[AviG]

Hi Guys,

I'm starting this thread on behalf of my close friend who has experienced warranty claim issues with FIAT for some unacceptable reason in our opinion.

Here's a copy of the email my friend sent me of what transpired which I had asked him to document and seek advise from the community on the way forward.

Punto Dynamic 1.3 diesel car with following details,

Registration # MH-04-GE-XXXX

VIN # MCAXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXLZ

Engine # XXXXX56

Owner # Pankaj Bhandare


I had visited Lifetime Mobbilities, Thane for the AC cooling issue to be covered under Extended warranty for the Policy # 21404632770. But the claim was rejected by company saying "Service is not done as per schedule" with the response below.

ALL SERVICE MUST DONE INTERVAL OF 12 MONTHS OR 15000KM WHICH EVER IS COME EARLIER WITHOUT VARIATION.

NOTE - 15000 KM SERVICE WAS DONE ON 14082 KMS1) 30000 KM SERVICE DELAY BY 593 KMS – DUE ON 29082 KMS BUT DONE ON 29675 KMS.
2) 45000 KM SERVICE DELAY BY 98 KMS – DUE ON 44675 KMS BUT DONE ON 44773 KMS.

I'd like to highlight some pointers as well some questions over here,


1. How's AC cooling issue related to the # KMs clocked?

2. If I have missed any service or took car for late servicing, then I should not have been entertained for 2nd free servicing at 30K KM.

3. I strongly believe +/- 1000 KMs of the scheduled service is allowed & acceptable.

4. Also the 150000 looks like a typo.

I don't understand the big fuss about 593 KMs and 98 KMs. Does this logically mean one has to submit their cars without any variance on ODO?

I have got the car serviced a little earlier primarily due to two reasons. One being I had to travel out of station and did not want to miss on the service and second being, I always believe in doing things a little early or on time with no intent to delay.


I feel, I have been CHEATED and the argument presented by company is totally inappropriate and unacceptable and the sense of having an extended warranty that can be rejected for reasons like this is not at all re-assuring.

Please advise what needs to be done.

Mods: Please move to an appropriate thread if this doesn't seem the right place. Thank you.

[humyum]

Well to be honest, on mere legal grounds, they can reject the claim as they always mention that 'Warranty will be void if service not done as per schedule'.

Just to give you a perspective, Maruti had checked my service records when they were replacing the entire steering unit of my car. I know this because I was asked to get my 1st service bill as Ravi Automobiles was not part of Maruti's Centralised Database list.

Logical grounds, they should not reject, its foolishness to think some kilometers here and there has got anything to do with an Air Conditioner.

Take it up with the higher ups at Fiat stating if the service was delayed by a lot many kilometers, why did you carry out the 2nd free service in the first place ? You should have charged me then, just because you did not, you know that it's not a big deal and hence this warranty claim should be honoured.

[wanderer4x4]

Originally Posted by AviG

don't understand the big fuss about 593 KMs and utter 98 KMs. Does this logically mean one has to submit their cars without any variance on ODO?

Was this a reply given by the dealer or FIAT? Whoever it may be, it's simply ridiculous and utter nonsense. No one can time the odo to the last km to go for the servicing. They could have come up with any other excuse to reject the claim, rather than this joke of a reason.
If it is a reply given by FIAT, it perfectly matches with their directionless, unimaginative plans for India. They should rather wind up their car production and become only the engine supplier to Maruti and handover the existing customers to service their cars at Maruti like the arrangement with TATA. It'd be a boon for all the hapless FIAT customers.

With one FIAT in my garage, keeping my fingers crossed about having to face their customer service next after my share of issues. As I'm typing this, my car's started showing the ABS malfunction error since afternoon.

In your case, considering the language and the content of the reply, it seems like having been written by someone at a lower level or someone from the dealer. If it is the case, do take it up with the FIAT higher ups. (Though don't put too high a hope on them as well, this is from my own experience)

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by AviG

1. How's AC cooling issue is related to the # KMs clocked?

The AC system also experiences wear and tear and has a maintenance schedule. If you use your AC every time you use the car as most of us do, then you ought to get it checked at every service. Lack of cooling can occur due to a variety of reasons.

