My 147 GTA just died

[sclayto2]

After my comments about Alfa electrics, I thought it was just bad karma that she broke down today. 'Give her five minutes and she'll be fine, as usual.' sort of thing.

I got a bunch of warnings, loss of power steering, oil pressure, etc and then coasted to a halt.

Well the AA man looked under the bonnet and it was clear that the cover was bust.

The really annoying part, was that in another 1500 miles I was going to get my 49K service and the belts done too.

I'm dreading a extended argument over whether it is covered by the offical Alfa Approved Used-car warranty. Has anyone tried to claim for this issue, under warranty? How about at Mangos?

Edited by sclayto2 on Saturday 15th March 17:23

[wrinx]

Bugger Sorry to read this

How old is the car and what's the service history like?

wrinx

[Alfahorn]

Bloody hell. I'm sorry to hear that.

[sclayto2]

She is an 04 with a full alfa history.

Dealer is talking to Alfa UK, so fingers crossed.

[sclayto2]

Well the dealer has just got back to me.

Alfa have agreed to pay for 90% of the repair cost. Mangoletsi, want me to pay the remaining 10%, which works out at £300.

Am I being unreasonable, by saying that I'm not prepared to pay it?
I've had the car 7 months and expected it not to break down.

What do you all think?

[Vesuvius 996]

sclayto2 said:

Well the dealer has just got back to me.

Alfa have agreed to pay for 90% of the repair cost. Mangoletsi, want me to pay the remaining 10%, which works out at £300.

Am I being unreasonable, by saying that I'm not prepared to pay it?
I've had the car 7 months and expected it not to break down.

What do you all think?

I think you should bite their hand off.

Are you bonkers?

[jamieboy]

Vesuvius 996 said:

sclayto2 said:

Alfa have agreed to pay for 90% of the repair cost. Mangoletsi, want me to pay the remaining 10%, which works out at £300.
What do you all think?

I think you should bite their hand off.

I'd agree with that.

[OperationAlfa]

Vesuvius 996 said:

sclayto2 said:

Well the dealer has just got back to me.

Alfa have agreed to pay for 90% of the repair cost. Mangoletsi, want me to pay the remaining 10%, which works out at £300.

Am I being unreasonable, by saying that I'm not prepared to pay it?
I've had the car 7 months and expected it not to break down.

What do you all think?

I think you should bite their hand off.

Are you bonkers?

What he said! It's amazing that Alfa have agreed to pay 90%!

[tamore]

what were you going to pay in 1500 miles to have the extended service? bet it a shed load more than £300, especially at mangoletsi.

i'd go and buy a lottery ticket now if i were you!

[Alfahorn]

OperationAlfa said:

Vesuvius 996 said:

sclayto2 said:

Well the dealer has just got back to me.

Alfa have agreed to pay for 90% of the repair cost. Mangoletsi, want me to pay the remaining 10%, which works out at £300.

Am I being unreasonable, by saying that I'm not prepared to pay it?
I've had the car 7 months and expected it not to break down.

What do you all think?

I think you should bite their hand off.

Are you bonkers?

What they said, I can't believe Alfa would pay that much on a 4 year old car. How long you've had the thing is irrelevent.

What he said! It's amazing that Alfa have agreed to pay 90%!

[xyyman]

Amazing that Alfa have agreed to apy anything without a monumental struggle, judging from other's experiences. Pay the £300 if I were you.

[V6Alfisti]

Alfa are really turning themselves around at the moment.

In similar circumstances (even on older cars) Alfa have been offering the 90%.

Great for the consumer

[Fiddlemesticks]

90% - Take it!

Thats phenomenal.

Good on Alfa too.

[Exoticaholic]

If you refuse their offer, then you need your head examining!

That is an extremely generous offer, FAR more than expected.

£3000 repair bill or £300 contribution towards their offer.

No contest.

[pdV6]

Just changing the belts would have set you back a minimum of £400 anyway, so £300 is a bargain. Go for it.

[smiller]

If it was me?

letmethinkaboutityes

[Johnmor]

Is Alfa really saying the repair cost is £3000 pounds!!!!

I agree I would be tempted to pay 10% but I think the repair is more likly a lot less than £3000 and you will be paying at least 50%.

If the car has had an electrical failure its likly to be a simple replacemnt of an ECU or reset of the CPU system. The costs will be in labour time to diagnose the problem.

If you snapped a cam belt or threw a con rod, then £3000 is a more realistic cost. But for a electrical glitch !!! Pahh

Still having fought with dealers before 300 is not huge bill but its the priciple.

[Alfahorn]

Johnmor said:

Is Alfa really saying the repair cost is £3000 pounds!!!!

I agree I would be tempted to pay 10% but I think the repair is more likly a lot less than £3000 and you will be paying at least 50%.

If the car has had an electrical failure its likly to be a simple replacemnt of an ECU or reset of the CPU system. The costs will be in labour time to diagnose the problem.

If you snapped a cam belt or threw a con rod, then £3000 is a more realistic cost. But for a electrical glitch !!! Pahh

Still having fought with dealers before 300 is not huge bill but its the priciple.

The symptoms described by the OP are without doubt related to cambelt failure.

[sclayto2]

Alfahorn said:

Johnmor said:

Is Alfa really saying the repair cost is £3000 pounds!!!!

I agree I would be tempted to pay 10% but I think the repair is more likly a lot less than £3000 and you will be paying at least 50%.

If the car has had an electrical failure its likly to be a simple replacemnt of an ECU or reset of the CPU system. The costs will be in labour time to diagnose the problem.

If you snapped a cam belt or threw a con rod, then £3000 is a more realistic cost. But for a electrical glitch !!! Pahh

Still having fought with dealers before 300 is not huge bill but its the priciple.

The symptoms described by the OP are without doubt related to cambelt failure.

Not least the fact that the cambelt wasn't there! It was in a jumbled pile at the bottom of the cover.

Honestly, thanks for the feedback, though I would like to pointout, that the car is still under warranty. Hence I'm a little confused by the "pay it now/bite their hand off" comments. Why buy a car with a warranty if you're going to pay towards getting things fixed, that shouldn't break as part fo the warranty.

Now I understand that I bought the car used and that it got a 33K service as a condition of sale. For the car to fail, so spectacularly prior to its next service, within the warranty, seems to me wrong. Alfa are stumping up 90%, I would of expected the dealer to stump up the rest. If the cambelt is such a weak point in the car, and needs to be changed at such a different frequency to the published figures, then check it and chnage it, prior to sale.

Seems to me Alfa are being gracious and kind, by stumping up 90% and the dealer is trying to duck their liability by passing the rest on to me.

Or am I still not getting it?

[Johnmor]

Ooops , sorry I didn't make the link with the "cover being bust".

If its a cambelt break then the cost will be high. And to be honest I'm not aware of any dealer who would give 100% gurantee for that sort of thing on a second hand car.

I revise my opinion and I would pay the cost, At least the engine should receive a good service and lots of new parts.

I'm afraid it has to go down to bad luck

John