The large dealership types mostly.

Wife’s fiat 500 goes in for service and they resolve non of the problems, with the exception of a lose number plate light.

Stop start does not work because the battery needs charging? I drove the car 30 miles to work and this sounds a bit of an odd thing to say on a 12 month old car?

Heater control is extremely stiff. This will take two days to repair. I can have a free courtesy car but I will have to insure it! I bet you could have the dash out in an hour if you know where the bolts are so why two days to fix a knob?

Makes having a warranty pointless if they just say it isn’t broke or make it so inconvenient you just put up with the fault.

Battery needs charging, arghhh! you had the car for 6 hours. Maybe you could have charged the battery!

3/10

Poor show no random capitalisation or significant swearing. Points only awarded for incoherent third paragraph.

You bought an Italian car and now you’re blaming someone else for the problems ?

I can feel the suppressed memories of owning two Alfa Romeos coming flooding back. Nooooooooo…….

Rachel

Correction.

My wife bought an Italian car. I blame top gear!

Mechanics that reduced me to low standard ranting are from Yorkshire.

Do they get special training in Italy?

Do they get special training in Italy?

I believe that ‘Ay up’ becomes ‘Aaaaeeeeeeeeeeeee aaaarrrrpppppp’ post training in Italy

That is pretty shocking though really. They should be falling over themselves to help you on a car of that age.

But that is some* main dealers for you.

*For some read 99.99999999999999% of them.

Go to a Ford dealer, after all its the same as a Ka underneath.

OTOH, I seem to always go to main dealers* cos I get good service unlike backstreet garages.

* Sinclair VW in Cardiff, with Toyota World being reasonable also.

Car dealers make their money from servicing and parts now not from sales, so it’s no wonder they try to avoid the work coming under guarantee.

vw car dealership wouldn’t sell me oil cos i have a van. i had to drive across town to the commercial place to buy the same oil 🙄

was worth it cos they were dead nice and the car bloke was a prize twonk

Car dealers make their money from servicing and parts now not from sales, so it’s no wonder they try to avoid the work coming under guarantee

They still get paid by the car company don’t they?

Mine just rang to say they haven’t done the cambelt change that my A4 TDi urgently needs, because the whole front end needs to come off to get at it and the bolts in question have seized.

On Monday I have to drive from Somerset to head office in Essex.

What could possibly go wrong…?

I can feel the suppressed memories of owning two Alfa Romeos coming flooding back. Nooooooooo…….

My wife wants her Alfa back after swapping it for an Astra!

The bolts have seized.

Best take it to a mechanic.

Do they propose you scrap the car as they cant undo some bolts?

Might take 2 days to order the part in over night and then fit it? we do it at bmw like that.

knob is stiff… says who? you? as a mechanic i find sometimes people who say things are broken or stiff or faulty actually arent and when i show them its like that with another car then, resolves a question.

also if the battery is old, normally stamped on the positive terminal, then you can charge it till you die but if it wont hold a charge, there aint no point.

we get cars that are brand new and have sat in the factory so long that the dates are 2006, 5 year old battery not being charged so its dead 😉 just another view from ‘
our’ side

Do they propose you scrap the car as they cant undo some bolts?

They haven’t yet but they do seem rather baffled by this novel turn of events.

My wife wants her Alfa back after swapping it for an Astra!

I was lucky enough to get my Impreza after giving up the Alfa so I never really got any pangs of regret!!

Rachel

Im currently watching my van being mot’d through the window in a big ford dealership, I feel a bit nervous!!

molgrips – Member
They still get paid by the car company don’t they?

I don’t know how the accounting works but I’m sure how much they are paid is related to how much work they do. As I understand it they are often franchises of sorts.

P.S. When I say “make their money” I mean majority or, largest profit e.t.c. I’m sure they still make some money from the sales. I was more refereeing to the fact that the money is not in sale as such. Like DFS et al don’t make their real money from the sale of the sofa, it’s the sale of the financial product if you catch my drift.

