Hi there,

I have a Fiat Punto Grande 1.4 Active sports, on finance from a dealer.

I have had a few problems in the past with it which they were reluctant to rectify.
I shall add that the car has a 24month Mechanical and Breakdown Garentee
'through there insurance company', now i cant fault the Service manager as he argues all yesterday with them to try fix my problem but they will have none of it.

Sunday was driving stop at a junction stick it in 1st didnt go anywhere go to put it back in and the gear stick is all loose, so i put it in second and away we go, pull over and loose all gears so its stuck in second, only a few minuites away from home so drive it slow in 2nd, get there take alook the linkage on to the box has snapped and the selector mechagnism to the lever sheered as its only plastic i was told by the dealer that the lingahe snapping cause the selector (plastic part) to sheer also.

Call the dealer who says to ring the Breakdown comapny and ger it in, the AA Turns up great guy funny little man, he diagnoses the problem and takes it out of gear, tows me from my house to the dealer who fix the problem with the linkage then get a phone call that there insurance wont pay oiut for the selector, and that i must pay if i want it fixed, after much pondering for a hour or two and reading my garentee which on the excluded items does not state that they will no replace the gear assembly but they are addement that they wont pay, so i authorize the repair.

Now there reason for not paying out is that the selector mechanism which is part of the gear lever is 'interior trim' and not mechanical now please do correct me if i am wrong but if the gear lever assemby/ selector wasnt mechanical then the car wouldnt go anywhere as they would be no way of engaging gears!

SO!! my question to you guys and girls is would you say that the Gear Lever assembly is 'interior trim' or mechanical??

I intend to pursue the insurance company for them to reemburse me with my money.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post.
Jay

nope its not trim the selector is a mechanical necessity.

the leather gator, plastic surround, gear knob they are all the 'trim' and if any of those had broken they would have a case, the gear assembly should be listed under the terms of the warrantee. if it is not listed then you can argue its inclusion especially if there is a section in the paper work of stuff that is not covered. if they still won't pay out then they are in breech of contract you'd need to write to them and ask them to explain/define where trim ends and mechanical begins

Thanks for the reply!

Yeah thought it was Mechanical, they have got a email waiting for them and the same thing but in letter from when i get it posted, and having read online i thought it would be summit about breathing contract etc, told them they got the oppertunity to reimburse me my money or give me written reason as to why they refuse to pay out so i can take it further.