[4x4addict]

Why is Bajaj Allianz being suicidal? Guess Bajaj has no clue what is going to hit them. I don't see this relationship with Skoda lasting more than a couple of years.

Any insurer that offers extended warranty on a Skoda for 5 to 20 k will see their premium wiped in claim given the cost of parts.

[Recompose]

There it is.I've been half expecting the fine print to be something along these lines.

Credit to Skoda.Good marketing strategy with a '4YW/100K KM',looks fantastic on paper.But once you read between the lines,you realize their obsession has only reached greater heights

[AirWind]

Has the Octavia been phased out?

[sabynag]

Does the fineprint says that the customer needs to renew basic motor insurance every year with BA and the renewal needs to be done through Skoda dealership for the extended warranty to be valid ?
Does the warranty cover clutch (in manual versions) or is that considered to be a wear-&-tear item ?

[ACM]

Originally Posted by Sahil

@ACM
The car hasn't even been for the first service yet. Although it's due so perhaps next week I will send her in.The only time it's gone to the service center (JMD) was for the monsoon check-up camp they had.
I'm not a Sr BHPian, I'm a D-BHPian

Sorry Sahil, missed your response and the "D". I do understand that you are just joking since the ourside world would not know what Distinguished implies as all of us on the forum do and Sr. would work as well.


The Current bit on the Thread about the linkage of the extended warranty to Bajaj Alliance seems to be a bit pessimistic on our side. Lets for a change give Skoda a chance and assume that they will honour the commitment that they are giving. Yes they will charge for the extended warranty upfront, but obviously insurance company will not cover warranty claims.

They should have made it possible for those currently under warranty to go for it and that would have been a good move, but no other company permits that either, TATA did not let me do that on the Safari years back when I tired.

[GTO]

Looks like I'm going to have to eat my words. Trust Skoda to do something like this. When every other manufacturer offers straight-forward 4 year warranties, why can't Skoda? Hyundai even offers 5 year coverage on most of its cars (BMW does on all).

Why the heck does Skoda have to weave their extended warranty in with insurance conditions et al?

[Dose]

Originally Posted by GTO

Why the heck does Skoda have to weave their extended warranty in with insurance conditions et al?

Maybe because there is not enough publicity showcasing how badly Skoda treats its customers. For every Indian who reads the Skoda horror stories on Teambhp and refuses to buy one, there seems to be two or more who ignorantly dream of owning a Skoda in India and have never heard of Teambhp.

[hrishig]

JUST OT ..
I over heard few car drivers/ attendants discussion in a hospital parking lot.

They were just observing a passat which was kept for valet parking. One person had the remote , but no one had clue how to start the car as there was no key hole nor a key. So they decided to call an attendant , the reason was , " He has even driven skoda(octy) , so this car is nothing in front of him."


Basically as per many chauffeurs , driving skoda is of the highest status , pride of their life. The same perception might be getting carried to the owners who may not know about the technicals/ actual facts.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by GTO

Looks like I'm going to have to eat my words. Trust Skoda to do something like this. When every other manufacturer offers straight-forward 4 year warranties, why can't Skoda? Hyundai even offers 5 year coverage on most of its cars (BMW does on all).

Why the heck does Skoda have to weave their extended warranty in with insurance conditions et al?

Exactly.
It's really sad the way they are offering the extended warranty and the way they talk when they explain it...

And today, one more feather in their cap - their latest print ad in Pune says extended warranty is only available with finance option

May be next ad will say that extended warranty will be available only if you live on 5'th, 7'th or 9'th floor of your building.....

[Rasputin]

Think we are over reacting. All manufacturers do hedge their risk incurred as part of extended warranty - either with their in-house financing division ( like BMW which has an NBFC license in India) or taking it in their books ( like Tata Motors which bleeds heavily due to this count). Skoda has hedged this risk with Bajaj Allaince, which in-turn will cover the extended warranty and also provides basic insurance , for a fee.
I would have shared the sentiments of this being an 'extended- insurance' if customers under warranty were asked to file an insurance claim form with Bajaj Alliance , every time a component fails.

[anandpadhye]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I would have shared the sentiments of this being an 'extended- insurance' if customers under warranty were asked to file an insurance claim form with Bajaj Alliance , every time a component fails.

I would call it as "Bajaj extended warranty". If you take any other isurance, you have no extended warranty.

In fact this should be clearly advertised - so that insurance companies come up with such extended warranty schemes for all make/models

[sabynag]

I am not too worried about who is actually providing the extended warranty. As a customer, it doesn't really matter as long as it doesn't impact other things that matter - cost, service quality and promise, what is covered and what is not etc. As long as any product defect/failure is rectified within warranty period in accordance with warranty statement, I am no less happy if Bajaj picks the tab instead of Skoda.

I think instead of focusing too much on how Skoda is going to internally administer the warranty, we should try to find out things that matter to us.

1. What are the "surprise" exclusions in the ext-warranty ?
2. Does a customer need to renew the insurance with BA every year within warranty period ? If yes, does the renewal need to be done through the authorized dealership ?
3. What is the process for ext-warranty claims ? Is it any different than the normal warranty claim ?


BTW, Skoda Laura TSI price is slashed again to 11.99L in BLR. Looks like the car is not moving fast enough even with "peace of mind" promise. About a year back, Laura TSI was 75K higher than Altis GL. Now, Altis GL is 100K+ higher than Laura TSI. In most reviews and customer test drives, Laura TSI gets higher overall rating than Altis GL, but it still fails to get even a comparable price. It shows how important "A-S-S" is in Indian buyers' purchase decisions and how much Skoda is losing out upfront (at point of sale) for consumers' perception about its service quality.

[v.anand]

The way Skoda offers the discount on Laura TSi is a bit weird. Why doesn't the dealership sell cars at 12lacs ex-showroom and calculate taxes and insurance on such cost rather than giving a lakh discount on the on-road price calculated before discount? On-road price I have been quoted is 15.3lacs after a discount of 1.1lacs after heavy bargain. Can I better it? I have now waited for a month after booking and have been promised delivery before the end of this month.
The dealer was not too keen on pushing the extended warranty and were recommending complete bumper to bumper cover insurance with 2years warranty, through Tata AIG. Which one should I consider, I am confused now.

[AbhiJ]

I hope bajaj has done their math right... because this could be a HUGE blunder on their part..

[sabynag]

Originally Posted by v.anand

The way Skoda offers the discount on Laura TSi is a bit weird. Why doesn't the dealership sell cars at 12lacs ex-showroom and calculate taxes and insurance on such cost rather than giving a lakh discount on the on-road price calculated before discount? On-road price I have been quoted is 15.3lacs after a discount of 1.1lacs after heavy bargain. Can I better it? I have now waited for a month after booking and have been promised delivery before the end of this month.
The dealer was not too keen on pushing the extended warranty and were recommending complete bumper to bumper cover insurance with 2years warranty, through Tata AIG. Which one should I consider, I am confused now.

A 13.3L product selling at 11.99L generates more "buy hormone" in an Indian consumer's mind than an 11.99L product selling at MRP.

Which dealer is giving you a better quote ? Tafe or Vinayak ? 15.3L for a LTSI is not a bad deal - it is still considerably cheaper than Altis GL and Civic VMT.

You must insist on Ext-warranty even if that costs you 20K-25K more. Also Tata-AIG won't give you Roadside assistance - will it ? Roadside assistance is given by only a handful of insurers - Bajaj, Royal Sundaram, Oriental ... though this list is growing by the day.