[lapis_lazuli]

Zac Hollis mentioned in a Skoda owners group that this has been resolved on goodwill warranty! Let us hear from the OP....

[Tucker48]

I doubt the dealership is being honest.(seldom they are)
Please contact Skoda corporate directly explaining the chain of events.
The dealership is playing with you, it's time for you to up your game.

[universal]

I sent an email to Skoda and also contacted Mr. Zac Hollis on Twitter. He promptly replied saying he's approved it under goodwill as it cannot be covered under warranty.

Skoda called me and asked for a narration of the events of the past month. Hoping for a positive result soon.

Will keep you all posted.

Originally Posted by Pferdestarke

If things go downside, ask the dealer to give an official diagnositc report stating the causes of damage. In case they cite adulteration as a cause, ask them to give fuel test report proving so.

I'm hoping for things to not go downside and will take these steps in case they do. Thank you.

Originally Posted by Mr.Boss

Any idea what other parts got damaged or needs replacement?

SA did mention some child parts that needed to be changed, although I wasn't told exactly which parts.

First time I'm seeing an injector like this
Do you (or he) have the snaps of other injectors?

You're right -- as others have mentioned the pic is of diesel regulator valve. This was the only pic I was shown and was led to believe it's the injector. Frankly I wouldn't know the difference.

Is there any such mention in owner's manual or warranty information?

I'll have to check though I doubt it.

Originally Posted by saur95

If it's not too inconvenient, I'd suggest giving them a shot next time. I can put you in touch with my SA and the managers there.

Thank you so much for the offer. This is the spirit on this site that I love. I'll let you know in the future if needed.

Originally Posted by Jeroen

It is really important to understand where the water or otherwise that caused this corrosion, comes from. The most likely culprit is of course from where you last filled up.

I'd like to get to the root of the problem myself. But with no transparency and vague responses to my queries from Autobahn, I'll thank my stars if Skoda just settle my case as soon as possible.

I last filled up at the pump outside our building. But would it rust so soon? In a week?

I have no clue what parts are spoilt, I have a pic of DGR although the claimed rust is on the injector, I have no written quotation and no date of delivery. All I have from Autobahn are empty words and hollow promises.

Have them check the diesel filters. If you have any bacterial growth in the diesel, the first place it will show up in the filters. They can actually clog up pretty badly!

I surely will. Thank you.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by universal

I surely will. Thank you.

If you find the filter clogged with a sludge type of stuff, it is likely bacteria. You have to flush the tank and the entire fuel system with some special antibacterial stuff. If not, it will come back in no time

Good luck!

Jeroen

[humyum]

Originally Posted by universal

I sent an email to Skoda and also contacted Mr. Zac Hollis on Twitter. He promptly replied saying he's approved it under goodwill as it cannot be covered under warranty.

This is also quite arrogant, what is a goodwill warranty, this is just a simple warranty claim which they should honor anyway.

Maruti replaces steering assemblies, turbos(mine was replaced once under warranty), they replaced my clutch twice in early 30-40 thousand kilometres when I complained of it being hard, struts (if they leak early in life), synchroniser rings and what not under warranty and here we have Skoda who is making someone fight for an injector failure under warranty calling it a fuel issue.

Baba why launch cars in India which are not made for India, user is not going to import fuel from Europe and run his Skoda here.

[Mr.Boss]

Originally Posted by universal

I sent an email to Skoda and also contacted Mr. Zac Hollis on Twitter. He promptly replied saying he's approved it under goodwill as it cannot be covered under warranty.

Glad to hear.
I suggest not to inform the same to dealership and let's see what the story they come with (100% good will or still the old story of 70~90%)

[AnandB]

Zac posted the same on FB group. Never seen someone of his post always interacting with customers. I always see his replies on that FB group.

[universal]

Just had a long chat with someone in top management at Autobahn. He said Skoda has agreed for "90% goodwill" and they'll send a quotation tomorrow morning for my approval.

I don't know what to make of that. Will see what the amount comes to before deciding.

I apologise for taking time to reply here. I wanted to reply to every one of you, but it's my first post and I'm still getting used to the interface and the posting rules.

I've been staring at the screen all day with 12 tabs open. After running behind my car for a month, I got replies from Zac and Skoda and Autobahn with an hour of each other.

There's only one word for this platform. Magical.

I want to thank you all and will keep you updated.

[arijit_chat2006]

IMHO, this should be covered by Skoda under warranty, period.

What is the point in having warranty on a car, if components like the fuel injector starts picking up rust and warranty is denied?

This particular incident does not help in any way in improving Skoda's already damaged reputation in India.

My sympathies with you.

[JayKavadi]

Glad to hear that Skoda is covering this under their “goodwill” warranty. Except for Zac’s stellar efficiency and commitment to the brand, there’s absolutely no redeeming factor to Skoda’s India A.S.S.

