[Nikhilb2008]

I didnt have this problem when I contacted Magnum or Ravindu Toyota. Both sales execs have been very prompt in getting back to me.

[mkc15]

Originally Posted by Nikhilb2008

I didnt have this problem when I contacted Magnum or Ravindu Toyota. Both sales execs have been very prompt in getting back to me.

On an average, I think Toyota dealers are the only exception. My experience with Magnum sales was not good.

[raghav.carfreak]

Sorry to bump this old thread, But thought it was appropriate to post here as I'm deciding between these two dealers
I have a Skoda Octavia which is due for 50k service, battery was replaced outside recently for about 8k/-, How much of a bill should i expect for a routine service which involves changing of all the oils etc, car is running absolutely fine, no problems whatsoever, but it has been 10k since the last service and will be another 10k for the next service(next year) So i can expect them to change a few things,so that I don't need to send the car every alternate month for small minor jobs

[mempheS.D]

Bumping up this thread once again for all Skoda owners in Bangalore to share recent experiences. I'm approaching my first service, and am yet to decide between TAFE and Vinayak for Servicing. I received somre respectable feedback about Vinayak from a few Skoda owners on this forum, but thought it's better to take a forum-wide feedback.

I stay in Koramangala (so TAFE is closer), but my office is in Marathalli (so Vinayak is closer). Althought I purchased the car from TAFE, my servicing experience from some minor issues were not too great at TAFE. THat's primarily because they take a as many cars as possible in a day. On the contrary, Vinayak, I read takes only 15 cars a day! Now, that's good enough reason to expect MORE attention than otherwise.

[shankar.balan]

I stay in HSR - yet I preferred to buy my Yeti from Vinayak in Palace Orchards. Their quality of service and info flow was much better than TAFE in my experience.

Incidentally they are opening another showroom in Marathahalli and for servicing, they will have your vehicle picked up and dropped off as per their GM.

Our other colleague Ajmat prefers Vinayak's service and that fact, as an endorsement, is perfect as far as I am concerned.

Originally Posted by mempheS.D

Bumping up this thread once again for all Skoda owners in Bangalore to share recent experiences. I'm approaching my first service, and am yet to decide between TAFE and Vinayak for Servicing. I received somre respectable feedback about Vinayak from a few Skoda owners on this forum, but thought it's better to take a forum-wide feedback.

I stay in Koramangala (so TAFE is closer), but my office is in Marathalli (so Vinayak is closer). Althought I purchased the car from TAFE, my servicing experience from some minor issues were not too great at TAFE. THat's primarily because they take a as many cars as possible in a day. On the contrary, Vinayak, I read takes only 15 cars a day! Now, that's good enough reason to expect MORE attention than otherwise.

[ethanhunt123]

Has Vinayak opened a new showroom in Marathahalli ? Where is it exactly ? If yes, good news for people living in Indiranagar/Koramangala side.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by ethanhunt123

Has Vinayak opened a new showroom in Marathahalli ? Where is it exactly ? If yes, good news for people living in Indiranagar/Koramangala side.

It is only a showroom near the ISRO U turn

Was not too happy with Vinayak this time around, they said they replaced a relay when it actually was not replaced. Another part is required and they said it is ordered but in reality it is not. I am going to do it myself

[mempheS.D]

Originally Posted by ajmat

It is only a showroom near the ISRO U turn

Was not too happy with Vinayak this time around, they said they replaced a relay when it actually was not replaced. Another part is required and they said it is ordered but in reality it is not. I am going to do it myself

Fingers crossed, and eager to make my own opinion about Vinayak Skoda service center, dropping off the Fabia 16v at OMR tomorrow. Will post the experience soon after. Trying to get a good feel of both available service centers before I'm ready to turn in the car for the first service that's still 4000kms/3 months away, which ever comes sooner.

No serious issues as such, but some nagging things like:
1. rattling noise from rear left suspension
2. steering off-center
3. coolant top-up (maybe)
4. general-checkup

[mempheS.D]

So, that long-awaited trip to Vinayak Service Center (VSC) was finally done yesterday. Had I written this post yesterday, I would have sounded optimistic about VSC. But, not any more. In fact, I almost had logged into the forum and started typing out my experience at VSC raising respectable commendation for some service engineers at VSC. But, let me not take it that far since some people have already spoken high about VSC and my experience was probably just my own.

1. One of the prime issues I had was a squeaking sound from the right rear door catcher over rough roads. I did not know what VSC had on their minds to fix it, as I was waiting in the customer lounge and VSC customer lounge does not have a glass area transparent to the service bay to see whether/what is being done on your vehicle as they do in Tafe Service Center (TSC) on Hosur road.

2. The second was a steering centering thing which almost any alignment shop can do.

3. A general check up and lubrication.

SO, you see my job card ideally had very basic customer issues. VSC performed the job yesterday within 3 hours (as was promised). The Service engineer did his best to ensure that I felt confident that all my problems were resolved. And they did, at least from the look of it! I happily drive home only to find out later in the evening while leaving from work that my rear right door had not closed properly after I took out my bag. I thought that was in err. And I closed it again, and found something's not usual although not wrong.

