Skoda dealer gives an estimate of Rs 3 lakh: Local mechanic fixes car in 10 minutes

While most car owners blindly trust the authorised service centres, there are many proofs that they can turn out be to wrong. There are many cases in the past that have shown the wrong diagnostic of a problem by the authorised service centres and then owners getting it fixed for a fraction of the money quoted by the authorised centres. Here is one such similar case that happened with a Team-Bhp member – Manson who owns an eight-year-old Skoda Laura.

The owner says that the Skoda Laura powered by a diesel engine says that he was facing an issue of cranking up the engine and it would require a little more time than the other days. However, it was not so bad and the car would mostly start-up in a couple of cranks instead of a single try. However, the car for due for a service at JMD Skoda in Mumbai so he decided to get the battery checked from a neighbourhood shop. After getting confirmation that the 2-year-old Exide battery is in good shape, he continued using his car and made an appointment at JMD Skoda in Bhandup because his regular station at Navi Mumbai had shut down.

After making the appointment, Manson says that the vehicle’s glow plug light started blinking when he was driving the vehicle and it started losing power on the road. However, he managed to park the car on the side of the road. Since the owner has experienced the “Limp Mode” in the Laura before because of the DSG failures, he knew this was different and the car lost all the power within 20 seconds.

He noticed that the fuel indicator shows the level just above the reserve mark and the car showing Distance-To-Empty as 75 km. After he tried cranking the car for a couple of times, the owner called his brother to bring fuel for the car. Even after putting 5 litres of fuel in the car, it did not start and since it was late in the night, he towed the car back to his place.

Next day, the car was towed to JMD Skoda in Bhandup where the car was diagnosed. After a day of diagnostic of the vehicle, JMD Skoda called the next day and said that they have tested the fuel in the car and it was found to be adulterated. This has caused all the four fuel injectors, fuel pump, fuel lines and all other related parts to clog and all that will need to be replaced. With the high-pressure fuel pump costing Rs 60,580, the service centre gave an estimate of around Rs 3 lakh. However, the owner preferred to not get his vehicle repaired from there as the estimate was too high.

He then got the car towed back to his home and then towed it to a local garage Pai Auto. The mechanics at the local garage diagnosed the vehicle, put in battery jump cables and jump-started the car with changing the fuel in the vehicle. However, he found out that the fuel is splashing on the floor because the technicians at the Skoda service centre left it without reconnecting it. After reconnecting the fuel line, he took the vehicle out and filled in fuel before dropping it back at the service centre for regular service too.

The charge of the particular diagnosis is not known but it must be around Rs 100 or 200 or even free against the Rs 3 lakh estimate provided by the authorised service centre. Also, the owner was using Exide instead of the recommended Varta batteries due to unavailability. One should always use the recommended parts to ensure the smooth operation of the car. However, he says that the fuel indicator may have also shown wrong information on that evening and the car must have run out of fuel. The new-generation diesel cars use the fuel to keep the fuel pump lubricated and cool, which is why it is dangerous to always use the vehicle with low levels of fuel. One should always keep the fuel tank at the 1/4th level.

This is not the first case of authorised dealership giving a wrong diagnostic of the vehicle. Last year, an owner of another Skoda Laura was quoted Rs 1.68 lakh because of an engine problem. The car was fixed for Rs 1,000 from a local mechanic.