as I am having the damage fixed, in preparation I am going to de-badge the car, anyone got any suggestions for an easy way to do this?

Edited 4 November, 201411 yr by Crogers

Dental floss, petrol and a glue remover (AutoBrite stuff)

Petrol?

It's helped me before now ease the badge off at first.

Use a hair dryer to warm things up and soften the glue a bit, then use dental floss between the car and the badge to work it off without damaging the paintwork. Then you can use tar remover or alcohol/petrol together rid of the glue remnants.

Checkout AliExpress.com (or eBay) for a replacement.

Its a Chinese wholesale website which do lots of detailling & modding stuff.

If it I remember correctly Paul O'Brien bought some vRS badges from there & he had started a thread about them. 

I've used them for some other things. Prices are very very cheap & delivery takes about 10-15 working days.

 

Will probably be much cheaper than buying from Skoda

and before you know it, your car is slowly turning into a CCK. Cheap chinese knockoff.

I'm gonna start a 'dont buy from ali bl**dy baba' thread.

1:- Spray tar and glue remover on the badge.

2:- Leave to work for 10 minutes.

3:- Use a hot air gun or Hairdryer. At a safe distance from the paint.

4:- Use dental floss or a store card to pry the badge off.

5:- Once badge is off allow paint to cool.

6:- Spray again with tar and glue remover. And wipe clean.

7:- Polish and wax entire area when finished.