This has been touched on in other threads but I thought I'd give it a thread to itself to highlight the issue. Before going to the dealer I 'built' my soon to be delivered Superb III a few months back on the configurator. I'm replacing my current Superb II 170tdi Elegance with a new SE L Executive 220ps hatch and wanted a similar spec to what I've got now. I haven't been too impressed with the 'sound system' (as Skoda calls it) in my current car but I have talked to a few people who reckoned the Canton in the new model was way better. £600 looked expensive for the upgrade but anyway I thought I'd go for it. So I put that into the configurator: Oh no, not so fast, you want to order Canton, you'll have to order KESSY as well for another £400. Now bearing in mind I really don't want KESSY and I'm not prepared to pay for it, Skoda have immediately lost £600 from me. Looking through the other options, a tv tuner for the Columbus might have been nice, but no, you can't just order that either, you have to pay an extra £350 for a rear view camera if you want the tv upgrade. No thanks, a rear view camera is another option I don't want and wont pay for. Skoda is now up to £1450 in lost revenue (£600 Canton + £850 tv tuner). Imagine how that would mount up if other customers looking at options thought the same.

It didn't stop me ordering the car and I was able to spec the DCC (Dynamic Chassis Control) which I wanted plus a few other bits and pieces. Just a shame Skoda don't let people order what they want rather than trying to force them to pay for options they may not want. As a customer, it doesn't seem a good idea.

I'm sure there must be some technical/operational reason for this, as the 'associated' options seem quite random. For example, perhaps one is only worth doing (commercially) if the wiring/loom/routing through the car or whatever required is done at the same time as something else that would either share some of its benefits or it's physical route?

 

Maybe it's only worth routing the wiring under the headlining for a rear camera if you're also routing a wire for a roof-mounted TV antenna? By the way, I've no idea if this is how they do the install of these things - just giving an example of where it might make sense.

 

If it was purely a means to generate additional revenue I would have thought that the linked options would be more aligned to what people might choose, so for example TV+Canton.

Is this your first new car? It's been like this for many years no matter which brand you try to buy, not just Škoda.

It's either "You want xxx? Then you have to have yyy but you can't have zzz" or you have to buy an "options pack" that contains multiple accessories, some of which you may not want or be interested in having, but is the only way of getting that one extra you really do want.

Nothing really new here.. Look at merc as an example for the premium and premium plus packs which prevents you ordering some indivdual items only 

Edited 27 March, 20179 yr by RickTT

Skoda does this insane option bundling only in the UK.  Irish, German, Czech and other country option configurators do not have most of these tie-ins.  

The one I dislike most is bundling more powerful engines with leather/alcantara upholstery, large alloys and unwanted electronic crutches.  

Almost everywhere outside UK you can get a cloth upholstery 190bhp Superb on 16in wheels and with standard cruise control, in the UK it is only available with leather/alcantara, 18in wheels, and ACC.  

As a result of this policy and the drop in quality compared to Mk1 and Mk2 Superbs, I'm still driving my 11 years old, 170k miles Mk1 Superb Comfort 2.5TDI V6, and refuse to spend the better part of £30k on a new car until both policy and quality improve.  

Edited 27 March, 20179 yr by dieselV6

1 hour ago, dieselV6 said:

Skoda does this insane option bundling only in the UK.  Irish, German, Czech and other country option configurators do not have most of these tie-ins.  

The one I dislike most is bundling more powerful engines with leather/alcantara upholstery, large alloys and unwanted electronic crutches.  

Almost everywhere outside UK you can get a cloth upholstery 190bhp Superb on 16in wheels and with standard cruise control, in the UK it is only available with leather/alcantara, 18in wheels, and ACC.  

As a result of this policy and the drop in quality compared to Mk1 and Mk2 Superbs, I'm still driving my 11 years old, 170k miles Mk1 Superb Comfort 2.5TDI V6, and refuse to spend the better part of £30k on a new car until both policy and quality improve.  

 

But then the UK market is an easy market where the customers dont really complain about it.. they just accept it and pay up...

 

Look at all the dull colours the UK only gets as an example....

Definitely not my first new car, I've lost count .

It's true that other manufacturers do it, at least with the likes of BMW there is a financial incentive to buy a pack (last time I looked the combined cost of the options in a pack tended to be more than you'd pay if buying them bundled in the pack). Skoda aren't doing this though, just expecting their customers to stump up full price for stuff they may not want. I don't recall Skoda doing this on my last Superb either (almost 4 years old). I'm sure I was able to buy the 'sound system' as a stand alone option. I expect that as dieselV6 says above, Skoda have looked at what their individual markets want and set up their spec/ options/ prices accordingly.

