I purchased an extended warranty from Skoda once the car was out of normal warranty, not thinking/hoping I’d ever use it but ‘just in case…’.

A few months ago noticed a millisecond of a popup message about ….’leaving in Park….’,  this message appeared again about a month later so booked the car in to have it looked at. Seems the fault was known and involved replacing the DSG Gear selector unit. All done under the Skoda extended warranty.

Yesterday the car went into ‘Emergency Mode’ (Petrol 1.4) EPC and orange engine icon appeared so took it in again, this time it was the Turbo Actuator that had failed. I remember reading a thread about that on this forum so again a known problem, they fixed it today so we can now go off for a weekend break. All done under the Skoda extended warranty.

I paid £174.35 for the years warranty 2017/18 and I reckon without it I would have forked out over £1k in repair bills, parts, labour and VAT. Probably the best investment I’ve made for years!! 

I’ve just renewed it at the same price for 2019/20,’ just in case….’

 

 

 

 

Good for you, however both of these should IMO have been a goodwill fix if the car is under 4 years old, one is a known issue with TPI, the other is not expected to fail at such an early age, alarming that electrical actuator faults are becoming increasingly more common on newer cars, rubbish recent quality control from Mahle, the actuator manufacturer.

 

Did your dealer enlighten you if the repairs carry any warranty?

 

Usually items repaired under warranty carry no warranty beyond the original warranty unless you contributed to the cost of repair. In other words, if you do not renew, these items are not covered once your extended warranty expires. 

I think Skoda extended warranty is underwritten by some branch of the VW empire, so I guess there will be some clever internal accounting with regard to the cost/goodwill.

Ironically you have probably contributed goodwill to them by buying the extended warranty. But, what else can you do with so many potentially expensive faults occurring on modern cars ?

Was that £174 with no excess and comprehensive cover? It seems rather cheap.

 

I planned to take this for my VRS TSI DSG, but it's about £800 a year with 0 excess and not much cheaper with the excesses if you make 1-2 claims a year.

"Seems the fault was known".  You say that for both faults. Someone also replied that it should have been 'goodwill'.

 

Manufacturers often use the term 'Goodwill' which really annoys me because in the majority of cases thats incorrect. It's not goodwill, it's law !

 

A car is no different to any other goods you buy, the same Consumer Rights Act (formerly known as the Sale of Goods Act) applies.  In England, Wales and N.Ireland you have six years to make a claim against a known fault. In Scotland it's five years.

 

Not for a second am I discouraging anyone from buying an extended warranty, they can prove to be very useful, but just remember the next time you hear anyone mention 'goodwill' that it's often not goodwill at all - it's law. If those were known faults then they should have been repaired, extended warranty or not.

 

Edited 21 February, 20197 yr by Guest

1 hour ago, classic said:

I think Skoda extended warranty is underwritten by some branch of the VW empire,

 

 

ŠKODA Extended Warranty cover is administered by Lawshield UK Limited (“Lawshield”) on behalf of Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited (“VWFS”).

 

ŠKODA Financial Services is a trading name of Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited. ŠKODA Extended Warranty is sold and administered by Lawshield UK and underwritten by Volkswagen Versicherung AG. Terms, conditions, and eligibility criteria apply.

Edited 21 February, 20197 yr by xman

7 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

"Seems the fault was known".  You say that for both faults. Someone also replied that it should have been 'goodwill'.

 

Manufacturers often use the term 'Goodwill' which really annoys me because in the majority of cases thats incorrect. It's not goodwill, it's law !

 

A car is no different to any other goods you buy, the same Consumer Rights Act (formerly known as the Sale of Goods Act) applies.  In England, Wales and N.Ireland you have six years to make a claim against a known fault. In Scotland it's five years.

 

Not for a second am I discouraging anyone from buying an extended warranty, they can prove to be very useful, but just remember the next time you hear anyone mention 'goodwill' that it's often not goodwill at all - it's law. If those were known faults then they should have been repaired, extended warranty or not.

 

 

Except that it is goodwill really, because after the first 6 months from purchase the onus would be on you to prove the fault was there at purchase, rather than it developing later in ownership or through wear and tear. That is what the law states, and the dealer would be quite entitled to tell you to "prove it" instead of making a "goodwill" contribution for resolving the issue.

1 minute ago, ahenners said:

 

Except that it is goodwill really, because after the first 6 months from purchase the onus would be on you to prove the fault was there at purchase, rather than it developing later in ownership or through wear and tear. That is what the law states, and the dealer would be quite entitled to tell you to "prove it" instead of making a "goodwill" contribution for resolving the issue.

 

A  KNOWN  problem. The clue is in the name.

Just now, Scot5 said:

 

A  KNOWN  problem. The clue is in the name.

 

Where in the Consumer Rights Act does it state anything about known problems?

13 minutes ago, xman said:

 

 

ŠKODA Extended Warranty cover is administered by Lawshield UK Limited (“Lawshield”) on behalf of Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited (“VWFS”).

