2016 Skoda Octavia vrs rust.

jordanplant44

Looking at buying a used car. This particular car has rust on the bottom of the car. Is this amount of rust something to be worried about? Or is it something to avoid? Thanks.

shiraz99

All completely normal. That's purely surface contaminant rust, pretty much the same sort of surface rust you'll see on your disc brakes. Nothing to worry about.

daveyjp

I'd be surprised not to find rust on a six  year old car with mild steel components protected  with a thin layer of paint and exposed to rain and road salt.

Nothing to worry about.

chrisw

Although it's not yet serious, it looks a lot more rust than I would expect on a 6 year old car! Our 12 year old Nissan is nowhere near that rusty. 

Had it been kept in a coastal area somewhere?

Ditzy_Mitzy

It is normal for rust to develop underneath like that.  You can always look at some of the proprietary rust treatments such as Jenolite or Bilt Hamber (supposedly very good), if you want to improve the appearance and, potentially, durability of the bits and pieces.

mluton

Looks normal to me

Ebe_Scrooge

Yep, that's all cosmetic, nothing structural, and totally to be expected on a slightly older car.

I tend to agree with the previous poster as well - whilst it's not serious at the moment, you might want to spend a weekend with a wire brush, followed by some rust-killer, followed by something like Waxoyl, chassis paint, or any of the dozens of other proprietary treatments that are on the market.  Not strictly necessary, but if you're wanting to keep the car for a long time it won't hurt to take a bit of remedial action to prevent it getting worse.

But the bottom line - there's nothing in those pictures that would ring any alarm bells for me.

Mutton_Geoff

Is it a coastal car? Forget expensive products, just brush used engine oil over the areas (1970s style motoring moneysaving tip). Some of my early cars even leaked enough oil to do the job for you!

ratrace

Its a little bit more than what i would expect on a 6 year old car but it all depends where the car has been living ie coast car etc.... its certainly not structural but have the undertrayts etc... been missing for a while if so then that may have contributed to the rust

overall not too much to worrys about but i would make the seller aware of it and get a few pounds to cover the rubdown and seal over with underseal