Hi

After a few years away (used to have a Seicento Abarth), I'm back and I'm looking at buying a nearly new Abarth 500 Trofeo.

It is the 140 version but had been remapped to around 170. The company selling the car is advertising it as having a manufacturers warranty but given it has been remapped I wasn't sure this would be the case. They are saying it was done at any approved place. Is there any way of checking if the warranty is still in place?

Thanks in advance!

I doubt any place can offer an offical remap anything thats been remapped will lose warrenty

That being said unless that start digging around the ecu they arnt likey to be able to tell it has been done



Just make sure you inform your insurance about it

hutchie said:

Hi

After a few years away (used to have a Seicento Abarth), I'm back and I'm looking at buying a nearly new Abarth 500 Trofeo.

It is the 140 version but had been remapped to around 170. The company selling the car is advertising it as having a manufacturers warranty but given it has been remapped I wasn't sure this would be the case. They are saying it was done at any approved place. Is there any way of checking if the warranty is still in place?

Thanks in advance!

Click to expand...

There is no way a manufacturer is going to honour a warranty for a car that has been re-mapped for higher power. This assumes they know about it, but not telling them is almost certainly fraud. I've had companies try to pull out of warranty because a part was an option (air horn, it wasn't but I had to prove it was standard) and because the garage had made a typing error in recording the mileage on the invoice (not service record).
And be honest, is it reasonable to expect them to cover for damage that may have been caused by the higher state of tune and (presumed) associated driving style? Don't forget to check the insurance cost for the modified car.


Robert G8RPI.

What g8rpi says.

Also remapping a car says something about the driving style of the previous owner that would have me running away from a deal such as this at the earliest opportunity.

Thanks for the quick replies - really helpful!

I think driving style wise probably similar to mine ...but in all seriousness I know what you mean.

Interesting that they are advertising it as having a manufactures warranty and had said that they mods (the exhaust has been upgraded to the quad exhaust too) wouldn't affect the warranty!

I know, never trust a car salesman!

I am personally aware of someone who was involved in a RTC (Road Traffic Collision) involving serious injuries. Obviously, the police and the insurance companies were involved and investigations carried out. To cut a long story short, the person who was proved to be innocent of wrongdoing in the actual accident event itself, ended up with a total loss and no payout because it was subsequently discovered during the investigation through forensic examination, that the ECU been remapped. The insurance company also became aware of modifications to the vehicle that the owner had not declared. Despite 'claims' by the person that they were unaware of the remap, the insurance company didn't believe them and they refused to pay out on the vehicle. Sometimes insurers will go to any lengths to avoid a payout, even contacting previous owners and obtaining witness statements. You can't exactly blame them with the amount of uninsured drivers currently on the roads and the fact that sadly, some people are just utter toe rags and will lie their backsides off to cover their own insanity.

Personally, I just declare everything I have done to my own vehicle these days, it just isn't worth the pain of losing everything if it all goes pear shaped. I've had parking sensors, a stainless steel exhaust and a couple of other bespoke items fitted to my vehicle and it's only added a few quid extra on the premium.

Yeah, in terms of insurance if I was to go ahead I would be declaring anything non standard - I've already had quotes based on that, which I am happy with as you say makes only a small amount of difference to the premium.

It was more a last minute thought about warranty as I had taken as face value what the selling company were saying and then when I actually thought about it, I started to think that perhaps it was no longer valid, despite what they were saying!

Only possible way of it having a waranty, would be if the owner bought the Esseesse kit from Fiat, and installed it there, including the software remap.
Anything else ...fairy tales..

hutchie said:

<SNIP>
I had taken as face value what the selling company were saying and then when I actually thought about it, I started to think that perhaps it was no longer valid, despite what they were saying!

Click to expand...

You can't take anything said by a car dealer or even in their ads as correct. This is especially true now that many are using websites that "auto-fill" the vehicle details from some un-verified online database. I tracked down a car I'd previously owned to a dealer advert and it had mysteriously gained a leather interior (not according to the photos) and four wheel drive!
When buying a car make sure anything important like specifications "extras" etc. is on the paperwork (quote, sales invoice etc.) and keep a copy of any advert or description (you can right click and save webpages) just in case it comes to a dispute later.


Robert G8RPI.