Skoda Superb - buying private. Risk vs aftermarket warranty?

clancger

Hi all,

I'm looking at buying a 162 Skoda Superb privately, but all Skoda warranties have all since lapsed, and so no dealer comeback.
I spent some time at the guys's house yesterday, and he seems like a very genuine bloke, he works with someone I know.
The car looks to be in great shape and the guy is seriously into cars, and it, and his other cars look very well minded, but I'm no judge of the technical stuff. It has been fully main dealer serviced to date, and the timing belt replacement would be due in the next couple of months.

The main dealer where it was last serviced are suggesting that if the servicing + Timing belt work is done by them, and so keeping up the full main dealer history, then although the car is out of warranty, there is some leeway to beg for support from Skoda if something major fails.

Otherwise I was looking into Aftermarket warranty, particularly Carprotect, and Mapfre.
Carprotect would cover for major failures for about €300 per year, but I've been warned off them by a mechanic friend who says he only ever sees problems being excluded from cover by Carprotect, and swears instead by Mapfre warranty...

Unfortunately it seems Mapfre no longer sell direct to the public, and the only way to get cover from them is buying a car from a dealer who works with them.

I've driven Superbs as company cars in the past for many years, and apart from a water pump that failed in the 1st year once, I had no issues, so generally I trust in the quality.
Likewise the feedback from my mechanic is that other than those things not much tends to go wrong, but that money spent on Carprotect is not well spent.

All in all, my gut is telling me take the risk...Any thoughts please?

colm_mcm

Are you making a good saving vs buying from a dealer?

road_high

It’ll come down to cost and saving over a dealer price

clancger

It's a top spec model, that is uncommon in a market that is already sparse..
The price is equivalent to much higher mileage and/or lower spec from dealers.

I also spoke to a different Skoda main dealer who thinks that the price is fair for the spec, age, mileage..it is just the warranty or lack of that is niggling me

listermint

I maybe odd one out here. But who buys warranties on a 5 hear old Skoda ?


Buy it on current condition. Keep it maintained yearly or as per is service schedule and keep your warranty money in you pocket for actual stuff that you need.

clancger

I get the sentiment, and I'm probably spoilt from having had company cars for so long, where every / any problem gets magically solved behind the scenes.

Now that I'm looking at buying privately, I'm just being wary of the unexpected technical thing that happens eg next week, and where I'd have some recourse if buying from a business.

Car99

clancger wrote: »

It's a top spec model, that is uncommon in a market that is already sparse..
The price is equivalent to much higher mileage and/or lower spec from dealers.

I also spoke to a different Skoda main dealer who thinks that the price is fair for the spec, age, mileage..it is just the warranty or lack of that is niggling me

Why is lack of warranty niggling you? At best you'll get 1 year warranty from a dealer on that car

bazz26

You need to study the fine print of these aftermarket third party warranties as they are basically insurance policies against mechanical breakdown.

Similarly they also have a lot of terms, conditions and exclusions. For example nearly all of them will have caps on garage hourly labour rates (some it's a cap of €60 per hour or so). Others won't cover main dealer labour rates point blank or they will want you to bring it to their preferred garage. Other conditions are that the part actually has to fail or be the root cause of a problem before they will cover it and they may not cover the cost of other parts associated with the failed part unless they failed too. Like any insurance policy you also have different levels of cover at different price points.

ratracer

If there was a decent saving, or if the spec is better (so assuming its a UK import) , I'd go for it.

As you said, the seller is obviously genuine, and if the car has a Skoda FSH that can be printed out, that shows that the car has been looked after. Factor in the timing belt change into the buying price and see if it makes economic sense. To me, once any car is outside of manufacturer warranty, it's my Indy who would be looking after it.

clancger

Thanks lads for the input. I went ahead and bit the bullet, collecting it tomorrow..

Don't suppose any of you are in the market for a low mileage, well minded 01 Octavia?

theoneeyedman

clancger wrote: »

Thanks lads for the input. I went ahead and bit the bullet, collecting it tomorrow..

Don't suppose any of you are in the market for a low mileage, well minded 01 Octavia?

Does it have a warranty ðŸ˜


Only jossin, best of luck with the wheels!

clancger

Hahaha, the car's a beauty..you see plenty ads saying "all possible extras" included when they mean it has electric windows. On this, it looks like the original buyer did check off every additional option, on what is already the highest spec Superb model.