What is Warranty worth?

My Broadway is  1 week short of 2 yrs old now.

Had a breakdown this week, one of the rear handbrake ,NSR, had not released and overheated and almost seized up on returning from a few days away.

Took nearly 6 hrs to get recovered home, very late night.

Many phone calls later eventually Fiat agree its warranty is valid.  But no Fiat workshop can book it in until September and some October. I am booked on Le Shuttle in 2 weeks time.

My local Approved Workshop will take van in tomorrow and set about repairs but cannot do it under Fiat warranty, I have agreed to pay myself.

Fiat are adamant that they will not reimburse me and quote terms and conditions that i have never seen or agreed to.  They dont even know what the problem is.

I have to go ahead and stand the cost but i do think something is very wrong if they cannot even repair although still in Warranty.

It seems that my handbrake problem is not un-common, anybody else had the same? Van has done 11,000 miles and i use the handbrake as normal, its not been left on or off for any great length of time.

Autosleepers only direct me to the website, there is no phone number for Autosleepers Service shown.

Comments please

RG

The main problem here is that warranty is not a statutory right. The manufacturer can set any terms they like, and your only recourse if you don't like the terms is not to buy the product.

However, in addition to warranty, you have your statutory rights (used to be stated under the Sale of Goods Act, now called the Consumer Rights Act) which will allow you to assert that the handbrake was not of sufficient quality for a £60k motorhome. You do (of course) have to exercise that right against the seller - therefore NOT Fiat or A/S - but the terms of the Act are very well defined, so you know exactly where you stand (unlike with many warranties).

However... you may still struggle to find a way to get a fix done in 2 weeks :-(

That's really annoying.  

The problem is the lead time to be seen by the workshop.  You would think that warranty repairs, especially if a vehicle is disabled, would get priority over other repairs and that you would jump the queue.  I am sure this would happen if Fiat had an obligation to give you a replacement vehicle.   I had a similar problem with an A-S warranty repair that stopped me using the motorhome.  With a lot of pressure and angst from me, Marquis eventually allowed me to jump the queue which averted cancellation of a pre-planned trip.  They tried to make me feel they were doing me a favour which I resented having just paid them a lot of money for a van I couldn't use.

Out of interest, what does NSR stand for and what does it do and did Fiat recover you?

NSR = Near side rear

Fiat have offered a warranty repair at no cost but in a few weeks so other than accepting this it’s going to cost to rectify if needed earlier for your trip, why not book in with Fiat then plead your case case with the garage directly to see if they can accommodate the repair earlier, if not you still have the option then of paying to rectify

I go along with Freelander’s advice but I fear, ultimately, you will have to foot the bill in order to meet your holiday deadline.

Thanks to all for good constructive advice.

So far have van at independant approved workshop, and stripped down. All the Handbrake mechanism and brake shoes totally destroyed on NSR but perfect on OSR

Replacement parts costly, around £1700.00 alone.

Issue now is will parts be available to repair in time, i have 2 weeks. If parts not available I have lost van for holiday . If available all good if completed in time, but bill will be hefty. If it had gone to Fiat I would definately not have van ready in time and loose holiday completely but no hefty bill, lose cost of holiday including Leshuttle. 

Looks like handbrake failed to release on NS for reason unknown.

Time will tell if i have taken the right decision!

RG

That’s a hefty bill of £1700 for parts is there labour cost on top also, I would ask them to put it back together and have the Fiat warranty due the job, would the holiday cost more than the repair

I understood with the Boxer that if you broke down during the warranty period you phoned Peugeot and they would arrange recovery presumably to a Peugeot garage for a warranty repair.  In this way you would go to the front of the queue.  Thankfully I didn't have to put this to the test.  Was this available with Fiat?

The only time I experienced something like this was when the alternator packed up on my M-B which lead to a flat battery.  They came to the house, started the vehicle and escorted me to my nearest M-B dealer who gave me a replacement vehicle for a day whilst the repair was carried out.

Bit late now but for that cost could you not have hired a van and garanteed your holiday and waited for the warranty repair.

As to the first question I have generally felt that the value of a warranty is generally very little

If you decide to go with the warranty repair you should be able to move your Shuttle booking forward up to a year as long as you do it before the travel date. This might be dependent on the type of ticket, check your terms and conditions. We have moved it when we couldn’t travel without a problem.

IanH wrote:Think it through all poss parts...

Handbrake cable
Rear drum or disc, disc I think
Caliper and pads or drum and shoes, seal kit for slave cyl if drum rear
Wheel bearing

There's nothing else apart from minor seal ect

Can't see how it can get even close to that sum??

Not only parts price , also are they available in time. New backplate required and best to replace disc both sides. We are heading for the Swiss Alps!

Cost of a rental for 3 weeks around £3000.00

Looks like i could reschedule LeShuttle but other costs involved

Rg

You have my sympathy - we had a not dissimilar Fiat recovery experience last week - it took from mid day on the Thursday to 18:00hrs on the Friday to get us home!

Our problem was/is contaminated fuel - don't know and certainly cannot prove where we got it from but the overall cost to-date is £1600!!

Last week we had the misfortune for the van to break down on our journey home from a visit to Norfolk and it would appear that the culprit was “muck/black dirt” in the fuel system!

The van is just over 2 years old and has done less than 5k miles.

I have always used the regular well-known service stations and never any back-street ones that might be offering a few pence a litre cheaper.
I had previously heard that a diesel engine will run on old fish & chip oil but I am now reliably informed that todays “eco friendly” diesel engines are rather sensitive souls and will not tolerate any contaminants.

Anyhow I now have a very contaminated fuel system (tank, pump, lines and injection system) that is costing £1600 to clean and repair - the low pressure pump is so blocked that it has been declared non recoverable!

Some pictures of the blocked filter/pump attached.

The work is ongoing at (Fiat dealers) DAF HTC Croydon and they have been very helpful - particularly as they started investigating the problem immediately on our arrival at their service area late Friday afternoon!

As for the Fiat recovery service – woeful … words fail me - recovery will be via a reputable UK based recovery service from here on!

When you buy newer vehicles and stuff one feels that it will be more reliable and if not the Warranty will deal with any issues. I honestly feel that the opposite is true. Buy older vehicles for a less stressful life I say

IanH wrote:Think it through all poss parts...

Handbrake cable
Rear drum or disc, disc I think
Caliper and pads or drum and shoes, seal kit for slave cyl if drum rear
Wheel bearing

There's nothing else apart from minor seal ect

Can't see how it can get even close to that sum??

Brake Caliper £335
Brake shoes £160  each side
Shoe adjuster £80.00
Handbrake Cable £65.00
Discs £70.00 each side
Bracket Shoes? £180.00
Rear Pads £80.00

plus odds and ends bolts etc

Plus Vat

Then 7-10 days delivery!
Fiat prices
RG