[kits]

Maybe Skoda needs to look at how they incentivise their staff. Pretty sure money like this is just a way for staff to reach their goals. These goals should be reviewed. Are they pushing service centre staff too much to achieve those goal. What is the incentive model used abroad.

Do this for couple of years and build back the reputation.

[vredesbyrd]

Originally Posted by i74js

I would very much believe that SKODA has absolutely no control over its dealership and somehow I will have to assume that SKODA is hand in glove with them

It is indeed. I've had quite a few visits to the service center here in Lucknow, chaps are more honest, transparent and generally way more pleasant than many dealerships in the south. They let me have a look at their part ordering, it's VIN-based and their prices are decided centrally from the system itself. SKODA IS AT FAULT, though many dealerships are worse than skoda's attitude (TAFE Bangalore - callus, careless and disrespectful and Mahavir Hyderabad - damn clowns). People at Kamal Kishore Skoda (Lucknow) are nice enough but can't do much if the prices are centrally locked.

Originally Posted by WhiteSierra

But seriously 10 K for radiator flush? Mr. Zac Hollis, please help this person and please warn dealers of such unfair trade practices.

On 16th October, some lady with really sharp eyesight shunted the front of my car with her Wagon R while reversing (it turned into a Ritz ), couldn't make out the plates as she sped away (and probably hit someone else later that day). The grill's bottom frame broke a bit (but would have been okay if someone pulled it and put it in place). Bonnet was dented in by about 2 inches at the tip. Skoda quoted 1.3L with most of the front-end replaced (thank god for the headlights - 43k a piece and airbags - 3.5L a piece) and 14 days just for the bonnet to arrive. Took it to an FNG and all work done within 20k and 8 days. Car looks new from the front. God forbid if someone crashes their Skoda, they'd be spending as much as a new car since these depreciate like gaming consoles.

Originally Posted by ike

You cant buy cars worth millions trusting a top level executive will save you from unscrupulous dealers, I wouldn't place all my hedges on just one man. What happens after Zac Hollis moves on from Skoda India?

Mr. Zac Hollis is mostly a social media/PR mouthpiece (while the puppeteer hides in the shadows). He keeps on going about Skoda India 2.0 (he's trying, though) as if the version number will erase all the war-crimes by Skoda India. Coming to FNGs, they can source and put VW/Audi parts (better availability but still slow) for most of the way but Skoda specific parts will take a lot of time as well, but they will be at 40% or less of what the dealership would quote (26.5k Skoda AC blower fan (Denso/Valeo) vs 12k Denso OEM AC fan from Delhi with warranty). However nice the cars may be (yes, the cars are excellent and drive exceptionally, till you see errors or something stops working), you will come for service/repairs and you can trust no one.

Seriously, I want to punch VW executives really hard for not bringing 1.8 and 2.0 petrol engines for Jetta/Passat/Tiguan. Octavia is the only nice fast big petrol but I don't trust it. Just imagine how incredible a 2.0 TSI 4-Motion ~200hp Tiguan would have been. One man cannot win a war but one man can sink a boat. I hope VW wake up someday to realize the mistake they've done by letting Skoda bring all the nicer cars and engines instead of them. Maybe they have a plan to destroy Skoda and take over their sales, but I can't see them even trying (the take over bit). Till then, I'm going Ford/Honda/Toyota/Mercedes.

[v.anand]

I gave my 10 year old Skoda Laura to PPS for service 2 weeks back. They made all the unnecessary welcome polite formalities. However, the service advisor tried to push interior cleaning and unnecessary parts replacement very aggressively. He was extremely disappointed when I asked them not to carry out wheel alignment and balancing too.

Mine is a very well kept, very low mileage 10 year old car and it seemed like they wanted to fleece me as much as they could with unnecessary work and replacement parts. The final work done was average with very bad cleaning and free ball pen marks on beige interior trim of the driver side door. Since it rained heavily that day, didn't bother much about the washing quality. But the trust and ethics of this dealership is highly questionable.

[abhishek46]

I understand that PPS folks have some KIA dealerships as well in Bangalore.

Is it fair to assume that KIA owners would also be fleeced in similar manner?

The key question here would be, does the manufacturer (skoda, in this case), have any sort of control over the dealership, over what they can charge, for a specific job/item?

[theexperthand]

Originally Posted by abhishek46

I understand that PPS folks have some KIA dealerships as well in Bangalore.

Is it fair to assume that KIA owners would also be fleeced in similar manner?

I hope these behavior patterns don't spread across other brand showrooms\service centers they run.

I have been to PPS Jeep (Hosur Road) a couple of times - running repair and scheduled service for my Punto and never faced any of these issues. In fact, all the experiences were worth a rating of 5 stars.

They never tried to sell any add on services and always delivered the car before the promised time, and was very transparent with parts ordering, billing, etc.

