Skoda Octavia I have seen advertised with previous coolant leak - avoid or?

bobert50

bobert50

bobert50

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I've seen a 2016 Skoda Octavia (125k miles) for sale nearby that seems to be a slightly lower price than the going rate.

It all seems good in many ways…until I looked up details online about previous MOTs, and it’s coming up with “Coolant leak” on the previous two recent MOTs as an advisory.

There’s no mention in the ad of service history either, but it apparently comes with a Trading Standards Gold Warranty.

My head is screaming at me to avoid and run for the hills… but is this correct? I feel like I’ve already asked my own question before hitting post tbh, but since I’ve written it now…
 
Private or trade sale?

I think if its a private sale and the owner can explain the issue and repairs undertaken and provide infoices I'd be comfortable.

If no evidence I'd probably walk.

If it's a trade seller I'd be wary and I wouldn't trust the warranty unless it's a manufacturs warranty which I assume it won't be. There'll be so many clauses and caveats that it'll be worthless.
 
Yeah. It appears to be not private but not a dealership either, but rather a couple of guys doing car trading. They do have very positive reviews. I'll probably give them a call and do the above. It just seems odd that it's been the same issue for two years running on MOTs and it's not been fixed. The next MOT is December '25, so nowhere near the full 12 months either.
 
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Walk away, coolant leak on two previous mots, unless you can speak to the owner and confirm they have kept an eye on it and regularly and kept it topped it up, with a valid reason for not getting it fixed, then walk away. Even if the garage has fixed it, I would still walk away. Your instincts were correct, there will be another Octavia :)
 
Manbatius said:
Walk away, coolant leak on two previous mots, unless you can speak to the owner and confirm they have kept an eye on it and regularly and kept it topped it up, with a valid reason for not getting it fixed, then walk away. Even if the garage has fixed it, I would still walk away. Your instincts were correct, there will be another Octavia :)
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Thank you, shall do :D
 
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