Just had a letter from Skoda UK about the end of the Citygates dealer group. They sent a list of other Southern area dealers and they are all miles away. What am I supposed to do about warranty work? Suppose I have a fault such that I can't even drive the car to them - does mine get picked up and a courtesy car left? Anybody out there had experience of this please?

You will have AA breakdown cover for 3 years from first registration. That includes a courtesy car.

If it's run of the mill warranty work then you will have to get it to the nearest dealer who may well supply a courtesy car if required.

Although you may well have new dealer soon anyway.

Really? Any clues? Anyway regarding above letter, I think Skoda UK got it slightly wrong. My car was supplied by Ballamy's, not Citygates [same group] via Clarion Cars. Also I did hear that the third member of the group, Saltdean, was carrying on but only to do warranty work. Any idea if that is correct still?

Ballamys was part of the citygates group which included Saltdean Garage (peacehaven). When I went around to the servicing dept in early August (Saltdean garage) there was a note indicating that they were shut for the timebeing or words to that effect - on the skoda uk site they were still being shown as a servicing/warranty garage although the car dealership had disappeared along with their other garages. I queried this with skoda uk by e-mail and they said it was a mistake and would be removed - last time I looked it hadn't. When I drove past the service dept the other day it was still shut up.

The nearest garage that specialises in skoda parts is appartently the ex dealer clarion cars in Worthing they can fit parts so that it doesn't void your warranty but can't do anything for you if something needs doing under warranty for that you need to take the car to a skoda dealer. There have also been adverts in my local leader saying that Anchor garage in Peacehaven can supply skoda parts but I'm not sure about taking my car there as its just a garage and it had some bad press about 2 years ago under health and safety...

My nearest skoda garage is either Crawley Down, Hastings or Ewhurst in Surrey - all about 40 miles away and not very accessible being on the coast. I am hoping someone will step into the void and set up a dealership around Brighton as there must be a market what with all the taxi drivers etc. Abbots something or rather was going to merge with the Saltean garage but that fell through shortly before the Receivers were called in.

Talking of Receivers I had a letter from them saying I still owed the deposit on my new car. Fortunately I paid by credit card and have been able to furnish them with documentary proof that I do not owe the company any money but it sounds to me as if the company's accounting was poor to say the least.

I am hoping someone will step into the void and set up a dealership around Brighton as there must be a market what with all the taxi drivers etc. Abbots something or rather was going to merge with the Saltean garage but that fell through shortly before the Receivers were called in.

Indeed there are many taxi drivers in and around the Brighton area that currently drive Skoda's, most are having to drive along the coast to Saunders Abbot in St'Leonards (between Bexhill and hastings) this is a total nightmare as the roads are **** due to all the tree hugging hippies who wont let us have a dual carriageway and consequently all large busnisses are moving out of the area.

Anyway, i'd guess there are probably over a thousand Skoda taxis in this area, a big potential market I think you'll agree, however - Saltdean Skoda did such a good job of ripping everyone off and treating all there customers like turds, i'd be very suprised if I didn't see the number of Skoda taxis rapidly diminish over coming years, once bitten, twice shy as they say!

i'm not surprised that citygates went down the kermit!! they always seemed to be able to not be able to find the faults on my fabia if i took it to them. "oh, there's supposed to run a bit rough" was what one of thier delightfull technicians told me. they always seemed to talk to me like i was some kind of idiot!

How many of all yhe Skoda Taxi's that you mention are purchased and serviced at a franchised dealer??

Most drivers I know buy their cars from the Taxi Centre in Glasgow and have them serviced at a third party garage.

I got my car from Clarion [specialist dealer] in West Worthing - I have to say they are very good, good trade in deal, had my annual service there, but they can't do free warranty work. If I was Skoda I'd give them the okay to do it, the service manager there is friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. The car was sourced from Ballamy's, according to my book, but brought down from Milton Keynes[???]

Got my Mk 1 vRS from Saltdean but didn't have anything for them to do except a 1 yr service, a.k.a a

How many of all yhe Skoda Taxi's that you mention are purchased and serviced at a franchised dealer??

Most drivers I know buy their cars from the Taxi Centre in Glasgow and have them serviced at a third party garage.

Most of them will have been purchased privately by their owners from a franchised garage and serviced at said garage until the warranty runs out, then either replaced with a new vehicle or serviced at non-franchise garages for another couple of years whereby most have reached the end of their working life.

Very few drivers (in fact only the new drivers into the trade who are a bit naive) purchase from so called taxi specialists like the afore mentioned Taxi Centre, it works out ridiculously expensive to buy through specialists, and they offer no advantage either since the legal test case where ford were forced to honor a warranty on a taxi. (most manufacturers used to have a clause in the warranty voiding it if the car was used as a taxi, they must now honor the same warranty conditions as for a private buyer)

When I was in and out of Saltdean I seem to recall they were pushing a special deal for taxi purchasers.

Basically the deal is you dont pay VAT, they record it as a business purchase.

