Car broken - Advice needed
Discussion
Hopefully some sage fellow may have some idea on this..
I have a 2019 Alfa Guilia QV bought from Exeter Alfa last year in July as an ex demo with 400 miles on the clock. Registered 1/5/2019.
Two weeks ago as I gave it full throttle it threw an engine light and went into limp mode - Alfa's roadside assistance came out and found a lead to one of the turbos hanging off (!) plugged it back in and cleared the fault. I cruised around for about 100 miles, but the next time I opened it up it threw another engine light and went into limp mode Roadside assistance came out, couldn't fix it and said I'd need to get the local dealer to collect it. Rang local dealer - closed. Rang Exeter - closed. Rang Alfa customer care, they put me through to roadside assistance who said they would find a dealer who was open and could recover it and provide a hire car. No call back. Two days later (yesterday) I rang Alfa customer care again and spoke to the first truly helpful person so far - she spoke to roadside assistance on my behalf first and then she passed me through to them. They said they would send another technician out to see if it could be fixed and if it couldn't then they would decide what to do. No one turned up. Rang roadside assistance this morning, they didn't have a record of the call out, but said someone who was now on holiday had called me yesterday morning at 10.30, but they didn't know what about! They apparently called me on one of my numbers and only once. I had given them 2 numbers and an email address making it clear that if I was working I wouldn't be able to answer - and it turns out the call was from a withheld number so I couldn't have called it back even if I'd have known it was them.
So I rang customer service again. They said they could see the case opened, but they couldn't do anything about it because all the dealers are closed.
So, I have a car that's less than a year old, under warranty, which is broken. The dealer is closed and the manufacturer is seemingly uninterested in helping out. Any ideas?!
PS - For the avoidance of doubt, I understand there's a reason dealers are closed, but garages/ service depts are one of the businesses that are allowed to remain open whilst respecting distancing regulations - so it's entirely the dealer's decision to close - and it doesn't alter the fact that the attitude seems to be "not our problem".
I have a 2019 Alfa Guilia QV bought from Exeter Alfa last year in July as an ex demo with 400 miles on the clock. Registered 1/5/2019.
Two weeks ago as I gave it full throttle it threw an engine light and went into limp mode - Alfa's roadside assistance came out and found a lead to one of the turbos hanging off (!) plugged it back in and cleared the fault. I cruised around for about 100 miles, but the next time I opened it up it threw another engine light and went into limp mode Roadside assistance came out, couldn't fix it and said I'd need to get the local dealer to collect it. Rang local dealer - closed. Rang Exeter - closed. Rang Alfa customer care, they put me through to roadside assistance who said they would find a dealer who was open and could recover it and provide a hire car. No call back. Two days later (yesterday) I rang Alfa customer care again and spoke to the first truly helpful person so far - she spoke to roadside assistance on my behalf first and then she passed me through to them. They said they would send another technician out to see if it could be fixed and if it couldn't then they would decide what to do. No one turned up. Rang roadside assistance this morning, they didn't have a record of the call out, but said someone who was now on holiday had called me yesterday morning at 10.30, but they didn't know what about! They apparently called me on one of my numbers and only once. I had given them 2 numbers and an email address making it clear that if I was working I wouldn't be able to answer - and it turns out the call was from a withheld number so I couldn't have called it back even if I'd have known it was them.
So I rang customer service again. They said they could see the case opened, but they couldn't do anything about it because all the dealers are closed.
So, I have a car that's less than a year old, under warranty, which is broken. The dealer is closed and the manufacturer is seemingly uninterested in helping out. Any ideas?!
PS - For the avoidance of doubt, I understand there's a reason dealers are closed, but garages/ service depts are one of the businesses that are allowed to remain open whilst respecting distancing regulations - so it's entirely the dealer's decision to close - and it doesn't alter the fact that the attitude seems to be "not our problem".
How badly do you ‘need’ the car?
If you are a key worker who needs it or for other essential reason, then I would locate any competent garage that’s open and ask them to take a look.
Then depending on what’s wrong get it repaired quick and look at claiming the cost back.
Explain to the dealer customer care what you’re doing and put it in a recorded delivery letter or email.
If it’s a massive expensive job then pay the temp garage for their time to locate fault. Leave car safe at home and see if a non essential family member or friend can lend you their car for now.
Non of that is ideal, but what I would probably do.
If you are a key worker who needs it or for other essential reason, then I would locate any competent garage that’s open and ask them to take a look.
Then depending on what’s wrong get it repaired quick and look at claiming the cost back.
Explain to the dealer customer care what you’re doing and put it in a recorded delivery letter or email.
If it’s a massive expensive job then pay the temp garage for their time to locate fault. Leave car safe at home and see if a non essential family member or friend can lend you their car for now.
