RE: Fiat dealers get a rocket
Discussion
My FIAT ownership experience has generally been a good one - with my Punto HGT being no less reliable than any other car i've had. In fact it's never broken down (touch wood) and has only required wear and tear repairs. I put this down to the fact that i've steered well clear of dealerships and have found myself a top-notch independent specialist instead. My dealership experience confirms all of the above i.e. overpriced incompetence. Although it's good to see that some inroads will be made to sorting the situation I'm afraid it's probably too little too late for many FIAT owners.
I've had a few FIATs and an Alfa and [touchwood] never had any major problems with them that I wouldn't expect from any other car. I used to use a main dealer for servicing my Puntos, but when I got around to shopping around I found that I could get the same jobs done at a local specialist for a LOT less cash. Never had a bad experience with them per se, but just chose to go elsewhere because of charges, like any main dealer.
You can tell from the strengh and number of these replies that the majority of dealers are indefencible. FIAT is certainly responsible for not fixing it and for a few aspects, like lack of courtesy cars, but the dealers don't have to be so abysmal. Many independents are excellent without manufacturer support. Just to ad to the anecdotes, one dealer drove my car into a concrete bollard and resprayed it in the hope that I wouldnt notice. Unfortunately they used the wrong paint so by the time I collected the car it was blistering. Another had my car in all day and didnt do anything, costing me three hours and them a courtesy car for a day. I've had the cambelt changed and fitted two teath out - pretty serious - then the dealer charged me £160 for ignition leads and new platinum plugs to try to fix the rough running and overheating this caused. This was the new 'showpiece' dealer recomended by HQ after I complained about the other two.
Erm, how about the fact Fiat provide very little backup to the dealers?
And the reason why Customer services has so many complaints logged, is because the dealers tell the customers to get onto customer service because they have done all they can to help the customer.[/quote]
pwig said:
quote=pwig] Perhaps it's not the dealers fault, and maybe.....
Fiats?
If the service from the dealers was better, people would maybe be more forgiving of any faults with the car. If you have a problem with the car, you're probably unhappy. If the dealer is unhelpful or incompetent, then it makes a bad situation worse.
Erm, how about the fact Fiat provide very little backup to the dealers?
And the reason why Customer services has so many complaints logged, is because the dealers tell the customers to get onto customer service because they have done all they can to help the customer.[/quote]
xxplod said:
The interior switchgear was poor quality and the speedo stopped working. A common issue I learnt. Cost about £600+ to fix due to the way you had to buy the parts. That said, hers was an early car - 1995/M. I think things have improved.
You are probably right, my barchetta is a 99 and I think they had ironed out most of the problems by then, except for the variator.
I reckon the Fiat dealers have improved over the last couple of years.
My Stilo was in for work over Christmas/New Year and they phoned me every couple of days to let me know how things were progressing and see if I wanted a courtesy car.
The biggest problem was that Fiat sent them the wrong part twice so it had to be re-ordered which cost a couple of days each time.
The previous time it was in the technician phoned me to discuss the problems and what his solutions were.
Neither of the franchise I've used recently have been in a fantastic glass and steel showroom so maybe that's the solution - find somewhere a bit shabby and you'll get good aftersales service.
By the way the dealers are Arnold Clark and that's not exactly a company with a fantastic reputation no matter which manufacturer franchise it is.
My Stilo was in for work over Christmas/New Year and they phoned me every couple of days to let me know how things were progressing and see if I wanted a courtesy car.
The biggest problem was that Fiat sent them the wrong part twice so it had to be re-ordered which cost a couple of days each time.
The previous time it was in the technician phoned me to discuss the problems and what his solutions were.
Neither of the franchise I've used recently have been in a fantastic glass and steel showroom so maybe that's the solution - find somewhere a bit shabby and you'll get good aftersales service.
By the way the dealers are Arnold Clark and that's not exactly a company with a fantastic reputation no matter which manufacturer franchise it is.
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