Most dealers also give 20% discount on parts/service to taxi drivers too.

Did anyone see The Argus a few weeks ago with Evans Halshaw (Ford franchise) stating "They could service all Skodas to the correct spec/parts without invalidating the warranty" They must have had the local taxi fleet in mind.

Personally, I'd like to see a Brighton area garage pick-up the deal with support from Skoda UK but if travelling a bit to maintain peace-of-mind is required then I guess it has to be done. Nothing like a blast out of town now and then...

Any VAT registered garage can service and repair a vehicle and still maintain the manufacturers warranty as long as they follow the schedule and use OEM parts. It's known as the EU Block Exemption.

Yes, but is that the same as doing FREE warranty work? I.e. will Skoda repay them?

I'm not sure that I'd want Evans Halshaw working on my car unless they have changed from a few years ago.

I emailed Clarion cars on this - they can fit skoda parts etc so your warranty is not invalidated (like any garage can do under the new regulations) but when it comes to warranty work to get that done free you need to take it to a skoda dealership.

the problem as i see it is you take the car to a garage for servicing in the warranty period and then they discover something which is claimable under warranty then you have to go to the hassle of taking it to a dealer which if you live near Brighton is about 40miles away.

Can't say I was impressed with Evans Halshaw when it was originally a Vauxhall dealer.

I saw an advert in the Argus? a few weeks ago that there is a BOSCH garage service centre in Portslade/Southwick and that they fit manufacturers parts - anyone any experience of these type of garages?

As I eluded to earlier, there may well be a new dealership in Chichester soon - keep your eyes peeled.

Well that would be a lot easier than dragging over to Fareham but still not exactly on my doorstep. If nothing else, I'd like to twist their arms into doing my rattly door seals now that the modified ones are apparently coming along and being fitted.

Well that would be a lot easier than dragging over to Fareham but still not exactly on my doorstep. If nothing else, I'd like to twist their arms into doing my rattly door seals now that the modified ones are apparently coming along and being fitted.

What's wrong with Winchester Motor Company? I have found them to be extremely helpful and very friendly! They are a joy!

I'm sure they are fine but quite a trip to just get some seals fixed. I don't know if they can do it on the spot. I'll ask and if they can maybe we will have a day out around the town, which I do like very much.

Otherwise I'll try to grab a courtesy car and go back another day.

I have put an email into Skoda UK to see if the seals are becoming generally available yet.

I have just been directed to this thread after my original post below. Very interesting stuff. As of today (Sep 13th) Saltdean Garage remains firmly shut and no sign of life.

Bought my Octavia TDi new just over 2 years ago from longstanding main dealer Saltdean Garage (near Brighton). Called in recently to discover the receivers had got there first, all shut down. Any ideas on what happened? Is the Skoda marque in trouble? Saltdean were not very good re servicing but at least local. Suggestions please for reliable warranty servicing replacement garage.

Main pain has been door locks repeatedly triggering while driving. Cured by replacement rhf lock and computer. (they first fitted a left hand drive computer, very interesting drive experience).

Still to be resolved windows sometimes wind down halfway when doors locked electronically, often when it is raining (sods law). Also rarely can return to car after several hours to find windows half down again. (Saltdean advised not to leave anything in car!).

Any advice on what I should tell the mechanics to fix would be very welcome. So far damp upholstery caused by rain and not dossers.

Are you sure your not just holding the button down on the remote? that opens and closes the windows if you hold it too long. (the lock & unlock buttons that is)

I got my Mk1 vRS from Saltdean - didn't have to trouble them with any faults so don't know what they were like. A few weeks back it was announced [in the Argus I think] that the group were closing, but Saltdean would stay open for warranty work - apparently not! The Argus story was not so much they'd gone broke as they found selling new Skodas unprofitable so were pulling the plug. Sounds now more like they went broke. Haven't yet popped along to Ballamys to see if they are still trading as a Saab main dealer - which they did very nicely for years before being taken over.

Though I'm booked with the Bexhill lot for the Mk 2's door seals, I've since worked out that distance and time-wise I'd have been better off going to Crawley Down - almost like going up to Gatwick. Anybody know what Crawley are like as dealers?

Though I'm booked with the Bexhill lot for the Mk 2's door seals, I've since worked out that distance and time-wise I'd have been better off going to Crawley Down - almost like going up to Gatwick. Anybody know what Crawley are like as dealers?

Be aware that Bexhill are no longer main Dealers either, despite still having all the signs up!!

And they aren't actually in Bexhill anymore, they moved down the road to St Leonards a while back, can be difficult to find if you dont spot the small turning onto a sh*tty little industrial estate.

Oh right, in that case how do they do warranty work? Hope they don't think I'm going to pay for this!

Bah! I used to get my car serviced at Ballamys!

Saying that, it's not a total loss, the Daewoo courtesy car was cr@p!

Looks like Crawley down for me then.

edmra, I take it you live near worthing too, I'll keep my eyes peeled for you. I might finally get in the "was it you?" section!