I'm contemplating the purchase of a relatively high mileage (approx 80k) Mk3 (2016) Octavia VRS Tdi. It recently suffered a cam belt failure which destroyed parts of the engine. It's had a Skoda main dealer engine rebuild, including new cam shaft and re-machined cylinder head but has basically not been driven since. How big a risk is this? It will have a 3 month warranty - with the potential to extend to a year. 

 

Should I think about this as a risk/liability or an opportunity to have a car with parts of the engine that are brand new VAG parts?

 

Any idea if/how the engine might be affected by the machining to the head? Might it affect fuel economy, performance or reliability? 

 

 Any advice or experience greatly received. 

What's the appeal of this particular car, above others that haven't required an engine rebuild?

Edited 3 September, 20214 yr by EnterName

Welcome to the forum.

 

Is there a Skoda Main Dealers 2 year parts and labour warranty covering the engine work? 

How long is their work guaranteed.

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Is it a private seller or a Trader / Dealer that gives you some sort of protection as in 'Fit for Purpose.' ?

  If a dud they will be repairing or taking it back.

 

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What about the rest of the car and servicing.

What are the Brakes, Tyres, Windscreen etc etc like.  As in is the car perfect and nicely presented and not Joyed up with Tyre Shine etc.

Edited 3 September, 20214 yr by e-Roottoot

3 month warranty is not Skoda approved used.

They come with at least a year.

 

I would personally walk away…. Purely because if it’s at a dealer and not on the approved list you have to ask why.

Doh, 

sorry missed that line on the Warranty.

 

So if buying the car you would want the Seller to put a 12 month warranty on it now if it can get a Valid Skoda one.

One Skoda would not reject.

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Was the repair work already done under some WARRANTY, because then a  warranty could still apply on that work if a Warranty Underwriter paid for the work.. 

The repair was carried out by a Skoda main dealership. I get the impression they 'did a deal' with the owner to compromise on a part exchange price, rather than the customer covering the full cost of the repair. I suspect there was a dispute as the car had a comprehensive service history - mostly main dealership. And the mileage was well below the 'manufacturer advised' 140,000 mile cam belt change. This arrangement allowed the main dealership to complete the work at cost price. It wasn't an insurance write-off or anything.  

 

Because the car is high mileage, they won't put it on the forecourt of the Skoda main dealership. They don't seem to sell anything with more than about 50k miles. They have an affiliate company that takes all the non-forecourt stock from the main dealership network and sells it under a different name. 

 

Because the main dealer did the work with VAG parts, the parts will be warrantied for a year (not sure about the workmanship). 

 

The car's being offered with a Platinum RAC approved warranty (not Skoda). It explicitly includes all mechanical parts and cam belt failure (provided the cam belt was not fouled with something like oil). The initial offering is 3 months, but it sounded like a possibility it could be extended to a year. 

 

If the car had done a couple of thousand miles since the repair, I'd take some reassurance that it had been fixed. But it hasn't been tested thoroughly since the repair.  

 

The car is appealing because it's rare at this price, has a good colour and spec, is in otherwise good condition, and it has an otherwise impeccable service history. I reckon front tyres and rear discs might need doing pretty soon though, so it's not perfect.

 

The dealership currently have a policy not to negotiate on the asking price, because the Covid-affected second-hand car market is so strong. We'll see how long that lasts! Have others experienced that with the trade at the moment? I'd heard it was a bit silly, but zero scope for negotiation seems a bit much. 

Personally (and i appreciate others may view this differently) i would never entertain a rebuilt  or replacement engine in any car, i would rather (and have) scrap a car that has had an engine failure.

 

To my mind If the cambelt has gone it is an indicator that the car was poorly maintained and managed. In that case what other components have been neglected or abused by the previous owner.

 

Too much risk for me.

It would not bother me. If it has been fixed using genuine parts then there won't be any worry. Think about if it was your own car needed fixing and you had the repair work done.  Would it bother you?

A timing belt can snap on the most serviced cars at anytime so that wouldn't be detriment to the last owners use and maintenance.

If warranty is a worry then you might be better off buying a new car that. comes with warranty.

Remember in the UK every car has 6 months warranty under the Consumer Rights Act of 2015 despite what dealers say. It is law end of.

I don't think there's anything in this case to suggest that the car hasn't been looked after. It has a long and detailed service history, almost exclusively from main Skoda dealerships. 

 

The problem seems to be that the cambelt and water pump are only official service items at something like 140,000 miles.  So the fact the previous owner(s) didn't change these before then, is understandable and justifiable. The view that a pre-emptive 4 years / 50k miles preventative change to these items seems to be an unofficial recommended position. 

 

The general view seems to be that Skoda should probably have done a recall to sort out whatever problem causes these issues, but it didn't.  

1 hour ago, Kips said:

The view that a pre-emptive 4 years / 50k miles preventative change to these items seems to be an unofficial recommended position.

It's certainly the recommendation made by Skoda UK that the cambelt be changed after 5 years or 50K miles (whichever comes sooner) - surely that the recommendation comes from Skoda UK that makes it more than "unofficial"?

