(G) Compensation from Fiat???

£17. Wow that's breaking the bank

As I said before they have a warranty on the car. Not a guarantee. If they guarantee the car to be free of faults then they're liable for any expenses incurred but they don't guarantee the car

I have never paid any amount to have a courtesy car from the dealership BUT I have built a relationship with them over the years.

Even when they had no courtesy car available when my 100HP broke down, they removed a car from their forecourt and let me have that for a few days.

And that is what I call bending backwards for the customer. It's not that hard

Toyota will also charge you atleast a grand more for the same or lower spec car. Which will be built in Britain. Whereas the Fiat is shipped in from Italy of Poland. With these extra margins Toyota can afford to spend a bit more in aftersales.

If said they were going to improve aftersales but it would mean a hike in the prices of new cars would that be better?
Ofcourse it wouldn't.

Compare the price and spec of an Aygo and a Panda. Then tell me if it is worth the extra money to not have to pay £17 for a courtesy car?

It should be without fault, you're right. But unfortunately things go wrong, which is why we have warranties. If they didn't, we wouldn't need them.

However, very few warranties include the provision of a replacement vehicle. This is a courtesy (hence the name - Courtesy Car) provided by, and at the discretion of, the dealerships. Try ringing Fiat (or any manufacturer for that matter) and telling them that 'their car' (It's always 'their car' when it goes wrong. I wonder why? ) has broken down and that you are entitled to a replacement whilst it's being repaired...

If our washing machines, fridges or cookers (all items that can cause us real inconvenience if we are without them) break down we don't demand a replacement from the shop that supplied them whilst they're being repaired, but when our cars break down that's the first thing we do (Well actually, it's the second thing we do. The first is we log in to a forum and bitch about it! )

And before anyone uses the 'of course you'd say that, you work for a dealership' line, I've had two cars break down on me in the past. The first time it was recovered to the supplying dealership by the AA. The dealership didn't have any courtesy cars available, so I got them to give me a lift home and arranged for them to deliver it back to me once they'd fixed it. Did I complain, moan or demand compensation? No. The second time (different car, different dealership) they did have one, a 1.0 Corsa. Did I complain or moan about it not being as 'good' as my car? No. Why not? Because if the worst thing that happens to me in life is my car breaking down and being slightly inconvenienced for a few days then I consider myself to be very lucky.

The thing is it's seems acceptable to walk into a garage and start shouting & stomping feet....yet how many complain about the defects in our £183000 houses, did we all get a proper full survey done on the property? I know loads of people who brought new houses with unbelievable defects yet say nothing but when their car has a fingerprint on it after a service they go mental.

All the time we hear about service prices,key programming prices & labour rates yet does anybody stand up to petrol prices, road tax & insurance increases?.....no!