General Transfer of 3rd Year Warranty

[Loujam]

Hi All,

I have seen on a thread this morning about people having to wait weeks after sending their £27 cheques off to Fiat to get the 3rd year warranty transferred into their names, and not knowing if they were actually covered of not. I think it has been mentioned by others on older threads too.

For information purposes for anyone about to do this, when I purchased my secondhand 500, I contacted Fiat UK and they said that I could get the transfer done at my local Fiat Dealership. I collected my car one Saturday some months back and drove it straight to Wessex Garages Fiat in Gloucester and did exactly that. I payed £27.50 on the card and came away with the paperwork in 10 minutes.

Too late for some, but hopefully helpful to others who have not yet transferred.

 

[frupi]

Indeed you were lucky and I truly am pleased that you were able to do that. I actually phoned a Fiat dealer and I was robustly informed that as a second hand owner who had not bought the vehicle from a Fiat dealer, that they were unable to do as you were able to do and that I should send off the form in the back of the service/warranty book.

They also were very robust in pointing out, that if I did not pay the 27 quid to transfer the warranty, it could not be guaranteed that if anything went wrong in the 3rd year, that it would be put right. After all, as they pointed out to me, taking out the 3rd year warranty as a second owner, is a personal choice.

So, anyway, we now have the confirmation letter and verbal confirmation too from my local Fiat dealer that we are fully updated on their system. I'm just so incredibly disappointed that the administrative processes in place appear to be stuck firmly in the 1960's.

 

[Loujam]

Indeed you were lucky and I truly am pleased that you were able to do that. I actually phoned a Fiat dealer and I was robustly informed that as a second hand owner who had not bought the vehicle from a Fiat dealer, that they were unable to do as you were able to do and that I should send off the form in the back of the service/warranty book.

Not the best of experiences for you then frupi. After your post, then I better clarify that this may work for some but not all. Depends on how helpful your dealer is then I guess.

 

[frupi]

Yes, thank you. I guess their apparent less than helpful attitude toward me might have been something to do with the fact I paid considerably less for our little motor from a non Fiat dealer than had I bought it from them.

Nothing like sour grapes!

 

[Loujam]

Very small minded of them. I guess my dealer had the foresight to realise that I would be coming in for parts and servicing, so it made sense for them to be helpful. Do you go there for servicing, or have you found a more helpful dealer/garage?

 

[frupi]

I actually haven't been anywhere near my local dealer, merely spoke to them on the telephone and the price I paid for the vehicle cropped up in conversation. The person I spoke to was audibly miffed, tone changed straight away.

In terms of which dealer to go to, I have two 'local', one 16 miles away and one 12 miles away. I am also (apparently) lucky, to have a Fiat trained independent mechanic with a workshop just 600 yards away from where I live. I'm obviously quite tempted to use him, especially if he uses genuine Fiat parts and lubricants. At least I don't have to go as far for servicing as I do for my Cadillac, which is either Manchester or Milton Keynes, that's 60 or 90 miles in completely opposite directions!

I guess I'll just have to do a bit of digging on 'tinternet' and see if I can read any reviews about any of the Fiat dealers or local mechanics before I make my decision.

 

[FloJo]

I guess I'll just have to do a bit of digging on 'tinternet' and see if I can read any reviews about any of the Fiat dealers or local mechanics before I make my decision.

I'm interested to know of any findings you make I know an independent man using genuine parts etc who works just next door to where OH works so very convenient really. From what I gather it's OK as long as they do everything by the fiat book, but in the event of any problems is Fiat likely to do all they can do to try and get out of being responsible for faults etc?

I didn't buy my car from a local dealer so have no loyalty to the stoneacre in town unless I absolutely have to

 

[frupi]

From what I gather it's OK as long as they do everything by the fiat book, but in the event of any problems is Fiat likely to do all they can do to try and get out of being responsible for faults etc?

I didn't buy my car from a local dealer so have no loyalty to the stoneacre in town unless I absolutely have to

No, I don't believe Fiat could or would try to absolve themselves of doing any repairs under warranty if you took it to them, irrespective of whether it had been serviced elsewhere. The key point though is, the car will need to have been serviced using the recommended parts/oils during the term of the warranty and the work must have been undertaken by a VAT registered garage. Whether they would go so far as to conduct specific tests to check what viscosity/make of oil has been shoved in, I have no idea. I suspect though, if they find a branded Fiat oil filter on the motor, they wouldn't bother.

