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-   -   The Definitive discussion. Is a Skoda more expensive to own than the rest? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/29688-definitive-discussion-skoda-more-expensive-own-than-rest-11.html)

It was long and interesting reading this thread.

I got concerned about Skoda maintenace cost too when driver got an estimate of Rs 9000.00. I came to forums to find options.

I purchase my Skoda when my brother drove me to Shirdi from New Mumbai. He filled the tank and when we returned, tank still had 10-15% diesel. I was quite impressed.

I also have a Corolla. But when I drive Skoda, I feel much safe in it. It drives heavy.

With regards to Skoda maintenance, someone stole one mirror, I found one Auto dealer in Lajpat Nagar, New Delhi. He was selling a pair new mirrors for few thousand. He keeps these in one color. Why driver got it fixed with matching color. Paint shop also removed few scratches marks Skoda had. All this cost me Rs 2500 (with one morror).

Now for regular maitenance, I am looking for options from Forum members like the above. First thing is, in two years my Skoda only did 25,000 KM only, what is the recommended period for regular maintenance.

For electrical and mechanical parts replacement, I would always like to use Skoda workshop.

Wow, really one long and hard thread.
Yes its true that the expense of MAINTAIINING Skoda is high, but in the diesel version the overall cost of OWNING Skoda is less.

Its also true that Skoda dealers charge high unnecessarily. Let me explain with an example:

I read in one magazine that one person's TDI's alternator got damaged.
He went to Bosch shop in his city and there the cost was almost half the price stated by the dealer.
So he told the dealer guys that he wil buy the same alternator and hand them over to replace.
Dealers obviously refused.
The owner was ready to take responsibility in written that if damage happens to the car because of the "outside" alternator, he would be responsible for that, but stilll the dealer refused.

Even today there are many cases of this happening i.e. the dealer charging excessive.

He eventually spoke to the point that just the alternator costs 5% of the total cost of the car.
Eventually it was replaced at that high cost to prevent the warranty from going Void.

Easily we know that Skoda dealers are really happy.



But still the cost of owning a TDi over a period of time is less than that of comparable petrol driven Japanese car.

I am owning elegance 1.9 TDI and happy with it. Skoda spares are costly but it is more reliable. For regular service i have paid Rs. 2800 only. This includes oil change, air filter cleaning, brake pad cleaning and, general checkup. But if you break some electrical button stuff like Window control switch, you need to change the full set. So you need to be careful with these.

How come your paying just Rs. 2800 when synthetic costs much more then that please:

Our service center in coimbatore filling with regular oil only. My car clocked 84000 KMs and haven't faced any problem. One of my friends company octy clocked 167000 Kms and running with non synthetic oil without problem.

I got my car back yesterday from Vinanyak at Bangalore... I went with non synthetic oil.... here is the overall breakup:
1) replacement of Electric AC Fan which conked out after 2 years and 25,000km - Rs 9068 !. The fan looks like a regular bathroom exhaust and i cant figure out why it costs so much ! The dealer said it cannot be repaired...but tell me, why cant just the coil be replaced? The unit is openable !
2) Regular service - 9,000/-.

In regular service, they charged me labour of Rs 120 to replace my coolant and Rs 200 to replace a pollen filter etc! Whats the labour to drain out my coolant and add a new one? Its ridiculous as costs like these add up to a big amount when you calculate the final bill. If you do note any skoda service bill, they dont put big components in the service charges but small ones which add up....

They offered to replace my wiper blades for Rs 1600/- and i refused as i can get a bosch one for 500/- and it would do the job just fine.

I had 2 skoda octavia's TDI's. I sold one and am now planning to get rid of the other by next year. Compared to all the cars i own and have owned, the skoda is the most expensive to maintain, period.

May be they are using regular oil and not synthetic oil.
And the chaning interval will be less kms than synthetic oil.

While the other points mentioned by you are bang on, with regard to the pricing, the problem starts because the City is dangerously close to diesel's being offered by competition. Prices of top end diesel's ex-Delhi from the manufacturer website:

Verna 1.5 SX Crdi 8,04,916
Linea MJd E PK 8,35,011

- I am not sure if Verna diesel offers airbags but Linea does.

