[Hayek]

Please try escalating to Zac with extracts from VW / Skoda’s own releases elsewhere in the world giving a 10 year, 100000 km extended warranty on the DSG. They may respond if you are polite and persistent.

However, even if they don’t, if this is the first failure at 78,000 km and nearly 7 years, I don’t see it as the end of the world as long as they do a proper repair job and give a warranty on the replaced part. This adds just ₹ 1.2 per km for the kms run so far - and will hopefully last another 20-30000 km at least without giving trouble.

[roadrunner_nv]

I changed 6 injectors on my Rapid. Once under extended warranty and twice out of warranty. In one case, the injector failed just a week after the warranty on replaced component expired. I argued that this needs to be settled under goodwill but no avail. This was the last straw, I changed the injector, sold off the Rapid (in pristine condition) to Spinny at whatever price they quoted. While booking my new car, I had the budget to go in for the Kodiaq but as a principle, no more VAG cars in my garage ever. Not mine, not my extended families, nor my friends nor anyone that I know or whoever comes to me for car advise.
First the uninformed dieselgate fix which screwed up the cars character and then the constant failure of parts followed by the lack of ownership from Škoda. I did not want to wait till the gearbox screwed up. This has to be the most screwed up brand to open shop.

[charanreddy]

Originally Posted by vinaydatla

E-Mail received from Skoda denying any discounts or goodwill replacement.

Please consider replying back documenting in detail the various issues faced by Skoda customers over the years along with cases where the DSG replacement was approved. Please also quote various other countries where Skoda was forced to issue a recall. Make a case for why your demand of a good will , full or in-part replacement is not over the top and justified.

Incase the reply is still negative, consider forwarding this to Transport Ministry highlighting how Skoda takes advantage of weak laws in India to sell sub standard products to Indians while it offers recalls in other countries.

Like others suggested do find a competent FNG to get your issues sorted vs Skoda after sales. No point trusting the brand or ASS.

[shancz]

That's a pretty bad response from Skoda on a "known issue"

IIRC a friend had bought a used Golf 1.6(2011-12 model) in 2016-17 , in the UAE and suffered some issue with the DSG where it was jerking. He got it checked at the ASC and they said it was a gearbox issue costing 18000AED but VW has given a 25 year warranty on the unit due to some concerns and they fixed it for free.
I cannot confirm that the duration of the warranty was mentioned as 25 or 15 years since I have lost contact but I can confirm that a VW DSG, in a Golf, bought used, outside of general warranty, was repaired for free under a warranty specific to the gearbox, after 6 years.

Talk about consumer protection and double standards but that's an unfortunate reality.

This leaves me in a limbo now, the VW/Skoda cars appeal to me overall, appreciate what they offer, DSG is telepathic but with known issues and such response I will have a hard time recommending it to anyone, including myself.

Only if Skoda/VW could offer a gearbox specific extended warranty say for 10 years it would be a hot recommendation and resulting sales.

Even without the regulations, don't think that's asking too much for people putting their money on the brand which is fighting hard for a comeback.

Would go a long way in cementing their India 2.0 vision but maybe I need a strong coffee and wake up

[dingolphie]

My 10 year old, dealer serviced, 80k run Vento has eaten up Rs 80K and suffered 3 breakdowns over the last 4/5 months. I am tempted by the Tiguan, but these recurring stories don’t inspire confidence. Obviously, things go wrong, but lack of accountability is hard to stomach, when you are paying lakhs. Much as I love their cars and hate Toyota’s ‘brand premium’, I think it’s time to switch. I guess it’s these shenanigans from VW/Škoda that give Toyota their confidence, cos OP would certainly look at reliability and ASS in a new light when buying his next car. 10 years ago, I test drove Toyota and turned my nose up. Now, I’m using my dads Yaris for longer trips, cos my wife doesn’t trust our VW!

[Sidban85]

I also have Skoda Rapid 1.5L Diesel and now that I was considering to buy a new car, the hanging DSG sword and my experience of 4 ABS sensor failure and 1 injector failure ruled Kushaq out day 1. Even starter motor gave issues and that also came out as a known issue with Skoda Rapid.

I also had bad experience 2 times with Autobahn Skoda in past, which Skoda never bothered to even follow up.

Skoda can make the best driving cars but if you are scared about reliability when driving, you cannot truly enjoy the drive. On top of that, every visit to service center was a source of terror for me.

My experiences have actually made 2 of my ex-collefues drop Skoda from their list almost at final stage, even though I go gaga over my highway driving experience.

It is not as if the cars cost cheaper than competitors like in say UK.

And I do not truly believe their 'improved the DSG' PR that they did with Kushaq.

I still hope that Skoda does something good for OP's car.

