Fiat Direct??

[Derv drinker]

Just noticed that fiat UK sell their own second hand cars now, is this a sign that the dealers will be owned by them in the future, surely there would be contract problems as all dealers are franchise and well controlled by Fiat UK, as I found out when I bought my Panda from new as I had to ask the dealer to ring fiat UK to get my armed forces discount, and very generous it is too, and can be had along with the PCP packages.
If Fiat continue this further does it mean that dealers will be able to offer bigger discounts, as Fiat UK would have financial advantage etc and there could be grounds for unfair competition from the dealers. It will be nice to see how this one pans out in the future.

 

[rallycinq]

Wrong end of stick completely.

Fiat Direct is a used car marketing scheme that implies that the cars that Fiat direct get are not available outwith the Fiat dealer network.

It will be backed by a Fiat Direct branded warranty (more marketing).

Ford have been doing it for years and Vauxhall call it Netwrk Q.

Cheers

SPD

 

[Derv drinker]

Thats what I thought at first, but Network Q and the ford scheme run through the dealers forcourts, Fiat Direct doesn't as they have their own outlet and search link from the Fiat UK website, and their own website. Maybe this has been sorted at dealer level and the dealers were happy just carrying on as they are. The warranty schemes in both cases look identical.