This is a long shot perhaps, but all other options so far have drawn a blank, if anyone can help it would be much appreciated. Briefly I am trying to make a paintwork warranty claim on my Sep 2023 Karoq, and I need to contact the supplying dealer Skoda Bentley ECO Car Scheme, has anyone ever heard of this dealer, know where they are based or have any contact information.

 

I bought my Karoq in April 2024, a Skoda Approved Used car,  from a Skoda dealer in Birmingham. My  local Skoda approved bodyshop has produced a 30 page report on the defective paintwork and considers it a valid claim. The local Skoda dealer in Milton Keynes says its not a manufacturing defect and it should have been resolved by the supplying dealer during PDI, they have referred me to Skoda UK Customer Care . The Bodyshop agrees its not a manufacturing defect, and I don't dispute that, but the fact remains the paintwork is not right, it has been affected by environmental pollution while stored prior to original sale, hence why it should have been rectified at PDI by the supplying dealer.  Skoda UK Customer Services have provided me with the name Skoda Bentley  ECO Car Scheme as the dealer who performed the PDI but re unable to provide anymore information other than it was a Motability Scheme. Having contacted  Motability, who have no record of a Karoq with my registration I'm not sure this is correct. From Google searches ECO Scheme would appear to mean Employee Car Ownership Scheme which seems to be a VAG scheme for employees to have a car for 6 months. With a Sept 23 registration and being a used car on a dealers forecourt in April that seems to look like a Skoda employee lease car, especially as the Birmingham dealer told me it was previously a Skoda Management lease car.

It should have the stamp of the dealer that did the PDI inside the front cover of the owners manual.

 

Supposedly (so the dealer told us) my wife's Karoq was an ex-Bentley car.  We live, and bought the car from, a dealer in the same county as Bentley.  It does fit as the car has a local registration number (DGxx...)  which surprised me as normally cars like this are registered at the manufacturers head office location.  The PDI was done by GBA Technical Service (VW Group PDI Centre) in Kent - but it could be that all PDIs  are done there, many manufacturers do them at the import centre.

 

I'm gobsmacked "Skoda UK" (it's actually a call centre covering all VW Group staffed by people who work for an American company TTEC) told you it was ex-Motability if that's not true,   Although having said that VW Group UK customer service are legendary for talking complete nonsense and being totally useless.

 

It's pretty poor of the dealer you bought it from to pass the buck like this - what happened to the "peace of mind" part of buying Skoda Approved used?  You've had it a while so it's a bit late now but you could have rejected it on the basis of it not being of satisfactory quality.  Did you see the car before buying it?

Edited 5 October, 20241 yr by Rory

These are a joke.

 

 

@Rory Thanks for the reply .My Karoq was a DG 23 registration .Yes I did see and drive the car before purchase. The blemishes in the paint are very difficult to spot, see photo below. For various reasons I didn't get round to doing my usual overkill clean and polish until 3 months after getting the car. After a good wash I clay bar the paintwork, apply a coat of Super Resin polish and then a coat of High definition wax polish, I spotted the two marks on the rear bumper as they wouldn't polish out I thought it was a paint defect, they are all over the horizontal surfaces of the paintwork.

 

How did the bodyshop manage to turn those marks , even if all over the car, into a 30 page report?

 

To be honest ours is petrol blue and if it had those marks I don't think I'd be able to see them.

@Rory Brilliant front of the Owners Handbook exactly as you predicted GBA Technical Services stamp is recorded. Why couldn't Skoda Customer Service tell me that!  

2 hours ago, thamestrader said:

.....it has been affected by environmental pollution while stored prior to original sale,

 

Who said that, and how do they know (vs being affected after delivery)?

 

What did the bodyshop try?  I'm not an expert but I've seen this kind of thing if grinding has been carried out nearby or the car was kept near a train line (very possible if the car lived in Crewe) especially in a braking area.  If it is iron, it can be dissolved away.  Has a good detailer looked at the car?

Edited 5 October, 20241 yr by Rory

The 30 page report  included diagrams for each side, top, front and back, showing paint thickness on every panel, to prove that it was per factory spec depth. Then photographs of every location where there was a blemish with a rule to show scale. 

 

I don't think I'd have noticed the marks if it was any other colour.

 

I've been reliably informed that there was an issue with a number of vehicles being stored next to railway lines prior to delivery. It doesn't need a respray just cutting back and polished, as I understand exactly what a good detailer would do prior to ceramic coating for example.

 

I assume that it should be possible using build date, PDI date etc to determine if my Karoq could have been affected, if it couldn't then my claim won't be approved. I think it would be impossible  otherwise to determine where it got affected. I know it can't be on my drive at home though.

In 2019 I bought a new Karok 1.5SEL from Preston as they had the colour and model I wanted. After a few weeks I noticed a strange paint defect at the rear, a type of bloom on the paint that polishing etc. would not shift.  My local Dealer in Carlisle after noting the defect did nothing about it after several weeks their excuse being a change of staff in the service section.  I contacted Skoda UK who were most helpful and suggested I get a quote from an independent body shop to do the work, that I did and  it was expensive a few £100's. Quite out of the blue the defect then dissapeared and the colour returned so I contacted Skoda uK again and the young lady was most helpful and gave me two free services for my trouble.  Perhaps worth containg Skoda UK.

5 hours ago, thamestrader said:

I've been reliably informed that there was an issue with a number of vehicles being stored next to railway lines prior to delivery. It doesn't need a respray just cutting back and polished, as I understand exactly what a good detailer would do prior to ceramic coating for example.

 

One of these products may well be all it needs: https://www.cleanyourcar.co.uk/exterior/paint-contamination/iron-fallout

 

Though as you have got both SRP and wax polish on, you might need to remove them first to let the iron dissolver work. Isopropyl alcohol would take care of that, and so might your clay bar. One of the golden rules when detailing responsibly is: use minimal interventions first, then step up to more forceful measures only if necessary. In this case machine polishing is the more forceful measure.

Edited 5 October, 20241 yr by mumpsim

Update.  Contacted Skoda Customer Care. The case handler tried very hard but kept hitting brick walls. I asked them to escalate to their manager and after contacting both my local Skoda dealer and the dealer I bought the car from, Skoda UK authorised the warranty claim. So although it took a while a successful outcome in the end.