Agreed, the squeaky noise had stopped now. But, this morning I took a quick appointment at Tafe Service Center(TSC) on Hosur road. I explained the situation to the Engineer and the Technician at TSC, and they all unanimously asked me the same question, "Did you go to VSC?". After some discussion, they told me that VSC had done the same job on an Octavia that had come in earlier.

The Problem: VSC has removed the door catcher from the metal panel and filled the incher space with a sealant, and fixed the catcher back on it. TSC mentions that the catcher should not have been sealed and it is something that needs to be free enough to move horizontally and vertically depending on the movement of the car body. Now, TSC says that the sealant is like a gum preventing this free motion, and the ideal solution for the squeaks was to simply lubricates using 3M WD40 or Wurth HHS2000. The TSC people were absolutely nice enough to assign a technician immediately to remove as much sealant as he could which had been stuffed inside like atta or something, lubricate using WD40, and fixed the catcher back in.

Things do seem a lot better now.

My findings:
1. After my 2 earlier visits to TSC, and this experience with VSC, the TSC guys sure knew what they were talking about better if not best.
2. TSC is much more spacious and airy and "reachable" IMHO considering I stay in Koramangala.
3. TSC is usually very crowded on weekdays and weekends alike, so the personal attention is lacking in comparison to VSC. (But I guess my incident justifies why the crowd at TSC!). This was a major plus for VSC.

My Verdict:
I think I've already made my point.

[Santoshbhat]

Vinayak Cars has started a new service centre in Okalipuram, Bangalore sometime in the beginning of this month. Got my TSI's first service done here yesterday. Brand new facility. Looks like they haven't informed their customers or publicised about this anywhere. The service centre is located somewhere between Okalipuram / Srirampuram area. Not an easy location to get to. Entry to service centre is on a very narrow and busy road.

When I arrived there at 10AM it was very surprising to note that my car was the only car there, apart from a brand new unregistered Rapid that was parked there.

Since I was the only one, the service advisor attended to me right away. Upon enquiry I was told that the service centre is currently equipped with all the facilities (incl VAS scanner) other than wheel alignment and body shop. At the time there was a GM, one SA, about 15 mechanics, 2 receptionists, 1 cashier etc.. No customers . THe reception lobby though cramped was well furnished in typical Skoda colours.

Had a pretty good exeprience overall. I had basically no issues to report and since this woud have been just a routine inspection cum change of consumables, I did not mind leaving it at such a new service facility. Got a call at 4pm saying the car is ready. I had aksed for 3 features to activated
1) DRL's
2) Auto Lock
3) AC to be on recirculation mode by default.

THe SA (former TATA/ Hyundai guy, joined Skoda recently) said they were able to do the first two, but the third request they said were unable to execute. I was glad that they were frank in telling that , rather then doing something they weren't confident of.

When I picked my car at 4pm, took a quick tour of the service centre. THe service centre was not what one would call a large facility, but should be OK for the kind of volumes you expect with Skoda. Looked like my car was the only car the centre serviced that entire day! All the mechanics were loitering around, chatting or playing with their mobiles. The cashier was not yet equipped with a credit card swiper. She was even unable to print out the bill. She said she will mail it to my billing address.

Quality of service was satisfactory and have no complaints on that front. The SA even offered to connect the VAS scanner in front of me to show that the scanner has diagnosed my car with no faults. I actually liked the attention me and my car got .

Attaching couple of pics taken whiile I was there

[ameaa]

Had picked up a Laura L&K two months back from Vinayaka cars near to Mekhri circle. Had selected the car from the yard a week back and also gave the VIN number to the sales guy. But on the day of delivery found that a different car was registered and delivered. The car seems to have been used for displays and had done around 400 kms on odo.

Posted just for awareness of new buyers.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by ameaa

Had picked up a Laura L&K two months back from Vinayaka cars near to Mekhri circle. Had selected the car from the yard a week back and also gave the VIN number to the sales guy. But on the day of delivery found that a different car was registered and delivered. The car seems to have been used for displays and had done around 400 kms on odo.

Posted just for awareness of new buyers.

That is terrible on the part of the dealer. You should have refused to accept delivery. 'How to loose the goodwill of customers?'. Skoda's dealers seem to have perfected this art Vinayak cars is supposed to be one of the better dealers for Skoda. What was the reason give to you for not registering your selected piece?

[ameaa]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

What was the reason give to you for not registering your selected piece?

No reason given as such as it was not noticed the day of delivery. Only after two days when I really checked the VIN which i had a snap in my phone. Complaints were given but to deaf ears. Car is performing good, so slowly started forgetting.

[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by ameaa

No reason given as such as it was not noticed the day of delivery. Only after two days when I really checked the VIN which i had a snap in my phone. Complaints were given but to deaf ears. Car is performing good, so slowly started forgetting.

Guess there's nothing much you can do once you've taken delivery and used the car for a couple of days. But hypothetically even if you had protested on the day of delivery and refused to accept delivery, I wonder what they would have done. The car is already registered in your name by then. I wonder if there is a procedure for cancellation of registration of new vehicles if done within a period of X days. Anyways if your car is performing well and you are happy, then there should not be any problem. But it does take the sheen out of the buying experience doesn't it?

[Ford5]

So here we go. Vinayak does the unthinkable. That too on an L&K model!