right, apologies for only coming on here when I have a problem, and I will admit right off my understanding of cars goes about as far as 'switch on - drive - switch off' but anyway, here is my problem

last week, my june 06 grande punto 1.2, felt a bit weird, and as it was the passenger side front I thought it was something wrong with the wheel. called the aa, he decided it was the gearbox, and took it to my local dealership.

after a week of ringing up to ask how it is, they have just got back to me, and the story is...

the engineer/assesor is rejecting paying for it under warranty, as it has been seriously over revved (he said the computer showed over 160 of them) and the work would cost me over a grand.
so, after picking myself up off the floor I tried asking some sensible questions, like..
could I seriously have been driving it wrong the entire time I have had it? (from 9 months old)
wouldn't I have known? how could I have managed to do that?
what would it have seemed like?


he is letting me talk to my usual garage guys, and also suggested I ring fiat head office, and get back to him. he wants me to go over there to talk, but a- I don't know much, and b- if he says that amount of money again I will cry. hubby doesn't drive, so can't help.

do you rev a lot, i.e. does the rev counter go into the red before you change gear? If not, does someone else drive it??

Even if you do, i would not agree to pay for it, i would call fiat customer services. If fiat have not bothered to put a rev limiter on the car to prevent such damage then its not your fault. At the end of the day, sometimes you cannot prevent revving your car high, you might need to do so to react to a potential collision.

Put it this way, if this happened to me i would go over the garage to fiat customer services, if you get no luck i would threaten legal action.

thanks for your quick response, I am calming down now and hoping to talk to some garage guys I trust tomorrow..

I am the only one that drives it, it was a rental car from new to 9 months old, but its been me ever since.

I don't know that I have ever ever revved it as far as red. I am not a nippy driver particularly, the only times I ever deliberately rev a little is when I occasionally move it from our front parking to round the back without going anywhere, as I managed to flood a previous fiat stilo by shifting it forwards.

He said the printout was showing it had been done over 160 times, which was a lot. I asked if I could have been doing it unwittingly thinking I was driving normally and he didn't really answer.

meeps said:

I am the only one that drives it, it was a rental car from new to 9 months old, but its been me ever since.

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That definatly explains it! Have you ever heard the expression "don't drive it gentle, its only a rental"? I always thrash rental cars, most people do i think (irresposible i know, sorry).

Who did you buy the car from, was it fiat? If so, go back to them or the people you bout it from and try to get them to pay (unlikely but worth a go).

Either way, the car should have a rev limiter to stop the damage

Of course it has a rev limiter, but it can only prevent so much- if the driver downshifts too early, the revs will pass the limiter despite the ignition and injection being in overrun cut-off. To explain a little- the over-rev counter clocks-up everytime the engine hits the red line (or passes it), it also logs the maximum speed reached and for how long.

Many engine/transmission warranty claims are being thrown out due to 'abuse' determined by these figures (they can tell whether it was an over-rev caused by holding it to the red-line or accidental early downshifts- accidental over-revs are given the benefit of a doubt).

Unfortunately meeps it seems yours was thrashed as a rental vehicle, and regardless how it's driven now that data was recorded to the ECU. Your best course of action is to contact customer care and tell them the full facts on it's history and fingers-crossed they'll let it pass.

160 times.............this a new record?

thanks again guys, this is very informative

all I can say is if it is me, then it would be the accidental early downshift, rather than the thrashing- I wish I could tell you if I had done that, but I haven't a clue to be honest..

I will talk to the garage I bought it from tomorrow, I have 8 years of car history with them so with any luck that will count for something, if not I will then go to customer services.

I have just spent a few months arguing with the council about not owing them over a grand, and I won, and it was with regard to who was more to blame, them or me, so at least I will feel at home with this new argument. :bang:

Good luck with that. Unlucky that you bought an ex-rental!!!. Don't worry it will be all previous drivers not you i'd imagine as the engine would litterally be screeming at the rev limiter.

160 times!!!.

As much as it pains me saying im a guilty one in a rental car . They always seem faster than normal cars lol!.

T14086 said:

160 times.............this a new record?

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Wheres Tym?

Rental cars, drive it like you stole it

lol you are making me feel better, looking at the reg docs it was europcar that had it before - and I prefer the idea that someone else caused it than that I have been driving like a numpty.

would the downshifting over revving be apparent at all to me or passengers? I tend to try and drive quite smoothly as I don't want my little boy to get car sick.

:worship: to you all

meeps said:

would the downshifting over revving be apparent at all to me or passengers?

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If you're not headbutting the windscreen on downshifts- you're ok.

Thought that some fancy Ferrari /Merc or something like that was the fastest car in the world.

Ney Ney Ney and thrice Ney.

Fastest car in the world is the humble hire car :devil:

Hi Meeps,

sorry did not mean to be flippant on my previous post. I nearly bought an ex hire car years ago but pulled out after a chat with a mate.

T will remember the car hire depot in Kilmarnock at the time, strange guys who wore stetsons and spurs:devil:

Hope you get your car sorted.

will be giving my garage till lunchtime to get back to me then giving them a call..

meeps said:

will be giving my garage till lunchtime to get back to me then giving them a call..

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Good luck. Like I said im 99.999976% sure your not doing anything wrong.

Just tell them the cars history, tell them when you owned the car and hope for the best. It would make sense if these "over rev events" had a date&time logged too!.

The car has been missused...... period, the fact it happened before you owned it is immaterial. There are no clauses in the warranty agreement saying Fiat are liable for missuse IF it was caused by previous owners. I really cant see Fiat holding their hands up and saying.....ok its our fault we will fix it......why should they, what have they done wrong?

Any responsibility lies with the dealer who sold you the car. I would be asking for copies of the printouts, if they are date/time/mileage stamped and if you can prove all the over-revving took place before you took ownership its proof the defect was there before you bought it and therefore proof that they have sold you a substandard car. The get-out would be to ask them why they didnt check to see if it was over-revved before they sold it to you? ........ The problems will start if they say they did check it and can back it up because the onus is on you to prove the dealer has been negligent and not the other way round.

This will go one of two ways, either very easy or very hard. The dealer will either agree to repair the car in full at their cost with no questions......or they will turn round and say, not our problem luv and fob you off.

I would be looking for a decent Solicitor in case it goes the very hard way.....best of luck.

Would you have any right to contact the rental agency who owned the car previously?

Personally I'd pay a local scrote £100 to steal it and burn it out in the rental company's yard who owned it before.

Personally i wouldnt have bought the car, knowing its history. But you live and learn. Its the same when you go to any car supermarket, 10's of GP 1.2's that you know have been rental cars for 12 months, i suppose a good price blinds people though.

tommy_8884 said:

That definatly explains it! Have you ever heard the expression "don't drive it gentle, its only a rental"? I always thrash rental cars, most people do i think (irresposible i know, sorry).

Who did you buy the car from, was it fiat? If so, go back to them or the people you bout it from and try to get them to pay (unlikely but worth a go).

Either way, the car should have a rev limiter to stop the damage

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How ironic
A person who has admitted to always thrashing rental cars and deliberately misusing someone elses property is suggesting that all the problems THEY CAUSE are down to the manufacturer and dealer.....