Fix It Again Toni

OK so I went back to the garage on Tuesday with our van, they had arranged, as promised, a courtesy car, I had expected a FIAT 500, which reminds me of a VW Beetle that’s shrunk in the wash so was really surprised when they supplied me with a Nissan Quashkai, which is a very nice car, was a pretty decent spec as well, the only problem I had to give it back, mind you its not big enough to accommodate the 4 of us and Steven’s wheelchair!

Anyhow, the vehicle ended up taking a lot longer to sort than had been expected so couldn’t pick it up until, Thursday morning, this time it was complete and in good working order, they had also cleaned it into the bargain.

So, as far as the dealer goes, all is well that ends well, they came up with the kind of service expected.

However it does still leave a serious issue in my mind over FIAT Ducato Vans, should a vehicle less than 3 years old with only 40,000 miles on the clock (not to mention the fact that it is designed as a commercial vehicle and is receiving a fraction of the wear usage and abuse that a commercial vehicle is normally subjected to) have 2 wheel bearings AND a centre bearing go? I think not! This is a serious failure on the part of FIAT, made worse by the fact that, for some bizarre reason wheel bearings are not covered under the extended warranty, what dot eh extended warranty company know that they are not telling us? In a sense its not a big deal to me as the cost is being picked up by Motability but it does point to a serious fault with the vehicle and to my mind if its not covered under warranty it’s a fault they anticipate so, as for our next vehicle, I don’t know yet what it will be but I know what it wont be, and it wont be a FIAT!