[Estate Man]

lemonvrs, on 09 August 2010 - 09:49, said:

I too have a dealer that wont say what oil they use :thumbdown: they just say its to VAG spec and they buy in bulk and its as good as any other oil.
In my experience of all main dealers you find the person doing your basic service is an apprentice and a non too bright one either!

Over the years Ive had engines overfilled with oil, been charged for screenwash over and over when Ive topped it up the day before, had items not replaced, service indicators left on after the service, books not stamped, parts damaged during servicing, paint damaged wrong oils used and more.

Non of the above has been with Skoda and I hope that continues as Im very happy with my car, but talk to others and they have very similar stories. It would be great if main dealers were the Utopia mentioned in this thread but on the whole... they are not.

Lemon, I haven't said and certainly didn't mean to imply main dealers are the utopia, but having worked in the trade for many years I know it quite well, and I know most of the dealerships in my area. I can tell you most are very good and not like it used to be in the old days. The technicians who work at the dealerships are very professional too. I'm not saying you don't get the odd not very good technician, they are human and can have off days just like you and me, but on the whole they are good and well trained and take nothing for granted. Apprentices are not allowed to work unsupervised on jobs they don't know about or haven't been trained to do. So if an apprentice is doing a job on your car there is no reason why it shouldn't be done correctly. It will still be checked in most instances by a qualified technician. It will depend on the type of job concerned and how advanced the apprentice is with his training. So, you should not feel concerned about that.

Sorry Paully if we've bumped your thread a bit!

This post has been edited by Estate Man: 09 August 2010 - 19:37

[TSIDSG?]

I priced the cost of servicing for my soon to arrive?1? Fabia 105 TDi, the Skoda Dealer wishes to charge just over the £200. The Dealer who has been servicing my leased Passat is currently servicing Skodas for 50% less!!

I just hope the deal is still on early next year when I need my first service :thumbup:

[Estate Man]

TSIDSG?, on 09 August 2010 - 19:46, said:

I priced the cost of servicing for my soon to arrive?1? Fabia 105 TDi, the Skoda Dealer wishes to charge just over the £200. The Dealer who has been servicing my leased Passat is currently servicing Skodas for 50% less!!

I just hope the deal is still on early next year when I need my first service :thumbup:

TS, are you talking about the first service at 10k miles? If that is so, it's a bit expensive. A Skoda dealer should be charging you quite a bit less than £200. More like £80 I would say. I paid £76 for my first service on my 1422cc TDI Mk2 at my main Skoda dealer, and he did everything in the service schedule as laid down in the service book. I understand the two engines, although different only needs the same treatment, eg. oil, filter and usual other engine checks, a good check over the car's brakes and underside, look for any obvious faults etc. Reset the service indicator and your done. My local VAG independent wanted £130 and didn't seem to know what needed doing and said it would be GTX they would use in the motor (something that will kill a PD engines camshaft quite quickly)! The main Skoda dealer here in Colchester loaned me a courtesy car for FREE for the day. Not even an insurance fee to pay. No courtesy car from the independent. Just might be worth rechecking that price as I think someone may have misunderstood what service you were enquiring about. I noted that when I bought my new Skoda the sales guys told me the first service was £200. I quietly went to the service desk a queried this and then got told the good news. Don't take the sales guys word as gospel if it was them who told you that price.