REG VARDY PORTRACK LANE STOCKTON-ON-TEE.

OK i had a problem with my 16 month old fiat punto so went to the dealer where i got the car from and they traced the fault to worn pads and well worn discs so only having the car 6 months i said that were they not checked? and they said well no as we need to remove the front wheels...so i said well you did that a week after i bought the car to put on the new fiat alloys..mm they said must have missed them then...missed them they were metal to metal .

So i booked the car in as they said they will change the discs and pads and the cost is £85 all in...not bad i thought as they were not charging me for the discs as they were coverd under the 3 year warranty.

Went in with the car and they simply siad "not coverd" for warranty work so they were to charge me £220.00 for the work. a big jump from £85.

So i refused to have the work done and they said if you get a better quote we will TRY and beat it..lol they think they are funny in some way there as far as i am concered once you have parted with your cash they simply do not want to know.

I phoned another fiat dealer wentains of stockton and they quoted £180 for the work but a local vat registerd garrage ended up doing the work for just £92 inc vat.

Result is i now have my brakes back and my warranty intact (for what its worth) and saved £128 .....i have had many punto's over the years but i think i will make this car my last one..not the car just the bad dealers...

Noooo!

Don't let Vardy's put you off your Fiats! They truly are a bunch of numpty's and I quite happily make a habbit of going in and asking for the price of parts since they don't have a propper parts dept the guy has to come out, talk then go back.. After which I'll say... "oooh i dunno" and walk off.

Who was your local VAT registered garage by the way? This isn't just for naming and shaming - it's for celebrating those who care for their customers as much as we care for our cars!

well the garage is...CAR TECHNICS 6 royce court cowpen industrial estate billingham ts23 4de 01642370154 a good job done at a good price...(behind the massive KP crisp factory )...so just follow the chiken tika smell lol)

just an update as fiat have contacted me to say after 12.000 miles the front pads/discs are not coverd and the back shoes/drums are ????..when i bought the car it had 12140 miles on the clock and it was just 10 mnths old so bought a car with well worn brakes then ?

WTF!!! hang on a minute, pads and discs shouldn't be covered under a warrantly at all, they fall into the "servicables" category and its the owner's responsibility to maintain the car, even if it was nearly new. if the calipers were faulty then yes i'd expect the warranty to cover it, but discs and pads are the kind of things that you dont expect to be covered by any warranty.

getting 12k out of the pads is good, i dont get that long out of the pads in any of the cars ive owned, and its your fault you damaged the discs by driving with worn pads, didnt the grinding noise make you think about changing the pads before you destroyed the discs?

you cant blame reg vardy if you cant be bothered to keep your car road worthy, 6 months after you buy a car it should have had the brakes checked at least twice by yourself, thats what you have to do if you own a car.

even if reg vardy did check the brakes when you got the alloys put on, the brakes probably would have been fine at that time, 6 months is a very long time for pads, new pads last about 9 months on my cars so they may have been less than half way worn when you had the alloys fitted. end of the day its your car, you should keep it serviced. you cant blame reg vardy, if i worked there i'd have told you where to go. it is completely your fault this happened. its nothing to do with reg vardy.

i guess you'll just leave your tyres until they shred to pieces and then go back to vardy's and complain that the tyres are no good and why didnt they check them when they fitted the alloys 20000 miles ago? then you'll complain that the alloys have been damaged when the tyres burst so you want new alloys under warranty as well. i'll save you the trouble, its your responsibiltiy to change the tyres, i know it seems unfair but thats life.

change your bloody pads regularly PLEASE, it could save your life as well as your money, or more improtantly it could save MY life, i dont need fools like you smashing into me because you cant be arsed to spend a few quid on a set of pads. i hope you check your tyre tread depth as much as you checked your brakes, you'll get caught with 4 bald tyres, get 12 points and a ban. then the roads will be safer for all of us.

