Hi all.

 

Thanks for adding me to your community! Im sure some of the topics im about to bring up have been discussed already and if this is the case please point me in the direction of where to look...

 

My partner and i have enjoyed our 2007 Octavia 1.9 Diesel DSG L&K for the past 6 years, but as with any 9 year old car, it was starting to show its age and there seemed to be a stream of niggly fixes that whilst were'nt breaking the bank, were inconvenient and annoying  - things like rear wiper motor not working, cruise control not working, window sticking etc etc...

 

 

Our local Skoda dealer was offering an event 'by invitation only' to have the chance to purchase a brand new car with certain discounts and extras thrown in at 0% finance - you know the deals! So we decided to jump in feet first last month and trade in our L&K for a brand new 2.0 TDI Octavia SE in Moon White on a 0% PCP agreement.

 

Anyway after spending a couple of hours with the saleman we decided that we were happy with one of the models on offer that had a price on the winscreen that had been reduced by £1,183 if purchased before the end of March.

We decided that although it wasnt up to the same L&K spec that we had become accostomed to, the tech on the SE was sufficient for our needs.

 

At this point im going to mention that we were shown the Bolero MIB2 stereo system that was standard in our model and told by the salesman that this featured  Smartlink technology that meant we could simply plug our iphone into the USB port and the screeen would be mirrored on the system - handy for sat-nav, as sat-nav wasnt installed on this vehicle! However, upon collecting the car we discovered that an activation key was required to use the Smartlink feature and that the dealer could do this for us for something like £140! Something they failed to mention when selling us the car! We were also told that the car had a CD player in the glovebox. We have since discoved that there is no CD player and what looks like a CD player is a clevely designed blanking panel.

 

 

We were given the order form, paid a small deposit to secure the order and agreed a part ex value for our old L&K. The order form showed a full breakdown of all costs, including delivery to the dealer, spare wheel etc. We were told to ignore all that as they had to include it only for their records and the bit we needed to concentrate on was the repayment details.

When we got home and went through the paperwork more thouroughly we discovered that a Lifeshine package at £399 and GAP insurance at £399 had been included in the deal. We also noted that the total discount given to us was only £644 - contrary to the windscreeen discount of £1,183.

 

I called and questioned the discount first of all: I was told that the discount shown on the windscreen only applied if we were to buy the car outright with no finance deal. This was never discussed and the discounted price advertised was part of the 0% finance deal as far as we could tell and the price was marked as the 'Golden Ticket Event Price' on the windscreen.

 

We had in the meantime managed to find a private buyer for our L&K which meant that our deposit could be increased by £500. We also advised that we did not want the Lifeshine and GAP packages and asked these to be removed and the vehicle cost and the monthly payments recalculated to reflect this. At that point we were offered a reduction of £50 each for the GAP and Lifeshine packages which we declined. So with the removal of the GAP and lifeshine at £399 each, and our additional deposit of £500, we were told that this would be a total further saving of £1,298. Spread over the 41 monthly repayments this would reduce our repayment by over £30 per month. We were happy with that!

Incidentally we have since managed to find the same GAP cover for just £92...

 

However, when the finance agreements came through for us to sign, the payments had only reduced by £20 per month and not £30. When i asked why this was now different i was told that the discount had to be further reduced as we were not taking the GAP and Lifeshine packages. So our discount of £1,183 that had then gone down to £644, was now only £522 ???

 

At this point we were just keen to get our hands on our new car so taking our salesman word for it, we signed the forms, returned them and went to collect the car the next day...

 

Amongst all of the docunments, we were handed our 'Lifeshine Guarantee' and shown the vehicle for inspection. We informed the salesman that we had cancelled the Lifeshine and he said that they had done it by accident and it was therefore FOC.

It has since dawned on me that this would account for the difference of £10 per month on the revised quotation and i strongly suspect that the yhave included it despite our request so that the ycan get their commission...

 

So, as it stands i have listed all of the complaints back to the dealer and am waiting for a full breakdown of all costs and an explanation of how they have calculated them, and whether or not the yare prepared to activate the Smartlink function FOC as we were told that it included.

 

My question here is, has anybody else experienced similar issues with their Skoda dealers and if so was a resolution ever offered?

 

Sorry about the 'War and Peace' script - just wanted to get all points across and hopefully find some advice on how best to proceed.

 

The car is lovely by the way and seems to pull much better than our L&K did despite having 20 less horses under the bonnet - its just the service that we are unhappy with

 

Thanks all.

 

 

 

Hi, hello and welcome, this posting would be better placed in the Octavia section of this forum, I think.

 

Special VIP events, don't you just love them?  I'm looking after my daughter's Ibiza while she is abroad working and so as I've paid to get a service done in "her" Seat garage, I am getting pestered by these special invites - RSVP etc, followed up by phone calls just in case I've forgotten to get back to them!  It looks like all the VAG dealers are trying very hard right now, I've even got my Audi dealer trying to get me to get my car serviced - even although it is on variable servicing so not due probably until about a year July! Streams of texts with options that mean that I need to get back to them - had the same thing with the Ibiza though in that case I serviced the car and I told the service team that and that I was still getting texts "oh we will note that down right now, so you should not get any more texts" - true they only sent another 6 or so!

 

I'm sure that lots of people will get to you about this as it does seem to be the way that some dealers behave, good luck!

 

Edit:- dealer supplied GAP insurance, yes I'd heard about the mark up, a bit like the "cover all event" insurance top-ups that you get offered when landing abroad and just want to get into the hired car and away, this usually gets backed up with "it will cost you over 1500Euro a day if we lose the use of that car due to accident damage" - again better bought in UK for an annual fee if travelling a lot.

Edited 4 April, 201610 yr by rum4mo

GAP insurance is a sound idea, but the dealer is stinging you at that price.

The inclusion of GAP insurance without your approval is, particularly since September 1st last year, illegal.

 

Since then all Motor Dealers have to follow specific rules in relation to the provision of GAP insurance, giving specific regard to a 4-day deferred opt in period, which works something like this:

 

Day 1 = This is the first day that raise the topic of GAP insurance with you. The must provide you with specific information about the policy (known as "Prescribed Information") in a written format incorporating the main features, benefits and exclusions of the policy, the price (separate to anything and everything else) of the policy and it has to specifically mention that it (GAP insurance) is available from other providers. They are NOT permitted to conclude the sale of a GAP insurance policy with you on this day.

 

Day 2 = Is the first day that YOU can instruct THEM that you wish to purchase their GAP insurance policy. This must NOT however be at the dealer's instigation - they are not permitted to raise the topic of GAP insurance with you at all. By instructing them so, you would be required to formally waive your right to wait until Day 4 or later.

 

Day 3 = YOU can instruct THEM that you wish to purchase their GAP insurance policy. Much like Day 2 though, this must NOT be at the dealer's instigation and would involve you formally waiving your right to wait until day 4.

 

Day 4 = Is the first day that THEY can again raise the subject of GAP insurance with you. However they need your specific instruction (normally in the form of a signed disclaimer/order form) that you wish to purchase their policy.

 

I can't really help with the other issues you've raised other than to advise that you should stick to your guns, demand a full breakdown and if you're not happy pursue it accordingly including, if necessary, with the Finance Company.

 

Incidentally, if you're still in the market for GAP insurance, we provide BRISKODA members a 10% discount.

 

Best wishes

 

David