Skoda Fabia Diesel (pics on Pg 6)

[netchef]

thanks shuvd. 'sickening' describes the feeling well.

[PatienceWins]

Originally Posted by netchef

Just spoke with the TAFE bodyshop and they say they have the original paint and that the job will cost Rs 3500/-
God help me.

Thats not high.

Advaith quoted Rs. 4700 for tinkering and painting the entire rear door when I showed a small dent. It makes sense to accumulate dents/ scratches do it later if the dent is not bad.

[ram_hyundai]

netchef,its heartening to go through it.I had similar expierience with my verna.I feel almost all of us here would have something to say similar to this.Any ways keep her fresh as soon as possible.you can have an insurance claim for the work so that your share would be half.
ram

[androdev]

netchef:

i have done double PhD in this subject. because my new (relatively) black laura had handful of scratches and dents (lack of skill, concentration, luck) and i was very clueless about this repaint stuff. unwittingly just asked TAFE to fix them during the 1st service. disaster is a very mild way to put it. i screamed and yelled and escalated to Sonia Gandhi. they redid it. much better. so lessons learned:

1. No OEM paint. Dealer is in no way more equipped to give you a better color match than an outside garage. So why go to dealer, who has no respect for your money. unfortunately i don't have any recommendations for a body shop. but i won't go to authorized dealer for my next paint job. that's for sure, but i wont take it to any garage that looks like a scrap yard also :-) However dealer (TAFE) did a nice job of removing dent and getting the curves back (I wonder how they do it?)

2. You are in luck because I got much better (perfect) color match in my 2nd attempt because I asked them to dump their formula and use what is available at Standox website. Find your color code from the sticker inside your service manual. Mine is 9910

3. refinish is all about "skill". somehow you have to get hold of the most skilled painter in the body shop to work on your car. there are lot of "freshers" who are learning on the job :-)

4. painters only concentrate on the "area to be painted" and expose the rest of the car to all sh*t. and then they pick up a scrotchbrite and scrape the hell out of your car. beware, they call this "full body polish"!!!! these people are very thick (unless you are talking about some S-class or something here) and very difficult to convince them to mask the rest of the car and not mess it up.

unless u cant stand the scratch, wait till your next service and get it done during that time. this will help u to live with the problem (soak it up) and raise above these setbacks :-) it is impractical to keep the car scratch free all the time in B'lore.

[ajmat]

I had a good experience with Vinayak. Go there, speak to Raj Kumar, give my name - ajit - black skoda RS

[undead]

Rs.3500 is not that high dude. But you could also try an outside skilled painter and inquire few of your friends before doing it. I feel sorry for your car. Cheer up Man . As they say , the more you get hurt , the more you start loving it .

[gt_bhp]

Originally Posted by ajmat

I had a good experience with Vinayak. Go there, speak to Raj Kumar, give my name - ajit - black skoda RS

Please be a little more specific, where is Vinayak and is it just a paint shop or do they also undertake tinkering? Do they only work on Skoda cars or others too.

[ajmat]

Originally Posted by gt_bhp

Please be a little more specific, where is Vinayak and is it just a paint shop or do they also undertake tinkering? Do they only work on Skoda cars or others too.

They are the other skoda dealer. Workshop located in KR puram

[Mpower]

Netchef, any idea about FE. Fabia is supposed to be an FE champ

[netchef]

Originally Posted by PatienceWins

Thats not high.

Advaith quoted Rs. 4700 for tinkering and painting the entire rear door when I showed a small dent. It makes sense to accumulate dents/ scratches do it later if the dent is not bad.

Originally Posted by ram_hyundai

netchef,its heartening to go through it.I had similar expierience with my verna.I feel almost all of us here would have something to say similar to this.Any ways keep her fresh as soon as possible.you can have an insurance claim for the work so that your share would be half.
ram

Originally Posted by androdev

netchef:

i have done double PhD in this subject. because my new (relatively) black laura had handful of scratches and dents (lack of skill, concentration, luck) and i was very clueless about this repaint stuff. unwittingly just asked TAFE to fix them during the 1st service. disaster is a very mild way to put it. i screamed and yelled and escalated to Sonia Gandhi. they redid it. much better. so lessons learned:

1. No OEM paint. Dealer is in no way more equipped to give you a better color match than an outside garage. So why go to dealer, who has no respect for your money. unfortunately i don't have any recommendations for a body shop. but i won't go to authorized dealer for my next paint job. that's for sure, but i wont take it to any garage that looks like a scrap yard also :-) However dealer (TAFE) did a nice job of removing dent and getting the curves back (I wonder how they do it?)

