General What kills 500's - ?

[Jack]

Now that the 'new' 500 is getting on in age, I am wondering about any common causes that might be leading to scrapping of these cars - in years past, Fiats might well have died from terminal rust; is this a cause, are there other reasons ?

(our car is a 2008, with 29K miles - recent MoT's have noticed surface rust on the rear under bodywork and spring wells, which I have since treated - nowhere near terminal, happy to say !)

 

[irc]

I've scrapped 2 with rusty sill problems and one with a broken Dualogic actuator. All were probably fixable but had paintwork or panel damage issues too, so broke them up.
Both rusty ones appeared to have been jacked up on the sills in their past lives, so that probably contributed to it.
Otherwise I've not really seen many that were beyond hope, although I'm mainly working on Pandas not 500s.

 

[Jockstrap]

Old age and terminal decline .
My wee beastie 2008 1.4, 97k miles and tlc.
Killer is paying for labour.

 

[A3jeroen]

Lorries?

gr J

 

[steveras57]

In descending order!
RUST rear beam /chassis mainly!
electrical repairs
poor maintenance!- costs build up until more than car worth!.
gearboxes
Garage charges if you cant solve above yourself!

 

[Piccolo Nero e Bella]

When I bought my 500C Twinnie in 2013 500's were not exactly numerous but I could be sure of seeing one or two every trip. Now, however, I may not spot one in a month's driving. As we've discussed before, rust is not really an issue here so one can only assume they've succumbed to electrical or mechanical issues or been trodden on.

As well as lorries there's also the proliferation of hulking SUV's and monster 'trucks' of course.

Data suggests there are fewer than 3000 500's currently registered in Victoria, about 10% of which are cabrio's. I've yet to spot an electric one.

 

[jrkitching]

A lot of older cars get written off by insurers after accidents.

A lot more get scrapped after failing an MOT where the cost of repairs just isn't economic.

Personally I follow the rule of tens; if it's more than 10 years old and is likely to cost more than 10% of the current cost of an equivalent new car to get an MOT, it's time to say goodbye.

 

[Danoid]

clear coat is killing my wife’s 500, everything single panel it’s peeled looks bloody horrible.

It is the non metallic red which 80s cars use to have as an issue but clearly fiat still lagging behind

Mechanically it’s spot on though

The only thing I can truly think of what’s kills these cars (and other cars tbh) is if you don’t do your own DIY repairs, likely recently I changed all front suspension components for £180 or so, I then thought for a laugh I’d call a dealer and see how much it would’ve costed and they quoted me £1200 or so. If I didn’t DIY I would have said to my wife no bin it

 

[bugsymike]

Not just Fiats but...
We used to say to customers "We have found the cause of your problem, it's the nut loose behind the steering wheel"