Long-term report: A visit to the dealer proves pleasant for our Skoda Fabia

When Skoda decided it was time to give the Fabia a little nip-and-tuck last year, its headline feature was its new LED headlights. These units bring to the car a more upmarket look, and undoubtedly make visibility at night much, much better.

For KY68 WXB though, it’s these new units that brought a problem. A few weeks after we first took delivery, I had begun to notice a small amount of condensation building in the offside headlight. Not a real problem I thought, and that it may even go away on its own.

As time grew though, it only got worse — eventually encompassing the entire plastic casing. While not really the end of the world, it did make the car look a little bit rubbish. A little chat with Skoda’s lovely PR team later, and the Fabia was lined up for a repair job at a dealer somewhat local to our Gosport HQ — Sparshatts Skoda in Fareham.

I admittedly hadn’t thought a whole lot about the build-up until this point, but it suddenly became a bit more of a concern once I had spoken to a nice bloke at the dealer (whose name I’ve handily forgotten) while working out a date for the repair.

“Yeah, we haven’t actually got the part in stock at the moment and it’s going to be at least three weeks before it arrives, there’s a backlog from the factory”, he told me. This must be a much wider issue than I’d expected, in that case. That, or Skoda’s selling so many Fabias that demand can’t be kept up with.

A fair wait it was then, but this wasn’t so much of an issue considering it was a repair job born largely from my own nit-picking ways.

Anyway, the day came to hand the car to Sparshatts, and things kicked off to a good start. With the Fabia parked pretty much at the front door at around 8:30am on a Monday, it was a simple case of handing over the keys and then accepting a complimentary lift to the office — so I didn’t even have to alter my normal routine.

Just as simple as dropping it off, I had a call about lunchtime that day saying the job had been done and the dealer’s driver was available to come pick me up whenever I was ready. That taken care of, I arrived at Sparshatts, took the keys back and was told the work was all covered under warranty. The Fabia had even been cleaned. All-in-all, a very pleasant dealership experience and it’s the kind of thing that, if I was a customer, would make me want to do business with them when it came to my next car.

With the offside headlight now replaced with a condensation-free unit (which hopefully stays that way), it’s business as usually with KY68 WXB. It’s served me well as a commuting companion with zero complaints — although a fair few motorway trips are still leaving me wishful that whoever ordered the car had ticked the £185 box for cruise control. At a listed £4.24 extra a month on top of your finance package, if you’re ordering a Fabia it’s a must-have in my view.

As we approach the second half of our time with the Fabia, the sun is coming out and there’s sure to be a road trip or two to report on soon. Perhaps to its trim name-sake, Monte Carlo? No, that would be ludicrous. Brighton’s just up the road though, and that’s not too bad.

Highlight of the month: A pleasant and easy dealership experience with Sparshatts Skoda