Used vehicle, warranty, and dealerships. Advise needed. (long, sorry)

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Have to chuckle about these folks bashing FIAT 500s. Actually if they are maintained and not abused they are quite reliable, maybe not Corolla reliable, but as good as most of the mainstream cars in that segment. The problem is that people buy these new because they are inexpensive and then don't do regular maintenance on them causing problems down the road, I'm sure that's what's happened in this case. The car the OP bought was probably neglected and or abused and then sold off to a "private used car dealer" so it could become someone else's problem.
 
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
I've said in other threads and I'll say it again...I do not understand what is in it for the service manager to deny this type of warranty work? It's not a "typical" failure, he busted your balls a little bit but obtained MOST of the maintenance records but can't seem to put himself in your shoes and just ok the work....which he WILL get paid for by FIAT?

These people are on power trips...nothing more...lose a customer forever and NOT get paid for work that IS legitimate or make a customer for life and GET paid? This one is not all that hard to figure out in my head. You could have one of the best and highly rated service departments simply by not being a tool....



I agree with you, I've personally experienced this kind of bizarre behavior by service managers and such. They are angry at the world and would rather insult and drive away a good customer rather than do their job correctly. It's very weird but also very common in the auto repair industry. I think this kind of sabotage at auto service shops occurs way more often then you might imagine.
 
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by PWMDMD
I've said in other threads and I'll say it again...I do not understand what is in it for the service manager to deny this type of warranty work? It's not a "typical" failure, he busted your balls a little bit but obtained MOST of the maintenance records but can't seem to put himself in your shoes and just ok the work....which he WILL get paid for by FIAT?

These people are on power trips...nothing more...lose a customer forever and NOT get paid for work that IS legitimate or make a customer for life and GET paid? This one is not all that hard to figure out in my head. You could have one of the best and highly rated service departments simply by not being a tool....



I agree with you, I've personally experienced this kind of bizarre behavior by service managers and such. They are angry at the world and would rather insult and drive away a good customer rather than do their job correctly. It's very weird but also very common in the auto repair industry. I think this kind of sabotage at auto service shops occurs way more often then you might imagine.


Had to get something done on my Merc so I asked for a quote and after seeing the labor charge also part list (easily obtainable information) so that I could buy the parts from the parts area at the dealership. He actually laughed at me claiming he is there to sell service, not give me part lists.

Guess what, (insert a Samuel Jackson quote), parts were bought from somewhere else, not your dealership. The parts people actually are quite more helpful and would have told and sold me the parts had the service guy not upset me.
 
You could have a UOA performed. If the oil is still in grade and has sufficient TBN, and additives, That may help clear up any "visual" oil related claims from the dealer.

Furthermore, the failure may have nothing to do with oil. Disassembly and evaluation may be required. Then lawyer.

Search the Fiat 500 forums for similar failures. This may not be as uncommon as you've been led to believe. Furthermore, the cause may be known.
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions/questions/replies.

The car was still under warranty, this was never contested by Fiat or the dealership (it's a Canadian car, bought with 64K kms (~39K miles)).
I didn't drive it far enough to need an oil change so no maintenance was done by me (other than checking the oil).
My understanding of the history of the car (as told to me by the dealership where I purchased it) was that it was purchased in BC and the owners moved to Alberta and traded it in for another vehicle. Since it wasn't traded in directly to the dealer where I bought it I don't even know if it was traded in Edmonton so I'd basically need to call every oil change place in two provinces to check for any oil changes (I was told by the Fiat dealer and the dealer where I purchased it that they'd checked their records and carfax and weren't able to find the missing three oil changes). I should probably ask for those records as 3 oil changes over 64000 kms with 8000 km OCIs could mean the previous owner stretched a few oil changes out by a bit (which, honestly, with modern oil isn't really that big a deal) or that they didn't follow the 6 month OCI interval specified by Fiat (even less of a deal).

I've spoken with a lawyer who seemed hopeful (at least it seemed like hope, it might have been dollar signs in his eyes...)
wink.gif


Lastly, apparently I "bypassed the swear filter" when I posted this by using a few symbols. This offensiveness has apparently been corrected by an admin. I hope no one was offended by this faux pas
blush.gif
I hear women love a bad boy though so I'll keep you posted how replacing the swear words I normally use by saying things like "Oh dollar sign!" works out for me on that front. I expect much luck on Friday/Saturday night.
 
What seems weird is them demanding service records from before you bought the vehicle. I would think that buying it used, you had more or less of a "clean sheet" where the onus was on the dealer to make the vehicle saleable.
 
Originally Posted by bdcardinal
What seems weird is them demanding service records from before you bought the vehicle. I would think that buying it used, you had more or less of a "clean sheet" where the onus was on the dealer to make the vehicle saleable.


It was bought off the used lot of a Honda dealership.
 
A used car is a used car for a reason. The previous owners might have known abut the oil burning issue. Usually-it's the "fat and happy" manufacturers (without mentioning names)like one in particular that have had 6 years of month over month of sales gains that told me to pound sand over a paint issue.

I will also classify Fiat/Chrysler under this category. They are selling as many pickups as they can make these days. Who needs to make a used car (especially a Fiat) buyer happy? Your experience will have very little bearing on any of your friends/neighbors buying a pickup from them.

With all due respect OP-buying a used Fiat was a mistake going in. Sorry for your situation.
 
Originally Posted by CKN


With all due respect OP-buying a used Fiat was a mistake going in. Sorry for your situation.


It really doesn't matter which brand it is, many times buying a used car is buying someone else's problems with rare exception.
 
Originally Posted by AC1DD
Originally Posted by CKN


With all due respect OP-buying a used Fiat was a mistake going in. Sorry for your situation.


It really doesn't matter which brand it is, many times buying a used car is buying someone else's problems with rare exception.



This is true-but Fiats in particular have notorious reliability concerns.
 
I agree CKN...

I will add that in many instances when one buys a used car... It is not buying someone else's problems... It can just be that person wanted something new...

My car was used... Had 39.990 miles on it... It was in great shape overall. Now it has 284,200 miles on it...
 
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