General Wife wants a 500

[FloJo]

I've just driven 15+ miles to the next closest Fiat dealership, only to find it closed down, so i really am stuck to one, unless they don't do me a deal I am happy with then I may have to resort to over-the-phone buying, which I'm not too keen on TBH.

I honestly wasn't too sure about doing it, but it worked out well for me.

 

[arorat]

Great knowledge and advice from you all thank you.

I've just driven 15+ miles to the next closest Fiat dealership, only to find it closed down, so i really am stuck to one, unless they don't do me a deal I am happy with then I may have to resort to over-the-phone buying, which I'm not too keen on TBH.

I'll be taking the wife tomorrow morning and I'll let you all know how we get on, thanks again for all the sound advise.

Not sure if it was mentioned but look for the anti-roll back function, worth asking if it comes as standard with the robotised manual gearbox.

Depending on where you live also look at Fiats pre-reg cars near Heathrow, you can get some nice bargains there.

 

[Pinklady53]

Ha Ha if you think your wife is going to let you have fun in her Fiat 500 - think again. Once she gets behind the wheel no one will be good enough to drive her "baby". I hope she enjoys it. As for dealers I went to Perry's at Portsmouth and the salesperson was brilliant and the after sales is good. If you don't feel that you are getting good service at the dealer you go to, don't be too impatient and wait until you can get to another dealer. I've had my 500 for almost 2 years and my husband doesn't get a look in - she mine, all MINE!

 

[mkp182]

Where are you based MKP?

Bradford, just on the edge of Leeds but there's not even a dealership there!

 

[jrkitching]

When you're considering a new car purchase, I think you need to find at least three dealerships:

firstly, a dealership where you can go and compare/test drive the different models - excellent product knowledge & a relaxed, no-pressure approach would be my criteria for choosing this one

secondly, a dealership to buy the car from - for me, that's the one which is going to give me the best deal, even if it's halfway across the country. You need to know exactly what you want to buy before approaching this one.

thirdly, a dealership to use for any warranty repairs or updates - competence and a degree of care for customer's property would get a LOT of points here.

There's no reason why these three dealerships should ever have to know about each other .

 

[JTD_Liam]

Bradford, just on the edge of Leeds but there's not even a dealership there!

I'd say you're in quite a good place for Fiat ownership - the dealers 'up' north generally seem more willing to please than those down here when it comes to aftersales.

Clemo Cleckheaton score highly on Fiat's dealer rating system. Don't hear much about them on here which suggests they're either good or average. If they were awful we'd soon hear about it i'm sure!

The other ones in the Yorkshire area are Picadilly Wakefield & Harrogate. Long-standing Fiat Franchises with many mostly positive comments. They also have an Alfa Franchise so must be doing something right as Alfa took the franchises away from it's poorer performing dealers a few years ago in a (mostly sucessful) bid to raise standards.

Pentagon Barnsley is a new dealership i think. Dunno anything about that particular dealer but as it's part of a big chain i'll take a wild stab in the dark & say it could be good for getting a 'deal' but poorer than the other dealers for aftersales.

There are also a number of Stoneacre dealerships around those parts of the World. Am sure some people are happy with them but i've seen plenty (including friends) who weren't blown away by them & as they're a jack of all trades (ie multi-franchise) i'd be inclined to say avoid, at least for any aftersales work.

Which one has closed by the way?

Liam

 

[mkp182]

I'd say you're in quite a good place for Fiat ownership - the dealers 'up' north generally seem more willing to please than those down here when it comes to aftersales.

Clemo Cleckheaton score highly on Fiat's dealer rating system. Don't hear much about them on here which suggests they're either good or average. If they were awful we'd soon hear about it i'm sure!

The other ones in the Yorkshire area are Picadilly Wakefield & Harrogate. Long-standing Fiat Franchises with many mostly positive comments. They also have an Alfa Franchise so must be doing something right as Alfa took the franchises away from it's poorer performing dealers a few years ago in a (mostly sucessful) bid to raise standards.

