Fiat extended warranty.

This is going to be a long tale, so put the kettle on before you start reading...

Very pleased with my new Symbol auto (apart from a couple of small but really stupid build mistakes by AS).  One of the advantages of specifying an auto on the Fiat base is that you get the really excellent Fiat Europe-wide Camper Assist for three years (though you only get a two year vehicle warranty).  And, and this for me is the good bit, you can extend both the vehicle warranty and the Camper Assist up to five years.  You have to do this within 15 days of the vehicle's registration.

The dealer who sold me the van knew nothing about this, so I got on to the chat service on the Fiat UK customer service website, and they told me to go to the parts department of a Fiat Professional Service Centre who could sell me the extended warranty.  So van and I girded our loins and set off to Northern Commercials.  At this point it must be said that the people at Northern Commercials were friendly and helpful, especially the Service Manager who went out of his way to get the warranty set up, but could not do so because of the way that the system worked.

When I spoke to the man at the parts counter about Fiat camper warranties his face assumed a blankness that can only be described as judicial.  Luckily I'd taken the precaution of printing some into from the Fiat website, so I handed this to him and he very quickly passed my request on the the Service Manager, who, in turn, told me to leave the matter with him.  The next day he called me and said that Fiat had told him that since my vehicle was built on a van, not a chassis cab, it could not have a camper warranty, and he could sell me a commercial van extended warranty for about £700.  (The full Camper Assist Warranty costs about £860.)  But wait, I asked, how can this be so, since my van arrived with a Fiat Motorhome Warranty and Service Book, and information about Fiat Camper Assist?  In the event time was pressing - for legal reasons the warranty had to be bought within 15 days - so I bought the commercial van warranty to get inside the limit, and figured that Fiat would be able to sort it later.  This was a good choice.

Next I got back on to the Fiat customer service website.  This time I did not use the chat service but instead the mail service, and describing in meticulous detail all that had happened, dispatched a mail to Fiat.  And then things started to look up.  The very wonderful Joe called me from Fiat in Milan and took the case on.  It seems that a few calls and several emails later I now have the full Camper Assist Warranty.  

One word of advice - over many years I've learned never to deal with anyone on the phone if a written medium is available.

Oh, and about AS's small but stupid build mistakes.  They've left the passenger seat belt pretensioner cable too short, so that after you revolve the seat it uncouples and sets off the air bag alarm.  Poor design - a much better way is to add a coiled jumper cable between the socket and the seat.  So that's just poor design and checking, but properly stupid is that they've not threaded all of the pleats of the windscreen blind on to the bar at the bottom.  A long drive back to the dealer to fix these - can't do it myself without invalidating the warranty.

An excellent description and glad that you have been successful in your warranty crusade!
I was aware of the latest Fiat warranty improvements but sadly it has still not been reflected in the 2020 AS brochure - hopefully there will be more in the 2021 one. 
Indeed, the A/S info on the Fiat engine option is very skimpy - they seem to major on the Peugeot variant and just casually mention the option for the new Fiat 9 speed auto-box - leaving the incorrect impression that Fiat auto box is bolted onto the Pug engine! 
As I am interested in the latest Fiat auto version I queried the warrany situation with an Auto Sleeper dealer and he confirmed that he had just seen a document suggesting the improved Fiat camper 5 year warranty.
I would be querious to hear how you get on with the 9 speed auto box.

Liam wrote:
Indeed, the A/S info on the Fiat engine option is very skimpy - they seem to major on the Peugeot variant and just casually mention the option for the new Fiat 9 speed auto-box

Also AS seem to only offer lower powered Ducatos when Fiat do produce 160hp and 180hp variants (Adblue free). Is this intended to limit the attractiveness of the Fiat as a base?
I would love a 180hp 9sp auto for my next AS

Just learned that Peugeot and Fiat are merging. Currently pending approval by European competition regulator.

Like Kyan, we were also on the threshold of buying an auto Symbol - a Marquis special. Long story short, we were misled about its suitability for our needs which came to light when we viewed it and the build quality of that particular conversion was pretty rough. 

Instead we're swapping to another Warwick Duo which is again a Marquis special with the new auto box. Apparently, anything other than the 140 engine with auto is near impossible to obtain at present as that's all the factory can supply, or so we've been told.

It’s interesting to hear the story of the warranty. That's on our list to investigate.

AutoSleepy_Don wrote:

Liam wrote:
Indeed, the A/S info on the Fiat engine option is very skimpy - they seem to major on the Peugeot variant and just casually mention the option for the new Fiat 9 speed auto-box

Also AS seem to only offer lower powered Ducatos when Fiat do produce 160hp and 180hp variants (Adblue free). Is this intended to limit the attractiveness of the Fiat as a base?
I would love a 180hp 9sp auto for my next AS

TBF I was offered (and indeed recommended by the A/S dealer) the 160hp variant with the auto box when I enquired but the delivery would not be until Nov this year.

There seems to be some interest in the new 9-speed auto and also the fact that all the AS auto conversions around seem to be built on 140 (bhp??) engine base vehicles.  We're all different, and what suits one of us may get severely up another's nose, so with that caveat, this is how I'm finding the new van.
To tell the honest truth, I'm not exactly sure which of the engines is fitted to my van - but the performance suggests the 140.

