[navin]

A friend of mine suffered a sudden failure of her Skoda Laura on August 16th at night. The engine suddenly started revving and then slowing down.

Her son, who was driving the vehicle at the time, pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road and switched it off. Then the car refused to start again. He towed it home that night.

The next day - on the August 17th, my friend and her son got Autobahn Skoda to tow it to their workshop at Kurla. Attached is the towing charge from Autobahn Skoda (as evidence that the vehicle was indeed towed to Autobahn Skoda).




On the evening of August 18th, one Mr. Sameer from Skoda Autobahn called my friend and gave her an initial oral estimate of Rs. 2.5 lakhs. My friend, who is quite knowledgeable about cars, refused to accept this and asked to speak to Sameer's manager. She then cross questioned the service manager at Autobahn Skoda (one Mr. Mudassar) who sent her a written quote of Rs. 1.68 lakhs (1.43 lakhs for parts and an additional Rs. 25,000 for labour - email and quote attached).

Dear Madam,

Greetings for the day !!!

As discussed with you now, total parts estimate is 143185. Rs and labour charges will be approx 25000 including alternator service.

Request you to please go through it and confirm your convenient time so will have telephonic discussion on each work and I will explain you about jobs required.

Pease feel free to talk undersigned.

Best Regards,

Mudassar Kelkar|Service Head
Autobahn Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
Amar Enterprises Compound Business Complex No.117,
Kale Marg, Off LBS Rd.,Kamani Kurla (W)
Mumbai 400 070.
Office:+91 22-64568800 Cell:+91 9004097092
E-mail: servmgr.k@autobahn.co.in |www.skoda-auto.co.in|www.autobahn.co.in

At this point, my friend felt Autobahn Skoda was not being honest in their quote and she called Nitin at Bharat Auto Associates. After debating over what to do with the car for 2 days, on August 21st, they decided to get the car towed from Autobahn Skoda to Bharat Auto's workshop. Meanwhile, Autobahn Skoda charged my friend Rs. 3,000 (+ GST) for "service" (bill attached). Apparently, this "service" was for the diagnosis of the car and to prepare the estimate. Either way, she paid it so that the car would be released from Autobahn Skoda.



On the August 21st, my friend along with Nitin (from Bharat Auto) had the car towed from Autobahn Skoda to Bharat Auto's workshop in Worli. Invoice for the same attached.



The car reached Bharat Auto's workshop on 21st afternoon at 4 pm and the diagnosis was that only the rubber belt needed changing (the first item in Autobahn Skoda's initial invoice circled in orange below). The total cost of this (including labour) was about Rs. 1,000 (as against Autobhan Skoda's estimate of Rs. 1,68,000) - invoice of Bharat Auto's charges is enclosed. It took a total of 2 hours to diagnose and fix this car. My friend's car was ready by 6 pm on August 21st.





My friend and her son have been using this car normally since August 22nd. There are no other issues with the car.

My friend is all shaken up. Her questions to me:

1. Had it been a less alert customer, would he / she have been "forced" to pay Autobahn Skoda Rs. 1.68 lakhs or more?
   
2. When a small independent garage can diagnose that only one item of Rs. 396 (as per Autobahn's own quote and something that Bharat Auto charged Rs. 550 for) needs changing, why did Autobahn include charges for several other items including a "Compressor" for Rs. 62,982 and a "Bearing Speed Sensor Kit" for Rs. 17,076 in their quote?
   
3. What was Autobahn Skoda's intention?

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[typlo]

Another hit for Skoda. They have some excellent cars (Octavia RS) but their service and spares seem to be on the opposite road to destruction.

Is it possible to sue a dealership for false estimates/charges?

[fiestarry]

This is Skoda's earnest effort to scare away customers. I was given a Rs 1,01,500 (yes One lakh) estimate for a routine 60,000 km service by Skoda @Guindy, Chennai.
It included full clutch replacement@Rs 45,000 and timing belt kit change@ Rs 27,000. And a host of smaller parts.
Only the brake rotors and pads needed a change which I sourced and replaced.
The point is, Skoda service centres will hand over an estimate of such ridiculous proportions and expect the customer to choose which is essential and what is not! Their deliberate presumption that the owner of a car wants it restored to its brand new state, every time he brings it in, is preposterous. Imagine going to a doctor for a minor ailment and he wanting to restore you to a man of twenty.
Sorry for the rant but being a Skoda owner is not for the weak hearted.

