[RahulNagaraj]

Thanks to Sanket Valimbe for sending this in. Heartfelt gratitude for sharing it with other enthusiasts via this Team-BHP share page!

Hello Team,

I am Sanket Valimbe and I purchased a Skoda - Kushaq Style AT (6 airbags) Oct'22. I live in Mumbai and for some function, I drove to Indore on 15th May '23. While in the parking lot of the society, 2 flower vases fell on the Skoda's roof from an idiot's corridor. This incident happened on 20th May. As it was a Saturday evening, I could reach the service centre of Skoda in Indore (Ms SatGuru Skoda) on the morning of the 22nd of May only. Meanwhile, I raised a claim and booked Skoda roadside assistance for 22nd May, Monday morning.

Along with the Sunroof, there was damage to the front windshield, door handle, denting and other damages too. After reaching the Skoda dealer, I told them the complete incident with insurance details. On asking for the ETA of repair, the dealer said that there is a possibility the sunroof is not in stock, so they need to check with Skoda India.

After checking with Skoda India, they don't have a sunroof and its accessories (glass, motor, panel etc.) ready and need to generate a backorder. Here "backorder" means, Skoda has to manufacture this. Surprisingly, the sunroof and its accessories are not in stock, which seems to be surprising, that also with the Kushaq model (which is best selling product of Skoda)

On 30/31st May, I came to know it would take more time, so I came back to Mumbai on 2nd June and my vehicle is still with Dealer in Indore. Still, Skoda India is not able to provide the necessary parts to the dealer. And now, the tentative date of availability of sunroof accessories is 18th June. Believe me, now I felt cheated and cursed the day when I purchased the vehicle.

I asked below queries to Skoda India Western CRM and other people in one of my mail communications, but they don't have an answer for this.

PFB queries for your reference:

1. Why are 6 months older vehicle parts not available in stock and the company has to manufacture it explicitly?
2. Even if parts are not ready, what I learned from the dealer is that they will be ready on 11th June (PFA snaps). Please let me know when you receive the order and if 11th June is justifiable. This puts me in question whether we use robotics in manufacturing plants or manually.
3. When will all parts be delivered to the Satguru dealer, so they can start repairs?

Also not to forget that I don't live in Indore, I came for a function on the 20th and this incident happened. If this delay was known to me earlier, I might have come to Mumbai earlier and not have stayed in Indore for such a long period. I am ignoring the pain and cost involved for to and fro Mumbai.

@team-bhp - I am sharing with you here, the email communication with Skoda India and snaps of my vehicle. Please post this on the site in a forum/thread.

I just want to make a point - The support and after-sales service from Skoda is unacceptable in such a cutthroat era of competition. This makes me regret purchasing a Skoda vehicle. I will indeed think twice to suggest those vehicles to anyone else !!
In the automobile world, my damage is not considered to be a big one, I wondered about the major accidents and what pain customers would have been going through by looking at Skoda's pathetic after-sales service.

PFA snaps and email threads for your reference. Looking forward to your support.

[ajmat]

Crap happens

Sunroofs very rarely break so one could expect a wait. The supply chain works to exact inventory so a specific order will need to be made. This is a rare part so I dont think the three weeks is unreasonable. By that time, all the prep work like the bodywork, paint etc. should be completed.

• My Octavia had an accident and it took two weeks for some body parts to arrive from Aurangabad. The panel removal etc all started in parallel
• My Jetta (a low volume car) required some underbody parts - took two weeks from the warehouse
• The Mini Cooper needed a new wheel - that took 10 days
• My Swift needed a new roof panel, that took three weeks

Be reasonable!

[Turbanator]

If this is a CKD car, SKODA should have spare with them. They must be buying thousands for manufacturing and though companies won't divert the OE stocks to Spare parts, exceptions are possible on such parts.

I think the OP is upset because of the trouble of getting it repaired from a distant dealer and now will have to go back again to pick the car. Think of all the additional expenses. I don't think RSA would have covered towing to Mumbai either. Some companies pay for trip interruption though.

Perhaps the Dealer or Skoda should send the car by Tow truck without charge to Mumbai, though I doubt on this.

[ike]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

I don't think RSA would have covered towing to Mumbai either. Some companies pay for trip interruption though.

Perhaps the Dealer or Skoda should send the car by Tow truck without charge to Mumbai, though I doubt on this.

RSA in most cases would tow to the nearest authorized service centre isn't it? Skoda paying for a tow to Mumbai when there is a dealer locally is really far fetched. Even insurance that have RSA included will pay only for towing to the nearest authorized workshop.

[GeeTee TSI]

What a predicament (all too probable for anyone!),

Is it possible to get the windscreen fixed sans the bodywork and drive the car to Mumbai (with an open sunroof, pardon my naive question) for part 2 of the repairs?