Non of that is ideal, but what I would probably do.
There are clearly two sides to this, the car issues and the world issues.
The car issues, I’m sure will be resolved in time. As it stands currently whether a garage is allowed to be open is fairly irrelevant, if the staff are ill / self isolating. There is a reasonably comprehensive network of Alfa dealers around the country and you could just keep trying them on an ever increasing radius and see if they can help. If they can, they’ll probably provide a replacement car for you whilst yours is being fixed, but don’t expect it to be a direct replace the if yours is the top of the range.
As has been said you could also maybe try a decent local independent who may be able to diagnose / fix the issue for you if it’s a quick fix and bill it back to Alfa.
The current global situation will always trump your individual problem here
The car issues, I’m sure will be resolved in time. As it stands currently whether a garage is allowed to be open is fairly irrelevant, if the staff are ill / self isolating. There is a reasonably comprehensive network of Alfa dealers around the country and you could just keep trying them on an ever increasing radius and see if they can help. If they can, they’ll probably provide a replacement car for you whilst yours is being fixed, but don’t expect it to be a direct replace the if yours is the top of the range.
As has been said you could also maybe try a decent local independent who may be able to diagnose / fix the issue for you if it’s a quick fix and bill it back to Alfa.
The current global situation will always trump your individual problem here
Rick101 said:
Do you really need to be booting your car about on 'essential' journeys?
Ah, yes, good point.. it’s my fault, I caught the bit about limiting shopping trips and exercise but missed the bit about limiting revs. Very important, when excessive revs have been a proven component in the spread of infection. rhubarbbear said:
Rick101 said:
Do you really need to be booting your car about on 'essential' journeys?
Ah, yes, good point.. it’s my fault, I caught the bit about limiting shopping trips and exercise but missed the bit about limiting revs. Very important, when excessive revs have been a proven component in the spread of infection. In that case perhaps in the interest of not spreading headaches & eyestrain you might like to split your post into paragraphs instead of a solid chunk which is frankly difficult to read through & in the TL:DR realm.
Have fun.
rhubarbbear said:
.......PS - For the avoidance of doubt, I understand there's a reason dealers are closed, but garages/ service depts are one of the businesses that are allowed to remain open whilst respecting distancing regulations - so it's entirely the dealer's decision to close.......
And they've decided to close all of their dealerships, so what do you expect them to do - Open a dealership especially for you? 
rhubarbbear said:
......and it doesn't alter the fact that the attitude seems to be "not our problem".
I think you're confusing "Not our problem" with: "Nothing we can do right now"If we weren't under the current COVID 19 crisis, and all the dealerships were open, fully staffed, and operating as they usually do, and Alfa Romeo were refusing to help you in any way, shape or form, then you could say that their attitude was: "Not our problem"
But.....They're obviously operating with a skeleton crew nationally, and with extremely limited facilities available, due to all the dealerships being closed. Added to that, I would suspect that of the roadside technicians they do have available, they're busy dealing with owners stranded at the roadside first, rather than those with their car on their own driveways.
As unfortunate as it is for you, I'd say there really is very little they can do right now, but that's not the same as them washing their hands of the whole matter.
As for:
Flumpo said:
How badly do you ‘need’ the car?
If you are a key worker who needs it or for other essential reason, then I would locate any competent garage that’s open and ask them to take a look.
Then depending on what’s wrong get it repaired quick and look at claiming the cost back.
Explain to the dealer customer care what you’re doing and put it in a recorded delivery letter or email.
If it’s a massive expensive job then pay the temp garage for their time to locate fault. Leave car safe at home and see if a non essential family member or friend can lend you their car for now.
Non of that is ideal, but what I would probably do.
I think taking that sort of action is just asking for a whole World of: "loss of warranty" pain in the future, and there's just no way I'd risk it.If you are a key worker who needs it or for other essential reason, then I would locate any competent garage that’s open and ask them to take a look.
Then depending on what’s wrong get it repaired quick and look at claiming the cost back.
Explain to the dealer customer care what you’re doing and put it in a recorded delivery letter or email.
If it’s a massive expensive job then pay the temp garage for their time to locate fault. Leave car safe at home and see if a non essential family member or friend can lend you their car for now.
Non of that is ideal, but what I would probably do.
A500leroy said:
By a £500 shed, use that sell when everythings back to normal for £600
That would be my plan of action - Park the Alfa up and buy some cheap transport just to run back and forth in (Not sure I'd go as low as £500, I'd probably spend nearer to £1000). Then, when the current crisis is over, and the dealerships are open for business once more, get the Alfa sorted properly, and sell the cheap transport for what you paid for it, or maybe even a little bit more.
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