The sat nav within the Columbus unit used to work fine without the sat nav disc in.... Now it only works with it in, the rest of the time it says 'insert sat nav disc'.

My Skoda dealer are looking at it today under warranty. Just so I'm right, surely no one else's sat nav ONLY works with the disc in?? This is what the Skoda branch is telling me. They are suggesting the previous keeper somehow loaded up full maps of Western Europe without the need for a disc.....

Some clarity and guidance please.

Many thanks

Mine requires a disc to update only but for normal running there is no disc inserted.

The system has a fault. All Columbus work with full Western Europe (or Eastern Europe) maps loaded all on the hard drive so they're making that up.

Update..

I've just left the Skoda dealership. They tell me the sat nav is faulty and will only work with the sat nav disc in. The unit requires replacement and it is not covered under my 12 month warranty I obtained when buying from a Skoda dealer. A personal cost to me is £2.000.

How they can say this i do not know as the unit is integral to the car and has not been mistreated etc. Surely the Skoda warranty should cover this.

According to Warranty page 2 states sat nav is not covered.

Advice please??

You could take it up with Skoda UK if you like, but if it states in your warranty that the unit isn't covered then it's not covered.

IT would have to specifically mention it though. So check the policy yourself.

Edited 2 March, 201610 yr by Danny 57

Just to double-check, when did you buy the car (month and year) and was it from a main dealer? 

 

I'm far from being an expert on this, and will tread carefully, but it might be worth you discussing this with your local Citizen Advice Bureau.  The Sales of Goods Act, and the Consumer Rights Act that replaced it in October, set out that - that generally speaking - all goods sold must be of satisfactory quality and durability.

 

In this, you are granted some statutory rights as a consumer when you bought your car (be that a new car or a used car).  Have a read of this, as one example of a plain English description:

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/problem/the-second-hand--car-i-bought-has-a-problem-what-are-my-rights

 

Your statutory rights are a completely separate entity to any warranty the dealer gave you when purchasing the car. Should it be the case that your faulty Columbus falls under a statutory rights claim (I don't know so speak to the CAB), then it doesn't matter that the dealer warranty excludes the sat nav - because you would be covered by your statutory rights.  The only way a dealer can waive a statutory right is if they had told you the sat nav was faulty prior to you buying the car.

 

I think it's worth investigating this further by asking the CAB for its opinion. 

Skoda's extended warranty (end of first 3 years) specifically omits the Columbus amongst other things so I suspect you will find the same omission on the used warranty.

Your next actions will depend on how long since you bought the car even if it is under a used car warranty as, as been noted above for the Comumers goods act to be effective.

Therefore how old is the car and how long have you owned it.

I find it unlikely that there is an actual fault with the unit if it's working fine.

 

My guess is the navigation disc is a little dirty or scratched and it's trying to copy the maps but not able to and so needs the disc in all the time to work.

 

I bet that if it were to be updated/reformatted with a firmware disc and the navigation disc put back in it would then work and start copying.

 

But as above... yes it's not covered under warranty but it is not unreasonable to expect a sat nav that was fitted to the car when you bought it and advertised as working etc to last at least 12 months!

Update... No 2....

The sat nav isn't covered under warranty. I have then spoken to the selling Skoda dealership, my local Skoda dealership and Skoda UK.

The final offerings being that the unit can be sent off for repair with my local dealership paying 25%, Skoda UK 25% and me the rest. They have confirmed the total bill I am liable for is a max of £150.00. Speak as you find, taking into consideration the warranty issue and the less than 12 month ownership, I feel this is fair and happy with the agreement to date.

Update to follow when unit has been repaired and refitted.

Scoop

I would suggest that you get this amount in writing mate. Also, take a note of the serial number of your unit (listed on the top of the unit) and the date and hardware/software versions. It's possible they'll just find a working unit and fit that for you, and that may be better or worse than the one you currently have. Like if your current unit is a 2012 one for example, and your repaired unit comes back as a 2008 unit, then all they've done is bought the cheapest one on Ebay and stuck it in for you.

Good advice thank you. Keep you posted.

I would suggest that you get this amount in writing mate. Also, take a note of the serial number of your unit (listed on the top of the unit) and the date and hardware/software versions. It's possible they'll just find a working unit and fit that for you, and that may be better or worse than the one you currently have. Like if your current unit is a 2012 one for example, and your repaired unit comes back as a 2008 unit, then all they've done is bought the cheapest one on Ebay and stuck it in for you.

Damo had this exact issue on his Superb. He asked me to update the unit only for me to find that after checking the serial number his 12-plate Superb had at some point had a Columbus unit built in 2008 fitted. After speaking to Skoda UK he did manage to get a new unit fitted in the car.

Edited 11 March, 201610 yr by WaveyDavey

Update no3....

My unit has been fixed and refitted. All is working fine. It's nice to have the void in my dash fitted with a working unit - the one sent off from my car.

Trust Skoda at Redditch have been good as gold as have Skoda UK. I thank them both for sorting this issue reasonably and fairly. After 50% of the repair paid by Skoda my bill was £126.00.

Thanks all above for the advice, very helpful.