I have bought, but not yet taken delivery of, a Skoda Fabia 1.0 MPI SE 2019 that's done about 36,000 miles. I will have 14 days to either accept or reject it (it's from Cinch).

Any advice on what to check during my 14 day test period?

It had a problem with the coil pack, which has been fixed (parts were 'front engine spark plug x 3' and 'front engine coil pack').

I know very little about cars :).

Welcome. enjoy. Spark plug early demise is common & then coil failure so good that is dealt with. Check the air filter, tyres, and reset the pressures and reset the TPMS. Check paintwork well to see no ropey paint / accident damage.

Thank you very much, I will do that.

If you can check the battery or get someone to do that for you, particularly if the battery is factory original, loads and loads of info on this in the Fabia Mk3 section. If you keep the car you might want to get an appropriate battery charger maintainer to do occasional preventative charges as battery state of charge and health are very important to these VW stop/start cars.

If it is a manual gearbox get an experienced driver who knows a bit about mechanics to check with you that the gear changes and generally driving are OK on the gearbox, a VW or better still Fabia Mk3 1.0 MPI is ideal as generally VW boxes are fine but certainly not the most sophisticated when good.

Check that all the functions on the car's Infotainment work and aren't playing up in anyway. Reading and referring to the car's 'Owner's Manual' will help with this and everything else on the car. If you read it and refer to it during your ownership of any vehicle you can save yourself time, money and hassle and unnecessary visits to garages, mechanics and auto electricians and you will also know more about the vehicle than many long term owners. You can read and refer to the car's manual(s) right now even before you get the car by downloading a free pdf VWŠkoda copy from their site. - https://www.skoda-auto.com/apps/manuals/Models

You can also check if there are any outstanding Recalls by going to the UK gov MoT history page, which I hope you done before buying the car. - https://www.gov.uk/check-mot-history

Also if you have the VIN you can heck VWŠkoda's own page. - https://www.skoda-auto.com/services/recall-campaigns

I don't think Cinch care about service history but you want to, 36k-miles over say 6 years is average 6k-miles per year so a reasonable average but still on the low side which is good for some parts of the car and not so good for others particularly if that mileage is made up of lots of short journeys which is not good and wearing on mechanicals particularly.

You can get a full service history of what is recorded on the system from a Skoda Dealership called "Complete record".

If full and complete it should have 3 brake fluid changes, brakes, which include tyres, are the most important things on a car, not the engine or gearbox or anything else. The engine air filter should have been changed at least once. Engine oil and changes should have been done every 12-months and you want to continue this, but as I've put the engine isn't the most important part of the car the brakes are which include the tyres (which are also important to steering and suspension, road holding, ride comfort and noise).

Get someone who knows about cars to have a good look at the car and rides (plural) or (if appropriate) drives (plural) in different weather and driving conditions and if you aren't happy with the car consider rejecting it.

Lots more information in many threads and posts on the Fabia Mk3 section. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/166-%C5%A1koda-fabia/

Good luck.

Thank you so much for that detailed answer, I'm now getting a good list of specific things to check rather than me just driving around and feeling the vibes. :)

Just realised I forgot about the clutch on 1.0 MPI manuals, on earlier years at least the clutch was weaker than on 1.0 TSI but how long clutches last depends on the car use, lots of short journeys means more gear changes than higher mileage motorway use, and some drivers are very heavy on clutches and some are very light.

VW four cylinder engines aren't the quietest or smoothest sounding engines so those with one less cylinders are a bit more raucous still especially when push on a bit up the rev range. But it all depends on what you are used to and if you have the noise and distractions of radio, phone, T*atNav, etc..

You need things like cold morning starts and labouring or going fast up steep hills with gear changes to test for faults.

If you know anyone with a suitable scan tool you can check for error codes not deleted or current error codes not causing any warning messages or lights.

Cinch seem to price the cars a bit on risk element they might present with lack of history and best to take any number of checks claimed to have been made on or about the car from any car seller generally with a large (shovel load with some) of salt and many are happy to sell in ignorance. Buyer beware.

Thanks again. Buying from Cinch is a bit of an experiment, I'm told the 14 day accept/reject period is genuine - I expect I'll be posting a few specific questions on here when I actually get the car in a couple of weeks.

Cinch is just another part of another company and group using different marketing and sales methods, bit like going into a supermarket and seeing a vast choice and range of one product when probably they all come from the same few main company producer, marketing illusion of choice and company benefits with taxes and closing companies down, selling or moving them more easily when they are made up of different bits.

Cinch is one of the brands of Constellation Automotive Group, others are BCA (British Car Auctions), webuyanycar and Marshall Motor Group, which have their own sub-divisions of companies. -https://www.constellationautomotive.com/our-brands

In Northampton, Cinch is located next door to Marshall Škoda.

