It's just occured to me, the possibility that a new car warrenty is pointless for a driving instructor....

considering I can't work and earn any money while my car is off the road, lets see how long they have it at bickertons. If they get it back to me on wednesday, thats monday and tuesday of lost money (about

you're assuming the specialist would be able to source the part on a Saturday morning , thats assuming it is the engine mounting thats gone , there maybe other consequential damage to other parts at present unseen until the stealer has a look on Monday , i think you'll just have to grin and bear the loss of earnings which is unfortunate but i would insist to the stealer that the repair is warranty as your vehicle is neither 3 years old or over 60k miles iirc , they might suprise you and tell you its ready at dinner time on monday , you can only hope

you're assuming the specialist would be able to source the part on a Saturday morning , thats assuming it is the engine mounting thats gone , there maybe other consequential damage to other parts at present unseen until the stealer has a look on Monday , i think you'll just have to grin and bear the loss of earnings which is unfortunate but i would insist to the stealer that the repair is warranty as your vehicle is neither 3 years old or over 60k miles iirc , they might suprise you and tell you its ready at dinner time on monday , you can only hope

yeah, i should try to be positive... just peeeed off at the mo !

Doubt if you would find better service at any other manufacturer/ dealer, as for a private specialist they also have backlogs of other work unless you are willing to bung em. imo best talking nicely to dealer and hoping they will see you right, on the basis they can't offer you a loaner. Speaking honestly I would expect my car to be looked at first if I was there first if you see what i mean, bad form old boy to jump the queue:)

Doubt if you would find better service at any other manufacturer/ dealer, as for a private specialist they also have backlogs of other work unless you are willing to bung em. imo best talking nicely to dealer and hoping they will see you right, on the basis they can't offer you a loaner. Speaking honestly I would expect my car to be looked at first if I was there first if you see what i mean, bad form old boy to jump the queue:)

I know...... but SO much frustration!!!!!! :(

Your new car warranty is provided to fix your car, unfortunatley not to cover your loss of earnings.

I understand it's frustrating but I'm sure they will fix it for you.

Out of interest £100 a day is that pure profit, or is running costs tax etc to come out?

Well

Count yerself lucky you've got a Skoda. I too am a driving instructor. A fellow instructor in Huntingdon runs a MINI One diesel. It died on 10th Feb 2006 on the A14. Just a sudden loss of power, while on a lesson. The A14 is one of the most congested dual carriageways in the country, with huge amounts of freight moving to the east coast ports, not the kind of place you want your car to die with a novice at the wheel.

The local BMW MINI dealer couldn't find what was wrong with the car, and kept it 6 WEEKS!!!! The dealer failed to offer this instructor a replacement car while the dead MINI was off the road.

The fault was eventually fixed when the car was returned to the factory, after said instructor threatened to go to the local press!!! It cost her

Can you take out specialist insurance against loss of earnings in these circumstances?

Hi Sharky

I feel for you. Hope it is sorted soon. One of the benefits of being with a school (well the one I am with anyway) is that for

Well

Count yerself lucky you've got a Skoda. I too am a driving instructor. A fellow instructor in Huntingdon runs a MINI One diesel. It died on 10th Feb 2006 on the A14. Just a sudden loss of power' date=' while on a lesson. The A14 is one of the most congested dual carriageways in the country, with huge amounts of freight moving to the east coast ports, not the kind of place you want your car to die with a novice at the wheel.

The local BMW MINI dealer couldn't find what was wrong with the car, and kept it 6 WEEKS!!!! The dealer failed to offer this instructor a replacement car while the dead MINI was off the road.

The fault was eventually fixed when the car was returned to the factory, after said instructor threatened to go to the local press!!! It cost her £2500 in lost income.

Thank your lucky stars you have a Skoda!!! [/quote']

that's harsh.. I've heard bad reliability issues follow the mini, loads of instructors have complained about them breaking....I'm just sitting here waiting for Bickertons to phone me.....

chris, yeah, In these circumstances, I wish I was paying a franschise and there was a spare car knocking around! but I'm on my own unfortunately :( (can't seem to mangae the 'put money aside for such times' bit either! lol... kinda been like that all my life ) the reason I came to skoda's after using Citroens was reliability issues *sigh.....

its wierd my insurance provides a replacement dual control car in the case of any accident, just not in the case of brakedown :(

ah well... I'll update progress, assuming bickertons phone me at all today!

