So, Sylvia, my 55 plate Oty 4x4 decides not to turn over on Thursday morning.....needed a jump start. Odd, thinks me, but I'll ring the dealer anyway..." oh, I know what's done that mate, it was a recall, yer radio will need flashing, RDS searching while the engines off, bring her in tomorrow morning, only take a few minutes".

So me and Sylvia pop in to Robert Eardley and sons fopr a quick fix.

" leave it with us mate till lunchtime is that OK?" " fine " says me.

Phone call a couple of hours later .... " radio all flashed up mate, you need a new battery though, yours is knackered", " ok " says me " will the warranty cover it", " no mate, it's not a standard Skoda battery anyway thats on it". " Odd " says me " I've had the car since last October ( less than 6 months ) and it's got the battery on YOU sold it to me with, and the car had only done 6k". " yea, know what ya mean mate but it inner covered.... it's £86 quid for the battery, then the VAT, then the fitting charge then the cost of the diagnostic to find out it was your non standard battery":eek:

"give me the number for Skoda UK please, I'm a tad miffed" says me.

" I'll ring you back with it"

10 mins later. the dealer himself on the phone. Explains how I bought the car second hand, with a non standard battery which wouldnt be covered under warranty anyway cos batterys arent and he'll reach a compromise with me and waive the fitting and dig charge, I just have to pay for the battery and the VAT ...... just over £100.

Is it me folks, or is the dealer being reasonable?

I'd price one up from Euro car parts if I were you.

Take them up on the offer mate, £100 for a battery fitted isn't that unreasonable.

I would tell them to think again.....

You'd be looking at around £100 from Halfrauds unless you have trade card.

However - I might be inclined to push that by the admittance of the well known and common radio problem it was that problem that caused your battery to fail and is more than likely the reason why you have a non standard battery fitted in the first place.

UPDATE

Halfrauds, you guessed it £93 for a battery PLUS VAT.....:eek::eek::eek:

Local Battery stockists VARTA BAttery, £84 quid so that's that. Tried to get through to dealer about the radio fault fuggin the battery up but to no avail ...... can't prove that caused the damage, and can't speak to the previous keeper of the car to find out why it's got a different battery cos guess what ...... "he passed away you know, in the car".:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: and it stood for a while ( which explains the low mileage ) ....... what joy, can't wait to tell errr indoors.

Thanks for the comments guys, I do appreciate it.

Oh yea, and me windscreen and me rear window are starting to milk up at the bottom ........ warrant ends in October, trust me, thye dealer WILL be replacing them.

Jesus!

I paid £26 for a battery last week to go on a Vectra TDI lol

"he passed away you know, in the car".:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: and it stood for a while

I'd be looking to exchange that one if possible :eek:

If they sold it to you on an approved used basis, I would have thought that you would have had some come back on the dealer, given that the fault has been known for at least a year (I had the upgrade July last year), and that you bought the car with a third party battery.

I must admit I wouldn't be giving up just yet.

...... "he passed away you know, in the car".:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek: and it stood for a while ( which explains the low mileage ) .......

:eek: That is slightly alarming!

I didn't realise car batteries were so much, or is it because it's a tdi and needs a heftier battery? I'm pretty sure we replaced the battery in our mk2 astra 1.6 petrol in 2003 for about £30 or something.:confused:

Yeah, I'm rather shocked at the cost of a battery. Didn't think they were that much now.

Email Skoda UK and see what they say.

I am going to write to my local dealer after my seemingly new clutch cable snapped last week bought from them, then bought another and was supplied an original part this time and the clutch feels a lot better.

But mines only a £10 part.

I paid over £80 for a battery on my TDI Passat last year, and I really shopped around.

These beefy ones really aren't cheap! :eek: I think when they completely die once, they are never the same again :(

Yeah, I'm rather shocked at the cost of a battery. Didn't think they were that much now.

Dervs always need bigger batteries to start them.

That plus the sky rocketing cost of lead doesn't help. I'm amazed people are not doing the old battery exchange discount again.

When a lead acid totally dies quite often you will damage the plates so it won't ever hold charge quite the same.

As for this, I wouldn't give up and I'd certainly be asking for a bit more than the fitting off. I'd be asking for the battery at cost too as they sold you the car with it.

In fact I'd have a quick call to CAB as there may be something in the fact that they sold you the car claiming a 3 year warranty but then not excluding the part.

My Dads battery went flat on his van, just charged that up and it fired up as normal.