This question is a bit obscure but I thought it would be worth asking on this knowledgeable forum. I have a 2010 Superb Elegance which, as you would expect, has a factory fitted Columbus unit. The screen got cracked in normal use, i.e. I broke it with my finger. My local Skoda dealer wants £2,660.51 (inc VAT) to replace it, almost all of which is for the unit. Fortunately my insurer, Direct Line, will pay for most of this although it will hit my NCB next year. Skoda Customer Services was unhelpful and has not offered any repair or P/Ex alternatives to reduce the cost, despite the unit being almost new. In my opinion, the repair charge is unjustifiable and Skoda is simply exploiting the fact that their channels have to be used in order to maintain the warranty. So much for happy drivers - and thank goodness the car is superb otherwise - I noticed on Skoda's web site (link below) that they offer a Columbus upgrade for £1583.99. Does anyone know if this is the exact same unit that I'm being offered for an extra £1K, or is it a lower specification? Although the repair won't cost me much I'm pretty mad at Skoda and on principle want to try and reduce their OTT pricing, regardless of who is paying.

Hopefully other Columbus users will learn from my mistake and make sure that they are very light fingered when using the touch screen. One jab could cost you dearly!

http://www.accessories.skoda.co.uk/productsList.aspx?type=a&id=11&main=Music%20and%20Communication⊂=Satellite%20Navigation

The columbus link you posted is not an upgrade price, thats the price to go into a dealer and buy one. 2.6K is completely wrong, you can get one far cheaper of the internet.

Thats said, people who have used mine have jabbed at the screen and its still fine, you must have pressed very hard to break it.

I've got a spare screen if you want one?......

I stand corrected; it's actually listed as an accessory although I assume it could be used for an upgrade. The real question is whether it's exactly the same item as Skoda has priced at £2.6K. Not easy for me to know as the part codes they provide differ. I have however asked the dealer to comment. I'm not sure why the screen split, possibly it was defective but proving that would be very difficult unless it were a common problem. Even assuming it was my fault, the ‘fine’ imposed by Skoda seems totally disproportionate to the level of negligence. These units are also unlikely to cost Skoda anything like the retail price that they're asking.

Thanks for the offer of the screen. Unfortunately as the car is leased and in warranty period I will have to get the repair done by a Skoda dealer.

Jeezus, they're trying to absolutely shaft you.

The dealer cost should be ~£1500 (which is still a rip-off) but if it comes down to it you can fairly easily pick one up here, ebay or various other outlets 2nd-hand for £450-£500.

Jeezus, they're trying to absolutely shaft you.

The dealer cost should be ~£1500 (which is still a rip-off) but if it comes down to it you can fairly easily pick one up here, ebay or various other outlets 2nd-hand for £450-£500.

Not disagreeing about the £2.5k being outrageous but having just bought a new vRS, £1500 is the price to upgade from the bolero to the columbus (which is the standard fit), so the cost of a replacement would be more than that (surely)

[....] you can fairly easily pick one up here, ebay or various other outlets 2nd-hand for £450-£500.

Aren't most of these stolen in mainland-Europe?

Replacement Columbus is £1,585 at Skoda RRP (http://www.accessories.skoda.co.uk/productdetail.aspx?p_no=AAN800001A). I assume installation and coding to the vehicle is extra but should amount to ~1 hour of labour. Who knows how they got the figure of £2,600+, it doesn't make any sense.

Best regards

David

Edited 21 October, 201015 yr by cookdn

The leasing company are not going to know you have changed the screen in it - its a simple job if you are used to fiddly electronics such as laptops etc (If you can change a laptop screen you can change one of these).

Seriously I would not go through the insurance and have a go your self. It is 4 screws to take out the unit and then there are screws on the bottom which will 'split' the unit in half to get to the internals.

Thanks for all your comments. Skoda Customer Services UK came back to me today after I logged a formal complaint about the price. They're checking the unit on their Accessories page to see if it's the same type as mine (the dealer could not say). It's about £1K cheaper than the dealer's quote. It may be right about the ease of fitting a new screen. I'm currently faced with paying £250 (my policy excess) with the insurance company picking up the rest. However if I b*lls up the screen repair the leasing company could hit me for the lot and the insurance company is then unlikely to be sympathetic, so I'm playing safe and going the dealer route. My issue is the principle of being asked for £2.6K to repair a screen in an otherwise OK device. It's going to cost me £250 whatever Skoda eventually agrees to.

BTW - you're right about East European car theft. One of my work colleagues, who's based in Prague, has had her car radio stolen 8 times.

Thanks for all your comments. Skoda Customer Services UK came back to me today after I logged a formal complaint about the price. They're checking the unit on their Accessories page to see if it's the same type as mine (the dealer could not say). It's about £1K cheaper than the dealer's quote. It may be right about the ease of fitting a new screen. I'm currently faced with paying £250 (my policy excess) with the insurance company picking up the rest. However if I b*lls up the screen repair the leasing company could hit me for the lot and the insurance company is then unlikely to be sympathetic, so I'm playing safe and going the dealer route. My issue is the principle of being asked for £2.6K to repair a screen in an otherwise OK device. It's going to cost me £250 whatever Skoda eventually agrees to.

BTW - you're right about East European car theft. One of my work colleagues, who's based in Prague, has had her car radio stolen 8 times.

Whats the worst that can happen trying to repair it? You break it and you need a new one anyway? The one on the website will be the same as what is in your Superb. It will be the 3T0 unit as fitted to all Octavia's and Superbs now. £50 for a new screen is worth a gamble in my opinion.

