Fiat Professional Servicing

[mapman55]

Hi All,

Looking at buying a new FIat Ducato campervan. The dealer does all warranty work but not servicing of the vehicle.
Can anyone recommend a reliable Fiat Professional Service Centre they have used in or around the Newcastle upon Tyne area or a reliable service centre (as understand they don’t have to be Fiat Professional) as long as they use Fiat parts.
Never had this problem in the past as have always had VW’s with good dealer on the doorstep who did both.
Have been searching but no luck so far.

Thanks
Mark

 

[Steviemo747]

Hi All,

Looking at buying a new FIat Ducato campervan. The dealer does all warranty work but not servicing of the vehicle.
Can anyone recommend a reliable Fiat Professional Service Centre they have used in or around the Newcastle upon Tyne area or a reliable service centre (as understand they don’t have to be Fiat Professional) as long as they use Fiat parts.
Never had this problem in the past as have always had VW’s with good dealer on the doorstep who did both.
Have been searching but no luck so far.

Thanks
Mark

Hi Matk, there is a Fiat dealer /workshop on the Silverlink in Wallsend that do Motorhome servicing etc. not sure what they are like work or price wise as never used them

 

[Mikeamapola]

I'd have thought that they should have warned you of the possible cost

From my experience with Vospers , I would not trust them ever again.

 

[mapman55]

Hi Matk, there is a Fiat dealer /workshop on the Silverlink in Wallsend that do Motorhome servicing etc. not sure what they are like work or price wise as never used them

I went in enquiring about about servicing which they will do but won’t do any warranty work which I found strange. Told me to use North East Trucks at Blaydon for warranty work for Fiat side. So looks like they pick and choose whitch work to do.

Thanks

 

[PlymBob]

Vospers Plymouth FIAT services phoned me yesterday after picking up on my frustrations through a 2* review I gave them. He has offered to do further investigation of my battery problem free of charge.

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[Mikeamapola]

That's worth knowing. I'm sending a complaint letter to Vospers in Plymouth for their derisory handling of my warranty claim. Exeter Fiat is also Vospers, so Wellington may be my closest alternative.

Vospers are absolute rip-off . Almost any other 'professional' would be better. Be interesting to hear what their response to your complaint is.

 

[A-Mech]

Before you alienate your local workshops you might want to check that Chelston can take yours. At one point I heard that they were only taking bookings from clients who had bought their motorhomes from them. The Fiat Professionals associated with motorhome dealers may well be smaller workshops that were introduced so that they could provide a comprehensive services to their buyer clients rather than general services. I have never seen any none motorhome commercial vehicles there which suggests they are not dealing with wider business.

You will have a fault code like P0504 or P07BE which is, A/B correlation on brake switch. The ECU sees brake applied and the throttle position sensor which can cause systems to show fault. The ECU gets confused and the only solution is you changing your driving style. It happens after prolonged duel application of both pedals.

The dealers make a heavy financial investment into manufactures with branding, training of staff, tooling and diagnostic updates.
They recoup this investment by charging customers whenever possible. It's far more lucrative.

Warranty repairs will recoup around £80 per hour with specific book times paid for a warranty claim. (if garage inexperienced technicians take 3 hours to a job that has a book time of 1 hour, then there out of pocket) They love non warranted jobs and will try and keep warranty hours to less than 20% of workshop booked time. They would rather charge you 3 hours at £130+ for repair?

If /when they misdiagnose warranty faults and have to take your van back into workshops with same fault, they are not getting paid twice by manufacturer.

Part of my role with car manufacturer, specifically deals with this point. A dealer could be invoicing up to £50k+ in warranty repairs per month.
If I have to deal with customer complaints direct to manufacturer, I speak to service manager and ask for a resolution to customers concerns. If you are unreasonable with dealer staff. If you had not raised the issue previously or given them chances to rectify the workmanship, I would not fight your corner with dealership.

You should speak to service manager nicely and if you feel that, he is not addressing your concerns correctly. Tell him what you want and that you can also complain to manufacturer.
If no joy with dealer, then make your complaint to manufacturer.
You should use this option as a last chance to resolve your concerns with dealer as the bridge would probably be burnt at this point?

If ongoing warranty fault not rectified by them, then I could get recovery of your vehicle to another dealership?

The dealer would not be paid for warranty work and I also have the ability to fine dealership.
I have never carried out this action, as is destroys the relationship. They always want to put right the issue, as it's better to work with them then beat them with a stick.

The problem that all garages have, is people are not coming into the automotive engineering industry and those dealers that have good staff, are tending to try and keep them.
It's not just a Fiat problem. Mercedes, ford, kia, Toyota etc all have the same problems.

Dealerships who refuse warranty work for customers who bought the vehicle from another franchise dealer are stuck. It personally frustrates me intensly but "they are looking after there valued customers", is generally the dealerships response.

Not really what you probably want to hear.

 

[canopus]

I purchased an additional ignition key via the parts dept which arrived from Italy last week. Cost was £249.82.
I then had to book a separate appointment via the service dept to have the key programmed to the van.
They said they couldn't do it till the new year. I protested and they squeezed me in Monday morning.
Got there at 08:30, the van didn’t move into the workshop until 09:10.
Just after 10:00 the van moved back to the car park.
At 10:15, I was summoned to the service desk and my bill was prepared. The young lady said ‘that’s just £146.60‘ for little more than 40 mins to programme the new key.
I protested stating that the parts man told me it would cost £57 to programme the new key.
The bill was promptly changed and I paid £57.

Fiat Professional

 

[L' Hobo]

Today I took my new Fiat Ducato based PVC to Vospers in Plymouth.

