Big DSG decision to make

[HopefullyJOllyRoger]

Bought my Superb II in December. After taking it on its first journey of over an hour, in February, the gearbox was jerky and grumbling in 1st and 2nd gear, especially on inclines and in slow-moving traffic. Typical DSG mechatronics symptoms.

 

I'm quite poorly at the moment with several hospital appointments each week and have loads of other things going on in life, so after the dealer didn't respond to the voicemail I left them in February, I thought I would just leave it and see if it got worse.

 

The gear changes are fine when first setting off, but after 30+ minutes of driving, the jerkiness can be dangerous sometimes, like entering a roundabout. It's not a loss of power or a delay, but rather that the clutch or gears can be physically felt and heard banging, so it stalls the car's progress for a few seconds.

 

The warranty provided with the car is a crappy 3rd party one, no matter what the dealer said about it being endorsed by Skoda, and the limit per claim is £1,500, too low for gearbox stuff.

 

I've got the big decision to make on whether to reject the car, simply ask the dealer to investigate and hope they refresh the software or replace the mechatronics pack for free or something, sell it privately or just keep the car if the problem won't get worse as such. What puts me off most options is the selling dealer is 90 minutes away so not easy to deal with.

Edited 30 April, 2017 by HopefullyJOllyRoger

[Guest]

Best bet is to reject the car. Ring them up, ask for the Dealer Principal/Manager and explain the situation. Clearly it hasn't just occurred so its down to them to sort. Have it fixed by them under warranty and with a further warranty too, or walk away with your money.

Okay

[Ootohere]

How can you reject a car bought in January in April, is it on not being of merchantable quality?  That would require a diagnosis / report.

You really need to use the Warranty if a repair is required & that might mean you paying for the diagnosis, so best get on with contacting the Warranty Provider before more time passes.

[Ootohere]

I see you have the 7 speed DQ200 DSG.

So was it one that required the Service Campaign to have the Synthetic Oil changed to Mineral and a Software Update?

Was it done, a sticker should be in the Spare Wheel well with '34F7'.

[Guest]

Trust me not to read that it was bought in January! Thicko, anyway as you have in February brought up the problem you may have a small chance. Otherwise it looks like the warranty option. Either way, speak to the dealer and also check out the warranty firm as well. Either way it needs to be done now.

[Ootohere]

Is this the same car as the posts show was purchased in early December 2016?

 

 

[HopefullyJOllyRoger]

Corrected the OP to say December after checking the paperwork.

 

The warranty doesn't seem to cover much regarding gearboxes, but the service book says it has had the 34F7 recall done, yes.

 

Would a main Skoda dealer sell a car with known DSG issues or how likely would it be for the typical jerky symptoms to develop pretty soon?

[Ootohere]

Best discuss the matter at the Dealership with a Service Manager, Workshop Manager, Master Tech or Dealer Principal because the VW Group did a World Wide Recall which excluded Europe.  They even extended the DSG Warranty, not in Europe though.

 

So possible known issues with millions on DQ200 and a preventative recall action done in Europe. But it was not a Recall, 

just a Service Campaign.

Raise the issue with Skoda UK if you want but you need to start the Warranty Claim and have the diagnostics done.

 

How many miles has the car done and how many since the Service Campaign field action on the DSG. 

In other countries a new MCU was fitted, in Europe the cheapest action was taken.

http://skoda.co.nz/news/dsg-service-campaign 

 

A Skoda Approved Used car should have no known faults but the VW Group do not consider Fundamental Design & Manufacturing Faults or Quality Control & component faults or software failings as 'Known' just one of those things.

 

??

Was the car Serviced before you collected, or was no service due or overdue so not carried out by the selling dealership?

Edited 30 April, 2017 by Awayoffski

[HopefullyJOllyRoger]

Thanks for that advice.

 

Mileage is just over 60k and the selling dealer serviced it before it went onto the forecourt.

[Ootohere]

When was '34F7' carried out?  Skoda UK started doing it early 2014.

[HopefullyJOllyRoger]

I have checked and 34F7 was done in October 2014 at 39,000 miles, so the car has since done approx. 25,000 miles.

[silver1011]

I don't believe you'll be able to reject the car just yet. You need to allow the seller reasonable opportunity to remedy the issue first.

 

Either way if the car was bought from a franchised Skoda main dealer then you should have a fair amount of recourse under the warranty.

 

Cars bought via Skoda's approved used car scheme have a 12 month warranty. Skoda main dealers can still sell Skoda cars outside of Skoda's approved used car scheme on their forecourt with a reduced aftermarket warranty (which sounds like the case here). This tends to include older or higher mileage cars that Skoda don't want to sell under their used car scheme. Generally these cars are sold off through auction but as mentioned some dealers will stick them out on their forecourt instead.

 

Either way the fact you've bought from a main dealer helps here, you'll have paid a premium vs. an independent dealer or private, the reason being the additional protection / reassurance.

 

Try the dealer first. Make clear the issues taking the car in and that you can't be put in a position where you need to constantly return the car whilst they 'guess' their way through the issue. It also helps to ring Skoda UK and ask them to open a case. They then liaise directly with the dealer to ensure things run more smoothly.

[HopefullyJOllyRoger]

Thanks, silver1011. Correct, it's a reduced aftermarket warranty with a fairly low single claim limit of around £1,500.

 

I'll contact the dealer shortly hoping they agree to meet me on arrival so that I can demonstrate the exact problem, which occurs when the DSG is warm. Otherwise, they probably won't be able to reproduce it. At the end of the day, though, aftermarket warranties seldom cover components with intermittent faults that haven't completely failed as such. I was really hoping "open wallet season" wasn't going to happen, but it seems that way.

[silver1011]

You might be surprised, I had a 3 month aftermarket warranty on a used Octavia vRS I bought. It covered the cost of a replacement turbo (circa. £1,100 at the time).