Hi guys I'm new to the forum , and desperate for some help . I recently bought a 2006 Octavia Vrs TFSI . Within 500 miles of picking it up from the dealer , the exhaust had broken , the air con compressor was broken and the car had used 3 litres of oil in 500 miles . The car has full dealer service history , and 56000 miles . The dealer will not help with the car . The warranty company will not investigate unless I pay for an engine strip . ( the dealer sells a lot of their warranties so they don't want to get involved) car only smokes a little if red lined , and no visible signs of a leak . I paid top dollar for this ad it was full history etc .. is there something I can look for regarding oil consumption. Gutted doesn't ever come close ... thanks guys 

Failures immediately after buying the car are more than likely the dealer's responsibility. You have a right to return the vehicle for faults within strict time limits or expect a repair. If they have provided a third party warranty it is irrelevant and additional to your statutory rights.

 

That oil consumption is so far out spec it is unbelievable the piston rings are shot or the turbo or both.  The engine will eventually fail burning that much oil probably sooner, than later.

 

Have you pulled the plugs, they will be terrible.

 

How long since you bought the car exactly in days?

 

Hey theClient thanks for the reply . I bought the car February 6th . Done 700 miles only as i was told by the AA who approve this guys cars not to drive it . Got 12 months warranty with the car too .. all these faults came to light 500 miles in . Not pulled plugs , but will tomorrow... don't want to drive it incase it goes pop !! The dealer won't re fund as it's after 30 days , and the warranty company are useless . I'm up **** creak really

2 minutes ago, Elizanelle said:

Hey theClient thanks for the reply . I bought the car February 6th . Done 700 miles only as i was told by the AA who approve this guys cars not to drive it . Got 12 months warranty with the car too .. all these faults came to light 500 miles in . Not pulled plugs , but will tomorrow... don't want to drive it incase it goes pop !! The dealer won't re fund as it's after 30 days , and the warranty company are useless . I'm up **** creak really

Was it a main skoda dealer or an independent dealer, either way the vehicle is not "fit for use" under statutory rights. 

 

I would get some independent reports done and talk to tradings standards, and then go from there. to use 3 litres of oil in 500 miles is not good, the fact there's some smoke in the higher revs tells me there could be turbo trouble among other things. the AA and RAC will carry out inspections at your home so use them rather then drive it, that way if the dealer trys to argue you have driven more the 700 miles as stated then you an invoice or receipt with the milage when sold and the milage shown now.

You have lost your statutory right to return but not to repair, you are going to have to get some reports from a garage that can assess the vehicle and repair it, and who you trust and then issue a notice by recorded Mail to the dealer who sold it to you indicating the car is not fit for purpose, what faults it has or has already had repaired and needs to repaired or else your will commence proceedings.

 

A phonecall telling the dealer this and keeping communication lines open and keeping it impersonal as far as you can help. He may back down. Maybe not on first approach.  But you need to have records of communication and the nature of the faults and the costs to repair including any you have already borne.

 

It is his / her problem, even if they are not aware when they sold to you. 

 

It sounds like they have misled you already and have taken no responsibility.

 

I would be apprehensive to drive far either, could get it recovered to a Garage you trust or just risk it by keeping miles to minimum.  This is very unlikely to be a cheap fix

The car has been to a diagnostic specialist who diagnosed the air con compressor, and also said the oil consumption is way bad . I bought the car from an independent dealer , but they are AA approved.. these have done very little . We've been to the dealer 3 times now, and he just gets aggressive. I myself don't stand for any mouth , but giving him a good hiding isn't going to get my money back . Citizens advice advised me to send a letter stating proceedings will begin if they don't address the issues . New engine I would say ??  Warranty company said they would pay for air con , but wouldn't investigate the engine trouble . Surely this is breaking their duty as a warranty company ? 

You need to get accross your consumer rights pronto and get it across to the selling dealer you are aware of them. If you get some assessment of the repair or exchange / reconditioned engine which is highly likely the required repair he may listen when you start talking £1000's.

 

It is hard, he is getting aggressive because he does not want to honour his responsibilities.  It may become impossible to talk verbally but that should be his choosing, not yours and you should document it.

 

There are lots of information sources. Here is the AA's own.  You may want to get some legal advice if approaching this worries you.

 

https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights

 

Edited 26 April, 20179 yr by TheClient

6 minutes ago, Elizanelle said:

The car has been to a diagnostic specialist who diagnosed the air con compressor, and also said the oil consumption is way bad . I bought the car from an independent dealer , but they are AA approved.. these have done very little . We've been to the dealer 3 times now, and he just gets aggressive. I myself don't stand for any mouth , but giving him a good hiding isn't going to get my money back . Citizens advice advised me to send a letter stating proceedings will begin if they don't address the issues . New engine I would say ??  Warranty company said they would pay for air con , but wouldn't investigate the engine trouble . Surely this is breaking their duty as a warranty company ? 

sounds like the turbo oil seal is passing to me as 3 litres of oil in 500 miles is way excessive for an oil consumption from burning it in the cylinders, try starting the engine taking the oil cap off and checking for exessive blowby or it smoking that would be a good indication of oil getting passed the pistons and not having good compression in the cylinders , whats it like to drive does it pull hard judder misfire if it was burning oil the spark plugs would be gunked right up and black ? 

