General A Cautionary Tale - the front of the new Fiat 500s unbolts and can be stolen
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General A Cautionary Tale - the front of the new Fiat 500s unbolts and can be stolen
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ronmanager
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No it's going to be ready by Friday apparently. The Fiat parts guy told me about the loom problem. You have to strip out the inside to fit it. 7-8 hrs labour.
Now I would be doing some soldering and joining wires to a second hand plug.
Especially when the insurance is paying, I would solder new connections on and use adhesive lined heatshrink that would last the life of the car.
TrevC
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Sadly not confined to 500s. I remember reports of a spate of similar thefts from Corsas a couple of years ago, and presumably many other cars are vulnerable too. Hope you get it all sorted.
Back in the early 2000"s I heard of Renault's, then "new" hid headlights being stolen.
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Fiat could fix this immediately by using locking wheelnut style bolts where the main front fixings are. £20 solution.
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They also need to sort a workaround part to repair the wiring ends/plug. Also a simple fix costing pennies.
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Sorry to hear about this.
Be interested to see what the quote is for the alarm, as it does make you worry about the hassle to fix this even if the insurance will cover everything, I guess the main attraction for the thieves are the xenon lights.
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The alarm fitted price (which I suspect was guessed as it was shouted across to the receptionist I was talking to) was 'about £550'
The actual part is £220 inc VAT (part no 50901734)
For anyone interested, I found these instructions here and it sounds like a bit of a job to be fair: https://www.metasystem.it/content/download/108794/1081555/file/5040178501 Ist.Mon.M8199 Fiat 500.pdf
And it has several sensors and a separate siren.
I’m so sorry to hear about what happened to your Fiat 500. You have a stunning car that you like to take pride in and enjoy, and then you find that. Nightmare scenario.
I would only really trust Fiat to fit an alarm system, and go as far as paying for their own genuine one. I’ve never heard of anybody who fitted any aftermarket alarm and has had much success personally.
You know what I’d advise owners and Fiat dealers to start doing? Removing the bumpers, marking them somehow with the registration, chassis number etc and putting a label stating that if this does not match then this part may be stolen.. Not sure if that would work in practice.
I would only really trust Fiat to fit an alarm system, and go as far as paying for their own genuine one. I’ve never heard of anybody who fitted any aftermarket alarm and has had much success personally.
You know what I’d advise owners and Fiat dealers to start doing? Removing the bumpers, marking them somehow with the registration, chassis number etc and putting a label stating that if this does not match then this part may be stolen.. Not sure if that would work in practice.
You can buy a S m a r t w a t e r kit, register it and daub everything with it and put the stickers in the window. It won't stop anything being stolen, especially if the moron doing the stealing can't read signs, but if parts are stolen and someone is subsequently caught with motor parts marked with Smar****er, they have some serious explaining to do. This of course won't be much kop if the parts are sold abroad.
Overzealous profanity filter 
Overzealous profanity filter
I think it probably recognises it as a trademark and doesn't like it. At the end of the day, it is good stuff. You can sometimes get a kit for nothing if you speak to your local beat community officer, that is if your local bobby still exists. We only ever see ours when there's an election coming up or the Police and Crime Commissioners' job is up for renewal. Funny thing eh.....
er, no.
This, perhaps the best ever anagram to appear on British TV, may help explain the misguided reasoning behind the censorship.
In 1979, you could get away with programming that'd never get past the Beeb's PC jobsworths today.
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Sorry to hear about your car, makes you worry about it happening again, but the exact same thing happens to Vauxhall Corsa's and Astra's , it was in the papers last year, hundreds of Vauxhall's lost the entire front.
I would be very wary of fitting a aftermarket alarm, i know of two people who did and they both had electrical problems afterwards.
I would be very wary of fitting a aftermarket alarm, i know of two people who did and they both had electrical problems afterwards.
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The alarm will be fitted by Ancaster Fiat. That way I can drive it down there when it goes wrong!
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Thanks for the update - which branch of Ancaster is fitting it?
I'm therefore guessing they have estimated about 3 hours of work at the final price?
Thanks again, keep us posted how things progress
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Ancaster Catford where we bought the car (which is now due to be delivered back to us tomorrow.)
What a horrible shock to come out and see your car looking like that such an invasion...
The damage around the door handle is particularly sour. I hope it is all repaired to your complete satisfaction, and with the correct headlights etc. - and I also hope the fitment of an alarm helps you rest a bit easier. The factory type is usually the most reliable and least likely to have false alarms.
It's hard to believe that someone would attempt this kind of disassembly on the roadside Just wrong in so many ways. You have my greatest sympathy...
-Alex
such an invasion...The damage around the door handle is particularly sour. I hope it is all repaired to your complete satisfaction, and with the correct headlights etc. - and I also hope the fitment of an alarm helps you rest a bit easier. The factory type is usually the most reliable and least likely to have false alarms.
It's hard to believe that someone would attempt this kind of disassembly on the roadside
Just wrong in so many ways. You have my greatest sympathy... -Alex
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