Dear all,

 

We bought a second hand 1.4 petrol Skoda Octavia registered in October 2014 at the end of January this year from an Skoda dealer. At the time of purchasing had 35000. We have own it for 9 months and done 2000 miles more. We went for an MOT recently and it failed by miles on lambda and CO emissions. We went to a Skoda dealer to have it repaired and they said that they had to change the catalytic convertor as it had carbon deposits.  They changed it and after that the lambda emissions were still too high so now they say that they have to change the lambda sensor as well.  So now after 9 months of owning the car and with a car that is only 4 years old and doesn't have many miles we are facing a big bill.  So I asked the garage to find a cause of the failure of the catalytic converter but the person that I speak to doesn't give me an answer. I don't want to have it changed and then have the cause that is making it to fail still there.... Please help!  Thank you very much in advance for your answers.

If you can get a scan tool on it, log the coolant temperature while you drive. It should reach around 90 degrees C and stay there. If it never reaches opperating temperature then the car wont go closed loop fueling and your emissions will be way off. I highly doubt there is anything wrong with a 4yo cat or Lambda sensor, but if I'm not mistaken thermostats jamming are a known issue on these engines.

I bought a 67 plate Oct VRS recently, less than 4k miles on the clock and had repeated trips back to the dealership (Inc on day of pickup!) with engine management light indicating an issue around emissions. Initial suspicions were a faulty lambda sensor (I'm sure I had this on my previous VRS too over the years), but changing made no difference so they replaced with a new catalytic converter which sorted it. Sounds like your dealer has gone in the reverse order.

 

So I was pretty...miffed...that it needed a new cat when it's nearly new - dealer hadn't seen that before at such an age, but said they'd got the impression Skoda technical had encountered it before as they'd said to just do the new cat and were confident of it fixing it.

 

YOYOHEY,  the person you want to talk to is the Dealer Principal along with the person you have talked to up to now.

 

And get everything you have to say down in writing with the Dealership and all their communications, 

and if needs must get Skoda UK Customer Services involved and a Call Handler / Communications Manager or get through to Cherie Cornish a Resolutions Manager / Executive or her bosses, even Rod McLeod the Skoda UK Brand Director, he should know about After Sales, or pathetic After Sales from Official Dealerships.

http://skoda.co.uk/about-us/contact-us

 

If you bought your car from a Skoda dealer back in January this year then surely  as an approved used car it’s covered under the 12 month warranty?  So why isn’t this being covered by the approved used car warranty?

Thank you very much for your answers, really appreciated. Julie, the fault with the catalytic converter is not covered because there is an exclusion in the warranty that doesnt cover it if the fault was discovered because of the MOT emissions. The garage where our car is now (different to where we bought it from)  has confirmed that the fault has been caused by a faulty lambda sensor. The warranty company will pay for the lambda sensor but not for the catalytic converter as it was a ‘consequential damage’.  Thanks Offski fir the contacts. Really upset about tthe whole thing and disappointed with Skoda, i had high expectations for the car but after 9 months this is not right

What utter nonsense. I hope you’re not falling for that one? So lets say a timing belt or chain snaps, valves hit pistons bending a rod, engine is wrecked. Is that consequential damage so they only replace the timing belt or chain?  I just cannot start to accept that one. 

 

Have you spoken to Skoda?

 

Get some legal advice and take action against them. 

I had a new catalytic converter fitted to my 1.9 tdi Alhambra (small hole in exit pipe). It cost £179 at Kwik fit and done on a Sunday afternoon in half an hour.

 

Phone around and check prices, it may be cheap enough to stop you stressing about Goodwill, which even if you got it would be something like 50% of stupid parts price plus you pay dealer labour rates.

 

Out of warranty, consequential damage is rarely covered.

6 hours ago, xman said:

I had a new catalytic converter fitted to my 1.9 tdi Alhambra (small hole in exit pipe). It cost £179 at Kwik fit and done on a Sunday afternoon in half an hour.

 

Phone around and check prices, it may be cheap enough to stop you stressing about Goodwill, which even if you got it would be something like 50% of stupid parts price plus you pay dealer labour rates.

 

Out of warranty, consequential damage is rarely covered.

It has a warranty!

Please explain what warranty you have? Manufacturers warranty? Dealer Warranty? Independent warranty?

 

The exclusion you mentioned, (fault if found in MOT) is very unusual, and sounds like you have independent warranty which are often not worth the paper their written on.

Sorry xman... I missed your reply. This warranty was given to us by the dealer and it is with TWG. Exclusion says problem with MOT emissions. 

When I bought my car, used,  from a Skoda dealer also in Jan 2018 , it was 3 years old and got 1 years Skoda warranty and MOT cover :

 

ŠKODA WARRANTY

Approved Used ŠKODA cars under 6 years old with less than 72,000 miles come with at least 12 months’ ŠKODA warranty, as well as 12 months’ MOT Cover where applicable.** So you can rest assured that if the unexpected happens, you will be protected.

FREE MOT TEST

When it’s time for your Approved Used ŠKODA to undergo its next MOT test you can relax in the knowledge that the test is free at the selling ŠKODA retailer. What’s more if the car is still covered under its ŠKODA warranty, you will receive up to £750 protection from costs for repairs, should the car fail its MOT test.**

 

 

Edited 18 February, 20197 yr by classic