car problems & advice from dealers-Updated situation

celticsprite

hi,

We bought a new car in summer 2005 & have had it regularly serviced as per the manufacturers advice. Although she will be 5 yrs old in the summer I don't think she has been abused (she's done just over 63,000 miles).

My problem is this. The car developed a problem and the gear warning light lit up. We managed to get her back home & took her to the dealers. They phoned and said we would need to get a new gearbox fitted (around £2000 :eek:). I contacted Fiat Uk online and they have said that if I give the garage permission to check out the gearbox it will cost me £280 + VAT.

Once they find out what the fault is, they will "consider contributing towards the repair" .

I don't know much about motors - but surely if the dealers are telling me I need a new gearbox, they should have found out what the problem is with the existing one?

I've spoken to other dealers about the part exchange value of the car & it 's only between £2,500 & £3k if working, so paying £2k for a new gearbox is not going to be a smart move

Also, if Fiat decide not to contribute & I pay, then I'm left with a 4 yr old car which is virtually useless. Obviously if I get the new gearbox there is no promise that other bits will keep working, so it could be an ongoing situation

She's not old enough for the scrappage scheme either.

Can I ask if people think the mileage is unreasonable & whether they would expect a car's gearbox to give up after this amount of miles/time? Am I wrong to expect to get more than 4 & a half years out of a new car? If not, and Fiat don't want to help me can I pursue the "not fit for purpose" route?

Sorry for all the questions. Any answers would be appreciated

Celticsprite

harveybobbles

Model, fuel, symptoms?

natlol

I wouldnt waste my time at the dealer. In these cases your friendly independant will source a replacement box from a breakers yard and fit it for little more than what they want to charge you just for looking.

celticsprite

hi,

harveybobbles >>>>

it's a fiat panda, duologic (semi-automatic) petrol car,

She was just making this grinding noise & it basically just sounded like the @rse was falling out of the bottom of the car. I know this is pants, but it is as technical as I can describe it

natlol >>>>

Spoke to a local place and they said that depending what the matter was with the gearbox they may be able to replace it. They've said that sometimes Fiat don't make all the parts available & that they've never done one of these gearboxes before.

As all the dealer will tell me just now is that I need a new gearbox, I've not been able to give the independent garage much info.

Thanks for all your help

celticsprite x

emmell

It sounds like that gearbox may be an unknown quantity to most independents, but 14,000 miles per annum seems quite high for a city car.
ML.

Hintza

Just get a second hand gearbox.

celticsprite

emmell wrote: »

It sounds like that gearbox may be an unknown quantity to most independents, but 14,000 miles per annum seems quite high for a city car.
ML.

hi ML,

I didn't think the usage was excessive. We live in a town in the countryside and the commute to work is a 60 miles roundtrip. There are no public transport links which we can use

I thought our usage was below average, which of course it is for round here!

Thanks anyway,

celticsprite

Kilty_2

You can't really expect much of a contribution given that you've had 5 years trouble free motoring from the car.

If FIAT UK offer to contribute then take their arm off!

vikingaero

The Duologic box is an automated manual. Even on supposedly reliable Toyotas they are a pig and often have problems from around 40k.

celticsprite

hi

Thanks so much everybody for your help

kilty >>>>>>>

it hasn't been hassle free driving for 5 yrs, but this is the first major thing that's gone wrong with it (they were recalled last year for some wiring fault which could cause the car to set itself alight even when it wasn't being used) Have assumed they didn't have a lot of problems with this as there was no mention of it in the media, which I'm sure someone would have spotted & reported if it was happening regularly!

Any time it's had any niggles it has been taken to the dealer & she has always been serviced there. I just really don't know how many miles I should expect a new car to be capable of, hence the question.

vikingaero >>>>>

Thanks for the information on the duologic gearbox. I'm disabled and find it impossible to change gears, so I need an automatic gearbox, and something small to run.

I'm probably asking too much here, but have you got any information on which small cars may have the duologic gearbox in them, so that I can avoid getting one in the future?

If you don't then that's fine too, your comments have really helped me :beer:

cheers

cs

vikingaero

The Duologic gearbox is an automated manual gearbox. It's virtually the same as a manual car except for the absence of a clutch pedal and uses a motor to apply the clutch. Toyota have a similar system called MMT (Multi-Mode Transmission) which can be problematic. And some cars such as Corsas have them on 1.2 litre engine cars - called Easytronic.

On the motoring forum of the Daily Telegraphs Honest John Motoring Website one guy even sold a Yaris not long after purchase because he couldn't get used to the way the MMT worked. Even Harveybobbles, a car dealer on here dislikes automated manuals. Look at Alfa Romeo Selespeeds for the numerous problems.

If Fiat won't help with repairs then contact a member of https://www.fedauto.co.uk.

If you replace the car you would be better off with a reliable CVT gearbox of a Honda Jazz or a proper torque converter automatic in cars such as the Kia Picanto/Hyundai i10. I'm sure there are many other small cars with proper automatic gearboxes that I can't think of right now.