Team-BHP - Brand new rusted fiat petra!!

wow.... see the mood swings at team-bhp...
all of us were for petra some days back... never worried about service...
infact... even I was planning to get a petra.. for 4.77... *but it never worked out though.

now with so many instances of fiat's plans to get rid of their old stock come to our notice. we all are against fiat.

I don't blame the dealers for rotting the petra.... it has to be the company... petra wasn't even launched so long ago.

i guess.. fiat paid tooo much to sachin for the ads.... now it has not much left for the petra.... except for the b&w ads in newspapers.

Fiat is starting to disgrace Padmini Now

I had a chance to talk to some Fiat guys via the dealer (Vivek Rokade, Zone leader, western india), also tried their hotline which landed me with the same guy. I've come to an agreement with them and the dealer that I will go and inspect the car as it comes out of the factory in Kurla, note down the chassis & engine number and accept it if I find it ok. I'm taking my video cam with me too. Let's see how things turn out. If I had any good sense I should simply be taking the deposit back (lose 3000 Rs), but with so many Palios on road, and given the low price for the package, I'm still tempted to make a last attempt, and probably regret it deeply afterwards

I'm hoping to never have to go back to FortPoint after this, and take the car to other dealers (anuroop ?) for all servicing. Is it possible to just take delivery and then have nothing to do with that dealer again ?

NC, do you know how much your friend paid for his black Petra and whether he got a free Music system with it. I'm not holding my breath about the quality of the speakers after this..

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]wow.... see the mood swings at team-bhp...
all of us were for petra some days back... never worried about service...

I still dont worry so much about the service. The Petra needs a service probably once...or twice a year. As I have said before, I can live with 2 days of irony if the other 363 are pure bliss.

But this is not the service factor at all. Its about the product. And getting what you pay for. If I am not giving that dude depreciated money, why would I accept a depreciated product with rust all over it?

When you are buying a new car, its an amazing experience. The new car smell, rolling your baby on the road for the first time...how everything feels tight. And yes, you want the salesmen to treat you like a king. But look whats up with Dovin? Hes going to take a camera and go to the factory for product verification. What kind of new car buying experience is that?

The blame is not on the dealerships alone, but also on the company. Its Fiat that sucks.

GTO

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]NC, do you know how much your friend paid for his black Petra and whether he got a free Music system with it

he just told them to take back the music system ..they are giving him a teflon coat, the side rear view mirror locks and some other thing....

insuarance and registration free.

about the cost....

the cost -

down payment 40000
emi (8700 x 60 months) 520000
--------------------------------
total 560000

cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I've come to an agreement with them and the dealer that I will go and inspect the car as it comes out of the factory in Kurla, note down the chassis & engine number and accept it if I find it ok.

Thats the least that they can do after the pathetic exp u had with Fortpoint. I must also say this is definately some improvement on Fiat's part! Trust me, if this had happened a few years back they wouldn't have bothered to even talk to u!
I still don't think that the Petra came with the rusted parts. Come on, even Ambassadors and premier padmini's never were rusted brand new. I still feel the dealer tried to switch some old rusted siena parts with your petra. It's his bad luck that he got caught! When i was looking for my palio, i had gone to fortpoint in VT and they were really lethargic and there was just one palio Sport in their showrooms. Just avoid Angad and Forpoint. I don't know about Shaman. Anuroop is the best fiat dealer in Mumbai. You should have gone to them instead of fortpoint. Anyway, if you still buy the petra just do your regular services and maintainence with Anuroop.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]see the mood swings at team-bhp

I kinda agree on that but Fiat has a history of being unfriendly towards it's customers so anything negitive hits them hard. They are paying for what they sowed.
But I do agree with you to a certain extent on that one. I remember a post here about the Accent CRDi having severe problems. That guy approached Hyundai and this so called customer centric company has not helped him in any way at all. That thread was brushed off here as a one off happening. It's all about image i guess.

5 km on the ODO

that dosen't sound right.. I met the transporter who works for most Fiat dealers (Mr babu) as well as talked to Fiat people at the factory and in sales. Within bombay they drive the car from factory in kurla to the dealers workshop. Also every car does atleast a couple of rounds in the test track inside the factory. The total comes to around 50 kms. While I was at the factory I saw a couple of Petras and Palios being driven out to dealers. When I told the dealer I need to have less than 100 Km on the ODO for the tyre exchange deal to work, he said what figure you want to show in odo, i'll do that for you.. good customer service but left me with furthur doubts... this was the manager mind you.. not a minion.

My Petra saga is coming to a close.. hopefully will pick up the car on tuesday.. not completely happy.. I will post my whole experience in a new topic, so that it will hopefully help others.

Hey dovin i'd like to present some sides to this:
1. when i got my palio S10 it had about 57kms on the odo.
2. when i bought my Matiz in 1999 it had 8kms on the odo.
3. One of my friends last year wanted a mid-size car. We went to Sharayu Hyundai in Sanpada, Navi Mumbai. I was test driving the car when i noticed that the odometer wasn't working. I asked the salesguy and he said it had been disconnected. Earlier we had test driven a Ikon at Wasan ford and that car's odo was working.
4 different companies and 4 different versions. Take your pick on which company did what.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ] he said what figure you want to show in odo, i'll do that for you..

I am sure almost all dealers do keep the odo disconnected. Don't you see that no car company has a exclusive test drive car and it's actually normal cars that are used for test driving purposes. Maybe the test runs inside the factories are also done with odo's disconnected and thats how cars are delivered with 5 and 8kms on the odo. I don't blame the car companies. Many customers will throw a BIG tantrum if they see 40/50kms in a brand new car. I have noticed most ppl are happy to see less than 10kms on the odo. Gives them the feeling that the car hasn't been driven much and they are getting a fresh piece.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Don't you see that no car company has a exclusive test drive car and it's actually normal cars that are used for test driving purposes.

Amit,
Believe it or not but TATA has a separate test drive Indica with DEMO vehicle written all over it. Also, Honda has a separate vehicle for test drives..This I say from my experience while taking the test drive of City fro Linkway when I was buying it..must say Honda is very professional.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]5km on the odo.

obviously the odo was set!! they just reset it to zero. this was pointed to my frnd when he went to inspect the car.

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]While I was at the factory

dovin, pal we need to have ur views of the factory asap. how was it? clean ? professional or like a typical fiat dealership, still trying to pull up their socks??

a report , preferably with pictures will do fine ! u were supposed to carry a cam to the factory , rt ?

cheers

Quote:

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]must say Honda is very professional.

There used to be a Maruti Showroom, Resham Motors near my house. I used to see this Alto VXi with the words DEMO CAR painted across it's body. Funnily the Alto was the only car to have a exclusive Demo car. Now, of course, neither is the Demo car there nor is the showroom!!