[RRM]

You have way better options to choose. Why to deliberately get into trouble, that too with 8 yrs old one? DSG issues have been notorious. Think twice before you plunge! If you still want to go ahead get all the checks done as far as possible but the risk remains!

[v.bhomawat]

Hi guys! Sincerest apologies if this is not the right forum to ask this question (I am a newbie on Teambhp and UI is surprisingly very non-intuitive).

I have been planning to purchase a used Skoda Octavia 2017 (Facelift)/2018 but hadn't been able to find a reasonable deal, until now.

A dealer is offering me Octavia 2018 L&K at a pretty solid price (11L asking price). Posting below some potential red-flags as well as my thoughts on them:

1) Car is third-owner and is only driven 18k Kilometers. Checked the service history and seems like the it was last taken to the Skoda service centre back in 2021 where it had 11k KMs on it. The only issue is that the first service was done back in 2019 when the car had like 7k KMs on it. The work that was done in the 2021 visit was on the car's mechantronics. Yet to get detailed info on it.

2) The dealer is saying the car has a faulty turbo and he is getting it replaced entirely.

My questions:

1) The deal seems too good to be true. I have not been able to find even the 2017 facelift version for less than 14.5 as of now, and that too with such low KMs on it. Potential reason for the less price can of-course be that it's a third owner car which raises another question, why is it a third owner car so soon?

2) Skoda service centers assured me that they can run a full diagnostics that can detect any and all potential faults in the car. But would their word be reliable? Can they actually detect everything, even Odometer tampering?

3) Should an Octavia with a replaced turbo, and that too in such a short span of ownership be trusted?

[d3mon]

Originally Posted by v.bhomawat

A dealer is offering me Octavia 2018 L&K at a pretty solid price (11L asking price). Posting below some potential red-flags as well as my thoughts on them:

1) Car is third-owner and is only driven 18k Kilometers. Checked the service history and seems like the it was last taken to the Skoda service centre back in 2021 where it had 11k KMs on it. The only issue is that the first service was done back in 2019 when the car had like 7k KMs on it. The work that was done in the 2021 visit was on the car's mechantronics. Yet to get detailed info on it.

2) The dealer is saying the car has a faulty turbo and he is getting it replaced entirely.

Busted turbo & mechatronic in 18K km? Either the car is a lemon, or the ODO has been tampered with.
I'd steer clear of it either way.

Neither of these parts should fail within 40-50K KM at the earliest. Both failing is a huge red flag.

[sunikkat]

You have only mentioned the reason why that car is going at such low price. Turbo going off at such low mileage is enough for me to walk out of that deal.

[BNG-motorhead]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

You have only mentioned the reason why that car is going at such low price. Turbo going off at such low mileage is enough for me to walk out of that deal.

Maybe the car was pushed to the redline excessively resulting in this issue. How much warranty is the dealer giving you?

[vaibhavyagnik]

Originally Posted by v.bhomawat

Hi guys! Sincerest apologies if this is not the right forum to ask this question (I am a newbie on Teambhp and UI is surprisingly very non-intuitive).

I have been planning to purchase a used Skoda Octavia 2017 (Facelift)/2018 but hadn't been able to find a reasonable deal, until now.

A dealer is offering me Octavia 2018 L&K at a pretty solid price (11L asking price). Posting below some potential red-flags as well as my thoughts on them:

1) Car is third-owner and is only driven 18k Kilometers. Checked the service history and seems like the it was last taken to the Skoda service centre back in 2021 where it had 11k KMs on it. The only issue is that the first service was done back in 2019 when the car had like 7k KMs on it. The work that was done in the 2021 visit was on the car's mechantronics. Yet to get detailed info on it.

2) The dealer is saying the car has a faulty turbo and he is getting it replaced entirely.

My questions:

1) The deal seems too good to be true. I have not been able to find even the 2017 facelift version for less than 14.5 as of now, and that too with such low KMs on it. Potential reason for the less price can of-course be that it's a third owner car which raises another question, why is it a third owner car so soon?

2) Skoda service centers assured me that they can run a full diagnostics that can detect any and all potential faults in the car. But would their word be reliable? Can they actually detect everything, even Odometer tampering?

3) Should an Octavia with a replaced turbo, and that too in such a short span of ownership be trusted?

The car seems to be a lemon. Buy it if you have atleast 5 lakhs more to spend on the car to get all the things wrong with the car repaired.

[v.bhomawat]

Originally Posted by BNG-motorhead

Maybe the car was pushed to the redline excessively resulting in this issue. How much warranty is the dealer giving you?

Have stalled the talks until I hear back from him on the turbo replacement.

Regardless, I can get a one year warranty from Skoda for 50k, provided everything checks out after the repair.

[v.bhomawat]

Originally Posted by vaibhavyagnik

The car seems to be a lemon. Buy it if you have atleast 5 lakhs more to spend on the car to get all the things wrong with the car repaired.

That's the only reason why I am still not entirely opposed to the idea of considering it- if I can get it for a supremely cheap price (>10L), I can spare some money for any future issues, as I am not able to find a decent Octavia 2017 (facelift)/18 for less than 14L.

[v.bhomawat]

Originally Posted by sunikkat

You have only mentioned the reason why that car is going at such low price. Turbo going off at such low mileage is enough for me to walk out of that deal.

So even if Skoda service centres approve it after the replacement, you would recommend not going for it, right?

[BNG-motorhead]

Originally Posted by v.bhomawat

Have stalled the talks until I hear back from him on the turbo replacement.

