[AshwinThekkan]

Skoda India cancelled St. Antony Trading Company, Cochin dealership. Details from today's(28/01/2014) Malayala Manorama newspaer.

[mints21]

I am sure some of our members must have had a chance of interacting with this particular dealership. They will be in a better position to throw some light on the reasons that may have led to such a situation. Was it because of poor sales or service related issue? If this is the case, then can we assume that many more are on the verge of facing similar action.

It could have been possible that the dealer may have surrendered the dealership and must have taken dealership of a different company which sells more numbers and generates good profitability to him given the kind of investment involved in running such a business.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by AshwinThekkan

Skoda India cancelled St. Antony Trading Company

It's become a regular practice for some manufacturers to give public notices whenever they part ways with a dealer. This is probably as per advice from the legal department.

Do you have specific information that Skoda cancelled the dealership? It could be that the dealer decided to terminate the Skoda franchise too. Please report this post if you have specific information. Till then, I've renamed the thread.

Thanks

[Steeroid]

They took my car in for second service earlier this month, charged us the regular rates etc. Its only when we were sent to the other dealer (Marikar) for a/c compressor replacement that we came to know the service hasn't been updated on their system/central database. Therefore I have a dealer's stamp on my service manual, a bill for the same and a sticker on my car for the service carried out, but according to the Skoda system my car has missed a service milestone (thankfully yet to be crossed).

I've sent across the bill and the car sticker pictures to the Skoda chaps, hopefully they will help in getting this updated. Else its going to affect my warranty.

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

They took my car in for second service earlier this month, charged us the regular rates etc. Its only when we were sent to the other dealer (Marikar) for a/c compressor replacement that we came to know the service hasn't been updated on their system/central database. Therefore I have a dealer's stamp on my service manual, a bill for the same and a sticker on my car for the service carried out, but according to the Skoda system my car has missed a service milestone (thankfully yet to be crossed).

I've sent across the bill and the car sticker pictures to the Skoda chaps, hopefully they will help in getting this updated. Else its going to affect my warranty.

St.Antony's dealership has been disconnected from the Skoda DMS in October 2013 as a result cars reporting for service after that will not be have log details entered into Skoda's system. I think there are quite a few cases that have faced similar issues and Skoda will have to resolve this as it isn't a fault of the customer. So you really dont have to worry about losing your warranty.

It's sad to see a new dealer wind up especially as their infrastructure is way ahead of Marikar's. Admittedly, with years of experience Marikar mechanics are far more competent than that of St.Antony's. However I have found St.Antony's to provide a better level of service (read customer friendliness).

Skoda had come out with a policy to have two dealerships in each city to avoid monopolistic practices that were in vogue earlier. While the idea was good, in execution problems arose as new dealers were not able to break even as the total sales didn't justify two dealerships. Ultimately it boiled down to who had more staying power (read deeper pockets) and Marikar won.

[AshwinThekkan]

Originally Posted by GTO

Do you have specific information that Skoda cancelled the dealership? It could be that the dealer decided to terminate the Skoda franchise too. Please report this post if you have specific information. Till then, I've renamed the thread.

Thanks

I don't have much information about it. But earlier this month a friend told me German Tech (private service center exclusively for Skoda) is taking over St. Anthony service in Cochin. The renaming of the thread is fine.

Thanks

[VeyronSuperSprt]

Originally Posted by GTO

Do you have specific information that Skoda cancelled the dealership? It could be that the dealer decided to terminate the Skoda franchise too. Please report this post if you have specific information. Till then, I've renamed the thread.

Thanks

Information from sources outside of Skoda is that St.Antony’s sent in their resignation. However, the accuracy of this information is suspect as it would have originated from dealer sources. Haven’t asked inside Skoda as it is not an area they would be comfortable discussing.

Understand the dealer has about 4-5 cars still left which will be taken back by Skoda along with the special tools after final audit.

St.Antony’s started operations in Nov-Dec 2011 and by Jan 2012 they were selling 80 cars per month - more than enough to break even and earn a clear profit. Trouble started after June 2012 when the other dealer Marikar (who had until then been suspended) also jumped into the fray after clearing all their earlier dues with Skoda. Marikar seemed to have had a lot of contacts having been with Skoda since 2002 and could quickly re-establish themselves to the detriment of St.Antony’s.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[foby.sebastian]

I remember seeing a similar ad posted by Hyundai authorities ,St. Antony's also similarly lost the Hyundai dealership for Kollam district last year.

[rajeev k]

St Antony Trading Company has already vacated their showroom located at Bypass junction, Palarivattom. I happened to be in that building yesterday and even the furniture were seen removed. The showroom was at the ground floor of a commercial/office complex and I always felt that, this was a wrong location for a car dealership, as parking space was practically nil.

[webblescott]

Originally Posted by AshwinThekkan

Skoda India cancelled St. Antony Trading Company, Cochin dealership. Details from today's(28/01/2014) Malayala Manorama newspaer.

Very true and they do not deserve to continue, I did my Skoda Rapid 1st service on Dec last week of 2012, and they are not yet updated in the system
since then.

I took my delivery from Vision Skoda Calicut, Now they keep on calling for my cars service, stating its due for 1st service, They said system is not showing service History of my Car.

What is next ? How can i get it updated ? Customer care ?

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by webblescott

Very true and they do not deserve to continue, I did my Skoda Rapid 1st service on Dec last week of 2012, and they are not yet updated in the system since then.

It was not updated because Skoda had internally disconnected the dealership from their service network without informing customers. Many people who serviced their cars at St. Antonys in good faith are now stuck with incomplete service records.

I would urge you to take this up with Skoda Auto India, preferably through your lawyer - an unrecorded service visit can and WILL affect your warranty as they can claim later that your vehicle has not been serviced in accordance with the terms of the warranty.

If there are more such people who have been suckered into a service visit at St Antonys that is now not shown on record, I would urge all of you to consider writing legally to SAIPL.