[Vid6639]

Just to summarize in that estimate from Autobahn.

50,000 is total cost of work related to brakes includes ABS sensors, brake discs, brake lining and wheel hub.

73K is given for AC compressor and AC dryer.

7K for tail lights.

That's 1.3L for AC, brakes and tail lights. If there was nothing those wrong with AC, brakes then it's robbery.

They recommended changing the ribbed belt, tensioner and pulley. This seems strange. The belt mentioned is not the timing belt but the accessory belt. https://www.ecstuning.com/b-genuine-...lt/03l903137t/

BTW, the AC inLaura is known to fail so the dealer is not completely wrong in saying AC is kaput. Is the cooling weak? Was the AC fully checked with Bharath autos? It has only been a week so the failure might be anytime later as well.

[ruzbehxyz]

Very surprising. A few thousands here and there is understood by service centres but in lakhs is something not accepted.
What if they would have actually not even changed the parts and still charged the customer?
Thanks for reporting. This will benefit others owning a Skoda. The drawback here is people who own Skoda cars and live near the service station, will always have take their cars to a distant service station.

[Lalvaz]

Thanks for posting this. I was actually getting very tempted to book a Skoda cos the test drive was excellent. I forgot the pain and anguish of the previous sordid episodes with Harish. Thank you so much for reminding me why I should never venture near that brand.

[saket77]

On one side we see Skoda offering longer warranties for what they call 'peace of mind' and on the other hand we can see these atrocious repair and service estimates. The truth is that Skoda will need years of time along with sincere efforts to come clean of the image they have made for themselves; if they really want to.

If the car was given to Skoda for an abrupt breakdown, I don't know what a 'tail lamp' worth Rs. 7K is doing in the repair estimate list. And that AC Compressor and brake parts? Did the customer make a complain about brakes/ AC and change of tail lamp as well?

[SmartCat]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

50,000 is total cost of work related to brakes includes ABS sensors, brake discs, brake lining and wheel hub.

Coincidentally, Autobahn Skoda spells "Car Breakdown" as "CAR BRAKE DOWN".

[androdev]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

That's 1.3L for AC, brakes and tail lights. If there was nothing those wrong with AC, brakes then it's robbery.
.

Your observation is spot on, it does seem like they added some regular service (brakes) and preventive maintenance (AC compressor)

[saket77]

Originally Posted by smartcat

Coincidentally, Autobahn Skoda spells "Car Breakdown" as "CAR BRAKE DOWN".

Explains why they have particularly focused on brakes rather than starting the car.

By then my questions stands; Skoda AC compressors and brakes need replacement after 50K kms or 6 years? The car in question is probably Jun 2012 model as per the details in the job card.

[batish]

OT, Has anybody noticed KM reading in the images? In first and second image it's 50,015 (18 August) and in third image it's 62,317 (21 August).

12,000 KMs in 3 days. Isn't it a bit weird?

[motorguy]

Highway robbery - to say the least. While every service center, be it Hyundai or Maruti will try to extract some money out of an unknowledgeable customer, Skoda excels in this!

I would not even consider buying a Skoda in India after reading about the many incidents like posted on our forum.

[drmohitg]

This appears to be a misleading thread and it sounds more like they messed up on the communication part. They have possibly added other costs of services and repairs ( which are ofcourse way more than it should cost in terms of pricing but that is another debate and owners decision in buying the said vehicle) and the OP has shared the whole bill claiming it as the estimate given for the current issue.

Originally Posted by batish

OT, Has anybody noticed KM reading in the images? In first and second image it's 50,015 (18 August) and in third image it's 62,317 (21 August).

12,000 KMs in 3 days. Isn't it a bit weird?

Very interesting pick. Can the OP please find out from your friend? Is this a typo?

[vap2151]

IMHO i feel it's a miscommunication from the Skoda ASS. They should have clearly mentioned the necessary repairs as one part and suggested repairs as another. These small mistakes are causing Skoda big trouble. I also faced a similar issue when i went to get my AC checked and I was given a quote for my suspension + Ac repair.