Warranty Issues

[AndyW]

Thursday night and no skoda in my driveway, part never arrived at Gosford. After a long conversation with the Service Manager at CCEC, and I think even after Dealer Principal involvement VW Warranty finally agreed to cover a hire car for the weekend. Still no joy on coverage of the previous 5 days hire car though, $495 out of my pocket!

Fully understand (now) that there is nothing in VW/ SKoda warranty agreement in relation to provision of a hire car during warranty repair, it just doesn't make any sense however for the customer to be left with an out of pocket expense whilst there car is being repaired due to a mechanical failure during the warranty period. I had assumed that this would be the norm after previous good experiences with my Subaru, never a question if the car was in workshop even for the slightest rattle I would be issued with a near new Outback for the duration at no cost to myself.

Personally this is one of the main reasons I purchase a new car, to have the knowledge that for the next 3-5 years I will only need to shell out for regular services, rego & insurance without having any nasty surprises popping up, basically like an insurance policy. If anyone is intrigued as to the cost of this latest failure, the service manager has advised $3500 just for the part (Mechatronic Unit) + a minimum of 5.5 hours labour to fix (thank goodness that will be covered under the warranty).

Fingers crossed I will get my Car back on Wednesday and still hoping that the dealership / Skoda will come to the party and reimburse me for the hire car. Seems a bit odd if they don't pay for the first 5 days when they're covering the next 5 days...
We live in hope

[spellbound]

Wow what a bunch of wallies , typical arrogant dealers , back you up on subaru, when i had auto problems with the liberty , instant demo at your disposal sir .

This makes me think twice about another skoda , the DSG worried me from my first road test .

[dodgey]

It does depend a lot on the dealer though. My Skoda dealer has been very good about loan cars, even before our Skoda arrived. I don't know about the servicing as yet as it will be going in next month.

I had the DSG in the GTI for about 3 years before getting the Skoda and it's been totally fine. I do worry about the 7speed dry DSG though. It seems to be very much underdone compared to the 6speed wet DSG... (Something that is making me think twice about the Fabia and Polo)

[bobski]

It does depend a lot on the dealer though. My Skoda dealer has been very good about loan cars, even before our Skoda arrived. I don't know about the servicing as yet as it will be going in next month.

+1 depends on the dealer IMO. They don't have to give you a loan, probably comes down to if they have a demo floating around that they can lend out. And maybe it comes down to what you use the car for... If you are going to run up 1500k's in a couple of weeks commuting, they don't get the money back to give you the car. It doesn't make sense for the dealer to lose out on the deal.

As for DSG, its like any other mass production gearbox, some will fail and you can guarantee you'll hear about it because there's so much money and passion involved. Just hope they go in the warranty period! And some cars are just lemons... Bad day on the assembly line.... Quality control was drunk etc...

[gregozedobe]

As for DSG, its like any other mass production gearbox, some will fail and you can guarantee you'll hear about it because there's so much money and passion involved.

I have to wonder why anyone is still claming that DSGs are no worse than the equivalent manual gearboxes, despite all the information available to the contrary.

Any objective analysis of the numerous reports of DSG failures on Golfs and Octavias (on several forums, not just VWW) would convince most people that there is/was a serious quality control problem with the 6 speed wet clutch DSGs. The DSG recall in the USA also supports this view. There seems to be extremely few reports of manual gearbox failures in the same vehicles.

It is not just the "fussy few" that report these problems, many, many members here have reported problems (look how many threads and posts there are here about DSG issues), and even ardent DSG defenders like Maverick had to 'fess upp about having work done to fix their DSG.

I don't care whether it is the mechatronic control unit in most cases, it is still clearly a "gearbox fault" as the mechatronic is an integral part of the gearbox.

I agree that the concept of a DSG is brilliant, it is just a pity the execution let them down so badly. Even good designs can be brought undone by poor quality by component suppliers. But denying an obvious truth just seems to make matters worse to me.

It doesn't help when owners are further inconvenienced by not having the vehicle they paid good money for out of action and dealers/distributors don't work hard to help out, including a loan car if your car is out of action for any length of time.

I'm glad I wasn't seduced by this latest "bleeding edge technology", and I would be worried about resale value if I had chosen a DSG (maybe that is the real reason for some of the unrealistic DSG "defences" I see).

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, the above is mine (and it does take into account the available evidence). I'm sure VAG have the real figures on DSG problems, but I'm absolutely certain they won't ever release them to the public.

[MarksVRS]

I have to wonder why anyone is still claming that DSGs are no worse than the equivalent manual gearboxes, despite all the information available to the contrary.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, the above is mine (and it does take into account the available evidence). I'm sure VAG have the real figures on DSG problems, but I'm absolutely certain they won't ever release them to the public.

