[DRIV3R]

@selvagp: How old is your car? I guess the free services are over and the car is out of warranty. How many km's done?

I went through the invoices and here are my observations.

To keep a long story short, most of the items are not part of service.

Clutch kit, suspension (struts and elastic pads), wiper blades, etc are parts whose life depends on the usage pattern and how the car is driven.

Oil sump, Bonnet stay rod, ORVM, Wheel arch liner, brake shoes/pads, and tyres, seriously, do you think all the above components are part of regular service?

And you have been slapped a labor charge of 19k plus blindly, without mentioning the individual labor charges. IMO, you should have questioned it then itself, as RDC Motors was notorious in over-charging labor than what was defined by FIAT.

This much from your first invoice.

Let's go the second one.

You have chosen to increase your GC and install the GC upgrade kit, which is not mandatory. Again, this does not come under service. This is the reason struts have been changed again.

And headlamp, mirrors and oil sump, again are being replaced for reasons best known to you. I guess both these invoices involve some accident repair.

Bottom-line, you do not call these charges are regular "servicing"/upkeep charges, they are incidental and case-specific.

From what I could gather, only the power window regulators seem to be the failed part for which you have paid out of warranty.

[nkrishnap]

There is a day and night difference with respect to service costs and repair costs. The servicing costs should be pertaining to only the scheduled maintenance tasks and related replacements. However, repairs may arise for whatever reason and the cost of fixing is another thing to be discussed about. Probably the better term to use could be cost of ownership rather than blanket term as service cost and claiming high cost of service.

As already seen from the invoices, there are so many parts that are replaced. GC kit, tyres, headlamps, mirrors, etc are not part of scheduled maintenance. From the bill, the replacement parts are well over 60,000 bucks and add the labour associated with it and the taxes too. I would be keen to know why these were replaced for a better understanding.

However, there might have a few consumables that have been charged unnecessarily but that amount is quite less compared and sure would not have increased it to the 100K amount as claimed.

[selvagp]

@DRIV3R, @nkrishnap thanks for your observations. Please can we not get too much into the term "service". I have used it loosely. For that matter nobody does repair they just replace don't they? Also the labour charges are a bit high in my opinion.
I haven't blamed FIAT for the costs incurred. It's just my story. Here it is and the reasons why I think I "may" have been ripped off by the dealers.

My Car was bought in Jul 2009. So 4+ years old. 86100 on the odo as of today.
Past 10 months or so I have been driving about 60 kms everyday. The route has bad stretches and awkward speed breakers.

Service1:
RDC was just setting up the workshop. They weren't fully functional and I didn't have any other choice. So accepted their invoice with missing part numbers and no detailed labour charges.

Turbo Hose needed to be replaced. The car was in the workshop waiting for the part to arrive. I kept following up repeatedly. one day he said it would take three more days to arrive, but later that afternoon he said you are lucky part arrived. Car was delivered same evening.

two months later I had an incident. I had to swerve to avoid cattle. I didn't hit anything or anybody. Just a big swerve. Then on I felt like riding a boat. The car had wobble even in normal roads. Took it back to RDC. They said everything is fine.

Service2:
Turbo hose had to be changed again?
Whats that thing called "Brake Cleaning"?

SA had suggested changing brake discs but I said I am fine with the brakes.

Oil Sump: I thought this gets changed in regular service. Both service centers did not even ask for an approval. On inquiry SA said it was leaking. I never found any visible leaks though.

Wipers: My office doesn't have any covered parking, and I was too lazy to keep the wiper's up. Bound to happen.

Tyres: RDC SA was not aware of GC Kit. Updated to higher profile tyre in Service1.

GC Kit: In 2nd service I was told the shock absorbers in the front are gone and had to be replaced. If only RDC had checked properly "may be" this could have been avoided. Anyhow for few thousand more I decided to get GC Kit.

Headlamp, ORVM: Just bad luck. Got broken when it was parked. a sleepy lorry driver, and a rash biker.

There is still a lot of work to be done on my punto. My point on this thread is that I am still emotionally attached to this thingy and can't let go off it. The thought of ending the journey crossed my mind several times but the journey is still on.

[nkrishnap]

Agree to the fact that some of the labour costs are high where as some of the costs are low. Bumper removal and refitting is around 800 bucks where as the oil change is 150 odd bucks. So there is no proper method we can see as how the labour is charged. More so when these dealerships had no DMS to work with, they were having a free hand to charge whatever they want.

Based on what you have posted, the unfortunate event of damage to body parts is not in ones control nor Fiats. Tyres and wipers one can understand the costs as these needs to be replaced based on the usage. The Oil sump unless damaged need not be replaced, not sure why the dealer did that. May be you might need a second opinion on the actual works to be done on the car than these two dealers. Both dealers have done some work which were not approved by you or as you mentioned the proper justification was not given.

One can go on with the journey as long as its not giving you sleepless nights or making you go bankrupt.

[amit_mechengg]

Selva - no offense meant to you, but the claim of 1 lac for last two services was grossly misleading. But thanks you cleared the confusion by saying that you used to word loosely.

Coming to the unfortunate incidents and damages below are points which might have contributed to the same.

1. RDC was not technically competent to fix your car at first instance which lead to further problems.

2. They looted you with arbitrary charges and even after being an alert TBHP member you dint oppose the same.

We have 2009 puntos and linea done more than 1 lac kms and just gone through normal services and minimal costs. Apart from the old stories the current scenario is that FIAT Punto and Linea is one of the cheapest cars to maintain in the respective segments.

[selvagp]

@amit_mechengg and others sorry if my use of the word "service" was misleading. However I think I will continue to use the term loosely. After all fiat has "service centers" for maintaining the product they sold and I pay for their "service". that can be called "regular" "repair" "replacement" and what not but I pay for their service.

Now "Service" is what I hate about FIAT. The service has/is either been inaccessible or incompetent throughout my ownership. The situation has only worsened in these years.
In Chennai (now) there are only two exclusive FIAT service centers. The invoices are there for you to see. In both the occasions the feeling after "service" is just mute.

[adhiraj]

Sorry for OT, mods please merge to the correct thread if necessary.

For all the punto owners here:
Can anyone please mail me an invoice for Punto 1.2 emotion registered on Oct 2010.Preferably from any dealer in kolkata, (others will also work fine).Unfortunately my mom has lost her copy and needs it for assessing tax.
Surprisingly dealer has lost all the data in archive
You can mail me the invoice @ adhiraj_bardhan@yahoo.com

Thanks
Adhiraj