Fiat Ducato Rust

[carregwen]

Has anyone had experience of getting Fiat to honour their 8 year rust warranty? I have rust showing above the windscreen and a couple of other places on my 2004 Ducato and Fiat say, after refusing my claim outright, that the lining in the cab needs removing before they decide if it comes under the terms of their warranty (rusting from inside - out). A body repair chap I have consulted says it is from inside to out. It certainly isn't because of stone chips etc. If Fiat say it isn't covered by their warranty I pay for removing/replacing the lining. I think they are being unreasonable as I don't think it can be replaced as it was and for the amount it would cost to remove the windscreen & treat the rust the risk is not worth it.
Is there an arbitration service?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Dafydd

 

[Pioneer]

Has anyone had experience of getting Fiat to honour their 8 year rust warranty? I have rust showing above the windscreen and a couple of other places on my 2004 Ducato and Fiat say, after refusing my claim outright, that the lining in the cab needs removing before they decide if it comes under the terms of their warranty (rusting from inside - out). A body repair chap I have consulted says it is from inside to out. It certainly isn't because of stone chips etc. If Fiat say it isn't covered by their warranty I pay for removing/replacing the lining. I think they are being unreasonable as I don't think it can be replaced as it was and for the amount it would cost to remove the windscreen & treat the rust the risk is not worth it.
Is there an arbitration service?
Any thoughts appreciated.
Dafydd

Hi, welcome to the site, and what a first question!
Depends on what Motorhome you have, I would imagine, also if your service schedule is up to date, by the book.
If your ducato as been fitted with an overhead bunk, I think you will struggle, because a third party fitted it. If it's a van with no overhead bunk, and third party (motorhome manufacturer) not involoved, then maybe you could get lucky with your claim.
That's my two pennys worth, best of luck, seek legal advice, maybe start with consumer advice, run by local county councils.

Happy Camping

 

[Deleted member 207]

Has Fiat or the Fiat Dealer refused? Often a big difference in the warranty claim process when the dealer has to pay the upfront costs then claim them back from Fiat.

Get in touch with Fiat and find out what their policy is about refusing rust claims. Most manufacturers come to the party if prodded hard enough. Exhaust all your avenues with Fiat before going to the expense of getting legal advice.

Are you the first owner? Be aware that some manufacturers dont sell direct to campervan builders and consider the builder to be the first owner if sold by one of their dealers to the builder (geez that sounds like a script from Yes Minister)- and a way out for them over warranty.

 

[Channa]

Has Fiat or the Fiat Dealer refused? Often a big difference in the warranty claim process when the dealer has to pay the upfront costs then claim them back from Fiat.

Excellent point, with more than a grain of truth.

Dealers has stated, Dont get paid by the manufacturer if the claim is not valid in respect of investigitive work.

Therefore the workshop lose efficiency in terms of hours sold which often will hit the service managers in their pockets.

Sadly you end up with the catch 22 situation.

If it were me, I would contact Fiat direct and ask to have a meeting with their zone aftersales manager.

I suspect he will at this stage authorise cover and pay for the dealer to investigate the cause of your problem.

Channa

 

[carregwen]

Hi
Thanks for all the replies. Just to clarify - it's a van-based conversion (Adria Twin) which I've had from new & serviced by Fiat garage. They don't have a body shop so told me to get quote from independent body shop. No mention of garage having to pay then get recompensed by Fiat but now that's been mentioned it does explain why they seem to be reluctant to fully support my claim without actually saying so. I have to say they've been excellent in every other respect.
The garage now say they will remove enough of lining at their expense to have a look but bodyshop says because of way chassis is constructed round windscreen rust unlikel.y to show there & still no guarantee of replacing to original state.
Have written to MD but zone aftersales manager sounds a another way to go.
It's all a bit annoying to experience poor customer service when the cost to Fiat would be less than the cost of my last service!

 

[Channa]

I would naturally suggest you try and achieve an amicable solution for obvious reasons.

However if you fail to gain co operation a call to your local Trading Standards may help.

You dont state what part of the country you live in, But a lot of areas have TS partnerships eg West Yorks. The TS will liase on your behalf, with the added benefit of up to date legal knowledge.

In addition they may well have dealt with complaints of rusting on similar aged vehicles in the location you describe, Manufacturing fault ??? etc.

One only has to look at the water ingress, gearbox problems on later FIAT's
and the manufacturers denials that even the manufacturers dont always play fair.

Channa

 

[Nosha]

DO read the warranty carefully, when I worked for Vauxhall it was a perforation warranty... i.e. it had to rust right through making a whole in the metal, which takes MANY years even on unpainted metal!!!!! So Fiat may be stalling!

 

[carregwen]

I think I am on a losing wicket with all the caveats Fiat impose but you may like to know that I had a phone call yesterday from Fiat in Milan asking me to rate Fiat UK's Customer services on a scale 1 - 10. The young lady got more than she bargained for after saying it would take just a few minutes to answer her questions but she assured me she wrote everything down. To what end time only will tell.