OK.....I understand what you are trying to say but the car was bought from them and WAS fullyinspected by THEM....and a week after i bought the car i had alloys fitted by THEM...so you see to be frank they had seen the worn discs and pads so why did they not change them??? as they said there were 90% down so in 5 months they had worn to nothing tells me they was not much to start with..and yes they are not coverd under the warranty after 12 months ...but why are the rear brakes coverd for 2 years? so it is all said by you but it comes down to the fact they sold me a car with well well well worn brakes and even after they sold me the car (one week later) they had all the wheels of and still failed to spot the problems with the well worn discs and pads as if they did i will have asked them there and then to change them so infact they sold me a car that will have failed an mot if it had one...you go on about it is my responsability to maintain my car...that is right...but the FIAT dealer has a oblagation to supply me with a car that is safe to drive ..and why is it ferodo and other manufactures g'tee there discs/pads for 2 years or 24.000 miles???? the car had done well under that???...or is it just crap fiats parts???...the car was just 11 months old when i bought it yet now i find they never serviced the dam car even though the book was stamped by another dealer in the south...never agian will i buy fiat...i have had a few fiats but this is not what i call service..as once you part with your cash they simply do not want to know....spivs comes to mind....and they was no noise or squeels from the front brakes...and i do not think i am stupid.... as you indicated but i do think that vardys are crap for fait and crap for service...i did not pay for a car with well worn brakes.....at 11 months old...and you say brake pads and discs last you 6 to 9 moths??? you can not apply that logic to other cars as if i have a gallon of petrol and do not use my car often it may last me 3 months...lol...so you see what you say cannot be applied as you have indicated....asyou willcome back and say "it lasts me one day or less". SO my problem will be solved soon when i buy a new car but not a fiat sadly as he service is just bad....and when service and aftercare is bad....you go elswere ....i did not want to but i have no choice.....and when you mentioned shreading tyres lol..i do not think any driver is that silly..i have not seen any on the road.....fiat ...my last ever punto.....

Brake Components are not governed by mileage !
Mileage specified by Vehicle manufactures is just a guide.
Think about it
I have several routes to work ( Two as follows)

1 MOTORWAY not much use of brakes 90 mile round trip

2 ACROSS THE STICKS high use of brakes round trip 74 miles

So according to manufacturer for mileage

For Motorway 12,000 Mile Disc Brake replacement would equate to
12,000miles /90= 133 days

Across the sticks 12,000/74 = 162 Days

But you can now see that the guide is as it states"A GUIDE" as there is a difference of 29 Days between the two, but Driving over the sticks has
HAMMERED the brakes far more than Motorway use so the 29 days gain is NAFF !

As regards your rear brakes these are governed by your foot .
The Heavier you press the brake pedal the more the nose of your car dips.(The rear of the car rises.thus rear brakes relieved of the strain)
Thats why when you brake hard you also lunge downwards towards the steering wheel.
MORE HAMMER ON BRAKES.THE REAR WILL LIFT.THE FRONT WILL LOWER
Hope this helps in the meantime take time to check your brakes,tyres,steering lights etc YOURSELF for your own peace of mind at regular intervals.
Hope this helps

candymut said:

a local vat registerd garrage ended up doing the work for just £92 inc vat.
.....i have had many punto's over the years but i think i will make this car my last one..not the car just the bad dealers...

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Obviously not genuine Fiat parts were they!

To be fair Vardy's in general arn't bad the one in Darlington is great. I bought a 05 plate Punto Sporting 1.4 16v.

After 16,000 Miles the 3rd and 6th Gear syncro broke and it crunched going into 3 and 6th, This was before I modified the engine. They fixed it under warranty free of charge with a loan car (I was 18) at the time.

Later in the year around sept time I modified the engine:
Pipercross Induction
SuperSprint Staineless Straitthrough exhaust
Remap
Piper Cams

Rough power estimate was around 120-130bhp it would quite easily out accelerate some guys HGT that used to try and overtake me lol.