Do note consumables like refrigerant top up, gaskets, washers, compressor lube oil, O rings etc are chargeable and not covered under warranty.

2. If I have missed any service or took car for late servicing, then I should not have been entertained for 2nd free servicing at 30K KM.

These guys are cooking up excuses to reject the warranty claim. +/-100 kms from the target service mileage or +/- a week in schedule is perfectly as per my experience.

3. I strongly believe +/- 1000 KMs of the scheduled service is allowed & acceptable.

1000 kms won't be accepted but as mentioned above 50-100 kms should go thru.

4. Also the 150000 looks like a typo.

This is very obviously a typo.

I don't understand the big fuss about 593 KMs and utter 98 KMs. Does this logically mean one has to submit their cars without any variance on ODO?

I have got the car serviced a little earlier primarily due to two reasons. One being I had to travel out of station and did not want to miss on the service and second being always believe in doing things a little early or on time with no intent to delay.

As mentioned earlier they are trying to duck a warranty claim. Raise it to the higher ups at Fiat and explain your case.

[dark.knight]

Originally Posted by AviG

ALL SERVICE MUST DONE INTERVAL OF 12 MONTHS OR 15000KM WHICH EVER IS COME EARLIER WITHOUT VARIATION.NOTE - 150000 KM SERVICE WAS DONE ON 14082 KMS1) 30000 KM SERVICE DELAY BY 593 KMS – DUE ON 29082 KMS BUT DONE ON 29675 KMS. 2) 45000 KM SERVICE DELAY BY 98 KMS – DUE ON 44675 KMS BUT DONE ON 44773 KMS.

I've usually heard that Fiat is generous with warranty terms, with a lot of adjusting and consideration if the problem is genuine. That having said this above statement is absolute nonsense. This defines the term "grasping at straws", perhaps the weakest argument I've read anywhere. Why?

- As per their own conditions "All service must be done interval of 12 months of 15,000 km".. In real English that would read "All services must be done in intervals of 12 months or 15,000 kms" which would mean that all services should be done "within" 15,000 kms each time, or 12 months whichever comes first. Now they have no problem with the date of servicing as they have mentioned nothing, hence the warranty remains intact because the servicing was done before the instalments of 15,000 km, i.e 918 kms early for the first service and 325 kms early in the 2nd service. Since the service clock begins as 15,000 as the maximum limit, naturally the following limitations should be 30,000, 45,000 and so on, specially when the margin for delay is well under 2% for the 2nd service and under .5% for 3rd!!

- Even if they argue the point of having the vehicle serviced strictly as per schedule, with the precision of not having delayed it a second more than 1 year or a meter more than 15,000 km, it is plain ridiculous. I can say no manufacturer will say such a thing, and unless by sheer coincidence, no owner will bring his vehicle right on the end of the 364th day or 14999th km to the workshop. As I said before - grasping at straws.

- Anyone with the slightest knowledge of car mechanics would know that delaying a service by 100 km, or even 10,000 kms, would not decrease the air-conditioner cooling. It may destroy the engine, clutch and brakes but not the aircon. This maybe as simple as refrigerant-gas escaping through the assembly, or maybe something serious like the compressor/condensor conking out, but both have a very low rate of failure. They cannot possibly expect all the problems to crop up and be evident on the day of service, and assume that if they cropped up after that it's due to the point-percentage delay in submitting the vehicle for subsequent service.

Writing directly to the company is recommended, this is a no-brainer.

[vinya_jag]

I would suggest, take the vehicle to a different service station once. This probably could get settled without much fuss.

[Chetan_Rao]

I have never seen a factory manual that counts scheduled service intervals from previous service. They all begin counting from ZERO on the clock and odo, and go upto whatever the warranty period is, not resetting count at every service. Of course there are high-end cars with smart on-board diagnostics that adjust service reminders based on how the car is driven, but that's irrelevant here.

