Skoda car with repeated faults - 4 months after purchase.

mikcatta

First of all, please be nice. My last question generated some unhelpful comments, that hit me hard.

So in Feb'24 I brought a Skoda Fabia from Skoda dealer. It is a '71 plate, but still under 3 yrs old, with approx 24k miles on the clock.

The car was paid with £250 deposit on my credit card. £3250 from p/ex and the balance paid by bank transfer. I am a private customer, not a business in anyway.

Within days of collecting the car, it triggered the tyre pressure warning light (TPMS). I checked and all tyres were at their correct pressure. They took it in and reset it.

On our first trip away it triggered a further two times (once on the M1 and again turning around in the carpark). Again, the tyre pressure had not budged. This time, they said it was a fault with the brakes leaking oil and replaced the offending brake pad.

Within 4 days of getting the car back. It triggered an EPC warning on the dash. As I had no idea of whether that was serious or not, Skoda assistance (aka The AA) came out, checked it, found no fault and reset it. The dealer said as it had been reset, there was nothing they could do, even though the Skoda assistance said it need fully checking by a Skoda technician. After much complaining, they took it in and, voila! found it needed a software upgrade to fix the issue with the EPC. (Crikey my car needs a software update to fix it!).

So June and we are on our way to Cornwall for our holiday, poodling around the M25 and the TPMS warning triggers again for the same tyre as before. Again tyre pressure checked and no loss found. 

By this time I am fed up with this car. It has been back to main dealer now 3 times since Feb. They are now saying it needs to go back again.

So to my question..... As the deposit was paid on my M&S credit card, what are my chances of getting a full refund via a section 75 charge-back (apologises if that's wrong)? The garage has been helpful in lending me a car FOC, but I have lost all confidence in this Skoda car. BTW Skoda UK are not at all helpful.

born_again

Does the TPMS display each tyre pressure, or does it just give a warning one is low?

If latter then a sensor is not working, possible broken wire given the intermittent nature of error, As this system works by reading wheel rotation speed. Also these tie in with EPC etc.

mikcatta

born_again said:

Does the TPMS display each tyre pressure, or does it just give a warning one is low?

If latter then a sensor is not working, possible broken wire given the intermittent nature of error, As this system works by reading wheel rotation speed. Also these tie in with EPC etc.

Thank you for your reply

You would imagine that the main Skoda dealer would of fixed the issue with the TPMS reporting a low-pressure on one tyre, having had it back numerous times now. But was not the question I asked. 

Aylesbury_Duck

mikcatta said:

So to my question..... As the deposit was paid on my M&S credit card, what are my chances of getting a full refund via a section 75 charge-back 

Zero.

After four months you're not entitled to a full refund.  I suspect your credit provider isn't likely to easily accept that what are relatively trivial problems warrant rejection of the car.

Have you tried rejecting the car with the dealer?  That would be the first question your credit provider would ask, I'm sure.  

Arunmor

You can reset the TPMS yourself and save a trip to the garage.

But I guess that doesn't solve the problem, your system should tell you which wheel is causing the problem.  If I were you I would reset and keep checking to see if it is the same one then hopefully that will narrow down the issue.

tedted

Depends on what type is fitted if you reset it at low pressure it accepts this

pinkshoes

As they've had a chance to repair it and failed then yes you can reject it but you certainly can't have a full refund after 4 months of use.

The refund will need to be proportional to the mileage you've done.

How many miles have you've driven since purchase? 

I think the deduction previously recommended/suggested is 45p a mile up to 10,000 miles then 25p a mile after that.

mikcatta

pinkshoes said:

As they've had a chance to repair it and failed then yes you can reject it but you certainly can't have a full refund after 4 months of use.

The refund will need to be proportional to the mileage you've done.

How many miles have you've driven since purchase? 

I think the deduction previously recommended/suggested is 45p a mile up to 10,000 miles then 25p a mile after that.

Thankyou, I believe I have done approximately 2,500 miles since purchase. All I want is a car that is reliable.....

mikcatta

Aylesbury_Duck said:

mikcatta said:

So to my question..... As the deposit was paid on my M&S credit card, what are my chances of getting a full refund via a section 75 charge-back 

Zero.

After four months you're not entitled to a full refund.  I suspect your credit provider isn't likely to easily accept that what are relatively trivial problems warrant rejection of the car.

Have you tried rejecting the car with the dealer?  That would be the first question your credit provider would ask, I'm sure.  

No, not tried that, so thank you for the tip. I am a bit at my wits-end, having brought this car in Feb, I never expected/wanted this trouble and my only wish that I can use it without the darn thing producing some kind of warning lights on the dash every few weeks. In all ,my 35yrs of driving, I've never had a car this bad and what's worse is that it's the newest/most expensive I've owned to date.

Aylesbury_Duck

mikcatta said:

pinkshoes said:

As they've had a chance to repair it and failed then yes you can reject it but you certainly can't have a full refund after 4 months of use.

The refund will need to be proportional to the mileage you've done.

How many miles have you've driven since purchase? 

I think the deduction previously recommended/suggested is 45p a mile up to 10,000 miles then 25p a mile after that.

Thankyou, I believe I have done approximately 2,500 miles since purchase. All I want is a car that is reliable.....

It doesn't sound as if it's unreliable, it has just had some sensor problems.  Assuming the two non-TPMS problems have been permanently fixed, the TPMS is clearly an irritation rather than a reliability problem.  It should be fixed of course, but until it is, can you not simply disable the alert?  There's evidently not an actual pressure loss, and you should be doing regular visual and pressure checks on tyres, anyway, not relying on TPMS to tell you when there's a problem.  It's a helpful alert of course, but the car is perfectly driveable without it.

I would speak to the dealer, tell them you want to wait until they are confident they can fix the problem and at a time that works for you.  If they can't fix it this time, you are considering rejecting the car, as you're entitled to do.  It might prompt some proper attention.

If you're really fed up with the car, reject it, but be prepared to take a big hit on the value.  

boobyd

Has it had 2 new tyres on same axle?
I had an issue with another make that the TPMS kept intermittently illuminating,took it to the main dealer,they asked about new tyres and said some are coded against anhub/axle,they "said" they swapped and all was okay.
Not sure if it was Bull but it cleared.(Did come on once and the pressure was down)