Apologies if been covered before. But if I had my Panda serviced by a local garage and given back, would it harm it (have no mechanical knowledge at all). Assume mine just had Euro 6 update done at same time at main dealer as appeared to start again better in traffic. Or does it have to be plugged in every service? Service indicator will take several years to count down to zero miles. Would love my local dealer to price match, that way I get a loan car. Doesn't need doing for a good while though. Many Thanks
Hi Al D,
To answer your question about any software update, an authorised Fiat dealer should be putting a record of the update and campaign number in your service book (along with the dealer stamp of course).
If you do not have any written record then you have to assume no update has been done. You would need to challenge your dealer to find out more to be honest.
As for using your local garage over a Fiat dealer - I could be wrong here but I am fairly certain that a local garage won't be able to do the official software updates as they won't have the facilities to do so. An independent Fiat specialist with the right tools probably would.
There's certainly no harm in booking your car in to your local garage for servicing needs of choice. My wife's 1.2 500 has just had the full works (all filters, oil, plugs, brake fluid, other fluid top ups etc) and it came in at just over £190 including VAT. I supplied them with parts and Selenia oil from Shop4Parts, they charged me for the labour and brake fluid. Vospers would probably have been twice that much, and she wouldn't have been able to walk home after dropping it off. So a complete no-brainer to me.
The flip side is of course whether you want the dealer stamps in the service book or not. Likewise, if there is a software update that needs doing, they should be able to sort it out there and then. So a personal choice, no right or wrong way of doing it