Anyway about Dec I was doing a Motorway drive was in 6th and it made crunch noise and it came out of 6th to neutral and the 6th Gear cog came off! and I could hear it rattling inside the box. I took it back to vardy's and despite all the modifications and the incrase in power from 95bhp to about 130bhp they replaced the Box with a brand new one again under warranty. I was expecting them to laugh and tell me to p*ss off.

well what is a genuine fiat part? as i think they are supplied to them from another manufacturer who supply other parts stockists and why have a warranty on the rear brakes and not on the front brakes for 2 years? or 24.000 miles? it sounds a bit odd? and darlington is a bit further for me to go but i use to use croft toyota when i had my celica and they were ok no problems but fiat dealers are just bad but i agree they are one or two good dealers out there but it all feels to be ran on a shoestring i do not know why i feel that way but the staff sound like doubleglazing salesmen...and are not up to the task when asked a question relation to a fiat they scurry off looking for the one staff member who is in the know about fiats...but fiat punto's are cheap but the after sales is not cheerfull..i will not be suprised if fiat goes under in the uk due to the attitude of the dealer network...mind you i like the new grande punto...i must resist temptation ...or the fiat guys will give me a good kicking in the stock room...lol

candymut said:

well what is a genuine fiat part? as i think they are supplied to them from another manufacturer who supply other parts stockists

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errrr....one that is made to manufacturers specification,you know one that has been extensively tested not a cheap copy made in India!

candymut said:

and why have a warranty on the rear brakes and not on the front brakes for 2 years? or 24.000 miles? it sounds a bit odd?

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Not really as rear brakes are enclosed (drums) wether front brakes are exposed to the elements,afterall brakes are a servicable item.Was the previous owner a 'nutter' who didn't drive his/her correctly,why did you not look at the brakes before you got the car? Front pads are expected to last 2 years odd on puntos,rear shoes will last for 5/6 easily...assuming correctly adjusted.

candymut said:

fiat dealers are just bad but i agree they are one or two good dealers out there

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Theres a heck of alot more than one or two...how many have you been to?

candymut said:

when asked a question relation to a fiat they scurry off looking for the one staff member who is in the know about fiats

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Who can honestly hold there hand up & say they know everything about every fiat? Everyone has their speciality be it electrical/parts/auto gearbox etc...a good dealer is one that works together & pulls its resources together to help not only each another but the customer.

candymut said:

i will not be suprised if fiat goes under in the uk due to the attitude of the dealer network

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the real problem Fiat have is 'hearsay' you know people who think they are technicians & know it all..."my great grandad had a 124 & it was crap so all fiats are crap! Fiat have a great range of cars out now & more in the pipeline,technicians & now all dealer staff are undergoing excellent training as good as any other manufacturer(IMI approved)however I cant be bothered going thru all this again,if you feel the need search through my previous posts for more info on Fiat.

fiat cars are sold in the mian by fiat dealers.....and some sell korean cars to make the fiat cars look beter but if you go and buy a fiat punto the main car (as numbers sold) and you ask a simple enough qiestion and the sales person can not answer i must asume he/she can not know the products they are selling so many will think they have been selling the puntofor some years now with the same engine in (1.2 12v) and i asked a salesman a question and the question was " what is the top speed of this fiat punto"...he then went away after looking at the spedo inside the car lol...and went to ask another member of staff this tells me he did not know what he must know...but to end this thread FIAT dealers are not up to the task and they give conflicting accounts of whyfront pads and discs are not coverd after 12.000 ,iles and they could not give a reason why the rear brakes are coverd for 24.000 miles or 2 years..and the fiat dealer i went to had predomantly fiat punto's on show and 9 memners of staff going in and out....the same dealer repaired some seals on my doors but this was the second attempt as they had the car all day and wiped the seal with a silicone polish to make out they had changed the seals so it had to go back in on another day and done under warranty and i have yet to be offerd a car to get around in.....and no explanation as to why they tried to cover up not fitting a door seal? as they billed fiat for the said seal?....but forget that its not the punto its the dealer ...and they rang me the other day asking if i still wanted the work doing on my car (front brakes) and i informed them as they are not under warranty i had a vat registerd garage do the work for £120 less.....and they will replace them if they are worn down or faulty before 24.000 miles..no questions asked...independents are a good thing....fiat dealers are not ( i have had all together 7 punto cars from the mk1 to the mk3 ) and i have simply had it with them.....athis is the end.....or is it?...ps....i know they do 16v and mulitjet engines before i get a reply telling me this...lol.....grande punto is nice.....but the focus sport is better???

candymut said:

fiat cars are sold in the mian by fiat dealers.....and some sell korean cars to make the fiat cars look beter but if you go and buy a fiat punto the main car (as numbers sold) and you ask a simple enough qiestion and the sales person can not answer i must asume he/she can not know the products they are selling so many will think they have been selling the puntofor some years now with the same engine in (1.2 12v) and i asked a salesman a question and the question was " what is the top speed of this fiat punto"...he then went away after looking at the spedo inside the car lol...and went to ask another member of staff this tells me he did not know what he must know...

