[parimal_g]

Originally Posted by FastLove

The same sentence above can be re-phrased as :

" TATA dealers have messed up again ,4 months before i changed headlights of my Palio,but the headlight starting fogging so yesterday took the appointment of Fortune motors powai.
The service adviser promised me he will give me a call once he receives the material from Fiat.


Its all how you look at it ..

True may be i love fiat cars too much so.But again noting wrong in this attitude,most of the times i service my car at Pune,B U Bhandari and he keeps the stock of almost all spares which required regularly,and we can say atlest they are trying to improve.

Will update after replacing the headlights.

[anachronix]

Is it not the dealer who needs to plan on the stocks in advance!?

I am going through a similar ordeal with my FiestaS, the steering rack is different from the normal Fiesta and the vehicle is parked at Metro Ford for nearly a week now due to delay in receiving the part!

Its quite simple that the dealer needs to understand the trend of the required parts and stock them in advance!

[DRC]

Well, That is how a thread on Fiat goes.
Fiat should truly address the parts issue. Also, clearly it does not seem to have the strength to adress the same. One last resort they can try is to let their OEM suppliers sell the parts directly to customers. This will compromise on the quality, but then may slightly increase the surrvivability.(bad part is better than no part).

If they can't do that they should be packing their bags. simply put they just do not know how to do business in India.

Inconclusive isn't it?

I think this thread has provided enough entertainement and catered to emotional needs of Pro Fiat and otherwise diehards. May be Mods can close this thread.

[StarVegabond]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

The only reason why I said so (and many have said this before) is because geesah has consistently had problems with this particular service station.

On a side note : I checked with 2 fiat service stations in Pune : both have linea fog lamps and its accessories in stock.

You can draw your own conclusions from this. Had geesah been in Pune : this thread would have never started

i agree with you

if geeash would have been in Italy, he would have never experienced FIAT in India experience.

[YVES]

Point is this thread has started to guide Geeash , If he is in X location he would have got better service because spares is available is like rubbing salt to wounds.

Another pointless views making this thread offtopic.
If one cannot help the affected bhpian pl. dont indulge in these stray posts.

[FastLove]

Originally Posted by YVES

Point is this thread has started to guide Geeash , If he is in X location he would have got better service because spares is available is like rubbing salt to wounds.

Another pointless views making this thread offtopic.
If one cannot help the affected bhpian pl. dont indulge in these stray posts.

So funny! and how did this come to your mind ? By reading the Title of the thread or the Poll ?

btw this thread is started by Geeash , Not to guide Geeash .

[NutsNBolts]

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

The crap part of the letter from the CEO is:

"As far as availability in open market is concerned, most of the spares available for other brands are not necessarily OEM approved spares but are manufactured by second tier manufacturers and are of inferior quality. We do not wish to encourage this and would like to ensue that only certified spares are used."

This is the crux of the problem and the bane of car owners. Ever since the advent of Maruti, the car companies have maintained a stranglehold on supply of spares - obviously with an eye on the profits.

This might to some extent ensure quality of spares but, this is more than offset by the absolutely dismal quality of ALL A.S.C.s. The skills of the technicians is suspect at best and, the workmanship is absolutely lousy.

The company that moves away from this model and ensures free availabilty of spares in the open market is bound to be a winner.

Cheers,

There are two parts to it. In the first, I agree with what CEO says. Second tier manufacturer parts definitely leave a lot to be desired. I have seen many cars with differently colored tail lights. Just a point.

Second part, I guess auto industry too needs to learn from IT industry. Like in IT, the pirated stuff usaually comes with malware threats. Yet there are "genuine" software available from pirates. Here I guess Apple's initiative of providing songs for cheap is worth emulating; although you can't compare automobile inventory and song database, it is still a model that can be verified. Yes, FIAT can probably think of stocking their spares with second line and third line dealers, but how many customers are going to make the effort of sourcing the spares from such dealers, and what is the guarantee that the same dealer is not going to go Ulhasnagar and not mass produce the same spare as a fake, without any QC whatsoever.

Overall, I think this is a new beginning with FIAT India. They have been in red so far and only recently have started seeing the positive growth. I am quite sure they must've factored in pros and cons of having a JV with Tata. I would call Linea and GP as pilot projects for long term investment by Fiat. They will see how things evolve over a 3-5 years period. If they wanted a smaller period, IMHO they would've stuck with face lifted Palio.

[Ravveendrra]

Originally Posted by NutsNBolts

There are two parts to it. In the first, I agree with what CEO says. Second tier manufacturer parts definitely leave a lot to be desired. I have seen many cars with differently colored tail lights. Just a point.