Edited 26 April, 20179 yr by thomasaspin

Don't get yourself wrapped up in fine print from the warranty company. It is a last resort and probably won't come to anything and the hoops and exclusions will catch you.  If all else fails, take a look but they are already putting up road blocks.  The dealer has technically committed a fraud if he has signed of the car as being in reasonable condition, in order to obtain insurance,  knowing any of these faults and in particular the oil usage.

Edited 26 April, 20179 yr by TheClient

The car felt great to start with , pulled hard and felt tight . Don't know if I've just got used to the power , or it's lost power but doesn't feel as sharp . No judder , but it smells like something is burning in the engine ?  

27 minutes ago, Elizanelle said:

The car felt great to start with , pulled hard and felt tight . Don't know if I've just got used to the power , or it's lost power but doesn't feel as sharp . No judder , but it smells like something is burning in the engine ?  

Does sound like turbo seals, the burning smell will be oil burning and if it's got that bad then a reconditioned/good used engine is the only option, if it's also lacking compression due to damage then power will be down, pulling the plugs will a good indication of engine health.

Thanks for the help guys , I will send the letter to the dealer tomorrow, and get the plugs checked . If it's turbo seals is it a new turbo ? 

2 minutes ago, Elizanelle said:

Thanks for the help guys , I will send the letter to the dealer tomorrow, and get the plugs checked . If it's turbo seals is it a new turbo ? 

Depends on the damage (if any) to the engine, may be lucky with just a new turbo.

32 minutes ago, Elizanelle said:

Thanks for the help guys , I will send the letter to the dealer tomorrow, and get the plugs checked . If it's turbo seals is it a new turbo ? 

My thoughts, you can choose to employ them or ignore them as you see fit.

 

Keep it factual, concise to the point and professional and polite.  Try not to make it emotional.  All easier said than done.

 

At this stage all you can do is re-cap the facts, 

 

What was purchased,

Mileage,

Date,

Price paid.

 

Recap:

Contact made about problems so far and the dealers response to your concerns, dates times.

 

Faults experienced so far and costs

Current fault with oil consumption and the rate of consumption experienced to date;

State that you are in the process of having the vehicle assessed for repair costs (don't speculate);

Refer to the consumer rights act and the sections that provide for repair within 6 months and your belief that it is his responsibility to meet repair costs as the selling dealer; 

End by stating you will be following up with a further letter, recapping points and taking the form of a pre-action letter, with cost invoices already paid and a repair estimate for settlement.

If he ignores this, you will make a claim via the small claims process.

 

That's how I would approach. A phonecall to open up dialogue before and in between can be useful but not if they have turned totally rogue. You have to keep your cool in all circumstances, even if they lose theirs.

 

You may have to submit the court claim to get action from him, even then, he might sit it out. Get advice if you need to. Sometimes home insurance have a legal / consumer rights advice line.  Some people have joined which legal for advice (it is a subscription service).

 

The independent dealer I got my car from conned me into buying an AA warranty telling me it covered everything. When I tried to go to them with an issue I found that anything that could be described as fair wear and tear isn't covered, they only pay £39 per hour garage fees (that counts out any decent dealer), will only authorise the use of non-genuine parts and want you to use Halfords to do the work. Hell no. IMHO, the AA warranties aren't worth the paper they're printed on and I won't be making a claim on mine.

 

The aircon compressor is a known issue. I had to have mine changed this year. Cost was five hundred and something.

 

I understand that another possible cause of excess oil consumption is the blockage of the return pipe from the turbo. I believe this is a fairly cheap fix. My vRS went through a period of using a lot of oil but stopped doing it when I had an oil consumption test done (which involved a complete oil change so I wouldn't be adverse to believing the detergent in the new oil unblocked something.)

 

Don't quote me on this but IIRC my dealer said that acceptable oil consumption was something like 100 ml per 1000 km.

Edited 27 April, 20179 yr by Papfox

Third party non Manufacturer related warranties are pretty much snake oil IMO. Some others have had success but there is a big lack of certainty, clarity and consistency.  Hoops to jump through, policy limits, ambiguities, etc.c as you have found.

 

The SKODA TPIs are usually related to the Skoda 0,5L per 1000km standard.  Which itself is pretty high. Edit: too high. The oil consumption test involves wieghing oil in, wieghing oil out and converting oil weight to Litres and distance to KMs.

 

I really doubt the OPs problems can be resolved with an oil change. Indeed he is changing the entire oil capacity through replenishment every 800 miles anyway.  It would be a very happy resolution for the OP but seems unlikely.

 

3L per 500 miles is huge, if going to combustion chamber it will create problems there, even if bypassing the cat converter and some sensors may likely be contaminated.  Interested to know what is diagnosed so let us know. I hope the OP can get some dealer participation in all this.

 

 

Edited 28 April, 20179 yr by TheClient

Papfox, if you believe the Dealer Conned you selling a AA Warranty that would be Mis-Selling of a financial product, so you can take actions if you were mis-sold.

 

A Main Dealership employee or even Skoda UK Customer Services might tell you 0.5 Litres per 1000km (621 miles) oil use is acceptable.

But that is not true just because Owners Manuals say 'May use as much as'.  

They say that for all engines, 3,4,5,6,8,12 cylinder petrol, diesel, LPG, 44kw up.