\nJust before the second year of service, the battery low indicator turned on. The car does run 5+ days a week. I pushed SA for a replacement to be on the safe side but their process is very clear from Skoda. First, they charge the battery can hold it then no replacement is initiated. Hopefully, it doesn’t knock off any time soon. Previously Vento battery was knocked off at 2yrs 4 months mark and the replacement battery lasted until it was sold.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Update:<\/strong> Skoda Octavia 2021 battery was knocked off just shy north of 2 years. Skoda won’t be replaced under warranty. Please read ahead.<\/p>\n
2 Years 1 Month and Varta battery knocked off. I wonder if all these Varta batteries are programmed to knock off just after the warranty period. This is not new had a similar experience with VW Vento before but those were Exide batteries. Octavia being a CKD had little higher expectations. Why not i am paying big bucks from my pocket for it. The vehicle is completely in stock condition and even the dash cam isn’t installed, but that hadn’t made any difference to battery life. I take good care of the car following all procedures not switching off the engine immediately after a run, stopping HU every time, letting the engine warm up every morning etc.<\/p>\n
The sequence of events:<\/strong><\/p>\n
The vehicle has been throwing low battery for the past couple of months and during the second year service had explicitly called out the battery low warning issue.<\/p>\n
Mody Uppal was the service centre where the second service was done. The battery at this point was still under warranty period. The service advisor made a note of the issue and they said the battery test result was good battery and as per the manual they would just charge it and give it back. I wasn’t convinced but there were no data points after the battery test report to challenge that battery is dying. Though I told SA Mark my words I give this battery max 2 months. Voila’s prediction came true.<\/p>\n
15\/11:<\/strong> I had to drop my kid off at his badminton practice session and the car won’t start. All kinds of errors were popping up on the instrument cluster. Was in a hurry and decided to jump-start the car with the help of a local battery vendor. Immediately called SA at Mody Uppal shared the video of the issue and conveyed that I would be coming the next day 11\/16.<\/p>\n
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16\/11:<\/strong> Reached service centre on time and first battery test was done. The result was a good battery. As the engine was running hot we waited for another 1.5 hours to let it cool and run the battery test again. The second test resulted in a good battery. The service advisor was about to return the car but I pushed it to be connected to ODIS to identify if there was any leakage causing the issue. Once connected to ODIS couple of steps and battery went dead right at the workshop. Had questions for the SA how did the battery test turn out the good battery is dead now within 5 minutes of the second test. Honestly, most of these SA are hardly trained better and usually beat around the bush. There was no point chasing them for a proper answer other than asking if the battery could be replaced under warranty. The service advisor first checked on stock availability which wasn’t there with them. The nearest SC that had a battery was Mahavir at Sanath Nagar. Car was jump-started at Mody and I was off to Mahavir immediately.<\/p>\n
Mahavir has a reputation of its own and is among the oldest Skoda dealerships in the country. Old is gold but with Skoda none of the old dealerships are gold. Skoda hasn’t gained this bad boy reputation just by themselves. Dealerships are a big part of their contribution. This dealership and service centre is always and will be my last preference among dealerships. My previous experience with gear lever replacement wasn’t good with them either. This time had to bite the bullet and reach Mahavir SC by 3:00 PM. Told them about the issue. They decided to do a battery test again and the test result was good. They wanted to check if there was any leakage and as they didn’t have ODIS available due to the workload for the day was asked to come the next day<\/p>\n
11\/17:<\/strong> Reached service centre on time at 10:00 AM, Job card was opened by 10:20 AM and then the car was lying under the sun for the next 2 hrs. I had to push them to get started on the issue. One has to chase advisors on status updates. Post lunch had to multiple times nudge SA on status updates. My patience wore off at this stage and I went on the floor to talk to my supervisor. He conveyed that the battery was knocked off. I asked the same question even this morning when the battery test was done it came as good now how it is knocked off. Again some story. Realizing there was no point in continuing further discussion I requested them to check if this could be claimed under warranty as the battery issue was flagged during the second service. Flat comes the answer No. I talked to the service manager to at least check with Skoda once, he redirected the query to the warranty head and he also denied checking with Skoda even once.<\/p>\n
With both time and patience wearing off including a PTO that had to be availed to sort out the issue, decided to shell out 16,732\/- for no mistake of mine. Yes, it is part that can go kaput but I did notice the early signs before the warranty expired and no proper corrective action was taken. In the end, the customer bears the brunt of their investment.<\/p>\n
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Mahavir also passed on the buck sir this is serviced at Mody we don’t know what they have done. They are not out of their old mentality. Still can’t understand why this dealership wasn’t closed when Zac closed many other non-performing ones.<\/p>\n
Btw during my time spent at the service centre, I did see a Superb being reversed and hitting Kushaq and technicians casually moved ahead. This issue is not only with them but across dealerships with a few other friends who have major dents on their cars with other brands. Never leave your car unattended at any service centre.<\/p>\n
I knew post Zac Hollis leaving India things would be back to their usual self with Skoda’s legendary way of treating customers. This is one such instance of many more ahead.<\/p>\n
My only call out is to be cautious if you observe any battery issue within the warranty period push for a change, and post that you have no expectations of Skoda being supportive about the issue. I hope they will partner with customers to have any kind of customer retention ahead.<\/p>\n
Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.<\/p>\n