P.P.S That response was not meant to come across arsey it is just my poor writing style.

It’s **** failed!!!!!!!

It didn’t, no worries 🙂

Thanks Nick,

Good point battery might be old. Car isn’t however so if as you quite correctly say it could be past it they should replace it.
Sounds more like a made up reason to me though. The point is I should not have to be getting under the bonet of a 12 month old car the day after it was serviced to fix this kind of thing.

Knob is stiff. It is very difficult to turn. When the car was new it turned easily. Like a headset might be after six months turbo trainer duty.

They should IMHO order the parts they feel might be required. Do job in a day, and if required return the parts not required. The VW specialist I use seems to be able to get parts on about an hours notice?

Nissan dealership recently wanted £180 to change my front break pads, (this was supposedly with a 10% discount, I bought pads for £16 and did it myself in about 40 mins, some dealers really are just thieving scum atm, you show me the mechanic that earns over £100 an hour which is what they want to charge for labour

It’s the same everywhere though Nick – when I was last employed (7 years ago) my time was charged out at £150 an hour. I probably got substantially <10% of that – but the people I worked for had overheads so have to charge for my time plus the various other costs they have in order to run the business.

I do the same now I am an employer.

They should IMHO order the parts they feel might be required. Do job in a day, and if required return the parts not required. The VW specialist I use seems to be able to get parts on about an hours notice?

It is a Fiat, they might have to order the parts in (from Italy) then if the car doesn’t need them, they most probably have a 10-15% surcharge to pay on those Parts, you gonna pay that???

Having had 4 alfa’s of prime 80’s vintage, (33, Sprint, GTV and 75) these are not “problems”. These are just your new car trying to show you its “character”.

Now, if you want to hear about “real” issues. The ones that make you truely believe you bought “Christine”…..

FIAT

Fix

It

Again

Tomorrow

Well you will buy a “Trendy” car 😉

as for the vw specialist, not sure if you call them asking for the center console trim they would get it within an hour. maybe for service items like fiat could.

tbh you would be suprised how much work is need from new cars within a year 😉

i no when i do private work its charged at 35 / hour.

Will be doing a clutch on pug 306 and book time is 3,9 hrs. So i think that 140 labour plus parts 60 quid is pretty good. as pug wanted near 600 😉

but its all about overheads etc…

Will be doing a clutch on pug 306 and book time is 3,9 hrs. So i think that 140 labour plus parts 60 quid is pretty good. as pug wanted near 600

Pretty bad as you could have done it for 400 and still got the business, if you’re good that is. 😉

Not really a fan… I got what I can only assume was a speculative “Will he pay it” price to replace the clutch pedal in my Focus, can’t recall exactly what it was but about £350 inc parts with a handwavey “might take longer”. So, did it myself, £35 for parts and 4 hours work despite not knowing my way round the car, so let’s be charitable and say 3 for an experienced spannerist. Bit cheeky.

you show me the mechanic that earns over £100 an hour which is what they want to charge for labour

but its all about overheads etc…

Wages for the staff are just a small element of what comes out of the hourly rate. Rent, heating, profit etc.

My employer charges nearly £350 per hour for my time. Sadly they only pay me a small fraction of this.

So, did it myself, £35 for parts and 4 hours work despite not knowing my way round the car, so let’s be charitable and say 3 for an experienced spannerist. Bit cheeky.

There is a book which quotes the times for all (most) jobs on all (most cars).

don simon – Member

“There is a book which quotes the times for all (most) jobs on all (most cars)”

Aye. And apparently in this particular People’s Ford is says “PS add on an hour or two and see what the customer says” on the front in marker pen.

“There is a book which quotes the times for all (most) jobs on all (most cars)”

Its called the ICME Manual.

On the hourly rate, you’ll be surprised at what main dealers are charged by manufacturers for things like, technical info, diagnostic equipment etc…. this all has to be paid from the hourly charge!!