Atleast the car can be in one's city of residence while waiting for a back order part. If a job card is opened, OEMs usually do not release the car till the job executed

[sidpunjabi]

Local OEM service centres rarely keep such complex parts (sunroof, fully built engines, transmissions) on hand due to the low frequency and high cost of storage involved. These are usually ordered on a 'as-needed' basis from the local hub or the manufacturing facility where these cars are built.

The three week timeline is usually given because such parts are not transported separately, but are usually transported along with new cars that are being brought into the pan-India dealer-network. Unfortunately, the local dealers have no way of knowing the actual route or the time it may take to deliver the part so it will always be a guesstimate.

[Spaced Out]

Originally Posted by GeeTee TSI

What a predicament (all too probable for anyone!),

Is it possible to get the windscreen fixed sans the bodywork and drive the car to Mumbai (with an open sunroof, pardon my naive question) for part 2 of the repairs?

Atleast the car can be in one's city of residence while waiting for a back order part. If a job card is opened, OEMs usually do not release the car till the job executed

I would have done that. But then again, we don’t know whether that voids some clause of insurance etc. Hope one never encounters this predicament.

On a side note, not sure why sunroofs are popular in India. With long summers and quite sunny winters, I imagine that sunroofs increase the warmth inside the car. Very strange accessory for a country like India.

And then there are those who love standing through them - see them in the hills particularly. Nuts!

[astrodex]

While I empatize with you, especially the fact that it happened outstation, these delays are expected, especially for German cars. I've had to wait over 2 months for the parking brake switch, 2 weeks for the rear view mirror etc. The only thing I feel they should have done is to be upfront with you on the expected delays. Even Maruti sometimes quote 10 to 15 days for slow moving spare parts, so Skoda taking a month is not a big stretch.

That does not mean it is not a frustrating experience, I would take solace in the fact that you did not meet any of the insurance claim related issues. That is another quicksand where getting timely approvals can be a problem. Please make sure that once the work is done, insurance claim process is also cleared, otherwise they will not hand over the car. Hope you get your vehicle back soon.

[svsantosh]

DXB - Last year, Mar-22, There was a Gen2 Raptor rollover in the Dunes. It was the full option one. Doors, windshield, and miscellaneous stuff were available at Al Tayer (UAE's largest FORD store). The sunroof and airbags (all of them) took six weeks to arrive from the USA.

These are the few things one has to expect & deal with when you buy imported cars.

[SilverSmoke]

When my Kodiaq TSI met an accident, it took many parts more than 70 days to arrive from Europe & got my car on 91st Day. While got clearance from insurance in 10 days.

Skoda inventory is poorly managed, no doubts.

[Zippy_wheels]

I faced the same issue with VW in another city and was told that parts get delayed further if here is no air connectivity to that city. In my case they took ~15 days to get ABS sensors (they are in small boxes that can fit in one's pockets).

I also read somewhere, in this forum itself, that VW stocks the parts in Germany and the parts are shipped from there?

Having said that, there is no justification for such delays for vehicles that are actively being sold. Its a no-brainer that they should keep all kinds of spare parts in at least 4 warehouses across the country, to be able to get the parts to any city in 2-3 days. Even if they suffer losses on some parts that dont get sold, I think its worth the cost - compared to making your customers unhappy. In any case the spare parts seem to be marked up so they are earning a lot through these replacements.

[Nalin1]

There is nothing to be aghast here!. Cars do not get their sunroofs replaced every other day for them to be kept stocked up. They are not air filters, fuel filters or brake pads that come under PMS or regular wear and tear.

How long they are going to take is just a hit or miss. Just wait and hope that it is as quick as they can. Following up continuously is the only way we can at least put some pressure (might help).

[naikameya]

I had a similar case for my new Tucson where I had to replace the bumper. It had 2 parts to it and it took more than a month. Thankfully I was able to drive my car. Hyundai also provided me with a courtesy car (Creta DCT) while my bumper was being painted and assembled.

Be reasonable, ask them for a courtesy car since the car is not drivable.

[epicshadow]

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Perhaps the Dealer or Skoda should send the car by Tow truck without charge to Mumbai, though I doubt on this.

Why would the dealer tow truck without charge? This is not a mistake on the dealer, even Skoda wouldn't send the car for free of charge. It's not Skoda's mistake that the car is in some other city. Though the delay of parts is a concern here, that's a sour point not just with Skoda but even with other car manufacturers as well. I waited 2 weeks for some kind of rubber hose for my my Nexon.

[Maverick1977]

A lot of car owners talking about the parts getting delayed are owners of cars with low percentage of localisation.

The Skoda Kushaq has been engineered in India and manufactured at the VW group's Chakan plant in Maharashtra. The car is a CKD for other Asian markets where it is exported.

From Wikipedia: "The Kushaq contains 95% local parts."

If the above is true then I don't see any reason for the long delay. This could be just due to a sloppy or lousy supply chain. I am not surprised to see the OP being upset about the situation. And unfortunately no one seems to be providing him any help. My sympathies and best wishes that he gets his car quickly.