--Anoop

[itwasntme]

These 'cleaning solutions' really do seem to be expensive. Now whether they were needed or not is another question!

https://boodmo.com/catalog/part-g052188a3-28708785/

https://www.online-teile.com/volkswa...ml?language=en

[vipul_singh]

Originally Posted by CEF_Beasts

Skoda cars on their own merit are amazing

There is nothing amazing about a water pump failing at 29k KMs, in my view.

And changing the timing belt because coolant got spewed onto it? Is the timing belt made of chocolate, too (like, presumably, the water pump)?

My conclusion (from following this forum over 15 years) is that these cars have cheap engineering, propped up by the 'Euro feel' that everyone keeps talking about.

[PrasannaDhana]

Originally Posted by Researcher

On a lighter note, every time I go near a VAG car or discuss about it with someone, I find a new horror story the very next day on the forum. This has happened for the last 3-4 instances that I can recall in the lockdown. Is this just a sign for me from above or am I a bad omen to VAG cars?

You beat me to it

I was exactly thinking the same. Just a few hours ago, I recommended someone a rapid tsi instead of an SCross.

[SuhasManjunath]

BHPians might only be shocked to read this coming from my fingertips, but yes I have to accept that the prices mentioned aren’t incorrect nor goofed up to exploit or fleece the customer!

Being the curious cat that I am, I was following this thread from the time it went live and also started my own way of fact-finding in such situations.
In-fact with the whole history that I have with Skoda India, Now, I even have some friends there too, who I can trust and believe for what they say or recommend, again it might amuse a few folks but that’s the truth.
So using such sources I started my own little investigation of what’s happening.

What I have to agree is that Yes, the cost for flushing is quite high and I feel Skoda as an OEM should do something about this to get the costs down (this is my personal opinion, technical and chemical experts might disagree as they might feel the cost such chemicals or technical process to be correct) But what is being charged to customers at the current situation is more or less on the similar pricing that has been charged to Prajnya.

So with PPS being a new Dealer in Bangalore and being the one accused of overcharging, also since I have little or no contacts with them, my resort was to check with the other dealer in Bangalore for their practices and pricing in such instances that have occurred to Prajnya’s car.

The following are my findings from 2 days of understanding the process during such instances and it's my personal take after the small investigation that I could carry out with the time permitted during my schedule

First thing that I would like to keep transparent is the process that a car has to go through for flushing.

• The car is drained of coolant considering that either current coolant in the system is a non-genuine coolant or coolant having some scaling or deposits visible in the tank or if the coolant is mixed with water.
• The coolant system is completely filled the flushing solution (which previously was a concentrate and currently supplied as a ready-to-use solution) and the car is run for about 90 minutes or so.
• The coolant system is next filled with a neutralizer solution and the car is run for about 20-25 minutes.
  The above process is carried out so as to de-scale the whole system and also ensure any foreign particles are removed from the system so as to not cause any damage to the car
• The car is again filled with new coolant and checked for any issues.

Next thing that I would like to clarify is the pricing of two particular solutions/liquids/chemicals that is used for flushing which is primarily the cause for such high costs incurred during flushing.

1. ‘Clean Sol’ which in other words is the flushing solution used in 1st of 2 steps of flushing is priced at INR. 4099.03 as per the MRP label printed across the bottle, this particular solution is filled in the complete coolant system and run for 90 minutes.
2. ‘Clean Set’ which in other words is the neutralizing solution used 2nd of 2 steps of flushing is priced at INR. 4986.02 as per the MRP label printed across the bottle, this particular solution is filled in the coolant system and run for 20-25 minutes.

What now is to be looked at is quite something which was an eye-opener for me as well,
Once I understood the process, I wanted to see if all cars which needed coolant flushing was undergoing the same process irrespective of if the car was under warranty or out of warranty was the same and were all customers whose cars were out of warranty were being charged the same, so I requested the folks who I knew to show me some more invoices from older dates to confirm the pricing.
What came to my notice is that:

1. The cars which were under warranty were also billed for the same quantity of solutions/liquids/chemicals but as per warranty policies, these cars were billed at INR. 0 value.
2. The cars which were out warranty were also billed for the same quantity of solutions/liquids/chemicals but since these cars were chargeable for these services, most of them were adding up-to similar values of what Prajnya’s car was billed.

To summarize my investigation for fact-finding is: The process carried out on Prajnya’s car is more or less a standard practice across the Skoda dealers which is also what Skoda has trained their dealers to do during such instances, yes the cost when compared with other car companies is relatively high but until and unless whole VAG group can do something about bringing down the cost this will remain standard pricing across all Skoda dealers.
All that I can now say is since the cost of this chemical is out in public, one can please verify if the same chemical is priced at the same price across other VAG brands present in India such as VW & Audi.
But hats off to the other dealer who supported me for this fact-finding and also being transparent enough to allow me to look at such bills, prices mentioned across the bottles and also giving me confidence that Skoda is improving under the able process, steps and standards set by Zac Hollis for Skoda in India.

Hope to see maintenance costs being affordable under the Skoda 2.0 plan.

P.S: The attached pictures contain a reference invoice and pictures of the coolant flushing solution and the neutralizer solution used.