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Sorry candy but I dont know what you mean by 'some sell korean cars to make the fiat cars look beter' If a dealer sells more than one make of car it is because it has the space to do so,alot of dealers sell 3 or more makes of car (multi franchise) and this is becoming more common its certainley not to make fiat cars(or any other)look better!
As far as the top speed question why didnt you look it up on the internet,saves going down to dealer? To be honest I dont know the top speed of a punto infact I dont really care,thats the sort of question a 12 year old kid would go into the dealer asking....speed limit is 70mph anyway!

candymut said:

but to end this thread FIAT dealers are not up to the task

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LOL well it doesn't matter what I say your obviously not going to change your opinion & obviously know more about the motor trade than anyone else here.

candymut said:

have yet to be offerd a car to get around in

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Did you ask? as the title says they are 'courtesy cars' giving out of courtesy,maybe they didnt have any left to give out? I had a customer the other week demanding a courtesy car as his interior light bulb had blown......f*ck off!

candymut said:

i had a vat registerd garage do the work for £120 less.....and they will replace them if they are worn down or faulty before 24.000 miles..no questions asked...independents are a good thing....fiat dealers are not

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Good aslong as you are happy with that fine after all its your money...however does your independant have over (collectively speaking of all the techs) 100 years of fiat experience,acccess to the latest technical service news/bulletins/flash discs/examiner software?

candymut said:

but the focus sport is better???

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Is it,I will never buy a focus again thats for sure! Tailgate rattling & not shutting,then opening by itself/timing belt snapping(within warranty but Ford wouldnt honour it)/speed sensor faults/cylinder head core plugs leaking/endless HT lead faults/temp sensor faults cause the wiring runs alongside HT leads giving incorrect signals/fuel pump packing in/fuel gauge fault/pcm programming faults/rear suspension premature wear/water pump/power steering pump......yeah great cars!!!

lol sorry i did not intentionaly make it sound as the korean cars were better in some way .

and the top speed of a car is not as you hae indicated "a kids question" as this is an indication of the cars proformance and that applies to any car as all cars are sold on factors like safe/speed/refinements..so i feel this was not a silly question but a seller of cars needs to know what they are selling and to be informative to the buyer as much as they can and i do look on the net and this nice forum but you need to ask questions when buying a car and the questions themselves you may feel are silly but it is me who is buying the car (buyer) and they are selling a car (seller) so they need to know what thy are selling andhence they are a main dealer for tha car they are selling so it must follow they need to know more than the local garage who sells cars of all makes.

And as for the ford focus i have yet to make my mind up as i know all cars have there faults but the deaer networks in place for other makes of cars tend to put things right in a way that was intended but i have asked around and even in the motor trade fiat dealers have a reputation that can not be shruged off as there service is still bad and they continue to be out proformed by other dealers and as for owners i think they deserve better and fiat need to start renegotiaing there deals they ave with dealers as sales start to hit new lows ...so in a nutshell.....FIAT owners deserve better than what they are getting at the moment..and they is no indication of this changing but fiat dealers are selling more and more other makes so this is as you have stated a trend that is becoming the norm and this will further impact on the service from fiat dealers that fiat owners are suffering today...but there is some light as some in this forum have indicated some do give a ood service and that is indeed good news but a few will not reclaim the understandable feelings of ""NO TRUST" that people have about fiat but this feeling is missplaced as fiat cars are in my view good for the money you buy them for but let badly down by the FIAT dealer network ..and if the new fiat grande punto is not shifting in great numbers it will be the end of fiat as a mass production maker of cars....

