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

Norman_Castle

As its a known fault I'd search the Skoda forums for advice. I had to contact a turbo specialist last year who could recondition a turbo for far cheaper than replacing it.

Example, https://www.midlandturbo.com/collections/popular-turbochargers/products/turbocharger-789016

wongataa

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.

In England there has never been any limit to how far you could travel during any of the lockdowns.  Going the long way to the supermarket to get things nice and hot is still travelling for food and is perfectly OK.

Mutton_Geoff

wongataa said:

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.

In England there has never been any limit to how far you could travel during any of the lockdowns.  Going the long way to the supermarket to get things nice and hot is still travelling for food and is perfectly OK.

And doing just 3 mile journeys in any car is bad for it regardless of any lockdown. Perhaps compo due as this isn't written in capitals on the front of the user manual.

daveyjp

mattyprice4004 said:

daveyjp said:

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.

Last car was on the original turbo at 290,000 miles, current car is on 195,000 miles (also original) and the 'work car' is just about to tick over to 200,000 miles with the original turbo too.
Can't see the issue myself, if it's a crap design that doesn't mean they're all bad.
First two are both Garrett GT2260V and the third is a GT15.

No mention they were all bad.

Turbos fail is a true statement. My last turbo petrol had a new turbo under warranty at 15,000 miles, 12 months old.

They are expensive when they go wrong is also true as the OP is finding out.

couriervanman

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.

Doesn't need a 60 mile,,,,,,wife's car was hardly used for months so it was taken on 25 mile dual carriageway run every 2 weeks but that run was on a 6 mile stretch ie up and down a few times. So never far from home but more than enough to give it a good thrash at 70mph

jimjames

Turbo replacement on my car cost £600 all in from local mechanic. VW cost was over £2000. So there are much cheaper ways of fixing your problem

noclaf

daveyjp said:

mattyprice4004 said:

daveyjp said:

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.

Last car was on the original turbo at 290,000 miles, current car is on 195,000 miles (also original) and the 'work car' is just about to tick over to 200,000 miles with the original turbo too.
Can't see the issue myself, if it's a crap design that doesn't mean they're all bad.
First two are both Garrett GT2260V and the third is a GT15.

No mention they were all bad.

Turbos fail is a true statement. My last turbo petrol had a new turbo under warranty at 15,000 miles, 12 months old.

They are expensive when they go wrong is also true as the OP is finding out.

The problem is not all turbos but some car brands and models seem to have more frequent issues than others.
VAG TSI reliability seems patchy, there were issues with earlier variants of the 1.4 TSI in the Golf though seemed to be resolved with latter versions. The DSG gearboxes in the lower powered TSI engines also appear to be rather suspect for long term reliability.
I'm actually considering a Leon or Golf at the moment (used) but the patchy reliability on the TSI engines makes me hesitate. In fairness both Ecoboost (Ford) and Vauxhall's more recent 1.4T engines seemto have their own share of issues so I wonder is the root of the problems forced induction being coupled with increasingly smaller (1.0,1.2l) engines.....for context I my 54 plate focus 1.8 (petrol) is doing around 5 miles a week on average since Covid began...cold starts, gets driven hard every time and yet just keeps going and going. 
I also don't recall there being many issues with older turbocharged cars when the engine sizes were bigger..with exception of some TFSI VAG engines that liked a drink of oil every now and then

cannugec5

I bought a van just before the lockdown last year. I’ve had to pay tax, insurance, mot etc. However anything caused by lack of use will be entirely offset by the reduced fuel consumption  
And yes, it has been serviced and Mot’d during the pandemic. 

A_Lert

I rarely drive my car (naturally aspirated) more than a 6 mile journey. Such use is not unusual. And while I know frequent short trips wears the car out more than the same mileage in longer faster trips, I wouldn't consider it normal for a car to outright break just because it never gets a dual carriageway run.

Was the issue known about before last March? If so, were you informed of it and of the need to do sufficiently long drives to prevent the turbo siezing? If not, then I wouldn't rule out you having a case. Known fault present since manufacture after all.

welshmoneylover

This has to be a wind up? No one was banned from driving to go and get food from a supermarket however far you would need to travel to it!