Skoda problems - please help.

paulellie

Can anyone offer any advice on the below tail of woe?

I bought a 2006 registered Skoda Fabia from Loders Skoda, in Yeovil in December 2008. The car had 47000 miles and was in good condition. At the time of purchase, I was given 12 months skoda warrenty and asked if I wish to extend this to 3 years. My initial response was no - the price was £400 and Skodas are reliable. The Skoda salesman then reduced it to £300 and then £200. At £200 I asked whether the warrenty (provided by Autoprotect) would provide me the same cover as a Skoda warrenty, at which point I was told yes. I signed the contract and so did the skoda salesman.
Within the first 6 months, the car was returned to the garage for poor running - this included lack of power and rough running. It took several times to find the problem and under the manufacturers warrenty they replaced half the wiring harness and the battery. The car seemed better and as there were no warning lights, we drove away. We thought that maybe as it was the high bhp 1.4 petrol, it didn't run as smooth as a 1.4 16 valve Seat Ibiza with lower bhp we used to own and didn't think anything of it.
We have also experienced several problems with air-con. We have had a new condenser fitted and due to skodas incompetence, we have also had a pressure switch fitted and the system regassed 3 times due to them failing to spot the leak. This was at our cost except for the condenser which skoda paid for.
These things are not issues, the next steps are.
Over the last 5 months we have experienced problems with the exhaust emissions warning light coming on. The car has been misfiring. On the first visit to Skoda in Derby (near where we now live), it was only misfiring on 1 cylinder. The skoda garage diagnosed the Lamda probe as being faulty. Autoprotect agreed to pay for this part and reimbursed me - however, my warrenty does not cover the Skoda labour rate - why would you buy a warranty from a main dealer that would not cover the cost of them repairing anything? This was news to me on my first claim.
This did not solve the problem. The light then came on several weeks later and went off again. Running rough and misfiring on one cylinder. It came to a head 5 weeks ago when driving to work, the emissions light was flashing and the car was misfiring on 2 cylinders. We could not get the car into Skoda due to them not having a courtesy car, so we took it to a local non-skoda garage in Lutterworth Leicestershire (our home town) as recommended by Skoda Leicester.
This is what happened:
* Changed plugs, coils and injectors around - no change in misfire
* Sent ECU off for analysis - no faults.
All this cost £350 and although Autoprotect agreed with garage to send ECU off for analysis, they don't pay diagnostic charges. We have paid this.
Once this was done, they could not get the car to misfire. I picked it up and the following morning and 17 miles later it went back in with misfires again.
Then:
* Pressure test engine - valves identified as being problem
* Engine stripped - Valves on cylinder 2 and 1 failed and need remachining - Autoprotect state that this type of failure is not covered as we can not prove what caused it. They could not describe what sort of failure would be covered. Skoda also offerred no help - would not let us speak to a specialist and are leaving up to me and autoprotect to sort out.
* Valves done and put back together - still not running - misfiring and all warning lights on on dash. Car sent to electrical specialist and they cannot find a fault. It looks as if Piston rings may also be at fault.
This has lasted 5 weeks, we still don't have our car, total bill = £1000+. It is also costing us £45 a week for the courtesy car and Skoda and autoprotect are doing nothing. (Our car has only done 72000 miles and this engine is known on forums as having piston ring problems). After ringing Skoda they stated that as it is in an independent garage, they can't do anything. We said we could transfer it to a Skoda garage, and if we did what help would they offer? They declined to respond.
We asked the head of warranties for Loders to send us a reason in writing why they would not pay. This was 3 weeks ago. We also asked for a breakdown of everything that was done to the car whilst it was in the garage for the first 6 months we owned it plus records before we owned it. We have reminded the person twice to send this with no avail.
I think I have been treated really unfairly. I feel I have been missold a warrenty and I also believe the garage are shirking their moral and legal responsibilities with the warrenty seeing as they were acting as the agent. I also feel that the warrenty must cover this and the fact I can't get anything in writing supports my feelings.
I also learnt that even if the valves or piston rings had failed and were deemed a failure that they would cover (for example if they turned into marshmallows or something:-)), then they would just cover that part. No new head gasket, timing belt, head skimming, etc would be covered - that would be at my cost. Even though if this failure had not occurred, I would not need to do this maintenance.
I need help. I need to know what to do now. I am considering going to the press but need some advice on where I stand.
- - - - - -

Manufacturer of one unhappy driver!!!

anewman

Here's a Skoda specific forum www.briskoda.net where you might find some people with more knowledge on those issues than I

I understand the 1.4 16v VW engine has a tendency for piston ring failure, which I suspect is caused by owners using the incorrect fuel - it needs super unleaded.

hewhoisnotintheknow

what will the skoda fan boys make of this? Buy another skoda as this one was clearly not a proper skoda?

Maybe buy a honda jazz?

anewman

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

what will the skoda fan boys make of this? Buy another skoda as this one was clearly not a proper skoda?

Maybe buy a honda jazz?

Yeah the old Skoda's are better, less VW junk.

And back to the warranty issue in the OP, this is why I would never take out a warranty, too many exclusions and too much effort to get them to pay up. I think they like to think of your money as near enough pure profit when you purchase the policy.

Some posts about this warranty scheme, none good.

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/84275-skoda-extended-warranty-doesnt-exist/page__p__1026802__hl__autoprotect__fromsearch__1&#entry1026802

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/154012-extended-warranty-decision/page__p__1910200__hl__autoprotect__fromsearch__1&#entry1910200

http://briskoda.net/forums/topic/167131-extended-warranties/page__p__2036664__hl__autoprotect__fromsearch__1&#entry2036664

If it is as you say then I suspect a good VAG independent is the way to go as it would probably be cheaper than getting it done with the warranty.

Lum

I once encountered a warranty that only covered "all lubricated moving parts".

So if your head gasket goes, not covered; brake lines, not covered; ECU, not covered; and so on, and so on.

I also encountered one with a £250 excess that for my age of car had a claim limit of £250.

I got ripped off on one too. The garage sold me a Subaru with a warranty that excluded turbocharged cars and/or 4wd cars.

They're all a complete con, IMO.

flyingscotno1

hewhoisnotintheknow wrote: »

what will the skoda fan boys make of this? Buy another skoda as this one was clearly not a proper skoda?

Maybe buy a honda jazz?

Perhaps the fact that even the best manufactures make lemons every now and again- even the Japanese!

anewman

flyingscotno1 wrote: »

Perhaps the fact that even the best manufactures make lemons every now and again- even the Japanese!

Sadly the 1.4 16v piston rings is a known issue, probably more of an issue on the older ones I'd have thought - but as I said above I'd put this down to many owners not reading the manual or inside the fuel filler flap and sticking standard unleaded in when super unleaded is specified. The result is the petrol ignites sooner forcing the piston down before it has fully reached the top which causes damage and often makes a distinctive sound known as pinking.

To the OP's credit, I doubt if the previous owner ran it on super and they ran it on standard, at that sort of mileage, the damage would have occurred due to them alone. It could even be that previous owners used standard and OP used super.

I think the 1.4 8v (Skoda) and 16v (VW) petrol Fabias are probably best avoided myself. The 8v is the better of the two mechanically but enjoys the fuel a bit much and is based on a rather ancient pushrod design. At the small petrol engine end my preference would be for the 1.2 htp.

Kilty_2

I do find it odd that you were sold an AutoProtect warranty - my approved used Skoda (...... a Vauxhall Astra, :rotfl:) came with a warranty provided and underwritten by Skoda UK.

Claimed twice on said warranty with no problems whatsoever and the dealer (Chatham's) were excellent.