The auto gearbox is great: not perfect but very good, and worlds better than the Comfortmatic which it replaces.  It's a clever modern box, and does all kinds of useful things like giving some engine braking on descents.  
Yes, the 140 engine is no kind of sports machine, but fine, if like me you've arrived at the time of life when you quite enjoy plodding along.  It's not slow, just not very quick.  Horses for courses: if I want to enjoy a more sporting drive I wouldn't be out in the van, anyway.  There's a bright red piece of British motor engineering in the garage for that purpose.  Speaking as a happily ancient person, the 140 engine is great, and I'm really enjoying pottering around this Green and Pleasant Land in the Bed-Sitter on Wheels, which is pretty much what the Symbol is, and is for.
It copes with motorways, though steep gradients require quite positive driving if you're looking to go a very long way in a very short time ... but why should you be doing that in a van?

Still, for those who really want a quickish auto, better to wait until there are some 160 or 180 engines around.

Hi everyone, this seems like a good opportunity to introduce myself!

I am awaiting delivery of an automatic Fairford Plus so I'm very grateful to Kyanpinguka for his very timely and helpful post.  Even with all the information he provided I still struggled to find the necessary info! So here's the link for anyone else interested:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

As I didn't want to wait for a factory order, I will also be getting the 140bhp variant.  I would have thought, however, that the 160 and perhaps even 180 might be as simple as an ECU upgrade so if I'm disappointed with the performance I will investigate. Also surprised at how little info is available on the "Fiat MQ" variant of AS models, even the website fails to list the standard equipment although I understand they come with pretty much everything.

Epicurus wrote:Hi everyone, this seems like a good opportunity to introduce myself!

I am awaiting delivery of an automatic Fairford Plus so I'm very grateful to Kyanpinguka for his very timely and helpful post.  Even with all the information he provided I still struggled to find the necessary info! So here's the link for anyone else interested:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

As I didn't want to wait for a factory order, I will also be getting the 140bhp variant.  I would have thought, however, that the 160 and perhaps even 180 might be as simple as an ECU upgrade so if I'm disappointed with the performance I will investigate. Also surprised at how little info is available on the "Fiat MQ" variant of AS models, even the website fails to list the standard equipment although I understand they come with pretty much everything.

I do hope that you will enjoy your van as much as I'm enjoying mine, Epicurus.  

Don't expect buying the extended Camper Warranty to go as smoothly as the Fiat webpage seems to suggest, though.
My experience is that the Fiat Professional service centres don't know anything about it, and I was told that the portal through which they interact with Fiat does not allow them to process the application.  Also told that Fiat UK seem not to know, either. (In my case Fiat UK thought that my van had not been built as a conversion base - although it had, was listed as such within the Fiat system and came with a Fiat Motorhome warranty book.)

In addition, please be aware that the first level of Fiat customer service don't know about the Camper Warranty either.  By first level I mean the people who take phone calls or operate the online chat.  They will only tell you to contact a Fiat Professional service dealer.
I could only find someone at Fiat who knew how to make it work by sending a detailed email via the Fiat contact webpage.

One more thing - Fiat/the service dealer need to see the V5/V5C registration document.  The warranty must be bought within 15 days of the vehicle's registration.  DVLA are running slowly at the moment - my V5C arrived with just one day to spare.  I was very glad that I had a scanner at home so that I could send off a scan to Fiat and to the dealer.

My Desert Island Book would be Joseph Heller's Catch-22, which I've read many times.  Definitely good training for buying a Fiat Camper Warranty.

So it's two years down the line, and the Symbol with less than 6,000 miles on clock is coming up for its first service.  Phoned Northern Commerials and the nice lady who handles workshop reception asked me the mileage. She told me that most low mileage vehicle owners opted for just an oil and filter service at two years ... and that a full service cost £680.  So I asked her if I needed to have the full service to keep the 5 year Mopar Maximun Care Extended Camper Warranty valid.  "What's a Mopar Maximum Care Extended Camper Warranty?" was her puzzled response.

Then there was a rather long session of internet reserach to find a UK Fiat Customer Service number which would work for free on my Giffgaff mobile. 020 3450 8702.
Eventually connected to a friendly chap in Albania and after long discussions and explanations he discovered that, yes, the extended warranty did require the full service at 2 years or 30,000 miles - whichever comes first.  

So something to be aware of for anyone contemplating taking out the Fiat extended warranty is that you'll need to factor in the cost of full services at something like £680 every two years.

Also surprising that it's common practice for low mileage commercial Ducato users to strech the service interval for even longer....

AutoSleepy_Don wrote:

Liam wrote:
Indeed, the A/S info on the Fiat engine option is very skimpy - they seem to major on the Peugeot variant and just casually mention the option for the new Fiat 9 speed auto-box

Also AS seem to only offer lower powered Ducatos when Fiat do produce 160hp and 180hp variants (Adblue free). Is this intended to limit the attractiveness of the Fiat as a base?
I would love a 180hp 9sp auto for my next AS

Hi All,
I have the 160 auto, only offered the 140 or 160 but it does use adblue.
Pete