I took my skoda octavia vrs 4x4 estate 2922 car in for a oil service.i was told my front disc pads were down 90% and discs needed changing.the price was 545£ I refused.a fewcdays later it had to go back in for warranty work.i was told than my brake pads were down by 80% but no mention at all about discs.not bad going 90% brake pads and 1 day later 80% down did not disc pads could self heal.today had a guy out to do the work for me and he says the pads are only 70% worn ans says by a glance the discs look OK.is this a con game by the skoda garage?

Sadly, not just Skoda Garages, there are many operators out there who view unknowledgeable drivers as a lucrative cash cow.

Always worth asking the airhead on the front desk what criterion are they using to condemn the discs. Disc thickness? Runout? Delamination? Excessive scoring? They should recognise this as code for; " not going to work on me, sunshine"

Many years ago my dealer wanted to charge me £800 for changing the air-con pump (it was too noisy). The car wasn't that old, and I decided I would chance my luck. I took it to an air-con specialist who said "rubbish, just make sure you recharge the system with the recommended amount of oil in the freon mix.". The upshot is, the main dealers will always try and get the job well in advance of when its needed. The original air-con pump was still working 12 years later when I sold the car.

13 hours ago, inspectorman said:

Always worth asking the airhead on the front desk what criterion are they using to condemn the discs. Disc thickness? Runout? Delamination? Excessive scoring? They should recognise this as code for; " not going to work on me, sunshine"

My Octavia discs will probably need changing. Pads are about 3mm left. My test is finger the disc

Mine shows about 1 mm pronounced ridge at edges. Travel distance unknown.

22 minutes ago, anotherdownunder said:

My test is finger the disc

Mine shows about 1 mm pronounced ridge at edges.

All that tells you is how deep the edge corrosion ridge is. You need to measure the thickness of the polished wearing surface, not the corrosion ridge.

I suspect my IV's discs will last about 90k miles. The regen takes care of most braking.

Edited 3 May, 20251 yr by mccririck

My old garage said it happens a lot. Even if theres 10-15k left they will try and get you to change them. He reckons part of it is cause its still under waranty you have to take it to them to preserve the waranty another part is to cover themselves. Once its out of waranty the only folks I know that use main dealers are ones with loads of money or just don't have a clue how much more they charge or if the car is leased and it stipulates main dealer. Some folk also believe that cars worth more if serviced at dealers. That may be true but I reckon you are paying a lot more than you will save. As long as its got a full regular service history with service stamps etc is what I look for.

Alasdair

Yeah, they'll always find something to add - i recently paid for a fuel and oil 'flush' when the car was in for it's 'free' service. I struggle to imagine that involved anything at all, maybe a £5 bottle of redex if they noticed it on the job sheet.

I really do not understand why anyone takes a car to a dealer for a service unless it's free.

13 hours ago, mccririck said:

I really do not understand why anyone takes a car to a dealer for a service unless it's free.

Then let me enlighten you…

For me, it’s about capability, confidence, trust, value and rapport. If I get enough of each of those largely subjective values then that is the workshop I will use.

At this time it happens to be the dealer from which I bought my Škoda; other dealers (not only Śkoda) and many local independent workshops come up lacking in one or more of those things I look for.

Could get find an independent workshop that rates more highly overall? Probably, if I took the time and risk to find out. But I’ve lived in the area for 40+ years and experience has been underwhelming to say the least. So, being content with the dealer I’m continuing with them - until, that is, I have a need to look elsewhere, such as changing brand of car.

I've never found any dealer to have capability, confidence, trust, value and rapport.

I've always found indies to do a better job, even if it is not always cheaper.

16 hours ago, mccririck said:

I really do not understand why anyone takes a car to a dealer for a service unless it's free.

Two services

Two Mots

Two years roadside assistance

Up to two years additional warranty

£38 a Month

Edited 4 May, 20251 yr by Stonekeeper

57 minutes ago, Stonekeeper said:

Two services

Two Mots

Two years roadside assistance

Up to two years additional warranty

£38 a Month

That's £456 a year. Take away £45 for the MOT and £25 for breakdown, £386 is quite an expensive service (especially for an electric vehicle).

The warranty is quite nice, but after you've paid the mandatory investigation fee, you may as well just pay for the extended warranty out of pocket.

There's a reason they're called stealers - they are there to sell you a car and take your money.

This is personal experience - from being sold a crash damaged car to being assured by a master tech the rock lodged in my subframe was just old age sounds of a 2018 car. Useless.

15 minutes ago, OccyVRS said:

That's £456 a year. Take away £45 for the MOT and £25 for breakdown, £386 is quite an expensive service (especially for an electric vehicle).

The warranty is quite nice, but after you've paid the mandatory investigation fee, you may as well just pay for the extended warranty out of pocket.

There's a reason they're called stealers - they are there to sell you a car and take your money.

This is personal experience - from being sold a crash damaged car to being assured by a master tech the rock lodged in my subframe was just old age sounds of a 2018 car. Useless.

Not for Electric vehicles

1 hour ago, OccyVRS said:

That's £456 a year. Take away £45 for the MOT and £25 for breakdown, £386 is quite an expensive service (especially for an electric vehicle).

The warranty is quite nice, but after you've paid the mandatory investigation fee, you may as well just pay for the extended warranty out of pocket.

The MOT is £55 and the breakdown cover is worth a lot more than £25, it's europe wide for a start! Plus the diagnostic fees are only charged if there's no fault found.

Sorry for being a pedant on this, but the all-in-one cover is a decent way to keep your car covered for years 3-5 - in my opinion of course!

Edited 4 May, 20251 yr by dan245

On 03/05/2025 at 14:09, Paws4Thot said:

All that tells you is how deep the edge corrosion ridge is. You need to measure the thickness of the polished wearing surface, not the corrosion ridge.

Grok says: "A ridge at the edge of a car disc brake rotor typically indicates wear, but it’s not always a sign that the disc needs immediate replacement. This ridge, often called a "lip," forms because the brake pads wear down the rotor’s friction surface over time, while the outer edge (where the pads don’t contact) remains unworn, creating a raised lip.'

My experience with dealers is you have to book a month in advance, they try to charge you to replace silly little things like wiper blades, sometimes there's no electrician working when your car is in so you need to make another appointment. Nightmare imo.

Typical dealer trick. Years ago I imported a new Saab 9.3. Lovely car. After a year and about 12,000 miles I took it for service at the local Saab dealer, and was told it needed new discs and pads. I looked at them and told the dealer not to try and cheat me. I never went back to that dealer. I had it serviced every year by an independent Saab specialist, and it did not need new front discs and pads until it had done nearly 70,000 miles.

On 04/05/2025 at 18:31, OccyVRS said:

That's £456 a year. Take away £45 for the MOT and £25 for breakdown, £386 is quite an expensive service (especially for an electric vehicle).

The warranty is quite nice, but after you've paid the mandatory investigation fee, you may as well just pay for the extended warranty out of pocket.

There's a reason they're called stealers - they are there to sell you a car and take your money.

This is personal experience - from being sold a crash damaged car to being assured by a master tech the rock lodged in my subframe was just old age sounds of a 2018 car. Useless.

An MOT is £50-odd now....... The roadside recovery is VAG Assist so not £25.... It's currently £120 a year and gives you close to, if not the, maximum AA cover plus the option of a VAG Assist patrol instead (The one's in the silver vans) rather than a normal AA patrol). 😉