Second part, I guess auto industry too needs to learn from IT industry. Like in IT, the pirated stuff usaually comes with malware threats. Yet there are "genuine" software available from pirates. Here I guess Apple's initiative of providing songs for cheap is worth emulating; although you can't compare automobile inventory and song database, it is still a model that can be verified. Yes, FIAT can probably think of stocking their spares with second line and third line dealers, but how many customers are going to make the effort of sourcing the spares from such dealers, and what is the guarantee that the same dealer is not going to go Ulhasnagar and not mass produce the same spare as a fake, without any QC whatsoever.

Overall, I think this is a new beginning with FIAT India. They have been in red so far and only recently have started seeing the positive growth. I am quite sure they must've factored in pros and cons of having a JV with Tata. I would call Linea and GP as pilot projects for long term investment by Fiat. They will see how things evolve over a 3-5 years period. If they wanted a smaller period, IMHO they would've stuck with face lifted Palio.

I was actually calling for a return to the days when genuine parts were available freely in the market and the dealers had not learnt the words "No Counter Sales". This meant that one could buy the appropriate parts and go to a competent mechanic. Yes, that was how things were.

To put in perspective using your example of the IT industry. Imagine if every OS and software were available only with the guy who sold you the computer and you were not able to buy S/W off the shelf from wherever you pleased. Further imagine the computer dealer employed some monkeys to sit in his service centre and insisted that he could not give you the software you need and that you could only have it loaded at his facility. That is where the car industry is today. Time to move on (or in this case back in time).

Cheers,

[firstguri]

Originally Posted by amoghchaphalkar

The only reason why I said so (and many have said this before) is because geesah has consistently had problems with this particular service station.

On a side note : I checked with 2 fiat service stations in Pune : both have linea fog lamps and its accessories in stock.

You can draw your own conclusions from this. Had geesah been in Pune : this thread would have never started

Bang on. If Geeash's Concorde (not in literal sense ) had not given him any trouble then this whole thing would not have started only.

Originally Posted by FastLove

So funny! and how did this come to your mind ? By reading the Title of the thread or the Poll ?

btw this thread is started by Geeash , Not to guide Geeash .

Bang on Fastlove. Yves, I think you misunderstood this thread's core issue.

[geeash]

To put in perspective using your example of the IT industry. Imagine if every OS and software were available only with the guy who sold you the computer and you were not able to buy S/W off the shelf from wherever you pleased. Further imagine the computer dealer employed some monkeys to sit in his service centre and insisted that he could not give you the software you need and that you could only have it loaded at his facility. That is where the car industry is today. Time to move on (or in this case back in time).

Bang on thats what i wanted to say!!!

[NutsNBolts]

Originally Posted by Ravveendrra

To put in perspective using your example of the IT industry. Imagine if every OS and software were available only with the guy who sold you the computer and you were not able to buy S/W off the shelf from wherever you pleased. Further imagine the computer dealer employed some monkeys to sit in his service centre and insisted that he could not give you the software you need and that you could only have it loaded at his facility. That is where the car industry is today. Time to move on (or in this case back in time).

Cheers,

Originally Posted by geeash

Bang on thats what i wanted to say!!!

Quite right, yes. But knowing how we are, most of pirated copies move out of retail stores while maintaining a facade of originality. I am all for parts being available off the shelf. When I was in Mumbai, I sourced parts for my Uno many times from Shetty Motors at Opera House and got the work done from a neighborhood mechanic. Point is, even at Shetty Motors, there was no way of knowing which was a genuine part and which was not, except for those that had clear markings.

This is why i gave example of Apple music store. Probably FIAT can follow similar example by maintaining a database of second/third line dealers where parts are available. Make this database available to registered users so that can themselves find out which dealer stocks what spares. Next problem, competence of the fitter/mechanic. Whether the neighborhood guy has evolved to handle ECU or fitment of complicated parts, is still a question.

[WhiteKnight]

Originally Posted by NutsNBolts

Whether the neighborhood guy has evolved to handle ECU or fitment of complicated parts, is still a question.

There are competent muti-brand car garages is all cities and most of the towns. Some even have higher reputation than the authorized ones. But their problem is finding spares. Especially so with FIAT and Ford.

[geeash]

Some even have higher reputation than the authorized ones. But their problem is finding spares.

in chennai there is a garage called ignite garage.

there was a topic before in team-bhp rating them 4.5 for 5 on the service aspect.

but who will tie the bell to the cat. when spares are not available OTC who can service the car.

Even after the letter concorde are yet to send guys to my house today to fix the fogs.

i wonder when 27-nov-09 will come for them!!!

[clevermax]

@geeash: I was just wondering, did you ever call Fiat-First regarding this problem or any other??

[geeash]

I was just wondering, did you ever call Fiat-First regarding this problem or any other??

Haha!. jokes apart. i have called everyone right from rajeev kapoor to the local mechanic in concorde.

Probably i must call the autocar and bs motoring magazine editors next for a cover story!!