My wife's 500 will cover no more than 8k per annum. I think it will only need a basic service at the end of the first year as the prediction so far indicates that it will only have covered 5000 miles by end of February 12 as we only bought it at the end of August this year with 821 miles on the clock. As discussed in a previous post, I don't hold in the practise you can go for a couple of years without any servicing at all, irrespective of some of the claims motor manufacturers make, though I do admit, there are some people who only knock out a couple of thousand miles a year, so I guess it's a choice thing really.

My brain tells me, I should just put up with getting it serviced by Fiat for the first 3 years to save any potential hassle. Though I suppose I could do what some other forum members do (and I used to do this with my old Primera) and go out, buy necessary service items myself and then get a local independent to do the work (usually, much cheaper labour rates in my experience).

I tried to be clever the other day, I phoned my local Ford garage and asked what oil they stuff in the new KA (pretending that is what I own), thinking it might actually be cheaper than the Fiat recommended oil for the 500. First words I got were "Oh, it's a Fiat engine in the KA" which I knew anyway. Two minutes later he came back with a price which I believe was about 11 quid a litre plus VAT, so no difference between the Fiat and Ford branded oil I believe.

I'll let you know how I get on when the time comes.

 

[keithbrown53]

Sorry for necro-posting.


Just spoke to Car Care Plan.


My Fiat Punto is coming to the end of it's second year of warranty. I wanted to transfer the 3rd year into my name.


The advisor told me that I only had to do this in the event of a claim, and not to waste £30 when I didn't have to.


He made a note against the car reg number that we had had this conversation. Quite honest of him, when I had my debit card in hand, ready to pay £30.

 

[frupi]

Things have clearly changed since we bought our POP back in 2011. We were categorically told when we bought our car, which was an ex Fiat lease car only four months old, that in order to qualify for 3rd year warranty cover, we had to officially transfer the 3rd year warranty into our name from the leasing company who formally owned the car otherwise we wouldn't be covered in the third year if anything went wrong. We didn't mess about and paid the £27. It was as I'm sure many have read in previous posts, a godsend because over £1.5k worth of warranty work was carried out in our 2.5 years of ownership, most of it in the 3rd year. It used to be that the 3rd year warranty was a 'dealership' warranty period, hence why you had to pay for it and there are stories of those that didn't bother to do this as second owners who ended up losing out.

Funnily enough, when we bought our former TA as a ahem 'brand new' pre-reg car, we were also charged at the point of sale for the 3rd year warranty which was unbelieveably cheeky imo, as the dealership effectively transferred it from themselves as the 'first owner' to us as the second owner. I didn't notice it until after I'd signed the documents.

 

[jrkitching]

Funnily enough, when we bought our former TA as a ahem 'brand new' pre-reg car, we were also charged at the point of sale for the 3rd year warranty which was unbelieveably cheeky imo, as the dealership effectively transferred it from themselves as the 'first owner' to us as the second owner. I didn't notice it until after I'd signed the documents.

This sort of thing catches out a lot of prereg car buyers. In law, you are buying a secondhand car, and in consequence have lesser statutory rights if anything goes wrong, or if the car turns out to have been previously damaged and then repaired. Also it will almost certainly void any 'new for old' insurance protection which might otherwise be there if you were unfortunate enough to write the car off in the first year, and I suspect it would also rule out buying a "new-for-old" GAP policy as well. Cars damaged in transit are sometimes registered, repaired and then sold on in this way.

Prereg cars can be excellent value - I once bought one myself - but the old adage of 'buyer beware' definitely applies here.

 

[Melanabb]

Prereg cars can be excellent value - I once bought one myself - but the old adage of 'buyer beware' definitely applies here.

I got my ex-demo (4 months old, 280miles) Twingo for 3.5K less than list price which was significant saving considering its a cheap city car. Even if there is something wrong with it (nothing so far, touch wood) I'm still quids in. Then there is 4 year warranty....

 

[frupi]

For us when we bought our new i10 last July, it was easier this time just to buy brand new, first owner because we got a really decent discount on the Affinity Scheme, plus they gave us a reasonable PX on the TA leaving us with just 4.5k to settle. Oh, and a 5 year warranty!