Skoda timing chain

Banbh

Skodia Fabia, four-years-old, good service record, needs a new timing chain. Monaghans, the main dealers in Galway, say it needs a new engine (€4,000) including installation. Apart from legal action, anyone offer alternatives?
Much obliged.

toyotaavensis

Why would you be taking legal action. I think you must have left something out of the post. If i remember right the car comes with a 3 year warranty?

Frankie Lee

It might only have been 2 years for VAG back then. Worth kicking up a fuss depending on circumstances.

George Dalton

There are other options for repairing the car apart from going the main dealer route.

Press them for goodwill and try and get the bill down. Failing that take the car out of the dealer and find an independent to fix it.

Banbh

A warranty has no bearing on the legal contract of buying something. It is really only a sales pitch.
A new car at around €16,000 that needs a new engine for €4,000 (including fitting) after four years is a faulty product.

The car has a service record from a competent and experienced garage and there are receipts for the oil which was of the correct type. In fact Skoda has confirmed that the oil was okay.

I am curious to know if anyone has had similar experiences with this model or other Skodas as a class action has a better chance than just one complainant.

Banbh

A warranty has no bearing on the legal contract of buying something. It is really only a sales pitch.
A new car at around €16,000 that needs a new engine for €4,000 (including fitting) after four years is a faulty product.

The car has a service record from a competent and experienced garage and there are receipts for the oil which was of the correct type. In fact Skoda has confirmed that the oil was okay.

I am curious to know if anyone has had similar experiences with this model or other Skodas as a class action has a better chance than just one complainant.

MuppetCheck

Goodwill might be hard to get without a full service history from Skoda. It's one of the main reasons I get my cars done in a main dealer when under warranty.

I know there's no difference to the work done between them - it's just a stick they can use to beat you with.

It's a ridiculous amount of money (approx. half the cars value now) to be expected to pay. If the dealer doesn't want to help with good will find one that will. It's a well known fault so find out as much information as you can before going back to Skoda.

What is the mileage out of interest?

toyotaavensis

Also OP did you buy the car new?
Has it any problems crashes etc in its history?
Has the timing chain snapped?
Was there any warning?

Banbh

Mileage 101,000 km.
The car was bought new.
No crashes or other trouble.
The chain didn't snap.
There was no warning before the warning light appeared.

Am now running into a brick wall with both Skoda and the main dealers - in fact, if I had run it into a brick wall, I would have had insurance cover.

Thanks for the earlier advice, it is appreciated as you can imagine the financial strain this bombshell has been.

bazz26

I wish you the best of luck in the courts with this OP. Unfortunately the car manufacturer's legal team and wealth will stretch a lot longer in the judicial system than a private individual's. Otherwise the likes of BMW would be out of business from all the people with broken timing chains too.

Personally I think you instead should be looking at having the engine either rebuilt or seek a reconditioned unit. And even taking Skoda goodwill into account it may still work out cheaper to get the entire job done by an independent garage.

toyotaavensis

Banbh, if the timing chain is just stretched, it should be possible to get it replaced, without changing the engine unless it stretched so much that there is other damage.

Perhaps George Dalton, who is highly regarded VAG specialist http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=89093075 might be able to help you out.

George Dalton

Is the engine still running?