5 minutes ago, RickTT said:

 

But then the UK market is an easy market where the customers dont really complain about it.. they just accept it and pay up...

 

Look at all the dull colours the UK only gets as an example....

That's true. The new golf coming out has a few interesting colour options. Skoda seems restricted in colour choice by comparison.

It's not just Skoda. SWMBO bought a new Volvo recently and they do the same thing. Not only restricting system options but also interior style. She wanted all beige interior, no cant have it even though it is a standard item on the continent. Only beige with black in the UK. Want a 2 colour steering wheel, no. Want to add active high beam, no. have to buy an expensive pack. Want 16" wheels instead of 18" option, no. Can buy 16" wheels at £250 a corner.

 

This is UK Marketing bs / rip off Britain that needs to change. As witnessed on here and other forums there is a market beyond the fleet sales, a lot of it from us silver surfers who know what we want and would like to be able to buy it.

 

Sorry rant over, back to the fireside and slippers; (murmurs off stage ) "no sugar in the Horlicks tonight dear, I am a bit hyper already" 

Might be a stupid question but I take it when ordering that they detect your i.p. as being UK? Could you not use a proxy like Hola and spec a car up as though you are in a different country and then add your proper address at the end?

Automatic/DSG boxes being more expensive is the biggest p155 take.  They have less parts and are cheaper to produce for the majority of manufacturers.  In most other markets there's no cost difference between the two. 

 

As others have said, consumers in other markets wouldn't stand for it.  We get right royally screwed for pricing on near enough everything. 

I ended up with Kessy because I couldn't live without Canton.

Interesting but a bit off-topic - I found that the sound quality on FM is way superior to DAB.  Particularly on DAB you can hear every spoken 'S' sound like it's come from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

14 minutes ago, El Dingo said:

I ended up with Kessy because I couldn't live without Canton.

 

So the opposite to the way I've looked at it. Skoda UK must know or believe that the majority of customers will take your pov and have structured their options set up accordingly. Fortunately the main expensive option which I wanted (DCC) is a standalone where I didn't have to buy anything else to get it. If I'd been forced to buy a sunroof or some other unrelated option I might have looked elsewhere.

Edited 27 March, 20179 yr by 2slo7

51 minutes ago, El Dingo said:

Interesting but a bit off-topic - I found that the sound quality on FM is way superior to DAB.  Particularly on DAB you can hear every spoken 'S' sound like it's come from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

 

DAB radio is rubbish quality. MP2 encoding at silly rates like 48kbps is hardly hi-fideilty and some broadcasts are not even in stereo, they are mono!! FM is far superior in many cases.

 

Although DAB+ is a much better system it is not really available in the UK, There are one or two obscure stations and a couple of local trial areas, (London ?) using it but don't hold your breath.

 

One of the paradoxes of digital radio is that one of its selling points is about giving a much wider choice of stations and yet the more they add to each multiplex the lower the quality of each broadcast becomes; bandwidth and all that jazz.

Skoda Australia probably have their own reasons for our option policy (i.e. streamlining the order process for cars with such a long lead time to get to the other side of the planet), but our options are condensed into 3 'packs' + the sunroof as a seperate option.  

 

Want full leather instead of alcantara?  You also need an electric passenger seat with the extra side control, ventilation, front and rear heated seats.  

 

Want Kessy?  You also need to order 19"wheels, sports suspension, LED interior ambient lighting, paddle shifters and the driving mode selection.

 

Perhaps you want the DCC?  You need to get the full image pack above ^ plus lane assist, side assist, virtual pedal, Canton System and Parking assistant.

 

Personally, I didn't mind it - I like as many toys as possible so this just meant i need to tick a couple of boxes instead of pages of them...  Also, when they bundled them all together, they did apply a heavy discount as opposed to what they would have added up to ordering them all individually.  

3 hours ago, T2000 said:

Might be a stupid question but I take it when ordering that they detect your i.p. as being UK? Could you not use a proxy like Hola and spec a car up as though you are in a different country and then add your proper address at the end?

It doesn't work like that. You can spec a car online using the UK, German, Czech, French, Irish, (wherever) configurator then save it/print it, but you can't actually place an order for that car with Škoda online.

To order it...

• You pop along to your Škoda dealership with your spec in hand
• Spec the car online with one of the fleet sales operators (which has been known to be risky for private sales)
• Go through an online polling site, like Carwow, who send your desired spec to participating dealerships and see who comes up with the best offer.

The end result is always the same - the order goes through the import agent (Škoda UK) and it needs to comply with their order template, which specifies what you can and cannot have, or it will get rejected.

If you want a spec that is only available in another country you could order it through a dealership in that country then collect or have it shipped but you will end up with a non-UK LHD car. Chances are you'll also end up paying far more for less too, as I'm about to explain...

