Recalls
About a month ago a very loud high-pitched noise began in my 2008 Volvo V50 turbo petrol. My local mechanic who has always looked after the car diagnosed faulty pcv valve. He informed me he had seen it a few times at early mileage and that overseas, and he specifically mentioned North America, the warranty was extended to 10 years. I rang Volvo who were very courteous, but claimed to know nothing about the problem. I asked my mechanic to repair it thinking it would cost $200-$300, but he rang back to tell that the part in Australia would cost $900 while the same part from USA was landed for $420. I rang Volvo again and emailed them but they refused to acknowledge me until I mentioned the Dept. of Fair Trading when they then began a succession of emails. The end result was that my car would have had to be transported 200 km to the nearest dealer and I would have to pay for diagnostics before they would look at it. Obviously, now the problem is fixed and I have suggested they receive the faulty part to have a look at but no way. Had I have taken it to a dealer and not been recompensed it would have cost me about $2000 instead of $820 with my local mechanic. I feel I have been dudded when this part is under extended warranty in other parts of the world.
Is it safe to buy either a Skoda petrol Fabia wagon or the Skoda petrol Octavia wagon, or is there still any possibility of them being caught up in either the Volkswagen NOX or CO2 scandals?
My dad's 2006 Honda Accord has been recalled for the fix on the Takata airbags and every dealer I have called is refusing to offer him a courtesy car unless he services the vehicle too. We've been told that the work will take around three hours and cannot be completed on weekends. Is it right for my dad to have to cancel half a day of patients at his clinic to get his faulty car repaired? We've always had courtesy cars made available to us when we've had warranty work done on our other vehicles.
