I’ve been looking for a VRS 245 and found a lovely estate, Nov 2017 car which was serviced 1 year later at 6k but the next one hasn’t been done yet, was due in Nov’ 19 and the car is still saying service/inspection due. The dealer says the original (1) owner was looking to trade the car late last year so didn’t get it done. Car now on 12k. Dealer is offering to service the car but they are not a ŠKODA dealer so I would have asked them to leave it and negotiated a bit off then get it done myself.
 

At this point I’ve walked and decided not to purchase but wondering if I’ve over-reacted? Everything else is spot on, great condition, a few nice options, favourite colour, price is fair, delivery and collection of my PX offered. 
 

I’m not concerned the missed service will have any affect on the car itself as it’s only 6k miles since the last one but my concern is that ŠKODA won’t honour the remaining 5 months of the warranty and I won’t be able to purchase an extension of the warranty when it runs out either through ŠKODA or any other provider. Also if anything major fails I’ll miss out on any goodwill. The car is being sold with a 12 month third party warranty but the reviews of the provider are terrible! 
 

Would you decide not to buy a car because the second service was 7 months late? 

The goodwill question is easy.  As you're buying the car from outside their dealer network then it's unlikely Skoda would ever consider you a goodwill candidate.

 

Servicing is a tad more difficult. On the face of it, the single service shouldn't pose a problem as the car could have been placed on long-life regime and at that mileage, it's most unlikely a service would have been requested. Trouble is you don't say who carried out the first service? If it was a franchised dealer then the likelyhood is they used longlife specific oil ( but not guaranteed ), however if it was serviced outside VW Group then they may have used ordinary oil.  If it were me I'd contact Skoda customer services, give them the registration / VIN details and ask for the car's history.

 

I don't know what tyres come as std on that car ( someone else here will know ) but I'd certainly check to see if they're the originals and if the life corresponds to 12,000miles. My worry would be if the engine has been hammered, the type of tyres / wear should be a good indication.

 

The car will already have 5mth original warranty so if you buy it, you should be eligible for a discount when Skoda ask you to renew. I don't know how the garage works but it's likely they'll pay a min. amount to put a warranty on the car so I wouldn't expect much of a discount to exclude that. Same is true for service, if it's a non VW group dealership then their 'service' may just be an oil change which costs them next to nothing - the car really needs a major service. At 3yr old, it's recommended a brake fluid is due. of course the MOT will be due in Nov. too.  All depends on how much the car is up for but I'd use that as a lever to reduce the price.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for that, some good points I had thought of. 
 

The first service was done at ŠKODA when the car was 12 months old and 6k miles. I’m told the next one was due in Nov last year but would be a good idea to call ŠKODA to check this is true. 
 

My worry is that if I buy it and need to claim in anything then they can say it’s missed it’s service so warranty is invalid. Looking at the extended warranty terms it states the car must have been serviced to manufacturers schedule so it might let me pay for it but if I actually make a claim they could say the same as above. 
 

Tyres is a good point, fronts have been replaced, I would expect to see all originals still on after 12k, must have been driven fairly hard.. 

 

I don’t think there is anything to be gained by asking for it without their third party warranty but I wouldn’t want them to service it, would get that done myself by my local ŠKODA dealer.
 

 

I wouldn't worry about it.

It's covered for 6 months from purchase from the seller anyway, so the skoda warranty is irrelevant and in and ways superceded.

 

The lack of service will do nothing to the car as it's hardly covered any miles.

 

As said above, goodwill won't exist anyway, you'd have to pay a premium and buy from a dealer for goodwill, which means it's not really free, it's paying a surcharge for a chance you may get some favour...  No thanks.

 

If it's the right car and the right price and they're willing to service it at purchase I'd say it's a win.

Thanks for the replies, decided against this one in the end as I agreed a deal on a 5 month old car from a Škoda dealer so plenty of warranty and piece of mind.