- The Verna is a good 33,000 LESS then City petrol while the Linea is roughly costing the same. One can say that a person looking at petrol will not look at diesel's but is that how buyer's think? If someone can get a diesel for 30K more and save on fuel efficiency and tanking up everytime he visit's the fuel bunk then he could consider diesel's seriously isnt it?

- Bring diesel savings into the picture and Honda's better resale can be covered by the diesel savings over the years considering that you wouldn't have to spend too much initially to get a diesel. To add to it, with the Linea diesel, you actually get more features then the City.

- Servicing: A City goes for service every 5,000kms / thrice a year. Linea goes at 15,000kms / once a year while Verna is at 10K / twice a year. Average spend on Honda service is Rs.500 per service that's Rs.1,500 in a year. Linea goes once a year and I guess you spend almost the same or a bit more due to synthetic oil? Hyundai service costs are not much as they don't use synthetic oil so Verna should also be more or less close to City in servicing.

- I guess 33K is not much for a person spending 8.xx lakhs and looking at the H badge but the diesel economics are too tempting to overlook.

PS: Haven't Linea prices slowly crept up? It's actually costing a good 30K more then Verna!

Amit, while i agree with you that bringing diesel into the scenario does change the picture, but it isn't viable for all.

Like my daily drive is less than 700 kms a month, do you still think i should go for diesel?

also, as kms keeps piling up, isn't diesel bound to give more maintenance compared to petrol? say after 50k or 70k? at that time, the replacement of important parts will increase the amount by some margin.

@ Amit : The Linea also does come with a petrol. Hence, I am comparing the petrol engined variants (e.g. petrol Linea versus petrol City). Apples to apples & oranges to oranges. I will comment on the diesels in a while, maybe in another thread, but until then, please keep the discussion focussed on petrols.

The point I was trying to make is you can get a diesel sedan (Verna) for less money then City petrol. Even I would buy a City petrol over a Linea or any petrol but the pricing of the City petrol is so close to diesel sedan's with more features that quite a few buyer's could end up switching over to diesel's looking at the diesel economics. I don't think a buyer is going to compare petrol to petrol and diesel to diesel car's only specially when prices are so close to each other.

Petrol City versus Petrol Linea. If you have to bring in diesels, the Verna diesel is not only more powerful but will also beat the Linea diesel in cost of ownership. Like I said, I will revert back to you in detail on diesels, but in another thread. We have to compare apples to apples here.

Amit,

I've moved your posts here as me & Robin have had quite the debate on comparing a diesel car to petrol.

Of course they do, primarily because the City successfully commands a premium of 1.xx lakhs over its other petrol competitors.

However, we must compare apples to apples & oranges to oranges here. The Linea petrol was being compared to the Honda City (in the original thread). If you have to bring in the Linea diesel, then we must compare it to the Verna diesel (amongst others).

As of today, 60 - 70% of car sales in India are still from petrols. Not everyone wants a diesel. Either their running is too low, or they want refinement, more power etc.

The Linea diesels direct competitor, I reiterate, is the Verna diesel. If we have to bring the City in, then its against the Linea petrol. Further, the Verna diesel will beat the Linea hollow on total ownership costs (including resale), fit & finish and interior space.

If I ever do buy a Fiat or VW with 15K services, I'll still get the oil / filters cleant or changed at 10K. Indian driving conditions entail slower average speeds (bumper to bumper traffic = more wear & tear) and are very dusty (air filter cleaning). Not to mention, the fuel filters state after passing through all that adulterated fuel.

Evidently, a majority overlooks the diesel as the Honda City petrol outsells the Linea diesel and the Verna diesel.

Why only city petrol? This applies to any petrol car in the country. Your points are more on the lines of diesel versus petrol, bringing up the Honda City is entirely irrelevant.

The thread header was is skoda more expensive to own compared to other brands,

It has percolated to an Offtopic petrol vs diesel discussion. Yes skoda sells predominately diesels but it does have petrol options and petrol vs diesel discussion seems off place here.

I have just posted something on Skoda. It may be cheap when only fuel is required, but maintenance and other costs are quite high. Plus, many people also risk their (or the car's) body parts being interchanged or even missing!!