 

4 hours ago, Sagalout said:

This is UK Marketing bs / rip off Britain that needs to change.

There is some minimal truth to that, in as far as the OP points out you're often forced to take cost options you don't want/need.

However, in the UK we get a far better spec car for less equivalent money than most of our continental friends and because I can speak/read/write German I'll use them as my example.

 

Try using the German configurator for the same model/trim (any manufacturer, not just Škoda) and you'll see that while the list price may initially appear slightly cheaper or equivalent, much that comes as "included" in the UK is a cost option in Germany.

 

@Sagalout, you have a Superb L&K... Select the Škoda Superb L&K in Germany and you'll see there's...

• no SatNav (you get Bolero),
• no Canton,
• no theft alarm (standard on all UK Superb),
• no KESSY,
• no Virtual Pedal,
• no free rear wiper option on hatchback,
• no ACC,
• no tri-zone climate control,
• no boot net program (not even those folding luggage retainers that are standard),
• no Blind Spot Detection,
• no Light Assist (let alone Dynamic Light Assist),
• no Park Assist,
• no heated windscreen,
• no rear airbags (standard on all UK Superb).

These are all included in the UK standard price, but they are only available as additional cost options in Germany.

Now match the German spec by adding these optional extras to meet the UK standard spec and it suddenly works out an awful lot more expensive. You'll also notice that selecting some of these UK "included in the price" options will also force you to take even more additional options.

So who's really being ripped off? I certainly know the answer a German will give you. 

 

There is a thriving market of mostly London-based dealers ordering UK spec LHD cars for German customers, in particular BMW and Mercedes, and having them shipped (back) to Germany, saving the German customer four-figure sums, and it has now become even better value for them since the decline of Sterling.
In the 70s and 80s it used to be the other way around and many people in the UK were buying their new cars much cheaper in countries like Belgium despite having to pay VAT, car tax (and I don't mean VEL) and import tax. This was long before the free movement of goods.

Those were the real motor industry "rip-off Britain" times.

5 hours ago, BillyJim said:

In the 70s and 80s it used to be the other way around and many people in the UK were buying their new cars much cheaper in countries like Belgium despite having to pay VAT, car tax (and I don't mean VEL) and import tax. This was long before the free movement of goods.

Those were the real motor industry "rip-off Britain" times.

It went on longer than that. I bought my last new personal import Merc in 2001 from Garage Residence in Belgium. Brought up to UK spec and with some sensible options added (before the bundled options game started) and I save almost £5k. It was such a common practice then that they had a UK import specialist who handled everything from the initial enquiry through to the handover.

Take a look at Motorpoint.  They still offer cars that were destined for non-UK markets at a significantly discounted rate.  VW's and Skoda's destined for Greece usually pop up quite often.   I looked at a brand new 5dr Golf GTI  with a pano roof and DSG for £23,995. It only had two years manufacturers warranty though with MP offering their own, after market warranty for the 3rd year.  I was warned by MP over the phone that insurance costs and resale values are usually effected on these types of cars though. 

26 minutes ago, penguin17 said:

I was warned by MP over the phone that insurance costs and resale values are usually effected on these types of cars though. 

Insurance and resale because they're LHD, no doubt. Cars are now built-to-order using the just-in-time method so unless there's a fiasco like the cancelled private "fleet" sales I alluded to (or a near-total collapse of the economy as happened in Greece), there's not exactly a glut of new cars to choose from. I'm guessing what Motorpoint are offering are cancelled orders that haven't found an alternative buyer.

 

Back on the subject of rip-off Britain, I bought my first ever brand new car in 1984, a Ford Fiesta XR2, from a UK Ford dealership. The list price was £7,200. With some hardass bargaining I got it down to £4,500. There's no way the dealership would have taken a loss, so by my reckoning it's a prime example of just how much we really were being ripped off in the UK back then.

24 minutes ago, BillyJim said:

Back on the subject of rip-off Britain, I bought my first ever brand new car in 1984, a Ford Fiesta XR2, from a UK Ford dealership. The list price was £7,200. With some hardass bargaining I got it down to £4,500. There's no way the dealership would have taken a loss, so by my reckoning it's a prime example of just how much we really were being ripped off in the UK back then.

That takes me back. I also bought a new XR2, in 1985, from the main Ford dealer in Doncaster. Rosso red with optional pepperpot alloys (it came with horrible plastic trims otherwise). IIRC I paid £5k but I know they did give me top book on a shed of an Austin Metro I p/ex ed. Good little car the mk II XR2. I thrashed mine up and down the A1 for 5 years/ 60k miles and it never missed a beat.

