Skoda/VW Approved Usesd warranty
I'm posting this by way of a cautionary tale to anyone who bought an approved used Skoda/VW in the last 12 months with a Skoda warranty.In general new Skodas come with a standard 3 year manufacturer warranty from Skoda UK. Any approved used Skoda also comes with a 12 month warranty which is said to be provided by Skoda. So if you buy an approved used Skoda which is 2-3 years old the manufacturers warranty is still valid for some or all of that 12 month period. As with all cars the first MoT is due after three years. So if you buy (say) a 2.5 year old car the manufacturers warranty will expire when the first MoT is due leaving six months on the approved used warranty. So you might be forgiven for thinking that what you have is a 12 month warranty from Skoda from the day you buy your car. Which of course is exactly what the glossy literature says.We bought our car in August 2021 (first registered in March 2019) to comply with ULEZ. The MoT fell due in March 2022 and the dealer (same as the selling dealer) did the MoT in February 2022. No work was required. In mid April the central locking system failed. We went back to the dealer expecting a routine warranty claim. However the warranty people refused the claim. It appears that they combed through the log of the MoT (generated when the car was plugged into the Skoda system) and found a line of code which could indicate (to a "reasonable engineer" : their words) a defect even though that may only become apparent later. They refused cover on the basis that this should have been picked up and dealt with under the manufacturers warranty and therefore was not covered by them since the policy is just a "top up" which did not take effect until expiry of the manufacturers warranty and did not cover any fault existing prior to commencement. Of course I understand that there are policy limitations but this seemed like an attempt to pass the buck from one Skoda entity to another. After a few days to-ing and fro-ing and some polite but pointed questions (and a fair few emails) the issue was resolved with the dealer (to their credit) picking up the cost. We have also escalated this within Skoda UK head office (who again to be fair have been incredibly polite and understanding) - our concern being that (presumably) it's worth the Skoda warranty people doing this and that some people just pay up. Or maybe we are just victim of some unfortunate timing. I'm not posting this to have a pop at Skoda UK or the dealer (and we will be going back to them to service the car) but if anyone should find themselves in the same situation I'd strongly recommend asking questions and being persistent. Aplogies for such a long and involved post.
Paul Flood ● 1577d4 Comments