fiat bravo on extended warranty with gearbox/clutch failure

jacobjohn7

My 2009 fiat bravo automatic, gears started going dicky last thurs.. it wouldnt find reverse initially. and was juddering/pulsing as i came to a stop and restarted. I knew i was going to have problems. next morning no gears at all.. had it towed under AA cover to local dealership (still on extended warranty.) now advice required asap please so i know more i'm talking about.. bearing in mind its an auto with no clutch pedal... they told me it was the clutch... i obviously said surely its covered on warranty? as i cant have abused it, and 2009 (40k) too early for wear and tear.
before they can tell me its covered on warranty, i had to authorise the strip down of gearbox (6.5 hours) to get to clutch then they will tell me, I'm highly cynical about dealerships and prepared for a fight over this (any help!!) if not covered on warranty looking at 850ish +vat. advice/help/similar scenarios greatly appreciated. thanks john

Tilt

As an ex-Fiat/Alfa after sales service rep, I have a couple of questions; Did you purchase the car from new and thus is the extended warranty Fiat? If you were not the original owner from new, was the Fiat warranty transferred to you? Is the servicing schedule up to date?

Fiat are pretty good at after sales care but the dealers can sometimes be 'unhelpful'.

jacobjohn7

bought just over a year ago. serviced at actual dealership (3rd service) sept 2012. so all up to date. warranty was transferred into my name and is covered until mid 2014. thanks... the dealers are terrible, had attitude off this woman before over another item. and she actually wanted to argue.. not good. so based on that, if its not covered its like saying fiat clutches/engines only have 3-4 year lifespan.

jacobjohn7

would you suggest contacting fiat itself.. whilst its in garage?

Tilt

jacobjohn7 wrote: »

would you suggest contacting fiat itself.. whilst its in garage?

Won't do any harm. Please tell them about your dealer experience as well. Fiat are very interested to hear about such things! I would imagine that they will authorize the dealer to do the strip down from what you are saying. See link below;

http://www.fiat.co.uk/uk/fiatworld

Please keep us updated.

jacobjohn7

i emailed them... i could write an essay on complaints about dealership... ! they did inform me and ask for my authorisation to strip down to clutch before can tell whether its on warranty or not.. i hope it is as looking at upwards of a grand if not!! still waiting to here.. but the dealership instead of saying reasuring things make very negative noises about warranty. I had a worn earth cable done after it died a few months ago.. guess what ... not on warranty. what is covered you ask yourself.. what do you think might be outcome personally? thanks

Tilt

If its the manufacturer's extended warranty, then apart from wear and tear items (brake pads/tyres/filters/etc), everything else should be covered as per the components in the original warranty. Obviously it is important to make sure that the servicing is up to date.

I would try and actually speak to someone at Fiat rather than just email. But in any event, Fiat themselves are very keen to maintain customer satisfaction following the historical 'stigma' they had years ago. The cars have come on leaps and bounds since the late 80s/early 90's.

I would not 'authorize' the dealer to do anything without speaking to Fiat first from what you are saying. I am sure that Fiat will foot the bill for the strip down but possibly the dealer can't be arsed to ask. Or it maybe the case that they would get more money out of you than from what the warranty would pay them.

jacobjohn7

phoned up fiat warranty, and he said that an automatic clutch is covered.. but said the dealership should contact initially about warranty before stripping down. which conflicts with the service manager at dealership who says they have to strip it down first as the engineer from fiat will want to look at inner workings. but at least warranty dept say its covered.. cant be anything ive done on a 2009 auto with an auto clutch. But you worry all the same.

jacobjohn7

ps would/should wiring be covered, as the work i had done a few months ago, they charged me for (earth wire to battery) the work and didnt even go down warranty route.? all in dealerships do ones head in. if this new thing is not covered then the warranty is worthless.

Tilt

Ok, well as I suggested earlier, some dealers are less helpful than others and tends to give the marque a bad rep.

I would have a word with the service manager and tell him that as you were concerned with the info you were getting from his department, you have spoken to Fiat themselves who told you that the gear box will be covered.

As for the earth strap, this also should of been covered but by the sounds of it, if you were dealing with the same dealer, I'm not surprised they didn't help you with that either. As I mentioned before, the dealer will make more money from you than he will via the manufacturer. You could try and see if Fiat will look into that as well. All they will need is the date and information from the invoice.

Can I ask what part of the country are you in? You may want to consider using a different dealership in future if there is one not too far away.

jacobjohn7

thanks, i'm in barnsley south yorks. and was intending having car taken to wakefield dealership, but it had to be nearest one. but will look into this old work as still have the details. thanks