Skoda Dealer Service recommendation Dublin area

kelzer

I have a Skoda Karoq that needs to get serviced soon. Would anyone recommend any of the Skoda dealers in the Greater Dublin area to take it to? Or ones to stay away from even!

colm_mcm

Have a look at some of the service plans if you’re thinking if keeping the car a few years.

Birka

Pilsen seem to get good reviews. Spirit upsell a lot IMHO

@colm_mcm who loses out on the service plans? The service is sold at a discounted price, if it's sold by a salesperson, they get commission so the cake seems to get smaller and smaller. Does the servicing dealer make less than they would from a walk-in customer? My serviing dealer is polite about it all but seems a little less enthusiastic. The guy I bought the car and service plan from encouraged me to get it serviced elsewhere...

colm_mcm

The garage loses out I guess, for example I got a major service for €272 there by ordering online, it was €295 if bought over the counter.

Watch out with the Skoda service plans, they give the impression loads of stuff is done on each service, whereas it just follows the recommended schedule. They’re still way better value than buying individually.

With the service plans, I guess Skoda Ireland have a rate they pay the dealers for services done, the same idea as warranty work. These are often sales the garage wouldn’t have made themselves, so probably balance out their own customers who go the online route.

They did say to me that they’d match the online price for a single service by dealing directly.

kelzer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119957090#Comment_119957090

I had a look and Annesley Williams Skoda has much better reviews on Google than Pilsen. Hard to judge based on that I'm sure. Pilsen quoted me a price which is a good bit cheaper than AW for full service for a Karoq service (296 inc VAT and plugs) vs AW quote of (329 +150 for plugs).

colm_mcm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119959505#Comment_119959505

The same service is €296 online with free wipers for Pilsen and Spirit. Annesley Williams don’t have a pricing menu online, for good reason.

MSL are €284 for the same service.

Without plugs is approx €54 less for the above services vs €150 cost in AW.

magicbastarder

i went to annesley williams once with a car for a pretest (probably around 2015 or 2016 i'd guess), and because i knew a rear brake pad was sticking, so i was curious how much it'd be to fix that.

they quoted me €1440 for work they said would be necessary to get the car through the NCT, and another €300 of work they recommended but was not an NCT issue; i had the brake issue fixed elsewhere for €280 IIRC, and the car passed the NCT. so i've not been back to them.

Birka

I've been through the reviews for most if not all of the Leinster region Skoda dealers in my own search for a good servicing dealer and came out none the wiser. The bad reviews are usually very offputting and the good ones aren't always convincing. At the end of the day, there's an element of risk for you but they have their obligations to be professional too so you'd hope that the main variable would be price.

I use one outside of the Dublin region who gets very mixed Google reviews but I've always been happy with them.

magicbastarder

the problem with online reviews (or asking on a forum like this) is that people are far more likely to report bad experiences.

Hurrache

Speaking of bad experiences, I've had a succession of them with MSL and certainly won't be going back, to a long time to resolve an issue of their own doing, and a lack of profession amongst some of the staff I dealt with.

Re. the service plan, they had also told me that it only includes a minor service, which technically doesn't follow the service schedule.

Birka

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119963686#Comment_119963686

That seems to be true - it is, in my experience, a glorified oil change. My recent 30,000km service (#2 in a three service pack) was supposed to include a pollen filter but didn't. The dealer in question (not MSL) doesn't appear to like service plans so I suspect that they make less on them. I'll try a new dealer for the third service and I'll be insisting on the brake fluid change that is supposed to be included on that one. Overall, I'm disappointed with the Skoda Service Plan experience and I don't see why I should have to double check items that should be standard. I won't be buying another Skoda service plan.

colm_mcm

The Skoda service plans are missold by Skoda Ireland in my experience.

Birka

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120034408#Comment_120034408

There are similar complaints from Skoda owners in the UK. My sister had a similar experience with a Honda service plan here so Skoda aren't alone in this regard.