Regardless, I can get a one year warranty from Skoda for 50k, provided everything checks out after the repair.

Just noticed you are in Delhi. Bought my Skoda there and got it serviced at 4-5 different centers, not a single service center in entire NCR is honest. I'm in South India now and things are very different when it comes to Skoda/Fiat/VW/Renault and other not so mass brands.

Which center are you speaking with? They're all thieves.

[v.bhomawat]

Originally Posted by BNG-motorhead

Just noticed you are in Delhi. Bought my Skoda there and got it serviced at 4-5 different centers, not a single service center in entire NCR is honest. I'm in South India now and things are very different when it comes to Skoda/Fiat/VW/Renault and other not so mass brands.

Which center are you speaking with? They're all thieves.

So there is Jai Auto (Mathura Road) and Aryaveer (Moti Nagar).

Hahaha as much as I love Delhi and hate to admit it, yes, you are right. Delhi is definitely trickier to navigate than Bangalore or Mumbai.

[sunikkat]

Originally Posted by v.bhomawat

So even if Skoda service centres approve it after the replacement, you would recommend not going for it, right?

Well, if I was in your place, will give it a pass. Not comfortable taking that much risk. I would rather spend couple of lakhs more for a more clean one.

[BNG-motorhead]

Originally Posted by v.bhomawat

So there is Jai Auto (Mathura Road) and Aryaveer (Moti Nagar).

Hahaha as much as I love Delhi and hate to admit it, yes, you are right. Delhi is definitely trickier to navigate than Bangalore or Mumbai.

Moti Nagar center is a crook. Broke my key, spilled paint on my car and ripped seat covers during a regular service. No remorse and even Skoda sided with them. Jai Auto Gurgaon branch is where I purchased my car but that shut shortly after and I have not heard anything good about them. Goodluck! Love the car but I would stay away since I don't trust these service providers.

[vaibhavyagnik]

Originally Posted by v.bhomawat

That's the only reason why I am still not entirely opposed to the idea of considering it- if I can get it for a supremely cheap price (>10L), I can spare some money for any future issues, as I am not able to find a decent Octavia 2017 (facelift)/18 for less than 14L.

I highly recommend you get yourself an OBD scanner like OBDeleven. It is cheap. Plug it into the car, take a look at all the fault codes and google them and find out what they point to. The good thing about german cars is that they have excellent diagnostics and you find posts about most of the problems that you face and how people solved them. The OBD scanner will also provide you with part numbers so that you can yourself look them up and estimate parts cost. I also made a extensive checklist when I was in the market for a used octavia. I can share it with you if you want. Most importantly, do the test drive and inspection yourself. If the car has a major problem, Look, listen and feel will definetly uncover it.

[Puniaaditya]

Voting a big yes. As its been almost 11 months of owning a pre owned Skoda Octavia. This decision was made when I was considering to buy another car for the family and none of the brand new cars were meeting the budget/requirements criteria at the same time. The major requirements were a powerful engine for the highways, comfortable and spacious seating esp. at the back, and lots and lots of luggage space, and the new cars meeting all these requirements would have meant shelling out at least somewhere between Rs. 25-30 Lakhs for the on-road price considering the absurd amount of taxes we have to pay on new vehicles. But, I was not willing to spend that much amount of money on a petrol/diesel vehicle considering the future of EVs. However, the cars in the price range of 10-15 Lakhs were not meeting either or all of my requirements.

So, meanwhile, while randomly exploring Cars24 one day, came across a December 2016 Skoda Octavia 2.0 TDI Manual, with 65k kms on the odo, immediately booked a test ride for the next day, though I was worried about owning a pre owned Skoda and possible issues with the car.

Next day, when I went to test drive, the agent kept all the documents of the car infront of me, and I was so much relieved on finding the entire service record of the car from day 1 available with original invoices. It came as a peace of mind to me as if the previous owner had kept the service records so organized, the car I'm about to buy is going to be a pre-worshipped car and not just a pre owned car. Went ahead with the test drive, everything seemed fine. After the test drive, opened the hood to have a look, battery replaced just 6 months ago, all good there too. The next thing I noticed were tires, and my eyes lit up when I saw Pirelli Cinturato P6 on the car.

Paid Rs. 8.26 Lakhs the very next day, without thinking if I'm overpaying or not, as the car met my expectations and was well under the budget, plus the new tires and battery.

Coming to today when I look back, that was the best decision I made, the odo stands beyond 82k kms today, the money I've spent on the car after buying it is 20k for insurance, 22k for annual service, 2k for detailing the alloys to get rid of the hard water stains, rest for fuel. With disciplined driving (though it's hard to tame this beast of an engine once you're on the pedal), the car has returned a fuel efficiency of 24-25kmpl for the highways based upon the MID display and that kind of matches with tank full method too.

Got all money worth with a recent 2000 kms long trip from Hisar to Lucknow and way back, we were 4 people, with approx. 375 kgs of luggage, which fit perfectly in the massive boot of the Octavia.

Though, a recent niggle which I've faced is that the AC has stopped cooling and is blowing hot air with a hissing sound, best case- it'll be fixed with a simple refrigerant recharge, worst case- the cooling/evaporator coil has gone kaput, which'll cost me 50-55k to get replaced at the ASS, which I'm kind of okay with as when I bought this, I was mentally prepared to shell out Rs. 2-2.5 lakhs extra and over the routine maintenance for repairs.