[Ays7]

This is surprising. DSG failures are a known issue with this brand. And till late you would always read posts on this forum about how VW group always replaces it under goodwill warranty, or at least provides substantial discount on replacement. Moreover, failures of DCT by Hyundai are also well documented. Therefore, for Skoda to completely wash off their hands of this failure and not offering even a discount is blatant move, especially given the fact that gear box in both Kushaq and Slavia has a notorious reputation and is prone to failures. Highlight this issue enough for the top brass to react to this and hopefully start offering transmission specific warranties for extended period.

[AKSarkar1]

It is truly horrible that VAG customers have to go through this predicament over and again. One would think that Skoda/VW would learn from this? Evidently not sadly.

This is exactly the reason why I stuck to a manual iteration of the Vento when I made the purchase because I intended to own the vehicle for over 7+ years and didn't want any long-term hassle.

In this case, I must say that Skoda has been somewhat responsive, there are many other stories about customers having to deal with horrible dealers just adding to their woes. VW in Mumbai is way worse and treat every car with a DSG problem as their money-making cash cow of the month.

+1 to GTOs point of getting it done from a reputed place outside, can be done for much cheaper.

Good luck and I am your car would be sorted real soon!

[tiagoatrix]

I have come across forums where DSG was repaired under Good will after warranty in many cases.
This issue is very well know to VW/Skoda, so you should just wait and be persistent in your request. In your email, you can mention that some Team BHP members DSG were replaced under Good will. Fearing negative publicity in Team BHP, they might act nice.

As there's proper service history and no mods, there's nothing to worry. Be patient and optimistic.

Write to top executive of Skoda, attach the failure /repair cases of other DSG.

[axe_deo]

I have recently shifted to Vijaywada from Mumbai. Here in Vijayawada, I have had an extremely poor service experience from Mahavir Auto. They are extremely uncooperative. And it seems that Skoda has no check on standard operating procedures regarding warranty. My car is under extended warranty and they refused to replace the ABS sensor under warranty citing external battery. Last year I had got one of my ABS sensors replaced under warranty at JMD Skoda Mumbai with an external battery in my car without any issues. An interesting point here is Skoda itself in its manual states that battery is a third party fitment which is to be serviced by external vendors. Sadly Skoda has no uniform policy on these matters and it's upto the dealership to honour or not honour such claims.

[Turbohead]

Safe to say that Slavia will be DOA with such a petty move.

Guess we know who will soon be following Ford out of India.

[techmotor]

Originally Posted by roadrunner_nv

I changed 6 injectors on my Rapid. Once under extended warranty and twice out of warranty. In one case, the injector failed just a week after the warranty on replaced component expired. I argued that this needs to be settled under goodwill but no avail.

I too had gone through the same horrible experience and it's still going on. The first injector failure was during the warranty period(2nd year of ownership) and at that time they had replaced all 4 injectors free of cost. The second time it was replaced under goodwill. The third time I had to shell out 25K. The thing to look here is the number of times the injector has failed. The vehicle hasn't been reliable and hence I never used it for long trips. Not to mention the number of times ABS sensors had to be replaced. Mine is Rapid 1.6 TDI (MY 2012).

Originally Posted by vinaydatla

What are my options? Please suggest.

Since this is now in team-bhp forum, I hope it'll get the attention of Skoda India. As mentioned by others, try tagging Zac Hollis in twitter. Also it's worth giving a shot to see what you can fetch by selling this in the current state in used car market.

[arvishnu]

I think Skoda (VW group) have not learnt their lesson. This is bad PR, especially when they are using the same (apparently improved) gear box in their new launched cars.

[Chrome6Boy]

My Vento TSI suffered a Mechtronix failure at 99,920 KMs when it was 4 years old. I got it replaced under warranty. I had taken Team-BHP's advice and purchased the extended warranty when I bought the car.

Can you believe I was only 80 KMs away from a huge bill? At 120,000 KMs I had another failure and the service centre diagnosed it as a worn clutch and it needed to be replaced. However they managed to find a way to make it work without replacement. It cost around Rs. 5000 for this. They advised against driving the car at very high RPMs or using sports or manual mode. I have stuck to their advice and the car has even since been working properly. The car has run 131,000 KMs now.

I have booked the MG ZS EV which unfortunately has a huge waiting period. I hope my Vento lasts until then.

I have really enjoyed my driving experience with my Vento. I was tempted to look into buying the Kushaq / Taigun but I have learnt my lesson. I will not buy another DSG.

[aadya]

I avoided VAG due to dreaded DSG reliability for so long. At last opted for MPI + TQ at the cost of driving pleasure. Octavia was high up the list for upgrade. Now its out. VAG did not loose 75% of INR 95K. They lost a business of 50Lakhs - If I were to buy an OCTY.

I would entirely be okay if the VAG says you have to replace DSG at 1 Lakh Km or after 6 year service or offer a DSG warranty for a fixed sum. But can't really accept the vehicle stalling on a family trip and taking another month for all this circus.