My Fiancée's basket case Skoda and its woes...

[Scania]

My Fiancée has a 2012 Skoda Fabia 1.6tdi, bought on finance about 18 months ago at 62k miles from a dealer who's now "retired" although we suspect he's just moved and set up under another company, long story short, she's had numerous problems with it since day one, the only issue he resolved was a duff battery which he reimbursed her for replacing the day after we bought it.

Its dashboard instrument needles won't illuminate at night making it difficult to see how fast you're going. We noticed this two days after buying it, on contacting the dealer again we were informed he'd retired and to speak to the warranty company - Not covered by the warranty company...

The engine is in limp mode , codes point to a glow plug circuit fault, it's had new glow plugs and a glow plug relay - at our expense - to no avail. Yes, it wasn't covered by the warranty company..

The heater won't work, just blows cold no matter what the HVAC is set to. - Warranty company claiming it's not covered, surprise surprise!

The driver's window failed two days after buying it, the dealers response was "I've retired now speak to the warranty company" said warranty company said it wasn't covered (of course!)

The warranty that seemingly covered nothing expired after 3 months although we still get letters asking if we want to extend it...

Now, its water pump has sized which has stripped the teeth off the cambelt, possibly causing catastrophic failure to the engine, we are having this looked at by the garage who looks after my Volvo...

We have a receipt in it's service history for a new belt, water pump and pulleys fitted by a VAT registered garage at 53k miles in March 21, the interval is apparently every 5 years /75k miles the car had covered 82k miles when it failed.

There's probably a few other things I've forgotten!

In desperation, she contacted her finance company yesterday and they took down all the details and said they will launch an investigation as in their view the car was not fit for purpose when sold and they are going to chase him for some answers.

Personally I don't think we'll get any positive outcome from this although the finance company seem to be implying we might, is this in any way realistic?

As we stand, my garage thinks we have a slight chance that if we replace the belt, pulley and water pump we may be lucky and the engine will run again (although the limp mode issue will still be there) we're looking at roughly £400 to do this simply to see if it works, the head will still turn freely by hand, he's of the view that it wouldn't with bent valves, I don't even know if the engine is an "interference" type or not.

So, given the finance company is now investigating, do we just sit back and wait for their response, proceed to see if replacement parts fixes it (at the risk of wasting £400 potentially) or just bite the bullet and look for a replacement engine?

 

[Scania]

So even after all this time we may well get somewhere with this then?

They did say last night that had they been aware within the first six months we could have simply handed the car back and interestingly, they also said as the majority of the problems have existed since we bought the car, we may still be able to , given the dealer has disappeared I'm assuming the finance company would have the car back.

I'll sit back and see what happens.

Thanks guys.

 

[Scania]

I dropped a screw down the timing belt cover and slipped a couple of teeth on a 1.4TDCi - it is an interference engine but I got lucky.

Finance companies don't have much patience for this BS, so they'll probably refund you and then sell his debt to some dodgy debt agency.

I'm sincerely hoping this is the case, they've asked her what outcome she's looking for and she's said a new (ie different) car, they just said they'd note that on the case file....

My garage owner said this is pretty common for finance companies to do what you've said as he's had it a few times for similar situations.

 

[Scania]

Was the garage trading as a limited company or a sole trader. A limited company is usually more of a problem since it can be closed down. If the dealer was a sole trader then I don't think he can avoid he liabilities by just saying he's retired.

It/He was so far as I can see from the cars invoice a VAT registered Limited company, struck from the companies house register 15/08/23.

We have had an update from our finance company, they basically are now requesting an engineers report to try to establish weather the fault(s) were established or developing at the point we started the finance agreement although I have no idea how this would work, surely the report would describe the faults but determining when they occurred? I can't see that.

I have reviewed the information and appreciate the detailed reply. From what you have advised the introducing dealer has not done any repairs to the vehicle and the broker was not made aware of any issues as well.



We are unable to pursue the broker however we have reached out and they have advised an independent inspection in your favor would be required.



If you still feel the vehicle was sold in an unsatisfactory condition, you may wish to provide us with an independent engineer’s report. An engineer can review and establish whether the vehicle faults were present or developing at the time you started your finance agreement with us. Examples of independent vehicle engineering companies and their website details follow:

• Automotive Consulting Engineers Ltd - https://www.ace-uk.website/
• Dekra Automotive - https://www.dekra.com/en/vehicle-inspections/
• Scotia Vehicle inspections - http://scotiavehicleinspection.com/

If you decide to arrange an independent inspection at your own cost, and this confirms that the vehicle was not of satisfactory quality at the point of sale, we will investigate further, and your complaint will be dealt with in accordance with the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Can anyone recommend a suitable engineer in the Staffordshire area? I was thinking along the lines of the AA or RAC to start with but I think they are more geared towards pre-sale inspections rather than this more investigative type required.