Pentagon Barnsley is a new dealership i think. Dunno anything about that particular dealer but as it's part of a big chain i'll take a wild stab in the dark & say it could be good for getting a 'deal' but poorer than the other dealers for aftersales.

There are also a number of Stoneacre dealerships around those parts of the World. Am sure some people are happy with them but i've seen plenty (including friends) who weren't blown away by them & as they're a jack of all trades (ie multi-franchise) i'd be inclined to say avoid, at least for any aftersales work.

Which one has closed by the way?

Liam

It's the Cleckheaton one where i am going now and I have the postcode for the Wakefield one just in case.

It was Sunwi/Co-op Fiat in Keighley that was closed, when I put in the postcode I got from the web it took me to a building where I once bought a Renaultsport Clio from Sunwin Renault!

 

[mkp182]

Well that was a pleasant experience, usually when we go buy a car it turns into a stress fest!
We test drove both the twinair and 1.2 and decided the 1.2 was sufficient for what my wife needs so went on with pricing up a 1.2 lounge. The monthly payments were higher than we expected so we did the same with a twinair lounge and what do you know, the payments were quite a bit lower.

I've never dealt with such a laidback, helpfull and non-pressure salesman, he even helped us realise that we were probably making a mistake with the auto box with it adding £1k+ to the price.

So after a few hours in the showroom we ended up ordering:

500 lounge twinair (manual)
electroclash grey
16" alloys
chrome mirrors
500 badge side rubbing strip
tinted windows

We were originally going for black but there was an electroclash grey 500c in the showroom which looked brilliant so we took inspiration from that.

I love the sound of the twinair engine, it's like driving a big vespa and they are so easy to drive that's why we opted for the manual over the automatic. So the waiting begins!

 

[loveshandbags]

Well that was a pleasant experience, usually when we go buy a car it turns into a stress fest!
We test drove both the twinair and 1.2 and decided the 1.2 was sufficient for what my wife needs so went on with pricing up a 1.2 lounge. The monthly payments were higher than we expected so we did the same with a twinair lounge and what do you know, the payments were quite a bit lower.

I've never dealt with such a laidback, helpfull and non-pressure salesman, he even helped us realise that we were probably making a mistake with the auto box with it adding £1k+ to the price.

So after a few hours in the showroom we ended up ordering:

500 lounge twinair (manual)
electroclash grey
16" alloys
chrome mirrors
500 badge side rubbing strip
tinted windows

We were originally going for black but there was an electroclash grey 500c in the showroom which looked brilliant so we took inspiration from that.

I love the sound of the twinair engine, it's like driving a big vespa and they are so easy to drive that's why we opted for the manual over the automatic. So the waiting begins!

Congratulations to you both on the order mkp182.

I previously posted that the dualogic was £1000. That was a euro price. It's £750 but if you add on the ESP with the hillholder another £320 is added. Steering wheel paddles can also be added at another £100 something which might turn you into another Ferando Alsonso.

Re the Chrome mirrors I would suggest adding them on later when the car arrives. it costs the same as an accessory item and very easily added. You get to keep the body coloured covers which at a later stage you or the next owner has to option to change them.

I take it that you went for the White ambiance and the 16 inch multispokes.

 

[mkp182]

Congratulations to you both on the order mkp182.

I previously posted that the dualogic was £1000. That was a euro price. It's £750 but if you add on the ESP with the hillholder another £320 is added. Steering wheel paddles can also be added at another £100 something which might turn you into another Ferando Alsonso.

Re the Chrome mirrors I would suggest adding them on later when the car arrives. it costs the same as an accessory item and very easily added. You get to keep the body coloured covers which at a later stage you or the next owner has to option to change them.

I take it that you went for the White ambiance and the 16 inch multispokes.

Thanks Handbags
Good idea about the mirrors, when he rings me next week I might tell him, he said we can change anything we want up to around two weeks after ordering.

We were adding the esp aswell as the automatic which added £1070, we did go for the white ambience but the wheels we got were the 5 0-spoke ones.

 

[loveshandbags]

Thanks Handbags
Good idea about the mirrors, when he rings me next week I might tell him, he said we can change anything we want up to around two weeks after ordering.