There may be other mitigating circumstances to this case for either party to claim they're right, but the A.S.S. service interval argument is ridiculous.

[Rahulkool]

Fiat is having some issue with the company providing the extended warranty, as far as i know they have taken the other company(because of many rejections of the claims) to the court. This is the reason Fiat is not providing extended warranty anymore.

[swiftnfurious]

They are trying to reject the claim on the supposedly written rules. Now, when you send a mail, please mention the service intervals as 15000, 30000, 45000 etc and not based on the previous service interval. I think shooting a mail to Fiat should sort this out and should not be a botheration. If you have access to another service centre, try them first please.

[kapilsharma80]

Extended warranty is managed and approved by a third party to which fiat has outsourced the operations. These guys are very particular about the service schedules and terms.

I myself had faced the issue of rejection of extended warranty twice but thankfully I had documents to prove that I had asked the service Center to address those issues during initial warranty but they didn't take any action then and they had to approve them now.

As pointed out by a fellow Bhpian - fiat has always been very generous in honouring warranty claims and I second that but off late they are scrutinising each case carefully. l

Would suggest you to get in touch with fiat service team (corporate) immediately and explain your matter.

I am sure they will help you out.

I have been using fiat cars for last 9 years and fortunately got good response to all my concerns.

[ghodlur]

I just read the extended warranty T&C's and nowhere it is mentioned that any service claimed under extended warranty is linked to or depends on the service schedule. I have visited Life Time Mobilities since this is the closest fiat workshop to my place and have found them extremely unprofessional. I have already raised this issue on more than one occasion with Fiat India however they continue to be the FASS. What the FASS is claiming is utter nonsense, raise the issue with Fiat india.

LTM has a bunch of jokers in their staff in the names of General Manager, Service Advisors etc. I was told that they had 16 Fiat trained technicians, I found hardly 2-3 of them in the workshop. Your only alternative is RS Motors in Kandivali or Car Menders in Panvel.

[a4anurag]

Looking at their replies, it is just that they are making lame excuses to avoid the claim. Nothing else to it! Not that Fiat is selling cars like Maruti or Hyundai to have too much head weight so acting smart will be of further loss to them anyway.

May be the dealer is trying to act smart by getting all the service schedules etc but I'll suggest you to get Fiat in and see how things change (Fingers crossed). Since all warranty related claims to accepted or rejected is solely dependant on 'Fiat', gt them roped-in to see what they say about it.

It is funny that the claim has been rejected because the service was carried late by 593 kms and 98 kms.

Are Fiat cars that sensitive to mileage if not serviced in-time? I always have a 1000 kms extra when my car goes for service. No issues or drama at MASS if I go in a 1000 kms late too. 98 kms violation rule is too much and childish.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by AviG

NOTE - 15000 KM SERVICE WAS DONE ON 14082 KMS1) 30000 KM SERVICE DELAY BY 593 KMS – DUE ON 29082 KMS BUT DONE ON 29675 KMS.
2) 45000 KM SERVICE DELAY BY 98 KMS – DUE ON 44675 KMS BUT DONE ON 44773 KMS.

Can you list down the date on which the above services are done? The KMS look perfectly fine, need to see the 12 months duration clause.

[sukrit7]

Like others have said, write to FIAT. This will be sorted easily. I've had the punto now for over 1,35,000 and warranty has never been an area of concern.

BUT, if the lack of cooling is due to lack of refrigerant, then you won't be covered, unless you find a leak or something.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by sukrit7

Like others have said, write to FIAT. This will be sorted easily. I've had the punto now for over 1,35,000 and warranty has never been an area of concern.

BUT, if the lack of cooling is due to lack of refrigerant, then you won't be covered, unless you find a leak or something.

Even if it is a leak, only the O ring will be covered. The rest needs to be paid for.

Fiat is learning from other manufacturers on how to reject warranty for silly reasons. Extended warranty is no longer an option. Good going when the sales are struggling to hit 4 digit mark.