 

[Scania]

has you local garage already got experience/recommendation of a pre-arranged 3rd party engineer arriving to inspect a torn down engine, to see if they think renewed cambelt failed because of underlying problem,
or it hadn't been done right. ? (like poor parts, oil ...) and to try and see whether limp mode (which was also recent?) may be involved.

If its your volvo garage that will do the repair anyway, even if it has to be at your cost, then that maybe the cheapest route with someone you are confident in,
but if engine as some valve problem would they be up for that.

The finance company have already stated they want it to be a completely independent company to do the report - they already know the garage where the Skoda is located is one I use regularly which is fair enough I suppose, I will be asking them on Monday for any local recommendations.

They (my garage) have already said it would be far more cost effective to simply replace the engine with a second hand one rather than attempting repairs, especially given it had other issues prior to the water pump failure, I'm hoping with an engineer's report it won't come to us having to pay for repairs although I'm not particularly optimistic.

 

[Scania]

Shouldn't you have taken it to a Skoda specialist/dealer, as they will be the experts for that engine?

Not many people are likely to take a 12 year old car - of any make - to a main stealer quite honestly, we had it looked at by a well respected garage in Telford and they said it had numerous electrical issues that really needed a specialist auto electrician, we took it to a recommend auto electrician who couldn't find the cause of its problems but described it as a basket case!

they would probably have still asked for a independent to check it.
@Scania i feel you may be flogging a dead horse, it sounds like the finance company is just going through the motions to comply with rules.
they may just say that it is between you and the garage and wash there hands of it.
i notice on the bay several secondhand engines , although some look cheap they would all need servicing and belt changes as well as clutches etc so need factoring in plus your garage labour.
may turn out to be sell for spares ot repair and cut losses and change.

on a side note iirc the illumination problem is fixable as i believe they are leds and daisy chained so fault normally is one going bad and stopping others just finding the one .

looking at your original post one wonders if the water pump was on it way out when you bought it as to no hot air possible impeller problem so maybe a hope.
surprised at the range of prices for these cars just a quick flick on autotrader midlands and prices from just over 1200 to
6k , but a lot at sort of 2.5k.
hope it resolves in your favour .

Yes, I fear your most likely right although to be fair to them, the finance company have said they intend to take it as far as possible as they do feel it was not fit for purpose but they do require independent proof of its faults although I agree how on earth the timeline is proven one way or another I don't know...

I did think it a little unfair that we're expected to fund the inspection, it is ultimately their car after all, that said I don't see any other option at the moment, yes we have considered a replacement engine but don't know if it's other gremlins are related to the engine that's most likely dead or the car itself such as its loom / ecu etc.

She's about 18 months into the finance, but not half way, I'm pretty sure it was 4 years.

All a bit of a headache, as the car has been itself unfortunately.

 

[Scania]

Do you have your communications with the warranty company recorded at all? This will help you to prove when the issues started (or at least when they were first identified) hopefully you have a record of this within 6 months of purchase. This will help your case.

Unfortunately not, we just communicated by phone.

 

[Scania]

Whilst I agree that it's probably not worth chucking money at it, for the sake of confirmation from the finance company I would take the car to Skoda or a Skoda specialist (I'd prefer a Skoda dealership) for a full diagnostic check, covering all issues. The fiance company will surely not argue against what Skoda say.

Normally I wouldn't take such an old car to them but in this case it leaves no stone unturned in terms of reputation or finance company push back, even though we know main dealerships aren't the best.

There is a main Skoda agent a few miles from me, although the car is in a different part of the city, as it's a non runner we'd have to get it trailed there at our own expense.

I'm going to speak with my garage tomorrow and see if they could assist with this once I've spoken with Skoda to see if they are willing to help.

 

[Scania]

We've had a response from the finance company, basically as I thought, as we are well outside the 6 month period where we could have returned the car without any issues, unfortunately their get out is "fair use and wear and tear" given 18 months has elapsed and it's done roughly 25k miles, so, it's a case of dropping another engine in it (bearing in mind it has numerous other issues) or getting a replacement vehicle.

Were minded to just find another vehicle as this one is a lemon, yes we're in for a load of pain down the line with the finance company as she can only afford to pay for one car, not two, but, she needs a car and we have zero faith in the Skoda...

Going to ponder it over the weekend, but I don't see many alternative solutions....