2. You are in luck because I got much better (perfect) color match in my 2nd attempt because I asked them to dump their formula and use what is available at Standox website. Find your color code from the sticker inside your service manual. Mine is 9910

3. refinish is all about "skill". somehow you have to get hold of the most skilled painter in the body shop to work on your car. there are lot of "freshers" who are learning on the job :-)

4. painters only concentrate on the "area to be painted" and expose the rest of the car to all sh*t. and then they pick up a scrotchbrite and scrape the hell out of your car. beware, they call this "full body polish"!!!! these people are very thick (unless you are talking about some S-class or something here) and very difficult to convince them to mask the rest of the car and not mess it up.

unless u cant stand the scratch, wait till your next service and get it done during that time. this will help u to live with the problem (soak it up) and raise above these setbacks :-) it is impractical to keep the car scratch free all the time in B'lore.

Originally Posted by ajmat

I had a good experience with Vinayak. Go there, speak to Raj Kumar, give my name - ajit - black skoda RS

Originally Posted by undead

Rs.3500 is not that high dude. But you could also try an outside skilled painter and inquire few of your friends before doing it. I feel sorry for your car. Cheer up Man . As they say , the more you get hurt , the more you start loving it .

Originally Posted by gt_bhp

Please be a little more specific, where is Vinayak and is it just a paint shop or do they also undertake tinkering? Do they only work on Skoda cars or others too.

Originally Posted by ajmat

They are the other skoda dealer. Workshop located in KR puram

Originally Posted by Mpower

Netchef, any idea about FE. Fabia is supposed to be an FE champ

Thanks PatienceWins, Ajmat, AndroDev, Gt_BHP, Ram_Hyundai. I assimilitated all the advice and even spoke with Raj Kumar at Vinayak...finally ended up with lots of info. True they use Standox paint etc. But the TAFE chaps use Dupont, so hardly anything to go by if one is just considering the brand of paint, and no one could tell me the brand USED by Skoda as OEM paint. Each claimed their brand was Skoda-spec!
I finally decided to stay with TAFE really in order to build a relationship with them, and their chaps did sound professional and helpful. I also got them to guarantee a match failing which they would redo the door. The car was collected by their man this am. He got me to sign a document but didn't leave a receipt saying it wasn't done. Anyway, the car is due tomorrow evening and I shall let the forum know the outcome! Fingers crossed.

I figure if they take your car, least they can do is give you proof it was handed over...makes sense?

[netchef]

Sir..too early to comment on FE as my dad and I have been randomly topping her up with diesel. The TAFE chaps say the Fabias do 16/17 kmpl in town and 21/22 on the highway, and that, if true is fantastic. Mine will take a while to test. The engine needs to bed-in and should free up over time, which will impact the consumption figures. Shall post my findings when I do check.

[netchef]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Netchef, any idea about FE. Fabia is supposed to be an FE champ

sorry. that response below was directed at you, MPower

[netchef]

My Fabia carries a 2 year warranty and Skoda does not offer to extend it. So, that's that. just hope like hell nothing goes bust.

Someone asked: yes, a warning beeper does go off if you leave the lights on and attempt to go to bed. She'll catch you flagrante delicto.
The security system/central locking has a red LED blinking continuously on the drivers door, right where a lock release button would be on other cars. Can anyone enlighten as to what and how much protection this offers? Is there an alarm attached?

Talking of alarms: anyone heard of a SIM-based GPS-synced alarm system being sold in India? I read an article months ago of this Scorpio owner who managed to trace his stolen vehicle (with the help of the constabulary and the Co. that made the alarm system). It apparently needed triggering post-installation, something he'd failed to do, so the Co. chaps helped him do it, and the Scorpio was found parked in the parking lot of some mall. That's technology!

[shuvd]

Originally Posted by netchef

The security system/central locking has a red LED blinking continuously on the drivers door, right where a lock release button would be on other cars. Can anyone enlighten as to what and how much protection this offers? Is there an alarm attached?

Its present in many cars.
1) It tells you that the security system is activated
2) Acts as a visual deterrent to potential jackers

Not sure about the Fabia, but my Octy has an alarm and immobilizer.

[Karandeep81]

Originally Posted by netchef

The security system/central locking has a red LED blinking continuously on the drivers door, right where a lock release button would be on other cars. Can anyone enlighten as to what and how much protection this offers? Is there an alarm attached?

That's a norm for company fitted security systems. Dont worry about it. The alarm will be acitvated when required. The light just indicates that the system is working.