Do Skoda want to shut down the smaller dealerships?

They appear to be pricing the smaller family run garages out of the franchise by demanding costly upgrades to their premises. It has happened to two of dealers I have used, Station Garage in Mossley and Finnikins in Leek. The personal touch is being lost as Skoda becomes a clone of all the other manufacturers. Rant over.

Do Skoda want to shut down the smaller dealerships?

They appear to be pricing the smaller family run garages out of the franchise by demanding costly upgrades to their premises. It has happened to two of dealers I have used' date=' Station Garage in Mossley and Finnikins in Leek. The personal touch is being lost as Skoda becomes a clone of all the other manufacturers. Rant over.[/quote']

Indeed they do :( Its all about the corporate image now. The 3 dealers I have used have closed down. Anyone got one they want closed down? I'll start giving them my patronage

Indeed they do :( Its all about the corporate image now. The 3 dealers I have used have closed down. Anyone got one they want closed down? I'll start giving them my patronage

Unfortunately, thats the trend of the motor industry.. its also the reason why im not a mechanic anymore.. if you dont have the diagnostics computer.. your screwed basically.

My dealer is a small family run business, they have an excellent reputation as their customer service is brilliant (touch wood).

So far they have upgraded their premises as required by Skoda but I wouldn't like to guess how much further Skoda can push before the dealer gives in and calls it a day (with Skoda).

If Skoda turn into just another brand with huge franchises (a la fix Or Repair Daily for example) then I for one will think again about buying another one. I've bought from several large companies in the past and customer service is generally very poor.

Jane :yinyan:

I believe a lot of the dealers were told that they had to invest a minimum amount ( I was told a million) in premises and equipment to keep their franchise.

My local dealer (Forward Motors) went from three sheds in the shadow of a gasometer to a nice glass and chrome place on the other side of town, which is much nicer, but the staff were pretty good anyway, so it's really just cosmetic.

Phil

My dealer lost its franchise on Nov 1 due to the demands that Skoda placed upon it (showroom extension , whole new floor for Skoda Showroom , repaint of inside and outside ect ect ect) They are now a service bodywork and warranty dealer only , but could get any new or used Skoda to customer order from another dealer. Just a snippet i heard over there tho other day , do you know Skoda charged my dealer

Do Skoda want to shut down the smaller dealerships?

They appear to be pricing the smaller family run garages out of the franchise by demanding costly upgrades to their premises. It has happened to two of dealers I have used' date=' Station Garage in Mossley and Finnikins in Leek. The personal touch is being lost as Skoda becomes a clone of all the other manufacturers. Rant over.[/quote']

quite simply yes about 3 years ago we had to extend our showroom because it wasn't big enough for them, this year along with every other vw group dealer we have our contracts terminated and would only be able to carry on if we carries out skoda's wishes (move to a big town) of which we are doing our current place has been serving skoda customers for 30 years and sense that we will loose a few because they don't want to visit a fancy franchise where you are just a number and not a valued customer. we are only doing this because no move no franchise and it would be a pitty to give up after 30 odd years.

Is there a place for independent Skoda (or, more likely, VAG) specialists?

When I had Citroens (for the best part of 20 years), they only went to the dealer for the (compulsory, free) 500 mile service. After that, I took them to my local independent Citroen specialist. No problems, excellent service, and I knew that the people working on the car knew what they were doing (always had a project on the go, a la JabbaSport)

I would never buy another SKODA.

Ive bought 2 new cars from HL Austin and all i can say is once they have your money that's it, forget about 'aftersale's care' your just a number.

From a purely selfish point of view, the fact that my dealer (Derek Slacks, Middlesbrough :wave: ) are moving to a new Out Of Town "Corporate" showroom suits me fine. It means i no longer have to drive into the centre of Middlesbrough to get to them. Its now a quick blast down the A19 & A66, a maximum of 15 minutes

The new showroom looks very nice, and theres less of a risk of the car being damaged whilst parked outside the old place:)