We were adding the esp aswell as the automatic which added £1070, we did go for the white ambience but the wheels we got were the 5 0-spoke ones.

I had the 5o-spokes on the first 500 (a black one) and it was what prompted me to buy it. They are used on the 'Ferrari model' so you're in good company !

 

[mkp182]

Just a quick question (if anyone reads this)

As car mats don't come as standard we asked the salesman if he'd throw some mats in, he said of course he would but that was just a bit of friendly banter as we went through the ordering process and nothing was written down or anything.

What happens if we go for the car and there are no mats, do we have an argument or is it just tough luck?

 

[ffxmy]

I would give the salesman a call tomorrow and get him to put it in writing on your order. After all he verbally agreed even if it was only friendly banter so there should be no problem adding this to your order.

 

[alexGS]

What happens if we go for the car and there are no mats, do we have an argument or is it just tough luck?

A friendly/light-hearted reminder - "ah yes, we'll need to find those mats too, please." when you see the car and they're not there - the argument follows later if they try to charge for them or, great thanks and praise when you see they ARE there; it doesn't hurt to be grateful about such things.

I have a similar situation developing - I've bought a car at a dealer (only 420 miles away as the crow flies across land and sea) and he said on the phone (the dealer, not the crow) that there are genuine floormats, while the photos show a single cheap mat - I'm hopeful, but this is the problem of buying over the phone I go to collect the car next week, driving it home. Yes, I'll remember to book the three-hour ferry ride to get from the 'mainland' (south island) back to the north island...

My nearest dealer is about 80 miles away. Will be interesting for any big warranty problems and servicing work.

-Alex

 

[RobinPJ]

Just a quick question (if anyone reads this)

As car mats don't come as standard we asked the salesman if he'd throw some mats in, he said of course he would but that was just a bit of friendly banter as we went through the ordering process and nothing was written down or anything.

What happens if we go for the car and there are no mats, do we have an argument or is it just tough luck?

If you want the legal analysis, I would argue that you have a contract partly in writing and partly oral. This is not at all unusual, although if the dealer really wanted to be an arse I suspect that somewhere in the contract you signed there will be an "entire agreement" clause which limits the terms to those written down (and excludes any pre-contractual representations not written into the terms).

In truth, even a Fiat dealer is not going to raise a fuss over this. But do ping him an email saying in a friendly way "just to remind you about the Fiat mats you said you'd throw in for free - I didn't want it to slip our minds given all the excitement of the order..."

Good luck.

 

[alexGS]

But do ping him an email saying in a friendly way "just to remind you about the Fiat mats you said you'd throw in for free - I didn't want it to slip our minds given all the excitement of the order..."

Excellent wording there

-Alex

 

[Super Uwe]

Good advice above to ask politely for confirmation in writing.

When we ordered our new Panda, the salesman got everything typed up and added to the order form (I would have thought this was standard practice, but having looked at the doc it does just have the dealer's name on it, so presumably dealers can choose how they document sales).

The order form was then signed with all the added options, free mats and £15 worth of petrol.

 

[bazves]

I had real problems with a Renault dealer on a similar issue. As far as I was concerned part of the verbal agreement had included mats (which I assumed meant OEM ones). When we picked the car up there mats were cheap quality and we were charged for them, because it wasn't in the original written contract that they were part of the deal.

Ultimately the dealer wouldn't budge and p**sed me off to the extent that I'll never buy a Renault again for the sake of about £40.

Moral of the story - get EVERYTHING in writing

 

[mkp182]

Well it's been 4 weeks since we last heard from the dealer, is this normal, should I take this as everything is on track or should I give them a ring? The wife sick of waiting now, she's so excited. I have to keep reminding her he did around 7 weeks for delivery!

 

[stu0710]

The first you'll probably hear is that the car has been built and is in transit. Ours was collected 6 weeks after order, so you should hear something in the next week or so as it usually takes a good 2 weeks from the completed build status to being delivered to the dealer PDI'd and ready for collection. Not too long to wait now!