enjohn
Free Member
A warning to everyone with a Fiat based Motorhome when travelling abroad.
Whilst journeying down to Spain in January this year, the turbo charger on my 2007 Fiat 2.8 Ducato expired on an Autoroute not far from Narbonne. We were recovered to a Fiat Dealership garage in Narbonne where the diagnosis was made. Seven days later we were on our way once more, with a brand new turbo and €1215.00 less in our bank account! I accept that fact that the vehicle is out of warranty, but taking into account the fact that this vehicle had done less than 7000 miles at the time of the breakdown, is regularly serviced and, like most motorhomes rarely driven above 60/65 miles per hour I believed there may be a quality issue to put to Fiat.
How wrong can one be!
I received a phone call from a Fiat UK ‘Customer Service’ person who told me, “..unfortunately because you broke down outside the UK there is nothing we can do”. Further discussions were to prove fruitless, but he stated on more than one occasion that if it had happened in the UK they would have done all they could to assist me with the cost of the repair; he also told me that had I been recovered to the UK for the repair to be carried out they would also have tried to assist me. However you have to contact Fiat UK first to give them the opportunity to investigate the fault and negotiate prices with the dealer carrying out the repair.
I was further informed that if I had contacted Fiat in France before I had the repair completed they may have been able to assist me as well! When I explained to him that I was not aware of this and that probably not many other Motorhome owners new this either, he explained this was not the case as he “..talks to about 50 customers a day about this..”. I wonder how many of my fellow motorhomers are in fact aware of this?
So remember, if you break down in your Fiat outside of the UK and your vehicle is outside of warranty but you feel that the part that has failed shouldn’t have done, then you must either in your fluent French, Spanish, Italian etc. contact the Fiat Customer Service for that country, BEFORE the repair is carried out; or have it recovered to the UK to a Fiat dealer and then contact Fiat UK BEFORE the repair is carried out, you may not be let down as I have been. But silly me, I don’t need to tell anyone this, as according to Fiat you know this already!
However this still leaves a big question mark hanging over the quality of a turbo with so few miles on the clock actually failing?
enjohn
Whilst journeying down to Spain in January this year, the turbo charger on my 2007 Fiat 2.8 Ducato expired on an Autoroute not far from Narbonne. We were recovered to a Fiat Dealership garage in Narbonne where the diagnosis was made. Seven days later we were on our way once more, with a brand new turbo and €1215.00 less in our bank account! I accept that fact that the vehicle is out of warranty, but taking into account the fact that this vehicle had done less than 7000 miles at the time of the breakdown, is regularly serviced and, like most motorhomes rarely driven above 60/65 miles per hour I believed there may be a quality issue to put to Fiat.
How wrong can one be!
I received a phone call from a Fiat UK ‘Customer Service’ person who told me, “..unfortunately because you broke down outside the UK there is nothing we can do”. Further discussions were to prove fruitless, but he stated on more than one occasion that if it had happened in the UK they would have done all they could to assist me with the cost of the repair; he also told me that had I been recovered to the UK for the repair to be carried out they would also have tried to assist me. However you have to contact Fiat UK first to give them the opportunity to investigate the fault and negotiate prices with the dealer carrying out the repair.
I was further informed that if I had contacted Fiat in France before I had the repair completed they may have been able to assist me as well! When I explained to him that I was not aware of this and that probably not many other Motorhome owners new this either, he explained this was not the case as he “..talks to about 50 customers a day about this..”. I wonder how many of my fellow motorhomers are in fact aware of this?
So remember, if you break down in your Fiat outside of the UK and your vehicle is outside of warranty but you feel that the part that has failed shouldn’t have done, then you must either in your fluent French, Spanish, Italian etc. contact the Fiat Customer Service for that country, BEFORE the repair is carried out; or have it recovered to the UK to a Fiat dealer and then contact Fiat UK BEFORE the repair is carried out, you may not be let down as I have been. But silly me, I don’t need to tell anyone this, as according to Fiat you know this already!
However this still leaves a big question mark hanging over the quality of a turbo with so few miles on the clock actually failing?
enjohn