@ Sharkrider you have a PM

Sarah

chris' date=' yeah, In these circumstances, I wish I was paying a franschise and there was a spare car knocking around! but I'm on my own unfortunately :( (can't seem to mangae the 'put money aside for such times' bit either! lol... kinda been like that all my life ) the reason I came to skoda's after using Citroens was reliability issues *sigh.....

[/quote']

Think of the franchise fees you have not spent this year. Makes even a whole month lost seem reasonable.

Hope they get their skates on!

Chris

ok... latest update ( I have a test tomorow, one on thursday, and one on saturday too!)

apparently, Skoda told them to take it apart and investigate, the resustls were, two bolts holding the gearbox on have gone, and two others have elongated their holes. It apparently needs a new gearbox, a new driveshaft, and a new frame to hold it all! :( they say if the parts are in stock, they will have it done for me tomorrow, (which would be a bonus, as I have a very long day of lessons booked on thursday!) and hopefully I won't loose too much business, I'm going to try to cover the test I have tomorrow, with a friends car (duel control a-class, he's an instructor too) , so I shouldn't loose any more business than I already have...

this is ALL depending on them getting the parts, and putting it back together tomorrow! I hope you can do it Bickertons!! (they did manage to get it looked at on Sat, after I brought it in on friday pm) I just hope I don't loose any more pupils :(

note: I left Citroen, because I had a C2 GT (nice car, numer 000534) which broke it's gearbox at 40.000 miles (citroen re-build it, took 'em a week) , now I hoped Skoda would last longer! but techincally it died 2,000 miles before the citroen!! I guess I must be unlucky. :(

ok... latest update ( I have a test tomorow' date=' one on thursday, and one on saturday too!)

apparently, Skoda told them to take it apart and investigate, the resustls were, two bolts holding the gearbox on have gone, and two others have elongated their holes. It apparently needs a new gearbox, a new driveshaft, and a new frame to hold it all! :( they say if the parts are in stock, they will have it done for me tomorrow, (which would be a bonus, as I have a very long day of lessons booked on thursday!) and hopefully I won't loose too much business, I'm going to try to cover the test I have tomorrow, with a friends car (duel control a-class, he's an instructor too) , so I shouldn't loose any more business than I already have...

this is ALL depending on them getting the parts, and putting it back together tomorrow! I hope you can do it Bickertons!! (they did manage to get it looked at on Sat, after I brought it in on friday pm) I just hope I don't loose any more pupils :(

note: I left Citroen, because I had a C2 GT (nice car, numer 000534) which broke it's gearbox at 40.000 miles (citroen re-build it, took 'em a week) , now I hoped Skoda would last longer! but techincally it died 2,000 miles before the citroen!! I guess I must be unlucky. :([/quote']

Sounds like being stalled is just a bit too violent on the mountings for their survival. In view of what has happend to yours, I will get mine checked out I think. I try to avoid letting pupils stall it, but it does happen occasionally and quite often that big bang accompanies it. Quite worried now.

Chris

Is there not some form of insurance scheme available for Driving Instructors that can provide a replacement car in circumstances such as this? If not it would appear that there is a whole in the market.

I feel sorry for your pupil who has a test tomorrow and will have to take it in an unfamiliar car.

If there isn't insurance for this then I can see a few people getting together buying some dual control cars and offering them as a insureance based hire service for a fixed price per year.

Would still be cheaper than paying a franchise too

Sounds like being stalled is just a bit too violent on the mountings for their survival. In view of what has happend to yours' date=' I will get mine checked out I think. I try to avoid letting pupils stall it, but it does happen occasionally and quite often that big bang accompanies it. Quite worried now.

