Thread: Advice Required Concerning New Car Warranty Claim

Having purchased a new Fiat Grande Punto 1.9 Sporting in June 2007 using Fiat Finance I now have a major problem.

The car has covered 24500 miles, was serviced on time at 18,000 miles (1st service). The engine now has a conrod through the side of the cylinder block and Fiat refuse to warrant it. They claim the ECU has recorded 2 mechanical over-revs and therefore it invalidates the warranty. Fiat cannot supply information regarding time and date of said over-revs, therefore are unable to prove that these were caused by myself, the customer, or a dealer technician during pdi or post 1st service road test. Fiat Customer Services have been nothing but unhelpful and plainly rude and will only say "refer to your dealer or warranty booklet". The Dealer, Desira Motor Group have said Fiat refuse to warrant the vehicle, therefore they are unable to fix it, they have supplied a Courtessy Car, not to the specification of the car purchased which is less economical than the vehicle purchased and therefore costing me a great deal more to run. We have requested a full written report on the situation from the Dealer but after 1 month, are still awaiting it's arrival!

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

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It is hard to imagine that you would rev your engine to the extent of having a con rod going through the block. I am 78 and have been driving since I was seventeen. In younger years my hobby was moter racing hill climbing rallying etc. I have never heard of a con rod going through a cylinder block which makes me think it would need a hell of a high rev. for this to happen or weak block. Perhaps it would be a good idea if you could get another opinion or at least threaten to get one if your dealer does not get the Fiat to fix it throught the warranty. You could also try the Trading Standards. I would not give up. you could also threaten to write to the press. Best of luck. Let me know how things go.

As you say it is a 1.9 I am assuming it is a Diesel, normally Diesel engines have a rev limiter to stop over revving so I suspect they are trying to mislead you in order to weasel out of a warranty repair.Talk to the AA or RAC if you have no technical knowledge, and it might be worth getting an independent report done, if that upholds your case don`t forget to claim back the cost of the report from the dealer as well.

Thanks for your comments guys. Fortunately for us my husband has an indepth knowledge of what has happened as for the last 20+ years he has been employed as a technician on various Formula 1 teams and currently is involved in the building and testing of the new A1 GP car designed by Ferrari and at the time the engine problem arose, was actually working with Data Analysts from Ferrari (sister company to Fiat!)

Both my husband, various technicians and data analysts and the dealer we purchased the car from has advised that the so-called "over-revs" are not actually anything to do with the problem itself and that it is an easy way out for Fiat to avoid repair under warranty.

At present we have been advised by the dealer that the head of their group has sent reports on the condition of the car (i.e. well looked after, serviced on time, still on original set of tyres etc as well as a report on us in that we are not teenage boy racers, both experienced drivers etc)and that they feel it should be covered under warranty as no evidence can be given to confirm who had caused or when the said over-revs had occured.

This was about 10 days ago and apparantly has been sent to the Heat of Fiat UK but still we await an answer from them, so it would appear that not only do they not particularly care about their customers, they treat their dealerships in the same sort of manner.

Anyway, we have now also contacted the Finance company who are sending us a form to complete although I do not hold out much hope there as it is through Fiat Finance! (all payments are up to date and have always been paid on time). My only hope is that the underwriting Finance House may take some action against them. Failing that, next stop will be legal action so if anyone knows any good solicitors that specialize in this sort of thing please let us know.

With reference to PPC [problem]buster's comments about a rev-limiter the so called over-revs are mechanical over-revs and so would not be affected by a rev limiter. There explanation/example is that we have changed down from 6th gear to 2nd gear! I think when we would have almost hit the windscreen doing this we would remember it happening don't you? Or is it that we did actually hit the windscreen and now have amnesia so can't remember it happining on either occasion?

I think you need to get an independant enginners report, and based on that you may be able to claim for a refund or at least most of the money ( less some for the use you have had ) back under SOGA. But you never know with your connections they take you more seriously; good luck.