I cannot help but I agree with your opinion! I bought the manual gearbox for several reasons but one of them being the complexities and potential reliability issues (another being the ongoing concerns of slow speed shuffling). I have rebuilt a few manual gearboxes in my time but I would never go near a DSG. Same story with auto trannys. I am sure this is understood by the service agents that see dollar signs for any non-warranty work...

AndyW, I am sorry to hear the attitude of the dealer regarding a loan car although if it aint the law then you are at their mercy. If you dont have any luck then it would be worth them knowing your future business might go somewhere that can look after customer needs.

[VRS-Vic]

I had the exact same issue happen to me and was told the throttle body needed to be replaced.

[bobski]

I have to wonder why anyone is still claming that DSGs are no worse than the equivalent manual gearboxes, despite all the information available to the contrary.

Well, I didn't put it that way. All mass produced products will have a failure rate. And you will hear about it when they do. Especially on a forum devoted to that product. The failure rate compared to a manual may be higher, it is a fairly new thing. Engineering of products is an iterative process.

The US recall was found to be limited to 2008/2009 models, so it doesn't prove a 2010+ model is going to explode in the street, raining chunks of molten metal.

Most people's complaints are about jerkiness, which a test drive quickly shows as a different driving characteristic (like a notchy gearbox), and I'm happy to drive around it for the benefits.

I'd like to see the stats too. I'd be surprised if VW are selling a product with abnormally high failure rates, and I'd be surprised if they didn't fix engineering problems found in 2008/2009 models.

And no - I'm not worried about the resale value of my DSG.

[AndyW]

Sunday Arvo update...
Got my car back on Thursday, a day and a half for the workshop to fit and test the new Mechatronic unit on my Octavia. (total of 5.5 business days in the workshop)

With my car back, the new unit feels good,seems to be a bit smoother on take off than the previous one and most importantly no gear slipping.

Skoda/VW warranty have come through and offered to reimburse half of my initial car hire expense (from the period between taking the car off the road and the day the part went on its little detour). Better than nothing, however still leaves a bad taste in your mouth when the Customer Service people advise me one day that they will be able to cover the cost of a hire car only to deny this a few days later when I took the matter in my own hands and hired a replacement car. Had I been able to wait from Saturday morning to Monday I may have had a different result.

Cheers

[RSOK]

50% of something is better than 100% of nothing in the end I suppose.

Still, the up-front customer service could have been better, and you certainly shouldn't have had to get in their ear about it before being offered a resolution to your out-of-pocket expense. Good customer service dictates they should have been proactive towards keeping you a happy camper in that respect. Or is that just asking too much in this day and age?? Do the 'big' manufacturers (eg VAG) care about keeping customers in the fold or do they have such a large customer base that the odd unhappy customer can go jump unless they squeal and make a lot of noise?

In any case, hopefully this new unit puts to rest any further issues with your car.

[K1W1]

I'd now be negotiating with Skoda for a voucher or credit on upcoming services to the value of the half of the rental car costs that you have incurred. Failing that, a warranty extension on the car to 3years from today.

[Damo105]

Can add another warranty issue for my RS. I gave the engine bay its first wash recently, and gave the front of the radiator a scrub to remove the bugs, and noticed something quite unusual. On the part of the bumper that sits behind the grill at the base of the front of the radiator, the paint was peeling off like crazy. It's as if I'd used paint stripper on it. So that part of the bumper is now half blue and half the grey colour of the plastic. No idea what caused it, as all I did was use a fairly standard degreasing detergent on it. Looks as if the paint has never bonded to the surface, which in my mind is a warranty item.

[MarksVRS]

Can add another warranty issue for my RS. I gave the engine bay its first wash recently, and gave the front of the radiator a scrub to remove the bugs, and noticed something quite unusual. On the part of the bumper that sits behind the grill at the base of the front of the radiator, the paint was peeling off like crazy. It's as if I'd used paint stripper on it. So that part of the bumper is now half blue and half the grey colour of the plastic. No idea what caused it, as all I did was use a fairly standard degreasing detergent on it. Looks as if the paint has never bonded to the surface, which in my mind is a warranty item.

Can you post a photo? You got me worried....

[Damo105]

Will post a photo on the weekend.

[dArK5HaD0w]

...So that part of the bumper is now half blue and half the grey colour of the plastic...

i had a look at mine last night - its "half" grey & yellow, however there is no sign of peeling/flaking at all.
it seems pretty consistent across inside bottom of the front bumper.

looks "normal" to me. hopefully the others can confirm too.