New Job... fiat breakdowns...

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New Job... fiat breakdowns...

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Oct 21, 2005
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I just started a job at europcar HQ, in the fleet technical department, eessentially, my job is to find out where are cars are and make sure they are getting repaired on time.

but what is really intresting is the number of and types of repairs that cars go in for.

Europcar (as far as i know) only rent out one fiat and thats the grande, when i told my collegues i was a fiat geek they laughed at me, when challenged they pointed me to a board on the wall.

this board displayed all the cars currently in repair around the country.

it was quite emmbarressing to start with.

most manurfactureres had 6 maybe 10 cars max in repair .

Fiat... 39...

ASo ard evidence proved (as one of my collegues put it) "that fiats break all the time for no apparent reason."

I concured and hung my head in shame untill i started snooping around the database.

turns out 34 of those 39 are all in for the sdame problem and are all awaiting parts on back order from fiat... the problem "rear door sticking"

they are all waiting a new door bolt...

this kind of made me ffeel a little better as other manurfacturers such as the "incredible" vw, with only 8 cars in workshops.. 3 of them were HG failures and the rest covered a multitude of fairly major brekages, such as clutches and brakes.

what astounded me the most was the amount of head gasket failures on cars with litrally only 100 miles on the clock, one car had 9 miles on the clock, the HG went on delivery to it's first customer...

Just makes you think that in this day and age stuff stil ****s op for no apparent reason.

i neab... at least fiat are consitant...:p
also found out you can rent a lambo for £600 a day.... me want!
 
I do alot of work on fleet/hire cars & your right its 90% door lock problems.

Best thing is when you get one in with the usual 'drivers door wont open from the inside fault' do the back door modifications on the rear doors at same time & any software updates......you dont see the car again after that;)
 
you are most likely to suffer a major problem in the first 5000 miles, your car then becomes more reliable. this is to be expected on any electrical or mechanical item, even a toaster is more likely to fail in the first week than after 2 years of use. warranties are there to cover you.

people think buying a new car will mean it is more reliable, statistically the most reliable period is the 3rd and 4th year (approx 25-50k on average).
 
I can vouch for that, when my car was new, coil pack 4,000 miles, diff, 6,000 miles.
 
Who doesnt get a courtesy car from the garage and thrash it :D.

Thats the reason why some courtesy cars feel crap, due to people driving them like nutters and differently to there own cars.

The only time when i thrashed my own car was the day before i was due to part ex it in on my Stilo - handbrake turns down an empty road (y).
 
and re hg failures, they're fleet cars they get abused :p


you'll be amazed the kinda of stuff people try to do...

someone was telling me, a while ago a guy rented a gold 51 rover 75 for 5 days... 3 days later reported it stolen.

then about a month later he came in chucked the guy behind the desk £20 and rented another gold rover 75 (02 plate).

after he had finished renting the car, he returned it and on initial inspection everything was fine... but it turned out he had returned the 51 plate car, and kept the 02.... it was eventually tracked down to a warehouse 200 miles away and thee guy was busted... but people will try anything!!
 
i meant to say, bene snooping, seems fait arn't as bad as i let on... vauxhall are the main culprits, with over 2 pages of current repairs,
with Kia's almost all HG failures and Renault with the most arrogant and unknowladgeable dealers in the country... fiat arn't looking too bad...

Btw if anyone lives near Letchworth, and knows of wayside VW dealer... can someone go in, ask for Emily and ask find out if she's as hot as she sounds ;)


Owen
 
Maybe if you squint....

buildings_12.jpg
 
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!!! (y) (y) GOOD FIND!


Edit: i'm contractually abligued to say the following:

"Not that it matters if she is attractive, as i'm in a realationship. " :p

Good save lol
 
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