[ChoosetoCruze]

Originally Posted by vipul_singh

There is nothing amazing about a water pump failing at 29k KMs, in my view.

And changing the timing belt because coolant got spewed onto it? Is the timing belt made of chocolate, too (like, presumably, the water pump)?

these cars have cheap engineering, propped up by the 'Euro feel' that everyone keeps talking about.

Originally Posted by abacusv

we could see leak from thermostat.
Very expensive part with labor he said 43K.

Attachment 2071063

Extremely well said.

How is a plastic water pump & thermostat expected to have any significant lifespan when the cooling system is pressurised and working overtime in the hot engine bay?

Perceived ‘German engineering’ with perceived premium ‘euro feel’ and perceived premium ‘euro parts’, not to mention sky high repair costs.

[Turbo Head]

I don't how people fall for service centre thieves. They can be found in every brand, showroom and company. It's upto ones smartness, how they chose to deals with them.

I have owned over a dozen Skodas, including the current 1.8 TSi Octavia, I have faced issue with such smart thieves only twice, once with Rapid (2011) and other time it was Superb 3.6 FSI. Rapid had some suspension issues after first service and eventually Skoda had to do it at their own cost and in case of Superb, company had to replace the vehicle which was causing vibrations due to faulty flywheel. Apart from these, it's always been a pleasure. Reason for the same is I know what is required for my car and I never get any unpleasant surprises after service/workshop visits.

In this particular case the owner must have been informed before flushing the coolant, also he must have been informed about the cost incurring for the same. He could have politely refused and opted for normal flush and if needed, do the last flush with coolant itself. If the same is done after taking the consent of the owner then there shouldn't be an issue.

[DRIV3R]

Definitely not justifying the cost of the flush here, but...

Skoda and few other European car manufacturers use organic coolants. It is important to NOT mix organic and inorganic coolants, as it will affect the entire plumbing and other critical components of the cooling system. We have seen many cases of oil cooler failure due to the same issue. Since Servo coolant was used, flushing was a given. This could have been avoided if you had simply topped up with plain pure distilled water (doesn't matter even if it's 2 litres, and it's much better than running multiple brand/type mixed coolant) and drove to the dealer to fix the leak.

Just my 2c.

[balenoed_]

Excuse me, but is coolant flushing and replacement such a complicated thing with modern cars. Pardon if I have not caught up with present processes, as mine is a dated baleno sedan and I did a coolant fill just 2 days back at a local garage as there was a leak on the hose pipe and what was left seemed mostly watery.

The process was: Remove the cap at radiator bottom, drain what is left and close the cap, open the top cap, poured a bottle of new coolant and some water and done. 10 mins job and 460/- rupees. Is the coolant top up an entirely different process now?

[ameaa]

Originally Posted by SuhasManjunath

BHPians might only be shocked to read this coming from my fingertips, but yes I have to accept that the prices mentioned aren’t incorrect nor goofed up to exploit or fleece the customer!

Thanks Suhas for an insight into the process and a genuine finding. Owning a Laura and Superb for last 10 years and had water pump replacement on Laura and radiator replacement on Superb but never ended up in flushing since I used Skoda coolant for top up.

Only thing I have noticed is that the service center has some leverage on offering discount on various maintenance but its passed on only if demanded.

[hrman]

Speaking from experience. I had a similar issue with my 2012 Rapid in 2017. The radiator fan was on even ten minutes after switching off the car. The coolant was at abnormally low levels. Probably the good thing I did then was to fill it up with distilled water in the absence of approved coolant, which probably did not entail a flushing.
I took it to Vinayaka Skoda, since it was just 6 months after my 4 year warranty had expired. I asked for goodwill warranty which was not given. I was given an estimate of some 18K if I recall. The final costs were somehow made to add up to 18k by including engine mount replacement, pump replacement, timing belt replacement etc. Soon after the diesel gate broke out and Skoda started mandatorily remapping the ECUs to rectify the erstwhile fraudulent emission norms.
That was the last straw for me and I bid adieu to Skoda A.S.S forever. I moved to an FNG (Carsmith) and have been happy ever since.

My observation in this case is as follows:
Mistake no.1:- Going to the ASS even after warranty expiry. I am assuming since they were charged in full, there was no extended warranty applicable.
Mistake no.2: Going to a new Skoda showroom which does not have any experience.

Crime no.1: Skoda PPS still following legacy practices of the traditional Skoda dealer, including replicating cases of malpractices and rogue incidents.
Crime no.2: Skoda charging exorbitantly for the so called flushing due to usage of Non branded coolant
Crime no. 3: Asking the customer to keep quite about this
Crime no. 4: Skoda India keeping mum about this and not doing anything to intervene and allowing a new Skoda dealer to follow classical Skoda dealership behavior.

For peace of mind with a VAG car- Use the A.S.S until natural and extended warranty is over. Post warranty, go to the FNG for peace of mind. Period! For better peace of mind, go with any established brand and stay away from VAG.