I have experienced a problem with a 2013 Fiat panda I hired from Europcar.
On returning the Panda they found that one door lock would lock with the key inserted but would not unlock.
They have charged us £300 plus for repairing 'the damage' to the lock.
As the car was remote central locking we never inserted the key into any of the locks and there is no sign to tapering or damage to the lock in question.

They will not accept it is a fault that has developed and insist we damaged it.

Is this a known fault with Panda locks?

You have got to be kidding, I would not have paid, I would have let them keep the deposit and then taken them to small claims court if necessary to get it back at a later date. How did they decide it would be that price?

I find it strange that they felt the need to test the lock in the first place if it had remote locking, you would have thought they would have used the remote (as you did) to lock/unlock the car.

If there was no damage to the lock then how and why do they think you have deliberately broken it? It is clearly a manufacturer defect that would have been covered by warranty.

worcesterfiat said:

I have experienced a problem with a 2013 Fiat panda I hired from Europcar.
On returning the Panda they found that one door lock would lock with the key inserted but would not unlock.
They have charged us £300 plus for repairing 'the damage' to the lock.
As the car was remote central locking we never inserted the key into any of the locks and there is no sign to tapering or damage to the lock in question.

They will not accept it is a fault that has developed and insist we damaged it.

Is this a known fault with Panda locks?

Click to expand...

was it the passenger door lock?,
chances are it's never been used , and could've been US from the factory,
Charlie

varesecrazy said:

was it the passenger door lock?,
chances are it's never been used , and could've been US from the factory,
Charlie

Click to expand...

I suspect it doesn't have a passenger lock, the mk3 doesn't.

good point jon,
I know our 2004 doesn't ( or central locking), thankfully never had to climb in through the boot..,
Charlie

It seems to be a scam, another customer was being accused of the same thing at the same time.
The only difference was their lock slot was slightly bent at one corner.
Thanks for the advice, I am disputing the credit card charge at present.

Drivers, unfortunately.
Cheers

Sounds absolutely ridiculous!

I don't know whether it would be much use or not, but you might want to try telephoning Fiat Customer Services as well.

Chances are they probably wouldn't want to get involved (I suppose why would they really), but at the end of the day it is indirectly putting Fiat in a bad light. They have some vested interest here...but it is a long shot.

As for the fault itself, I don't know how you can prove that you never used the actual lock rather than the remote key, but there is certainly no common issue with these new Pandas. If there was you would have seen it on here (one example being the boot switch getting jammed with mud/grime and not working).

This sounds totally like a scam, and I suggest you get straight in touch with Europcar head office and mention that you will be reporting all of your knowledge to trading standards, the BBC watchdog programme and just about any other people you can think of.

I would also get friends to rent a Panda from the same Europcar office, video the hand over, get your friends to try the locks, point out they are broken and walk away smartish.

The motor trade - or as we like to call them w*****rs.