Great car, crap dealer, now crap manufacturer....
Discussion
I own a '51 Plate Multipla (God, this feels like FIATs Anonymous!).
With the exception of a few niggles it's been fantastic. It goes, it handles, it takes 6 people with ease etc etc etc
The dealer I bought it from has been consistently rubbish though and so when the car developed a 'Engine Control Fault' (thanks computer!) I took it to an independent diesel specialist who diagnosed it for £15 less than the dealer as a throttle pot problem. Bit would cost £80-odd from FIAT and would be here Tuesday. Yippee I though, not too bad for it's first real problem in nearly 5 years.....
BUT. They rang me yesterday to tell me that having chased the part on Wednesday after a no-show FIAT say, and get this....
" Central stores don't have any and we don't know when they are likely to."
So i have no car and no idea when I will. Oh, and we are off on holiday on the 11th August. Hope it's back by then or we will have to go in the Saxo.....
Any ideas where I might source this part???
With the exception of a few niggles it's been fantastic. It goes, it handles, it takes 6 people with ease etc etc etc
The dealer I bought it from has been consistently rubbish though and so when the car developed a 'Engine Control Fault' (thanks computer!) I took it to an independent diesel specialist who diagnosed it for £15 less than the dealer as a throttle pot problem. Bit would cost £80-odd from FIAT and would be here Tuesday. Yippee I though, not too bad for it's first real problem in nearly 5 years.....
BUT. They rang me yesterday to tell me that having chased the part on Wednesday after a no-show FIAT say, and get this....
" Central stores don't have any and we don't know when they are likely to."
So i have no car and no idea when I will. Oh, and we are off on holiday on the 11th August. Hope it's back by then or we will have to go in the Saxo.....
Any ideas where I might source this part???
If nothing else turns up, how about 2nd hand from a breakers.
I'm afraid that this is not unusual, and it's not just Fiat. Last week I found a similar situation with a Vauxhall, but luckily two other dealers in the UK had the part. Just as well, as Vauxhaull could not confirm when a new batch would reach our shores, muchless even confirm if a new batch was ordered!
If you think that's bad, I could recite much worse recent senarios involving Volkswagen, Seat, Saab, Suzuki and not least, Renault.
Hope it works out for you
I'm afraid that this is not unusual, and it's not just Fiat. Last week I found a similar situation with a Vauxhall, but luckily two other dealers in the UK had the part. Just as well, as Vauxhaull could not confirm when a new batch would reach our shores, muchless even confirm if a new batch was ordered!
If you think that's bad, I could recite much worse recent senarios involving Volkswagen, Seat, Saab, Suzuki and not least, Renault.
Hope it works out for you
No joy with Euro Car Parts.
I had a helpful dealer on the phone and he furnished me with the phone numbers of ALL the UK dealers who list one in stock on the computer although he did warn me that it might be out of date...
I rang them all, the last one was sold on the 19th.
I have rung countless breakers, no luck there either.
The car is excellent, the dealer I bought it from..rubbish, but I was willing to buy another one. Now, I can't see how I can risk doing that. What are Hondas like for parts anyone?
I had a helpful dealer on the phone and he furnished me with the phone numbers of ALL the UK dealers who list one in stock on the computer although he did warn me that it might be out of date...
I rang them all, the last one was sold on the 19th.
I have rung countless breakers, no luck there either.
The car is excellent, the dealer I bought it from..rubbish, but I was willing to buy another one. Now, I can't see how I can risk doing that. What are Hondas like for parts anyone?
How about trying one of the electronic parts specialist like Fuel injection services? I might add its almost certainly a Bosch bit or Magnetti Marelli NOT Fiat. Get on the web with the part no. I'm sure a Fiat dealer inItaly might have one.
Can ATP or another ECU repairer fix it. Loads of ways out of the problem you just ain't tried em all!
Can ATP or another ECU repairer fix it. Loads of ways out of the problem you just ain't tried em all!
Thanks for all your suggestions, BUT the dealer finally sourced the last one left in the UK. Indeed it is a Bosch part, but cannot be easily bought from them as it is "Made to order part only"..... Interestingly it's also nearly twice the price!!! Italy was my next stop, but somehow they found one!!
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