Fiat dealers - how honest are they?

[Tipotwo]

In the 1990s I had a Fiat Tipo and them a Punto and would have kept buying Fiats, but for the honesty of the dealers. I caught a dealer in Glasgow out when they lied about warranty work. I had other issues with them and although there was a Fiat dealers in Irving who were excellent, that was miles for me to travel.

The main dealer then, as now, was Arnold Clark. There used to be a website called "Arnold Clark sucks" which was bigger than the actual Arnold Clark website and it was full of complaints about the company. For 20 years that stopped me from buying Fiats, or indeed anything from Arnold Clark. But, a few years ago, some relatives in quick succession bought cars from Arnold Clark and had really good service, so I got my son a car from one of their dealerships and again, it was excellent. However, it was three VWs, a Vauxhall and a Honda.

I ended up getting my Fiat from a Fiat dealer in Coventry, which was delivered and the car itself has been fine. But I am back to having problems with the dealers. Sutton Park Fiat made a mistake when registering the car and taxing it, which they said they could do in my name, with me paying for the tax. But for ages no V5 appeared and when I enquired and got it, it was in their name. To get it into my name, I had to tax it again a few months after having paid them for taxing it. I asked for, but never got a refund.

After a year, I got the car serviced at the Arnold Clark Fiat dealers near me and it is the most expensive service I have ever had, £430. They persuaded me that the brake discs needed to be skimmed due to corrosion, which was nearly £100 out of the £430. I noticed the corrosion had returned after a couple of months, but the brakes felt fine, so I left it.

Another few months later, I put the car back into Arnold Clark Fiat because DAB reception had gone. They did a full diagnostic, then replaced the antenna, which they said was normal practice. I asked what code the diagnostic would show if there is a fault with the DAB and they refused to answer. That was nearly £200 and initially it did not work. I put it back in and they wanted another £100 plus to replace the aerial base and whilst in they took the wheels off and announced I needed new pads and discs which would be £400 or so. I said no and just took the car back.

A few weeks later the DAB had sprung back into life and I got the brakes checked and they are fine, there is just a small ring of corrosion around the outer edge of the rear pads.

I am left feeling that Fiat, unlike other companies, have not improved their customer service and that they are pushing for unnecessary work and cannot be trusted. It is like being back in the 1990s, with history repeating itself.

 

[UKRMedic]

It sounds like you've been through the mill with Arnold Clarke!

I don't think Fiat dealers are particularly dishonest as a rule. I think many larger dealers have a propensity to be an inhuman machine where their most important asset (the customer) is regarded as dirt. I'm glad to say, this is noticeably changing in the UK slowly though. I've totally seen better service at multiple locations, including my local dealer ('Days Fiat Swansea).

There's still a long way to go though compared to for example, Germany, where customer really is king.

I've certainly seen a lot of cars up North with yellow Arnold Clarke stickers on their rear windows. It seems almost every second car!

I would seriously advise making friends with a small garage, and building trust with them. We have a mobile mechanic who is used for everything. We trust him. He knows his field. He doesn't take shortcuts.

For example, skimming the brakes - I've not heard that for years. Maybe 20. Not sure how common a practice it is, but who'd want to mess with brakes? Just replace the disks. And £100? That must be close to the price of new disks?

As for rust on the disk rims - it happens. Take the wheel off and gently to tap the rust off with a hammer.

A trusty local mechanic would indeed be able to help, and possibly at a fraction of the cost.

Online reviews are always helpful in choosing one.

 

[Ralf S.]

The bigger dealerships (all brands) have individual targets for the utilisation of workshop resources and (probably unrelated, but a happy coincidence) the revenue that a "busy" workshop generates.

I think we've moved on from main dealers telling you that you need new pads when yours are fine (and worse, then not even replacing them) but I suspect there is still a culture of;

a) If something looks like it's wearing out, offer to replace it
b) If something isn't working, replace it rather than spend hours of time trying to work out what the actual problem is/fixing that. The cost to you is the same.. but a new part means they can spend more time on other work.

There is probably an element of arse covering too. If your pads wear out soon after your visit to the garage, you might claim the garage "should have noticed" and offered to fix them while you were there.

Some dealers will be more aggressive than others... and I dunno whether Arnold Clarke (which sells cars at good discounts) needs to oil the wheels via workshop revenue. I haven't had any aggro' with Bishops (Guildford) for example... though the days when I visit a dealer tend to pre-date the frosts of Hell.

German marques may be better.. but you have to remember they charge getting on double the workshop rate, the parts have more margin in them and so they have scope to be "generous" (although it's you paying for it). Merc once charged me (or rather the leasing company) £90 just to replace a battery.. (the battery itself was £220). Natasha phoned me up when I got home to make sure everything was fine. ("Yes, a factory-trained mechanic fitted a battery without any issues.." .) That was great for me... but a far cry from (if it was mine) a Halfords jobbie and fit it myself, which would have cost £60 all in, at the time.

Find a good local mechanic that knows Fiats, who has the basic tools (incl code reader) and contacts to get parts if he needs them. If you go there, they won't need to scam you or over-sell, since as my now deceased Dr Death used to say, when stuff wears out, he already knows that you'll bring it to him anyway.

Ralf S.

 

[Tipotwo]

AutoExpress have just rated Fiat the worst car maker, 29th out of 29, (issue 29th June 2022), but it is odd what they say. Customers rank Fiat low for space. But the 500 is one of the smallest cars in production and none in the range is a large car. They were ranked low for performance, but Fiats are low powered cars. They seem more like observations than criticisms. It is also odd that out of 29 makers, Fiat came 3rd for reliability, yet that was not taken into account when ranking them 29/29 overall.