 

ŠKODA Financial Services is a trading name of Volkswagen Financial Services (UK) Limited. ŠKODA Extended Warranty is sold and administered by Lawshield UK and underwritten by Volkswagen Versicherung AG. Terms, conditions, and eligibility criteria apply.

 

Volkswagen Versicherung AG make the decisions  then.

Edited 21 February, 20197 yr by classic

43 minutes ago, ahenners said:

 

Except that it is goodwill really, because after the first 6 months from purchase the onus would be on you to prove the fault was there at purchase, rather than it developing later in ownership or through wear and tear. That is what the law states, and the dealer would be quite entitled to tell you to "prove it" instead of making a "goodwill" contribution for resolving the issue.

 

 

I think you're confusing the EU law with regards to new goods and UK consumer rights as applied to the purchase of a 2nd hand car bought from a dealer or trader.

 

Goods purchased as new have to be fit for purpose and of merchantable quality and EU law can give up to 6 years protection, but it is quite complex to interpret in practice.

Edited 21 February, 20197 yr by xman

11 minutes ago, ahenners said:

 

Where in the Consumer Rights Act does it state anything about known problems?

 

  Jeez!   

 

I'll spell it out for you:

 

2007: I buy a VW Golf

2010: I really like the car and decide to keep it. It's the only car I've ever owned that's been outside warranty. I do not extend the warranty cover. The car has been maintained as per manufacturer schedule.

2011: An ABS warning light appears - manual says refer to dealer.

 

I take the car to the dealer who says the ABS sensor is faulty and gives me an estimate of £1600 to put right.  I check the internet for similar faults and find this is a common fault throughout the VWgroup - these sensors are known to fail approx 4-5years.  IT'S A KNOWN FAULT.

 

I return to dealer armed with this info, they admit they've seen the issue before and would submit a claim to VW. VW immediately reply with the go-ahead and the problem is rectified at no cost to myself.

 

No Philadelphia lawyers, no quoting consumer acts and no goodwill and I didn't have to prove jack all.   They had to repair it - many of the sensors around that period had a design flaw, it was a KNOWN fault.

 

 

 

I would reply to Scot5 that its no longer 2011, dieselgate has been and is still racking up billions in liabilities, the motor industry is in financial crisis and today in 2019 many members will testify to a refusal of goodwill or at least great difficulty in getting it regardless of TPIs, "known problems" and a clear, definite, policy of "we don't

go on anything published on the internet, sir" - I have had that quoted to me by Skoda service managers and Skoda Uk CS a few times!

 

BTW ABS sensors for a Golf cost as little as £10 on the internet and are very easily replaced. Did this on my Alhambra. No idea how one can cost £1600 to replace...... 

Edited 21 February, 20197 yr by xman

40 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

 

  Jeez!   

 

I'll spell it out for you:

 

2007: I buy a VW Golf

2010: I really like the car and decide to keep it. It's the only car I've ever owned that's been outside warranty. I do not extend the warranty cover. The car has been maintained as per manufacturer schedule.

2011: An ABS warning light appears - manual says refer to dealer.

 

I take the car to the dealer who says the ABS sensor is faulty and gives me an estimate of £1600 to put right.  I check the internet for similar faults and find this is a common fault throughout the VWgroup - these sensors are known to fail approx 4-5years.  IT'S A KNOWN FAULT.

 

I return to dealer armed with this info, they admit they've seen the issue before and would submit a claim to VW. VW immediately reply with the go-ahead and the problem is rectified at no cost to myself.

 

No Philadelphia lawyers, no quoting consumer acts and no goodwill and I didn't have to prove jack all.   They had to repair it - many of the sensors around that period had a design flaw, it was a KNOWN fault.

 

 

 

 

Except you haven't spelled anything out around the law. You've simply described an idealistic scenario outcome.

 

The scenario you described sounds exactly like "goodwill" to me, even though you seem to be somewhat irritated by this term. The dealer hasn't made you jump through hoops, forced you to prove anything, or forced you to take them to court to get them to pay. They have accepted liability off the bat and agreed to foot the bill in full via a claim to Vw.

 

In your scenario, what do you do if the dealer rejects your "known issue" claim and says "we've never seen it before, it's been 4 years since you bought it, the bill is £1600 or sod off?" The onus, by law, is then on you to prove it was faulty at the time of purchase, which will likely require some time and effort, some evidence gathered by yourself or from an independent expert report, and potentially bringing a case to court if the dealer didn't back down at any point over the dispute. Even then there is no guarantee you would win the case. It's not impossible and there are successful cases, but this is exactly why "goodwill" is "goodwill", because it avoids the need to do any of this to achieve the end result you want.

 

If you want a real-world example of this... Check the MK2 Octavia section for the thread on Chain Cam Tensioner failure issues and see how many people had their "known fault" fixed for free and the dealer admitting full liability - there aren't many.

Edited 21 February, 20197 yr by ahenners

Calm down everyone, its still the season of goodwill, no, actually that was a couple of months ago, sorry. No goodwill....