As with anything in the UK motor trade their are horror stories about many Dealership providers and the likes of Cinch but also satisfied and happy customers, some companies are better than others and some of the employees of bad companies are good and some employees of good companies are bad - as always buyer beware.

As I put before, lots more information in many threads and posts on the Fabia Mk3 section. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/forum/166-%C5%A1koda-fabia/

Before you even get the car (best before even buying the car) read and refer to the car's 'Owner's Manual' by downloading a free pdf VWŠkoda copy from their site. - https://www.skoda-auto.com/apps/manuals/Models

Good luck.

Edited 20 April20 Apr by nta16
missing word

@Sipas Welcome aboard!!!

Please check the Engine and transmission thoroughly. If these two are good, your will have a peace of mind. Other things are secondary. I recommend a compression test and head gasket leak test. Check all the sensors through VCDS. Check for leaks in coolant and A/C systems. Paintwork is also important but to me its secondary. Also, you can check alignment of body (rarely done by anyone).

Also I recommend following after buying the car:
1. Change all the oils (including transmission oil)
2. Change all the filters (including fuel filter)
3. Flush coolant
4. Recharge A/C gas (if necessary)
5. Get your wheel bolts torqued correctly (for smoother ride).

6. Get you car a detailed wash.

I would also recommend changing spark plugs and coils with the originals (if not done already).

@nta also gave a good suggestion about battery. If its dying, please change.

Thanks for the advice, some of those things are beyond me :) but I'll check as many as I can.

On 28/04/2026 at 23:43, Sipas said:

Thanks for the advice, some of those things are beyond me :) but I'll check as many as I can.

Don’t worry too much about the tyres - I’ve yet to see a used dealer car under 400bhp that comes with nice tyres.

^^^ But then there are plenty cars, maybe leased that go back into trade with Good Tyres fitted, even Ex Motability cars, simply because some drivers will not drive on Sh!te tyres through winters and might fit All Season / Winter bias tyres or just not 'Ditch Finder ECO tyres'.

Thanks for the comments.

I now have the car and have done some checks and test drives. So far I'm quite impressed with it. The only thing I've found so far is that the ASR warning light sometimes comes on (and the triangle warning light stays on until restart). I've checked the threads on here and can see that there might be several causes (loose/broken wire, MAF needs cleaning). Not enough to reject it I don't think.

FWIW I had Kwik Fit do their free 'vehicle safety check', which didn't find anything.

Will be doing a longer, motorway drive on Saturday, and hoping for some heavy rain before I have to accept/reject.

4 hours ago, Evolution13 said:

^^^ But then there are plenty cars, maybe leased that go back into trade with Good Tyres fitted, even Ex Motability cars, simply because some drivers will not drive on Sh!te tyres through winters and might fit All Season / Winter bias tyres or just not 'Ditch Finder ECO tyres'.

Maybe so, but in my experience I’ve yet to see them! My Octavia was insanely cared for and maintained, but it still came with three Davantis and one Prestivo. I googled Prestivo and it came up as being a cheaper tyre made by Yoko and meant to be alright.

They weren’t.

16 hours ago, Sipas said:

The only thing I've found so far is that the ASR warning light sometimes comes on (and the triangle warning light stays on until restart). I've checked the threads on here and can see that there might be several causes (loose/broken wire, MAF needs cleaning). Not enough to reject it I don't think.

You have me confused ASR(?), by Googling comes up with Anti Slip Regulation wihich in the 'Owner's Manual' for my wife's 2015 Fabia is the acronyms of ESC (stability control) or TCS (traction control) warning symbol so nothing to do with MAF (engine Mass Air Flow). You shouldn't generally have any issues with ther MAF at 36,000 miles (average of over 5k-miles per year but that's just an average actually annual mileage could vary a lot).

2109 cars are full of very complex and intertwinned computer systems on top of the mechanical and electrical systems so this adds another layer of complexity to running and repairing the cars and the Germans including VW for many decades back have (over) complicated their system. A small fault in one system can create an issue in another system that may seem unrelated.

Whatever warning symbol it is could be a very simple repair or it could be a very expensive and complicated repair and/or perhaps something that reaccures. Unless you have someone with an appropriate level scan tool abnd the knowledge to correctly interpret the report I would suggest you reject the car. Some Briskoda members have such scan tools and are willing to use them on other members cars aften for a beer token only (but not if a professional) so see the map on the following link and see if you are able to contact someone near to you and if they are able to help you. - https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/262215-list-of-vcds-owners-previously-known-as-vag-com-vcp-owners/#comment-3091029

HTH.