At this age I'm thinking almost all Mk.1 Fabia's will be looked after by owners or idependants. But a fully stamped up dealer service book is great to see on used cars (shows care) and this had me wondering. Do any owners here still keep up the main dealer service stamps and use them for all repairs? Is your Fabia treated with respect by the Skoda dealer?

 

I'm wondering also, now some parts are not so freely available due to the age of the car, does this have any effect on the work you get done?

 

For myself, I no longer have a local main dealer (mores the pity) yet when I got my Fabia I promised myself I would always use the dealer to get the best possible experience and have my car looked after by the makers. The main dealer I did have was also not that good to deal with so I ended up doing a lot myself (like 5k oil changes and brake filters) but I still feel sad that the service stamps have stopped. 

 

Also the dealer was commenting I should be thinking of a new car when it was only 5 years old! Its 18 years old and I am still not even contemplating a change.

 

Cheers for any input.

5 hours ago, Tailhappy said:

Do any owners here still keep up the main dealer service stamps and use them for all repairs?

No; I was using an indy specialist rather than a Main Stealer by the time the car was 8 years old.

My mate got a new drivers door harness fitted at a main dealer on his MK2 Fabia and they didn't even clip the door rubber bellows back on either at the body or door.

Service the car myself, do all the work myself - or if I take a step back and say "f*** this stupid s***e car" then it goes to the independent up the road.

 

If you really miss the stamp in the book, then you can have custom-made stamps done for not that much. I don't condone having one done up the same as a Skoda dealer and passing it off as 'full dealer service history' come car sales time. 

Inflated secondhand value is hardly relevant on a twenty year old mass produced economy hatchback!

On 07/02/2023 at 22:39, Tailhappy said:

I would always use the dealer to get the best possible experience and have my car looked after by the makers.

 

Having worked for dealer groups for many years you'd be surprised how wide of the mark your thoughts are. All dealers are chasing profits and upsell opportunities. They'd unfortunately see a 15 yr old car as a white flag for needing everything doing. Plus not many of the tech's there would have been around when the Fabia's were new.

 

Sure thing, if a dealer stamp is that important then go for it, I've always trusted my own handywork over a tech chasing bonus and rushing to get jobs done. A trusted specialists stamp and invoices would carry much more weight with enthusiasts when it comes to selling time

A workmate has a 10 reg 1.6 CR Octavia that he has from brand new. Like everyone else he started at the dealer, then independants - now he does all the rudimentary maintenance himself and anything that's difficult he gets "Dave" 

 

Last year our dealer was doing deals on timing belt replacements for €350 all in for his type of engine - I contacted them as mine needed doing and at that price with genuine parts why not !

 

When I gave the reg no they said "Oh let me find out"  They came back with €710 + VAT - I said about the deal and they basically told me that "That car is too old and parts would be hard to get" What they really wanted to say was "We don't want your tatty 18 year old car seen anywhere next or near this place as It will only create a bad impression for our new car buying customers"

 

I got a Gates kit and pump and got Dave to do it for way less than that. This is my cars last stop so me keeping a rough history is probably nice to have but a fully stamped service book from a dealer is pointless to me anyway. 

 

14 hours ago, VanhireBoys said:

When I gave the reg no they said "Oh let me find out"  They came back with €710 + VAT - I said about the deal and they basically told me that "That car is too old and parts would be hard to get" What they really wanted to say was "We don't want your tatty 18 year old car seen anywhere next or near this place as It will only create a bad impression for our new car buying customers"

 

Had the same experience with the local Skoda dealer, but he wouldn't give me any details or prices.

4 hours ago, AnnoyingPentium said:

 

Had the same experience with the local Skoda dealer, but he wouldn't give me any details or prices.

 

Long gone are the days of family owned helpful Skoda dealers. I heard of one instance where they removed a door window from a brand-new car and installed it in a customer's car which had a broken window. Imagine that now.

Cheers for the input. Makes me feel better for not keeping up the stamps! For my part what put me off was the difficulty speaking to the service department, for instance I asked about changing the air filter at the service and was told 'the service interval has been followed' which meant a black air filter with 35,000 miles through it remained in the car, plus some damage to trim which they did not know how to remove.

 

Its a shame its not as easy to tinker with as the Estelle but I still manage most jobs - especially with all the knowledge here.