Ah, fond memories. Paris blue, pepperpot alloys, tinted glass, sunroof. Amazingly I kept it for 7 years. I also bought one of the first RDS radios and a multi-CD Changer to replace the cheap and cheerful Ford cassette/radio. I remember when fitting it I removed seven screws from the dashboard and the whole thing literally dropped into my lap. Just a thin floppy piece of patterned grey plastic. Quality!

When I sold it I removed the CD Changer to fit in my next car, a VW Corrado. When I tried to fit it I found that after removing about 20 screws from the Corrado's dashboard it was still refusing to budge. When I eventually managed to remove it it was solid, heavy, and lined inside with foam rubber about two inches thick.

 

Off topic but what the hell, it's your thread.

The worst part about the Canton/KESSY bundle is, that from the beginning they were NOT tied together. Over here (Denmark) Canton is standard on the Style versions (top spec just below L&K). From MY17 the price raised, because KESSY was now standard. But MY16 had Canton and not KESSY. So it´s "doable" for the factory, so I reckon it´s a "political" decision.

 

Another "hick up" down that road is the price for the Amundsen navigation. My car is an Ambition (mid-spec) which comes standard with the Bolero radio. The price to upgrade was around £900. The Style spec. also comes standard with the Bolero radio, but the upgrade price to Amundsen is only around £450. Again - politics...

Edited 28 March, 20179 yr by GaSelle

1 hour ago, BillyJim said:

Off topic but what the hell, it's your thread.

 

Quite alright, good to reminisce.

 

12 minutes ago, GaSelle said:

The worst part about the Canton/KESSY bundle is, that from the beginning they were NOT tied together. Over here (Denmark) Canton is standard on the Style versions (top spec just below L&K). From MY17 the price raised, because KESSY was now standard. But MY16 had Canton and not KESSY. So it´s "doable" for the factory, so I reckon it´s a "political" decision.

 

I think so too. It irritates me the way its done but Skoda obviously find it works for them.

22 hours ago, CheshireBumpkin said:

I'm sure there must be some technical/operational reason for this, as the 'associated' options seem quite random. For example, perhaps one is only worth doing (commercially) if the wiring/loom/routing through the car or whatever required is done at the same time as something else that would either share some of its benefits or it's physical route?

 

Maybe it's only worth routing the wiring under the headlining for a rear camera if you're also routing a wire for a roof-mounted TV antenna? By the way, I've no idea if this is how they do the install of these things - just giving an example of where it might make sense.

 

If it was purely a means to generate additional revenue I would have thought that the linked options would be more aligned to what people might choose, so for example TV+Canton.

When I was ordering my car I wanted Canton and LED ambient lighting but wasn't bothered about the £400 for KESSY which both options needed. I contacted Skoda UK and they just said KESSY was essential for either of these options. But I then took a Superb Demo out for a test drive and it had Canton without KESSY. It was and SEL Exec with Canton added as an option. When i queried this with the Dealer (July 2016) they said that the demo car was an early 2016/late 2015 build and the requirement for KESSY changed in May 2016. They confirmed this was a marketing change and not a technical change.

 

As I really wanted the Canton & LED Ambient lighting I ordered these and went for the compulsory KESSY as well. All I can say is that I really like the way the KESSY works. I think it is a con the way they package these together but I am happy that I got KESSY.

I agree the ‘rip-off Britain’ tag doesn’t really apply to cars at all, especially not now with the devaluation of sterling.

 

I too am very familiar with Germany and the German car market (have owned three cars there). Some people might be surprised by the number of bare-bones Mercs (and most other brands apart from the Asian ones) running there – simply because bl**dy everything is extra.

 

The only significant and more recent difference is that most new private cars in the UK are now rented rather than purchased. That lets the manufacturers control selling prices and earns them nice interest on top.

 

More on the off-topic:

 

My first brand-new car: a Ford Pinto Wagon (Estate)! Cost: all of C$3000 as I didn’t go for the automatic transmission option. Engine: 2.3 litres of terminal gutlessness. Body: rusted away before my eyes. The car probably didn’t make it to 5 years old for that reason.

 

Next new car: first-gen VW Jetta (very sad, yes) with A/C option for C$12000. Good car that did many miles across the North American continent, but the A/C was useless as it frosted up and shut down every 20 minutes. Cool after-market ‘option’: radar detector beautifully concealed in the bumper. One of the spare lights in the dash was assigned as the detector’s warning light. Very tidy and it served me well.

 

In terms of value, I’m pretty sure it’s North American buyers who have usually benefited from much better deals than anywhere in Europe. But the buying culture was/is different, too: people tend(ed) to negotiate over cars in stock; ordering and waiting maybe months being a foreign concept.