Chris[/quote']

hmmmm yes. as all us instructors know, there comes a time when you have to remove your help and let the pupil try a particular skill on their own, and so they may stall.... I however will be changing my teaching style after this, and be much more protective, trying to prevent the car from stalling where possible, but like I just said, you have to leve them alone at some time! that time will come later with my pupils and with regard to the clutch!

eddyH: yeah, my pupil tomorrow will get an extra hour free in the replacement car to get used to it (a petrol merc A-class is a very different drive to a diesel vRS!) but he's willing to give it a go, and he's quite a good driver, fingers crosses the change of car shouldn't effect him too much!

note: there is a place in sheffield (a big car hire firm) that has a duel control Ford KA, however they charge £6 per hour for it, and with the drive to and from, and fuel, this would probably leave me just about breaking even! (if not loosing out) even worse is their insurance, they won't offer it to the pupil, just to the person hiring the car out! I would have to move my insurance over to the hire car, which would be even more cost! I think the idea of the car hire firm is for parents to hire this car for a son or daughter, for a few 'home' lessons with the safety of duels, not for an instructor to have it when their car breaks down :(

edit: its been ALL DAY nearly, and Skoda UK still haven't given the go-ahead to the dealer yet... I'm getting very worried :(

ok... next update...

Skoda UK have approved all the work to be done (on warrenty, so I guess that answers thw title of my thread considering how much it's gonna cost them, must be thousands!)

I'm getting a new gearbox, new frame to mount it on, new driveshaft joint.....

all parts arriving tommorow, and I'd be back on the road tomorrow except for....

no bloody driveshaft joints in the country! *sigh.... (inner joint I think)

they have done something called 'scopex'(I dunno if thats spelled right..) which is the fastest possible way to find the part for the car... I suggested if it can't be found in decent time maybe they can cannibalise a car they have in stock, use the parts from that, and get me on the road, then put their stock car back together when the parts arrive! they said they'd have to wait and see what the 'search' turned up.... I even suggested another manufacturer, a pattern part maybe, whatever, I'm gonna push to be back on the road as soon as I can....

to be fair to Bickertons they have tried to accomodate me as best they can, I'm just very frustrated that I'm loosing money (and possibly pupils) hand over foot :(

ah well... the saga continues.......

I think Skoda UK would frown at pulling another car apart to get the parts for yours if they found out , I know we used to occasionally have to do it on FORDs but that has been stopped , and i wouldn't have thought that you would get any Skoda warranty if they fitted none SKoda C.V. joints , they may be able to strip a used vehicle but then you are not getting the new parts that your car requires , therefore poss no warranty on them , they do seem to be doing their best for you though .

Think IMO that this should be a to Bikertons and to Skoda for not trying to dodge the warrenty. Hope they locate the part sharpish, I wouldn't imagine you would loose many pupils, most any will miss is one lesson, and what choice have they hmmmmmmm sharky in a vRS or an AA Corsa???

MMM.... worried now, been using my vrs on the driving school for a week (& 1000 miles) and it doesnt half go bang when it is stalled, cant see how u can stop a pupil stallin though (well without driving for them!) love the car though, all my pupils love it too, got 3 new pupils this week just because of the car, now that never happened with ym corsa!!!

Think IMO that this should be a to Bikertons and to Skoda for not trying to dodge the warrenty. Hope they locate the part sharpish, I wouldn't imagine you would loose many pupils, most any will miss is one lesson, and what choice have they hmmmmmmm sharky in a vRS or an AA Corsa???

thanks for the positive comments postmanpat, yeah, like I said at the end of the last post, they are doing their best , so I cant really complain, and if they look after me well, I may yet buy another ! I've managed to borrow a car to cover two of the four tests I had, so at least half my pupils are being accomidated so can't be too bad!

06vrsfabia: glad you're enjoying your new car, glad the pupils like it, and believe me, it will generate pupils for you! I was considering switching brands after these problems, but was looking in autoexpress today, and it says the NEW fabia will be out in early 2007, and there will be a hot diesel vRS, so I may hang on for that car! maybe I'll try to be one of the first to have one! would be nice.... by the way, do you have any of the reported stuttering problems with your '06 model?

sharky.

Hi there, no i have none of the stuttering problems (yet!!), as for chnaging brands, wud you get better service from anywhere else????? i had continual grief with vauxhall with warranty matters. think it is sometimes better sticking with wot you know!!

as for chnaging brands, wud you get better service from anywhere else?????

I think the real question is really, would you be put in this situation with other brands, or even with another car from this brand?! Either way it's a gamble

Chris