2 hours ago, Kips said:

The repair was carried out by a Skoda main dealership. I get the impression they 'did a deal' with the owner to compromise on a part exchange price, rather than the customer covering the full cost of the repair. I suspect there was a dispute as the car had a comprehensive service history - mostly main dealership. And the mileage was well below the 'manufacturer advised' 140,000 mile cam belt change. This arrangement allowed the main dealership to complete the work at cost price. It wasn't an insurance write-off or anything.  

 

It varies, but the official line i keep hearing is 5 years or...

 

Quote

 

Because the car is high mileage, they won't put it on the forecourt of the Skoda main dealership. They don't seem to sell anything with more than about 50k miles. They have an affiliate company that takes all the non-forecourt stock from the main dealership network and sells it under a different name. 

 

That's clearly not something all dealers do, but an affiliate in what way?

If they're owned by the same parent company I'd want something of a guarantee from the parent company

 

Personally I'm running a mile again.

Quote

 

Because the main dealer did the work with VAG parts, the parts will be warrantied for a year (not sure about the workmanship). 

 

But VAG reapairs on VAG cars at VAG dealers attract a 2 year warranty on those parts.

Again, this doesn't add up, so I'm running another mile.

 

Quote

 

The car's being offered with a Platinum RAC approved warranty (not Skoda). It explicitly includes all mechanical parts and cam belt failure (provided the cam belt was not fouled with something like oil). The initial offering is 3 months, but it sounded like a possibility it could be extended to a year. 

 

Nice words and all, but it is either 3 months of 12 and the dealer would need to put it in writing.

Also read the smallprint of the warranty with great care. You'd be surprised that a lot of warranties (don't know about this one) don't cover a lot of things you would assume would be on an quick glance.

 

Quote

 

If the car had done a couple of thousand miles since the repair, I'd take some reassurance that it had been fixed. But it hasn't been tested thoroughly since the repair.  

 

The car is appealing because it's rare at this price, has a good colour and spec, is in otherwise good condition, and it has an otherwise impeccable service history. I reckon front tyres and rear discs might need doing pretty soon though, so it's not perfect.

 

Hmm, but that's a temporary situation, which will likely be resolved in a few months as availability of newer cars come to market.

I'd still walk away.

 

Quote

 

The dealership currently have a policy not to negotiate on the asking price, because the Covid-affected second-hand car market is so strong. We'll see how long that lasts! Have others experienced that with the trade at the moment? I'd heard it was a bit silly, but zero scope for negotiation seems a bit much. 

 

 

Zero scope for negotiation when it's had a rebuilt engine = let somebody else pick up the repair job and pay the money you would for one without that history.

I'd walk away.

 

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying they pulling a fast one. They have told you about the rebuild, which is more than many car resellers would do.

 

For me the big question is what got replaced?  For example:

 

 - Did the exhaust/DPF get replaced after the blown engine chucked oil down it?

 - Did any of the bouncy engine bits that left via the exhaust damage the turbo?

 - Did the in head injectors get damaged? It's direct injection and interference design, so with bits bouncing around it's possible there was damage.

 

I'm sure I've missed others, but any of these would be a big bill for you to foot. If you don't need to take that risk, why bother.

 

 

Edited 3 September, 20214 yr by cheezemonkhai

5 hours ago, Kips said:

The repair was carried out by a Skoda main dealership. I get the impression they 'did a deal' with the owner to compromise on a part exchange price, rather than the customer covering the full cost of the repair. I suspect there was a dispute as the car had a comprehensive service history - mostly main dealership. And the mileage was well below the 'manufacturer advised' 140,000 mile cam belt change. This arrangement allowed the main dealership to complete the work at cost price. It wasn't an insurance write-off or anything.  

 

Because the car is high mileage, they won't put it on the forecourt of the Skoda main dealership. They don't seem to sell anything with more than about 50k miles. They have an affiliate company that takes all the non-forecourt stock from the main dealership network and sells it under a different name. 

 

Because the main dealer did the work with VAG parts, the parts will be warrantied for a year (not sure about the workmanship). 

 

The car's being offered with a Platinum RAC approved warranty (not Skoda). It explicitly includes all mechanical parts and cam belt failure (provided the cam belt was not fouled with something like oil). The initial offering is 3 months, but it sounded like a possibility it could be extended to a year. 

 

If the car had done a couple of thousand miles since the repair, I'd take some reassurance that it had been fixed. But it hasn't been tested thoroughly since the repair.  

 

The car is appealing because it's rare at this price, has a good colour and spec, is in otherwise good condition, and it has an otherwise impeccable service history. I reckon front tyres and rear discs might need doing pretty soon though, so it's not perfect.

 

The dealership currently have a policy not to negotiate on the asking price, because the Covid-affected second-hand car market is so strong. We'll see how long that lasts! Have others experienced that with the trade at the moment? I'd heard it was a bit silly, but zero scope for negotiation seems a bit much. 

Okay, that makes sense.

My gut would tell me to walk, TBH.

I suspect that car has not been repaired to the standard a loving owner would repair the car to, it's been repaired to get it back on the forecourt at the minimum cost.