Lockdown has caused £1000's of damage to our car due to lack of use. What can we do?

peskyparttimer

Our car has been unused throughout the majority of the last year other than the trip to the supermarket twice a month due to covid lockdowns, travel bans etc. The wife went back to work yesterday and the EML and EPC lights came on because the turbo wastegate  actuator has seized up due to lack of use. It will cost nearly £2000 to fix as the whole turbo assembly has to be replaced. Can we claim anything as if it had been a normal year car would have had a couple of decent runs a week of 40-50 miles and this would not have happened? Car is a 66 plate 1.2 TSI Skoda Fabia with 20,000 miles on the clock (out of warranty) but there is a known fault with cars that have been sat on dealers forecourts suffering the same problem. Tried to get a "goodwill gesture" out of Skoda but because its service was missed (again due to lockdown) they will not entertain that idea. If its a "known fault" surely they should fix it. We don't have £2000 to spend on it, my self employed business has virtually disappeared and the wife has worked 7 days in january due to covid outbreak at the nursery she works in.

williamgriffin

peskyparttimer said:

Our car has been unused throughout the majority of the last year other than the trip to the supermarket twice a month due to covid lockdowns, travel bans etc. The wife went back to work yesterday and the EML and EPC lights came on because the turbo wastegate  actuator has seized up due to lack of use. It will cost nearly £2000 to fix as the whole turbo assembly has to be replaced. Can we claim anything as if it had been a normal year car would have had a couple of decent runs a week of 40-50 miles and this would not have happened? Car is a 66 plate 1.2 TSI Skoda Fabia with 20,000 miles on the clock (out of warranty) but there is a known fault with cars that have been sat on dealers forecourts suffering the same problem. Tried to get a "goodwill gesture" out of Skoda but because its service was missed (again due to lockdown) they will not entertain that idea. If its a "known fault" surely they should fix it. We don't have £2000 to spend on it, my self employed business has virtually disappeared and the wife has worked 7 days in january due to covid outbreak at the nursery she works in.

Lack of use and maintenance is down to the owner. 

peskyparttimer

Not when that "lack of use" is enforced by the government and Police surely. "taking the car for a 60 mile run to stop it seizing up officer" don't somehow think that would be classed as an essential journey. Its been started up and revved on the driveway for a few minutes to bring it up to temperature but obviously because its not been subjected to any real load the turbo hasn't been required to produce any boost.

AdrianC

You've been driving it every couple of weeks, though.

williamgriffin

peskyparttimer said:

Not when that "lack of use" is enforced by the government and Police surely. "taking the car for a 60 mile run to stop it seizing up officer" don't somehow think that would be classed as an essential journey. Its been started up and revved on the driveway for a few minutes to bring it up to temperature but obviously because its not been subjected to any real load the turbo hasn't been required to produce any boost.

You've driven it twice a month to the supermarket, you could have gone the long way or gone once a week. The end of summer last year wasn't subject to any bans so you've had ample chances to use it. Went to one of mine yesterday which had a couple of issues all down to me not using it since November. 

peskyparttimer

AdrianC said:

You've been driving it every couple of weeks, though.

Only about 3 miles down country lanes, not enough of a run to make the engine work hard enough to do any good. Turbo doesn't do much unless its driven fairly hard on open roads. Nearest dual carriageway is 30 miles away from us and the wrong side of a Police checkpoint.

williamgriffin

peskyparttimer said:

AdrianC said:

You've been driving it every couple of weeks, though.

Only about 3 miles down country lanes, not enough of a run to make the engine work hard enough to do any good. Turbo doesn't do much unless its driven fairly hard on open roads. Nearest dual carriageway is 30 miles away from us and the wrong side of a Police checkpoint.

I've not heard of these covid checkpoints.

cymruchris

If it's out of warranty and they won't consider a goodwill gesture - there's not much you can do. Goodwill gestures are after all goodwill - there's no guarantee that you'll get one. You can probably get the job done for less at a non-dealer facility - but you'll have to notch it up to experience, and ensure that your car gets a decent run regularly once you've got it repaired. 

elsien

I've managed to get a service and an MOT on my Skoda during various tiers and the current lockdown. I do think there is likely to have been a window where the service could have been completed at some point since last March. 

peskyparttimer

elsien said:

I've managed to get a service and an MOT on my Skoda during various tiers and the current lockdown. I do think there is likely to have been a window where the service could have been completed at some point since last March. 

It was only an oil change service so i did it, at the time they were fully closed (april-may time). So it's not like its not actually been serviced, it just didn't go on the main dealer history record. Wouldn't have contributed to the fault we now have anyhow.

daveyjp

Components on cars fail, once out of warranty the responsibility for repairs lies with the owner.  Turbos are known to fail and they are expensive to repair, two good reasons to avoid them.