Oh for pete's sake ahenners,  I'm only giving advice.  What do you mean by 'if the dealer rejected it'?  They didn't reject it because IT'S A KNOWN ISSUE.  ( You're not related to Trigger from Only Fools and Horses by any chance?)  

 

I think it's perfectly straight forward,  I'd have thought most people would read it as perfectly straight forward, but if anyone does wish to read in complications - then BUY A WARRANTY !!!    

 

PS - I've no need to start quoting 3rd parties - I've been there, seen it, done it - I'm only passing on my personal experience so that it may help someone else re: warranties which the OP asks.  You on the other hand appear to have no personal experience - am I correct? 

 

 

       

 

 

Edited 22 February, 20197 yr by Guest

And how old is your car and what is the mileage, that it breaks so much? Or is it time to try different manufacturer?

9 hours ago, Scot5 said:

 

  Jeez!   

 

I'll spell it out for you:

 

2007: I buy a VW Golf

2010: I really like the car and decide to keep it. It's the only car I've ever owned that's been outside warranty. I do not extend the warranty cover. The car has been maintained as per manufacturer schedule.

2011: An ABS warning light appears - manual says refer to dealer.

 

I take the car to the dealer who says the ABS sensor is faulty and gives me an estimate of £1600 to put right.  I check the internet for similar faults and find this is a common fault throughout the VWgroup - these sensors are known to fail approx 4-5years.  IT'S A KNOWN FAULT.

 

I return to dealer armed with this info, they admit they've seen the issue before and would submit a claim to VW. VW immediately reply with the go-ahead and the problem is rectified at no cost to myself.

 

No Philadelphia lawyers, no quoting consumer acts and no goodwill and I didn't have to prove jack all.   They had to repair it - many of the sensors around that period had a design flaw, it was a KNOWN fault.

 

 

 

 

So what you seem to be saying is, you convinced a dealer to replace a faulty part by saying you found stuff on the internet about them failing quite a lot, and because of that it must mean they only did it because it's law. 

What I  'seem'  to be saying?  

 

quote: "...they admit they've seen the issue before and would submit a claim to VW. VW immediately reply with the go-ahead"

 

I didn't convince the dealer to replace a faulty part, VW told them to do it at their expense. That had to, they have no other option. If they didn't then I'd have raised a claim thru the small courts and I'd have won. I'd have won because that's our law.   

 

 

Edited 22 February, 20197 yr by Guest

3 minutes ago, Scot5 said:

What I  'seem'  to be saying?  

 

quote: "...they admit they've seen the issue before and would submit a claim to VW. VW immediately reply with the go-ahead"

 

I didn't convince the dealer to replace a faulty part, VW told them to do it at their expense. That had to, they have no other option. If they didn't then I'd have raised a claim thru the small courts and I'd have won. I'd have won because that's our law.   

 

 

 

Still doesn't answer the question of where in law does it say they had to.

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, if a fault develops after 6 months of ownership, the onus is on the buyer to PROVE the fault was pre-existing. That could be by proving a known fault exists in other cars. However, the goodwill part comes in by the dealer or manufacturer accepting this rather than fighting it. They are within their rights to contest that the fault was pre-existing and insist you prove it. They are less likely to do this for true known faults, but they could. Hence the goodwill element. It's to save you the hassle of proving it via an independant inspection and the costs of taking it to court.

 

So the law is on the buyers side for known faults. It will eventually end in a successful outcome. The goodwill is the dealer/maufacturer accepting this at the outset rather than making you prove it. You could argue that they should do that, but how many people must turn up armed with an internet url saying "see, it's a common fault!!". They can't accept everything a buyer says    

 

Nick

1 hour ago, NikTheGeek said:

Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, if a fault develops after 6 months of ownership, the onus is on the buyer to PROVE the fault was pre-existing. That could be by proving a known fault exists in other cars. However, the goodwill part comes in by the dealer or manufacturer accepting this rather than fighting it. They are within their rights to contest that the fault was pre-existing and insist you prove it. They are less likely to do this for true known faults, but they could. Hence the goodwill element. It's to save you the hassle of proving it via an independant inspection and the costs of taking it to court.

 

So the law is on the buyers side for known faults. It will eventually end in a successful outcome. The goodwill is the dealer/maufacturer accepting this at the outset rather than making you prove it. You could argue that they should do that, but how many people must turn up armed with an internet url saying "see, it's a common fault!!". They can't accept everything a buyer says    

 

Nick

 

At least someone else in this thread understands how it all actually works in relation to the law, buyer's rights and goodwill 

Still haven't told us how it costs £1600 to change an ABS sensor on a Golf.

2 minutes ago, xman said:

Still haven't told us how it costs £1600 to change an ABS sensor on a Golf.

 

Made of unobtainium apparently. Exclusive to 2007 models.

1 hour ago, xman said:

Still haven't told us how it costs £1600 to change an ABS sensor on a Golf.

 

Could have been the Teves ABS problem of years ago. Many, many affected and TPI's issued, the official and only way that Skoda will acknowledge a "known" fault. Even then, the dealer will only follow, to the letter, the actions printed in a TPI, which do not always involve replacement of parts.