I read these posts and still decided to go for a Skoda Octavia Petrol 2002 model ODO reading 49456 kms at Rs.3.85 lakhs. I thought the post here was an one off case and still trusted to go for the Skoda, while I was looking for a Hydundai CRDI. The Skoda badge lured me. Also sometime back one elderly person (NRI) who is settled in germany and working for VW said Skoda cars are really good. I trusted this second hand car dealer on Residency road since I have got many cars from him earlier. I loved the skoda's build quality & refinement and bought it without doing much check of the vehicle (partly trust on my second hand car dealer). After the first day I noticed that there is a major drop in power when I slow down, white smoke coming out of the exhaust and a constant missing sound. Showed it to the dealer and he said he will give it to Tafe, Bangalore and will get the repair costs borne by the previous owner. He sent it to Tafe, Bangalore
. Its been three weeks and I have now got my car back. I was supposed to get it in 3 days, four, five, a week, two weeks and now it is three. Everytime I call, the answers are road test, replacing spares to check if the problem is corrected, ordering the spares, rider spares were sent from Aurangabad so we have re-ordered, its coming from europe and the list goes on.
Every time I call them (both me and the second hand car dealer used to cal them), they will say in the next two to three days, but the word is never kept. They said take delivery on 28th Apr (monday) when i called on 26th (sat), on monday they said they will do a road test and wash and give it on tuesday. Tuesday they said they will do polishing and give it in the evening, in the evening they said, can take it on wednesday. On wednesday they said they will do a road test and give on thursday. On thursday they said to come and take the car. My dealer asked for the bill so that they can take the money before reaching there. Even by evening the bill didnt arrive. So he called one of the guys there and said he can come at 6.30PM and whether someone will be available. They said yes that person will be available till 7.30 to give delivery of the car and even the next day (May 1st) they are working. I knew its a lie and later at 8pm called the Skoda Aurangabad call center, even they said they are working (Only maharashtra is off they said - May 1st only for Maharashtrians I wondered), i was doubtful, I called Vinayaka Auto and they said they are closed (I believe Vinayaka is good) But you never know till you experience them. Atleast there was someone to pick the call at 8.30 in the night at Vinayaka, Anyway by then my dealer had reached bommanahlli Tafe service center at 6.30 from residency road and this guy who said that he will be available never picked his phone and no one was available at the service center. A blatant lie. So comes saturday and he asks the dealer to come in the morning. Even by 3 the car is not delivered . Finally at 6 my car is delivered,
One of the guys in this forum had mentioned about pushing the car while taking delivery from Skoda. It is 100% right. After all these days (three weeks) they said the battery is drained so I need to push the car everytime to start it, while my dealer took delivery of the vehicle. Wow! what a way to deliver a C+ segment car. The left rear view mirror is broken. And you guys know what?, I am still having the missing sound and power drop. I love this car but the service?, they are only good for water wash I feel. Plz, Plz, anyone dont be fooled by Skoda about the service. Tafe guys cant handle this car. I remember reading somewhere in this forum, buy a skoda and take your family around in a auto. That is 100% true. Fortunately I had my esteem.
My car dealer has agreed to take this car, show it to Tafe tomorrow ( i wonder if they really can do something which they couldn do for 3 weeks) and if they can rectify I can keep it or he can give me an other second hand one. Definitely not skoda for me again. My sincere advice to anyone buying a second hand skoda is this - Plz dont buy, since after so many years they will definitely have a problem now and then and these service guys I feel cant handle it and they dont know how this car has been manufactured. They can just replace parts and see if the problem is solved, trial and error method. Even then my car is not repaired now. They have replaced the sensor, timing belt, piston rings etc (atleast thats what they said when I called) by now and still its not working. I didnt bother to ask about the cost since my dealer is bearing it. If you have money go for Skoda since the car is really good, i love the build quality,its sturdy, but then sell it before the warranty is over. But the problem is the whole market would know the quality of their service and your value of the car would drop significantly in the second hand market.
Today I was riding this car to my dealer's place and i saw one old Merc & Lexus drive past me. Must be 70s. Both looked very nicely maintained. I was wondering why is my 7 year old skoda struggling to run. Why cant the AUTHRORIZED service centre Tafe repair it. Because I like this car and AUTHRORIZED service centre Tafe cant service it :(
Will someone be able to answer these three questions for me.
1) As a guess work, What could be the problem?
2) Is it possible to tamper the digital reading of the kms run. Since these Tafe guys are replacing Piston rings etc , I was wondering how can such a problem occur for a 49K done car. This car was always serviced by tafe since the time it was purchased by the previous owner.
3)Since this car is not under warranty If someone wants to repair it in other places later, other than Tafe in bangalore. Is there someone like that in Bangalore for Skoda. A good technically sound local garage for Skoda who can repair over a chat.
Finally not a Skoda for me again - A mental torture and nightmare i have gone through and worried of my hard earned money. Only because of incompetent service. I have no issues about the brand, I feel its a very good brand. But in Tafe you cant get it repaired. Only water wash can be done here. Its my personal experience in Bangalore. If someone wants to share with me anything confidential about this issue, you can write to me at soms201174 at hotmail.com or please reply to me in this forum so it can help all hasseled skoda owners in India.