The company is launching its TSI AT variants tomorrow and I was seriously considering buying one of the lower variants (Rider Plus AT) but this thread has come in at the perfect time. Always knew about their unscrupulous dealerships in India, but this thread has been just the eye-opener that was needed. Definitely not touching Skoda or VW even with a barge pole

[PKH]

I had a similar issue with VW Jetta where they said the fuel line and injector had rust due to adulterated fuel this caused engine missing and were not covered under warany but did a goodwill replacement where the bill came close to 250000 but I only had to pay around 12000 for service and oil/fuel replacement cost but not before multiple emails and many unpleasant conversations. This ensured that I did not buy any other Volkswagen products after that in our family which had 4 VWs till then.

[arighna.dutta]

Before getting into the stupendous after sales service of V.A.G group topic, how come a few years old car's most unlikely part get rust like that? Or am I missing out on something. Experts please explain, as these issues are completely taking away any thoughts of owning a car from this group in the future.

After all, not every one of us might have well planned it, to own a Skoda for last 10 years to be considered for a goodwill replacement of parts on the second Skoda.

[Jeroen]

Some of you might not appreciate this, but I do believe that Skoda has no obligation to cover this under warranty. It is very obvious that this corrosion is caused by the diesel. Whether there was water in the diesel that was put in the tank. Whether some idiot added a bit of water into the tank (not unheard of when washing a car). Or just poor fuel. It happens, not only in India.

Skoda doesn’t control the diesel, nor the storage of the fuel, the treatment of the fuel etc. It is simply not their responsibility. Admittedly, for the average owner, it is also impossible to know whether you are getting bad fuel. It is possible to accidentally get some water into the tank, during for instance washing.

But just because the owner can’t know for sure, does not make it the formal responsibility for Skoda, I think. It is just one of those things. If you get somebody to wash your car and they scratch it, you can’t claim the paint repair on Skoda either.

Although I am not familiar with the Indian law pertaining to consumer warranties, I doubt very much you would even have the beginning of a legitimate claim? You would have to prove, I would think, there is something inherently wrong with the way the car was designed and or manufactured. Or find a judge that is willing to rule that Skoda needs to deliver cars that can run on a mixture of diesel and water.

Whether it was water in the diesel, or microbe, is irrelevant in my opinion. Completely outside the control and responsible of the car manufacturer.

So I personally, without too much knowledge of Indian consumer warranty laws, would be careful to get on my high horse and call Skoda arrogant and claim this is warranty.

Why should filling up a car with bad fuel be Skoda’s problem or responsible. I get it, as an owner we can’t know either. But that is just tough. If you want to make any claims you would have to go back to the pump where you got the bad fuel in the first place. As you can imagine for all sorts of reasons, it is unlikely that you will be able to proof it caused all these problem. But they most likely did, not Skoda.

Good luck and I would seriously consider taking the goodwill offer.

I have seen quite a few post of members that claim “this is/should be warranty” without offering any insights or good reasoning why it should be. Just because the car is relative new/low mileage has no bearing on it whatsoever. Poor fuel will do this to a brand new car as well as 50 year old car. Again, just because it is not your fault, it doesn’t automatically means it is Skoda’s either.

You put adulterated fuel in the most expensive, best engineered car, it is going to present you with a host of issues.

Jeroen

[landcruiser123]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Some of you might not appreciate this, but I do believe that Skoda has no obligation to cover this under warranty. It is very obvious that this corrosion is caused by the diesel...... You would have to prove, I would think, there is something inherently wrong with the way the car was designed and or manufactured.

I side with you, but hear me out. Yes, Skoda is technically not under any obligation to cover the car under warranty, but they should have better designs if they want to continue selling cars in India. I find it acceptable if there is a rare part failure but frequent part failures mean a bad design. If Skoda can't design cars for the conditions of this country, Skoda shouldn't be doing business. If you compares Injector failures per 1000 cars between Skoda and Toyota, I'm sure the numbers will tell you a different story.

I know a friend who had a Fotuner and a VW Polo 1.6 TDI in the family. The 160k Km run, 10 year Fortuner had no issues with injectors with diesel filled in various pumps across the city and across remote towns in South India. The VW Polo had injectors fail at 9k km (1st year) and 43k km(5th year). They got the first incident settled at no cost, but junked the car at the second occurrence due to the hefty bill.

[sameerpatel90]

Dear Member,

Fuel injector and other fuel components vs fuel adulteration has always been a case of arguments between vehicle owners, dealers and manufacturers. In such a case please do get the fuel tested or acquire fuel report from the gas station which shall be a baseline for a client to have an upper hand over the manufacturer. There are ample of reasons behind injector failures or malfunctioning which is being blindly ignored/ avoided by the OEM's as a third party manufacturer is involved. Although, it is my personal opinion that try to get 100% to be covered under warranty and make sure you take the replacement and job performed is done thoroughly. There have been cases where a repeat repair has also been carried out due to negligence of a chain of people working on the vehicle before delivery. Additionally, any fuel injector issue found in out of warranty vehicles please refer authorized component manufacturers who diagnose if a minor cleaning is required may solve the issue or replacement of any child parts shall resolve the performance issues. Ignoring engine related issues may have an adverse effects even leading to seizure too. Hoping my given information is self sufficient to relieve the tensions prevailing in one's head. Please do update about your vehicle and if necessary any additional info is required we are all here for the assistance.