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Old 30th October 2008, 22:16   #1
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Is FIAT Charging Exhorbitant Rates for Spares? And Tata for service/labour charges?

Well I dont intent to start another FIAT bashing thread but i thought i should bring it up.

Here is my experience
Had to change the brake pads on my Palio Adventure. Had to shell out Rs.3K for the brake pads. Have never thought i'll have to shell out that much for something as uncomplicated as abrake pad. Ok. Maybe thats the premium i have to pay for a phased out car. Agreed.

Read on another forum that a customer was charged over Rs.16K for the Palio ECU. Common man. The Palio ECU is one of the most basic ones compared to modern cars. The mechanic says that the same ecu was available for around 12K a few months earlier.


A lock for the air filter box that costed something like Rs.900/- earlier now costs Rs.2950/-

Atleast we could hope that now we would not have to pay these high prices and then wait for the spares to arrive. Or are these prices normal.
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Old 31st October 2008, 00:23   #2
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Gemi, I am with u on this. I had to get my clutch actuators changed , Manipal motors quoted 1200 rs for each actuator the same i purchased at JC road for 800 and 500 (as manipal did not have them).
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Old 31st October 2008, 01:33   #3
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With due respects to Fiat, there could be 2 reasons for higher spare prices:
1. Spares not mass produced. For Maruti, non MGA spares of good quality is available in the local market. Does Fiat have this option?
2. Low car sales can lead to higher spare costs. Or make cars cheaper and sell spares for a premium.
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Old 31st October 2008, 08:13   #4
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Palio brake pads cost Rs. 1250/- or so. The MRP is printed on the package. The ECU cost is correct. It was much higher earlier.

Which air filter lock are you talking about?
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Old 31st October 2008, 08:41   #5
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Well, just yesterday I got the 'cap' of the radiator bottle replaced. It cost me 351 + 12.5% VAT.

Imagine.!!! a cap costing ~400 bucks :-(

On the whole I would agree that FIAT spare part costs are going up like 'Chandrayan'

Cheers,
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Old 31st October 2008, 09:59   #6
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FIAT parts are costlier now a days. Take these.

item - old price - new price
Headlamp cluster (Retro) (motorised) - 2300 (old) - 3300 (new)
Diesel fuel filter - 950 (old) - 1500 (new) (as told by the service advisor)
alloy wheel - 5000(old) - 8500 (new)

ORVM mirror only costed me Rs 475 :(

Last edited by mahadev_kc : 31st October 2008 at 10:01.
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Old 31st October 2008, 10:22   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gemithomas View Post
Read on another forum that a customer was charged over Rs.16K for the Palio ECU. Common man. The Palio ECU is one of the most basic ones compared to modern cars. The mechanic says that the same ecu was available for around 12K a few months earlier.
OT: The ECU (Hitachi 16 bit) cost of a 2003 Indica V2 petrol was quoted at 14300 around 4 months ago by Tata Motors. It is a different matter that one TASC (OMR Checkpoint Chennai) was quoting 17000.

ECUs are expensive. Given that the Palio's ECU was claimed to be more sophisticated, I would think that price is OK.

Last edited by hrag : 31st October 2008 at 10:23.
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Old 31st October 2008, 10:26   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moralfibre View Post
Palio brake pads cost Rs. 1250/- or so. The MRP is printed on the package. The ECU cost is correct. It was much higher earlier.

Which air filter lock are you talking about?
I think it would be that plastic box which holds the air filter.One guy had broken its lock and wante to replace it. Read this on paliousersgroup. The spares dept. sad it costs around 900 and so he ordered it. But when the new part came he saw the new cost and just refused to buy it.


Quote:
Originally Posted by mahadev_kc View Post
FIAT parts are costlier now a days. Take these.

item - old price - new price
Headlamp cluster (Retro) (motorised) - 2300 (old) - 3300 (new)
Diesel fuel filter - 950 (old) - 1500 (new) (as told by the service advisor)
alloy wheel - 5000(old) - 8500 (new)

ORVM mirror only costed me Rs 475 :(
I also enquired about the alloys. The increase is unjustifiable and hence my friend just decided not to go for it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by mail4ajo View Post
With due respects to Fiat, there could be 2 reasons for higher spare prices:
1. Spares not mass produced. For Maruti, non MGA spares of good quality is available in the local market. Does Fiat have this option?
2. Low car sales can lead to higher spare costs. Or make cars cheaper and sell spares for a premium.
But most Palio parts (except suspension parts) where comparable to even the indica's before the TATA tie-up.

I think this has to do with what the FIAT mangment said "We would position FIAT as a premium brand and TATA would handle the lower segment"
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Old 31st October 2008, 10:40   #9
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The FIAT alloy wheels were quoted the same price (8000+) 2 years back when I had enquired. The cost being 5K for the wheel is news to me.

I was told that its an imported wheel manufactured in Italy. Not sure of this though!

The ECU is being manufactured by Magneti Marelli which is supposed to be more sophisticated and more advanced than any cars in those segment. I would say that price is fair enough!
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Old 31st October 2008, 12:08   #10
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What are the part costs of the New Palio MJD? How costly are they compared to the Old Palio costs? I think the regular consumable parts of the MJD & vista are common (like air/ fuel filters, oil etc.)

I am contemplating buying the Palio MJD, due to huge booking times of the swift diesel.
@gemithomas- what are the suspension parts costs of the palio? I guess the MJD will have the same suspension costs as the old palio.
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Old 31st October 2008, 12:17   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by moralfibre View Post
Palio brake pads cost Rs. 1250/- or so.
Same here. I remembered paying 1200 for front brake pads of my Palio. I do not know whether it is cheap or expensive, as I have nothing else to compare with.
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Old 31st October 2008, 13:46   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gemithomas View Post
A lock for the air filter box that costed something like Rs.900/- earlier now costs Rs.2950/-

Atleast we could hope that now we would not have to pay these high prices and then wait for the spares to arrive. Or are these prices normal.
Thank Tata for the jacking-up of Fiat spares over the last two years or so. Recently I had to replace the quarter glass of my Adventure. It cost 4K + adhesive (850) + labour (1K). Marina quarter glass costs 1K!

In the last survey by Autocar India of spare part prices, Palio 1.6 turned out to be the segment leader, a status earlier enjoyed by Fusion 1.6.
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Old 31st October 2008, 17:38   #13
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You bet, the prices have gone high off late. Even the labour prices are just way too high. I Have given my car for an a/c service. Her are the costs involved.
1] They changed an a/c pipe which costed me 2933/- bucks!
2] The labour costs for just opening up the dash board is 2400/-. So I've already spent 6K for just opening up the dashboard and replacing an a/c pipe!
3] If the cooling coil needs replacement, it will cost me a cool 7000/-.
4]The a/c gas will cost 1200/-

Who would have thought that an a/c service would cost upto 15K or even more!
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Old 31st October 2008, 18:01   #14
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Tata?

Quote:
Originally Posted by directinjection View Post
Thank Tata for the jacking-up of Fiat spares over the last two years or so.
And FIAT is standing over by the side and enjoying the show or what?
I'm sure they can do something to keep the prices under control. Ain't it?
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Old 31st October 2008, 20:20   #15
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Tata Motors has jacked up the prices of FIAT spares by 50-70% since the past 2-3 months. Really fail to understand the reasons. Especially since the sales have increased and the economies of scale should be better now that they have 3 variants selling. Selling strongly if I may say that.

Maybe thats the price we FIAT owners are expected to pay for the alliance with TATA.

Regards

Mohit
Palio 1.2/March '04/1,08,000 km
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