I had previously phoned and asked if the battery was covered by warranty as it was not holding it’s charge and I’d already had to jump start it a couple of times. They said it would be and to bring it in today. I had a secondary issue in that after abrupt stops it does not always pick up again straight away, so you can put your foot on the throttle and nothing happens. That was added to “the ticket”.

They phoned me 3 hours later and told me that neither of these were warranty issues and that I have a bill of £188.

Apparently the battery is fine, and the diagnostics say that I have had my foot on the throttle and the brake at the same time a few times which may have caused the hesitation in pick up as the electronics does not like this. It’s an automatic, has anyone else experienced this.

If I’d known about the possible magnitude of this bill in advance I don’t think I’d have booked it in. Does this seem reasonable to others?

Can't speak about an automatic, but when I first acquired my manual, I was often found to be braking and accelerating at the same time because, the accelerator and the brake pedals were only about an inch apart and at the same level.
I presumed this was caused by the conversation from left to right-hand drive!
Now that I'm used to it, it much better.

 

[L' Hobo]

Fiats don’t allow any acceleration if your foot is in contact with the brake pedal. The ECU doesn’t allow it. I can’t comment on the battery but jump starting should not be needed. The bill might seem heavy but main dealer labour rates are high.

My 2007 model seems to?

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[L' Hobo]

I was surprised at being unable to find a garage or Fiat professional garages around the north east. Do like Camper uk, Chelston Motorhomes and Adams Morey looking at reviews but everyone is a good days travel away. Happily travel for yearly service but would prefer local if possible and if I’m unable to travel due to warning lights that’s when it’s difficult.
Had new VW California’s in the past with one from a local dealership and one from a North Yorkshire dealer. My local dealership done all warranty work no problem with the one from Yorkshire.
Find it strange when people are saying they didn’t buy from this or that dealership so they wouldn’t do warranty work. Found plenty will sell me extras like, bike racks, tvs and fit them

Thanks

My advice is always to have MOT and check-ups done, by a company you trust, in the warmer months and then make a trip of it even if it's 100's of miles away but, preferably, closer to home.
Find a town and site that has a good bus service and a town that suits your interest, just incase there is a problem.

Good luck Everyone!

 

[PlymBob]

Can't speak about an automatic, but when I first acquired my manual, I was often found to be braking and accelerating at the same time because, the accelerator and the brake pedals were only about an inch apart and at the same level.
I presumed this was caused by the conversation from left to right-hand drive!
Now that I'm used to it, it much better.

I've been driving automatics for 50 years and been left foot braking for most of that. So I understand the brief and marginal overlap and the problem I now have with ECU's that don't understand. It's never happened before, but I'm going to have to go back to right foot braking now. On the rare occasions that I drive a manual I usually stall it once or twice before I get the hang of the extra pedal. Hey ho.

 

[radon]

Today I took my new Fiat Ducato based PVC to Vospers in Plymouth.

I had previously phoned and asked if the battery was covered by warranty as it was not holding it’s charge and I’d already had to jump start it a couple of times. They said it would be and to bring it in today. I had a secondary issue in that after abrupt stops it does not always pick up again straight away, so you can put your foot on the throttle and nothing happens. That was added to “the ticket”.

They phoned me 3 hours later and told me that neither of these were warranty issues and that I have a bill of £188.

Apparently the battery is fine, and the diagnostics say that I have had my foot on the throttle and the brake at the same time a few times which may have caused the hesitation in pick up as the electronics does not like this. It’s an automatic, has anyone else experienced this.

If I’d known about the possible magnitude of this bill in advance I don’t think I’d have booked it in. Does this seem reasonable to others?

Hi, Yes it does cut the throttle if you press both pedals at the same time, I did that as I was trying to clean some light rust off the discs due to standing. It took a while to re engage the throttle after I released the brake and nearly had to stop and pull over when it picked up. It also generates a fault code which is easily cleared but doesn't cause any other problems.

 

[Lenny HB]

Foot on the throttle and brake at the same time the engine cuts out on mine. Also open the drivers door in gear & moving it automatically selects neutral (Comformatic box).

 

[PlymBob]

Foot on the throttle and brake at the same time the engine cuts out on mine. Also open the drivers door in gear & moving it automatically selects neutral (Comformatic box).

If you download the Full Fiat Owner Handbook, on page 159 it says:

WARNING If the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are accidentally pressed at the same time, the system will consider the braking request as having a higher priority. In this condition, the engine will switch to recovery mode and performance (engine torque and vehicle speed) will be limited. To restore normal operation, simply release the accelerator pedal. It is not necessary to stop and start the engine.

Vospers Fiat Dealer in Plymouth charged me £188 in diagnostics to tell me what they could have said over the counter from the manual. But Fiat don't give you the full handbook with the vehicle. You have to hunt it down on the internet and then download it.

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[dash300]

If you download the Full Fiat Owner Handbook, on page 159 it says:

WARNING If the accelerator pedal and the brake pedal are accidentally pressed at the same time, the system will consider the braking request as having a higher priority. In this condition, the engine will switch to recovery mode and performance (engine torque and vehicle speed) will be limited. To restore normal operation, simply release the accelerator pedal. It is not necessary to stop and start the engine.

Vospers Fiat Dealer in Plymouth charged me £188 in diagnostics to tell me what they could have said over the counter from the manual. But Fiat don't give you the full handbook with the vehicle. You have to hunt it down on the internet and then download it.

Yes I found out this occurance on a another thread fortunately before taking it in. It's was a bit of a heart stopper before I was enlightend on this forum. Still happens occasionaly when my right foot strays too far to the left of the accelerator pedal. Another thing that concerns me however is that the brake pedal itself is actually made of plastic!!

 

[MichaelT]

Also open the drivers door in gear & moving it automatically selects neutral (Comformatic box).

Have you had the guts to try it