'courtesy cars'

Well to give a quick reply re 'courtesy cars' fiat uk say any work done under warranty has the RIGHT of a car to be used by you as long as the fiat is being fixed at a fiat dealer......but i have looked around and even repairs to fiats under warranty have not triggerd this event....so the same thing applies...fiat dealers renage on there negotated deal with fiat...so imagine what they do to you??........"""""""shoe string alert"""" i am simply looking at other manufactures dealer networks and puting them alongside fiat uk...nothing more..as i have said...it is not the cars...it is the dealers

Well as far as a technician is concerned as far as the car performs correctly and does 70mph thats it! Example...customer says "I get steering wobble at 80mph",I say "sorry sir but I can only test drive it to 70mph & no more" thus I care not for top speed of a vehicle.I (hand on heart) cannot tell you the top speed of any Fiat correctly (I can guess/estimate) does that make me a bad technician?
As far as your comments on Fiat dealers,like I previously said I cannot change your mind & are not going to bother trying,but if you think Fiat techs are bad then your argument also applies to Ford,Vauxhall & BMW techs as they are all trained to the same standard!
Its not just Fiat dealers that sell other makes of cars everyone is doing it (honda dealers sell peugeot & toyota for example...no fiats there) as its 'cornering the market...dealers are out to make money the same as any other business be it supermarkets,DIY shops etc...to make money end of story!
Can I ask what evidence you have to prove 'they(fiat dealers)continue to be out proformed by other dealers' as you stated?
As is the norm people only complain when things go wrong (or they are simply tight & dont want to pay the bill as they just brought a house & booked a expensive holiday (the words tough sh*t spring to mind) what you dont hear about is the thousends of fiats that go into garages every week with the customer completely happy.Don't go on by what other people say about fiats...ask people who who know about them! I have worked for many other manufactuers and in my humble (but honest) opinion Fiat treat there customers as good as (and in many cases better) than others! Look on other forums for other makes of cars & see how many customers are making the same complaints as you...it is not just fiat,FACT!
As for courtesy cars...have you any idea of the costs of running a courtesy car let alone 4 or 5 of them? Yes you may well be entitled to one IF there is one available.

FIAT DEALERS ARE KNOW THE UK OVER AS BEING VERY VERY BAD.....simple enough is it not? as you pay for what you get and what you get is a car (standard fiat punto) with an engine designe going back to the 80s (1.1 now 1.2cc fire engine 8v) so you see you are buying old tec...but that is not the real issue hear is it? We are talking about fiat dealers and most of them are simply crap and as you YOU state many go into the workshops each week..lol i bet they are the same ones that went in the week before as you need to look on the net and around your own area to see fiat dealers give a bad service as they have always done in the uk...strange you go to germany/france and they are GOOD FIAT DEALERS and so they sell a few more cars but that is down to good investment in buildings and staff...as most salesmen in the uk who work for fiat delers must have been trained as double glazing salesmen..simply put FIAT dealers do not come up to the mark and the funny thing is....they all know this to be so...

Candy how wrong you are!

You are not buying old technology,the engine has been developed to passthe strict EOBD emmision laws aswell as CAN line communication etc.

When many go into the workshop every week I was mainly refering to servicing & getting servicable items like tyres,brakes etc. Yes they do go wrong & have their faults SO DOES EVERY CAR...FACT!

Fiat tecnicians (and now support staff,salesmen,receptionist) are undergoing IMI approved training the same as Ford,BMW etc...FACT!

Salesmen go where the money is wether its Fiat,Rolls royce etc...FACT!

You can have the best looking building in the world...doesn't mean the service is any better does it? what kind of argument is that?

I repeat what evidence have you got that Fiat are the worse dealers...your mate down the pub,you read it somewhere on the net? Well come on wheres the proof?

Outside Italy the UK is Fiats biggest market,37,000 cars,so your wrong again its not France or Germany...FACT!

you tell it as it is t14086. its muppets, that here it down the pub that give fiat a bad name .the money fiat spend on training, would put some other makes to shame.:slayer: :slayer: :slayer:

Here here!