Odd warranty claim coming up - Mk3 Octavia

[Spinifex]

OK - odd one. Mk3 Octavia owners, can you check your cars please?

I've noticed a rust bubble forming under the paint, immediately underneath the fuel-filler flap which originally looked like a stone chip. Upon closer inspection, it's actually a screw from INSIDE the rear wheelarch, which holds the guard in place, that appears to have been overtightened from the factory, and the tip of the screw has started to poke through the bodywork & broken the paint.




It's very clear that this crack in the paint has occured from INSIDE pushing out, and not a simple stone chip.




If you stick your hand inside the wheel arch and feel around immediately under the fuel-filler flap, you'll notice the head of a large screw holding the inner guard in place... that's exactly where this rust bubble has formed.




Can't see anything on the passenger side, but the same screw head can be felt inside the arch.




Looks like an awkward warranty claim against Skoda for this one... any suggestions or comments?

[Umai Naa!!]

That's a weird one.

Any repairs carried out in that area in the past?

[Spinifex]

Absolutely no repairs done on the car at all.

18months old - only work ever done to it is servicing at Skoda dealer, plus new tyres all-round about 2 months ago.

There would have been no reason to mess with arch guard linings at that time, plus the waiting area looked straight into the workshop, so I was watching the tyre fitting the whole time, and didn't notice any odd behaviour re-screwing anything inside a wheel arch.

Hoping there are other "victims" out there, to balance my claim against Skoda, coz there's no way I've caused this, and I'm not paying for rust-fixing or repainting.

[woofy]

It will be covered under warranty, someone got a bit excited with the screwdriver at the factory I guess, but hard to imagine how.

[dArK5HaD0w]

firstly - that is a very strange with regards to how it could've happened. it appears that something has smacked that screw hard, from the inside. ur first image shows a dent/line going upwards from the point of protrusion.

secondly - i doubt if Skoda, aka VW Aus, will agree to fix this as a warranty job. sorry.

might end up being an insurance job, but will it cost more than ur excess?

[woofy]

I think you'll find its a shadow/reflection, best case is to take it into the dealer so they can pull that liner off and look whats going on. It would be really random that something got stuck or run over in there that would whack it to do that. I'd be wondering if it was screwed into the hole properly or was misaligned. Pulling it off would figure that out pretty quickly, but let the dealer do it.

[Spinifex]

Thanks all.

Will book in to dealer for a look.

As mentioned, I'm certainly not going to be paying for a repair, as I absolutely categorically have not caused this, and it's definitely not an accident from an external source.

Will see what they say.

[LukePolo]

Unless you have taken the inner boot lining out and/or whacked it hard, I don't possibly see how this could ever be reproduced.

[Spinifex]

Unless you have taken the inner boot lining out and/or whacked it hard, I don't possibly see how this could ever be reproduced.

Thanks Luke.
Never touched the inner lining, and I too am stumped... I can't see how this possibly occurred.

[Tigger]

Sorry to hear.

I have checked mine and don't see that issue.
I agree with everyone else, and would have the dealer check it out so they can see it for themselves and take responsibility.

All the best!