Hi all,

 

The warranty on the car (2017 plate, was given two years warranty when I bought it) ran out earlier on in the month and I had wanted to get the Skoda All-in Service plan (which includes a minor and major service, two MOTs, two years warranty and road side assist). I was told by the dealership that I was unable to do an eligibility check until after my warranty ran out (which is quite suspect but I didn't chase it). It is also currently on offer with a 20% off this month, bringing the total down from £768 to £612.

 

I took it in today and received a call saying it had failed the test and that there was a fault with the Climate Control Module Function, fault code P171900. Apparently this isn't something they check for during regular service, just a visual check.

 

They've given me two options of either booking it in for a diagnostic, quoted at £102 or just take their regular service plan offer.

 

I've quickly looked through the forum and there have been a few posts on the fault. I feel like getting a reader like OBDEleven and clearing it before a retest, or calling up customer services and see if they can do anything as "good will".

 

Does anyone else have any suggestions over what could be the fault or what I should do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Take it ‘else where’ clear the code and take it back to them saying it’s now fixed.

it won’t come back and if it does - you have the warranty 

41 minutes ago, ApertureS said:

Take it ‘else where’ clear the code and take it back to them saying it’s now fixed.

it won’t come back and if it does - you have the warranty 

 

Yes I'm considering doing this. The salesman was a bit vague about the actual fault, nothing is wrong with the car's climate control/air conditioning and it seems like something similar to here. Unfortunately I do not have the exact fault codes other than P171900.

 

If I get the NextGen OBDeleven, I can at least use it to scan and clear any future codes. I'm not having much faith in dealerships.

So they plugged it in and found a fault then want you to pay £102 for them to plug it on and see if there’s a fault?

 

Is your car a diesel? I googled VW P171900 (p1719) and could be as simple as low ish battery or it was doing a regen

 

 

It’s all a way for them to make more money. They will find the smallest issue and say we won’t allow the warranty until it’s sorted for a generally, large cost.

 

just another way they squeeze the money out of you 

12 hours ago, Danoid said:

So they plugged it in and found a fault then want you to pay £102 for them to plug it on and see if there’s a fault?

 

Is your car a diesel? I googled VW P171900 (p1719) and could be as simple as low ish battery or it was doing a regen

 

 

It's the dealer's diagnostic fee. They said I should expect to pay that much depending on how quickly they can find the fault. 

 

I have a 2.0l petrol engine. The error code they gave me is just a fault flag "P171900 - Function restriction by engine control module", and the actual issue is something to do with the Climate Control Module. As to what exactly is the fault they couldn't tell me, there are no faults on the car's dashboard and I've not had any problems with the aircon.

 

It would've made more sense to have had the eligibility test when the car is in warranty, but I'm guessing the reason they don't allow this is any faults they find they'd need to fix.

 

I've ordered an OBD scanner anyway so that I can look at the full details.

Edited 1 April, 20224 yr by SomethingSuperbly

2 hours ago, SomethingSuperbly said:

It's the dealer's diagnostic fee. They said I should expect to pay that much depending on how quickly they can find the fault. 

 

I have a 2.0l petrol engine. The error code they gave me is just a fault flag "P171900 - Function restriction by engine control module", and the actual issue is something to do with the Climate Control Module. As to what exactly is the fault they couldn't tell me, there are no faults on the car's dashboard and I've not had any problems with the aircon.

 

It would've made more sense to have had the eligibility test when the car is in warranty, but I'm guessing the reason they don't allow this is any faults they find they'd need to fix.

 

I've ordered an OBD scanner anyway so that I can look at the full details.

What OBD scanner have you ordered because none will give you more details than that.

even odis only gives you that and that is the main dealer tool.

I've ordered the NextGen OBDeleven. If it doesn't give me additional information then I might be able to clear the code and see if it goes away.

Finally got around to using OBDeleven on the car. Relatively straightforward, though I can see where you pay to unlock features.

 

The first scan presented the fault with the air conditioning (P171900). I cleared the fault and did another scan,  so now the car is faultless. I'm going to keep scanning the car while trying to recreate the fault for the next few days and rebook the test. Fingere crossed hopefully this time it'll pass without any issues.

 

Also a slight correction, they wanted a diagnostic check fee of £120 for one hour, not £102 (they charge £60 for the first 30 minutes).

 

& if that diagnosis has been done within 30 minutes then £60 is all they should be charging and that includes VAT which is 20%.

Not that that seems to be understood by Service Desk Staff.

 

Other wise just giving the rate for 1 hour is 'Simply Clever', and that may or may not having someone plugging in to the equipment.

They do like customers that are like the goose that lays the golden egg.

 

 

Edited 4 April, 20224 yr by roottoot

The all in doesn't cover to the same extent as the original manufacturers warranty. It's OK for the service, MOT etc, but I'm not sure the warranty part is worth much. Check the Ts&Cs carefully and don't expect too much.  I've had a claim on a sealed led light unit refused on the basis that it had water in it. These are sealed units and should last longer than the 4 years it did. The part was over £200 and it didn't last as long as a £10 bulb would. 

I believe the warranty covers 'named components', bundled with everything else (and the 20% discount at the moment) I think it's worth getting. Though having read various topics, I'm under the impression that anything goes wrong the dealer doesn't want to deal with it/pass it off as wear and tear/not covered. It feels like you have to really kick up a fuss and call customer services before they can do anything or give you some goodwill.

 

I makes me think of my current situation, the car was still in warranty at the beginning of the month and yet I couldn't take the eligibility test because of that. Good customer service would have let me take the eligibility test while I was under warranty, fix any issues and then let me purchase the All-in service plan. But no. The car had to be out of warranty and that any fault would fail the test, ultimately the fault would have to be diagnosed and fixed however much it'll cost before going on the service plan. The fact that I cleared the fault and that it's not come back at all makes me wonder if the technicians are told to not do anything (like clearing the fault) unless they've been paid a fee to do so. 

 

If I had cleared the fault and it came back after a rescan then this would've been a different situation.

 

Maybe it's time to look up other extended car warranty providers. 🙄

Here's an update on the situation, I had the fault cleared through OBDeleven and the car's been fault free ever since. It did turn up some transmission codes but that was down to scanning while the engine was on (a no-no) and now having learnt to only scan with the ignition on I've not had any faults whatsoever.

 

Fast forward to the booking past Easter bank holiday weekend I had it done and it passed. Was a bit concerned since the finance website went down that day and when I chased it up the person over the phone redirected me to the online booking for the eligbility test... 🙄  But it's finally been sorted out.

 

On 04/04/2022 at 18:39, roottoot said:

& if that diagnosis has been done within 30 minutes then £60 is all they should be charging and that includes VAT which is 20%.

Not that that seems to be understood by Service Desk Staff.

 

Other wise just giving the rate for 1 hour is 'Simply Clever', and that may or may not having someone plugging in to the equipment.

They do like customers that are like the goose that lays the golden egg.

 

 

My standard answer is to ask what the rectification fee will be, this usually gets a blank look. So then I ask what is the point of having a fault diagnosed if it is not rectified.

 

Then I suggest give me a price to fix the car, and if I don’t like it I will take my business elsewhere.   Sadly unlike the old smaller Skoda dealerships when the person on the service desk would know a price (without a diagnostic fee) they now always seem to need to consult someone, such is progress.

 

It annoys me that some dealerships seem to assume every customer is a gullible idiot who doesn’t care how much it costs.