Well - excluding a meteorite striking the Earth - the worst that could happen would be that I make the repair and it later fails, the insurance won't pay out because the new damage was not accidental, and Skoda still charges me the £2.6K. Best that could happen is that I save about £200, which is still a reasonable sum. It's tempting to do - but not that tempting. Thanks for your concern anyway.

Not disagreeing about the £2.5k being outrageous but having just bought a new vRS, £1500 is the price to upgade from the bolero to the columbus (which is the standard fit), so the cost of a replacement would be more than that (surely)

Do yo not get to keep the Bolero also, as it's standard kit now?

A lot of people seem to sell on their Boleros as like you they've upgraded to the Columbus, on here and on ebay.

Aren't most of these stolen in mainland-Europe?

Replacement Columbus is £1,585 at Skoda RRP (http://www.accessories.skoda.co.uk/productdetail.aspx?p_no=AAN800001A). I assume installation and coding to the vehicle is extra but should amount to ~1 hour of labour. Who knows how they got the figure of £2,600+, it doesn't make any sense.

Best regards

David

Yeah, there's certainly a lot of suspicion around the ebay ones that come from Lithuania, there are also seemingly genuine ones around though.

As you say, shouldn't be more than an hour's labour, though it's a complete piece of cake to carry out the install yourself anyway, and it might not need coding if it's a direct replacement.

Edited 22 October, 201015 yr by BigC

As you say, shouldn't be more than an hour's labour, though it's a complete piece of cake to carry out the install yourself anyway, and it might not need coding if it's a direct replacement.

I believe the Columbus units are coded to the specific vehicle (or vice-versa) as a supposed security measure. In theory they are not transferable between vehicles without being reprogrammed by a dealer with a comms link to Skoda. However I guess with so many stolen units in circulation, this is circumventable by re-flashing the firmware or something similar. There are other threads around with more details.

Best regards

David

Do yo not get to keep the Bolero also, as it's standard kit now?

Well I wouldn't have expected an extra set of seats if I'd ordered leather, or an extra set of wheels if I'd ordered upgrades :S

Well I wouldn't have expected an extra set of seats if I'd ordered leather, or an extra set of wheels if I'd ordered upgrades :S

Yeah sure, I got the distinct impression though that those who'd ordered the factory upgrade did get to keep their Boleros, maybe I'm wrong though.

Yeah sure, I got the distinct impression though that those who'd ordered the factory upgrade did get to keep their Boleros, maybe I'm wrong though.

You dont get a Bolero if you order a factory-fit Columbus!

You dont get a Bolero if you order a factory-fit Columbus!

Fair enough, it does seem a bit unlikely now I think about it! D'oh.

The majority of Bolero sales I saw on ebay seemed to be coming from individual sellers claiming that the units had only been in the car for a day or two before getting the Columbus fitted, which suggested to me they'd ordered the upgrade through the dealer and then had it fitted after the car had been delivered, so technically not "factory-fit" I suppose.

My original point was though, that the price on the Skoda Accessories website should be the outright price, rather than the upgrade price (using the Bolero in part-ex, effectively), as per sdenny's point, so in theory you could order a new vRS with only the Bolero, then buy the Columbus afterwards and sell the Bolero on to recoup some costs (but that's assuming the cost for speccing a Columbus when you're making an order for a brand new car is the same as the Accessories website).

(sorry for the rambling)

Edit:

Couple of ebay examples:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Skoda-Bolero-RCD-510-Stereo-/190454164666?pt=UK_Audio_TV_Electronics_In_Car_Entertainment_GPS_In_Car_Audio_Players_PP&hash=item2c57f3ecba

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Skoda-Bolero-CD-MP3-Unit-Touchscreen-2010-Model-/110597745715?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item19c023ac33

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Skoda-Bolero-RCD-510-Double-Din-6-Disc-CD-MP3-stereo-/270648835924?pt=UK_Audio_TV_Electronics_In_Car_Entertainment_GPS_In_Car_Audio_Players_PP&hash=item3f03ed7f54

Edited 22 October, 201015 yr by BigC

The majority of Bolero sales I saw on ebay seemed to be coming from individual sellers claiming that the units had only been in the car for a day or two before getting the Columbus fitted, which suggested to me they'd ordered the upgrade through the dealer and then had it fitted after the car had been delivered, so technically not "factory-fit" I suppose.

Nah, these are people that have saved themselves £1,200+ on the cost of a factory-fit Columbus by buying a second-hand unit off eBay for around £500 and then selling their Bolero for £200+. The financial savings are compelling if your conscience is happy with the fact that your second-hand Columbus is likely to have been stolen .

Best regards

David

If the dealer fits a new unit make sure you ask for the old one back......

The Columbus got replaced just before Christmas. Skoda eventually admitted that if the unit was bought as an accessory it was almost £1,000 cheaper than buying it as an identical replacement spare (only the product codes are different). It had V6 software installed however. When I asked Skoda for V7 as the unit was being sold as new I was told that the software was sold separately to the Columbus and would be about £200 extra - I declined. I also told Skoda that I had not been given an installation CD when I originally got the car. Their response was that as the car was registered in July it was now too late, and that I'd have to buy one for about £200.

It seems that the stories I'd heard about Skoda having great products that are not nearly matched by the quality of the after sales service may be true. Their lack of 'customer focus' in my case was a real shame. I'll have to think hard about using Skoda in future.

I now have a damaged, possibly repairable, Columbus unit. Anyone know if I could get a replacement screen? Skoda definitely don't sell them!

ill give you £100 for the unit

Hi, do you still have the old unit?? I'd be interested..........