Is this reasonable?
Discussion
MRS JV has a Fiat 500 Multijet bought new in May 2008 so still under warranty.
Last week it developed a strong burning smell, only noticeable outside the car. Phoned the garage who asked if there was a plastic bag wrapped around the exhaust. Mrs JV explained patiently that there was no plastic bag and that it smelt like burning brakes. Took the car into the garage. Received a telephone call later to say that the front pads were 80% worn and needed replacement.
Fair enough I thought. However, then received a further call to say that the discs needed replacing which I do not feel is acceptable on a two and a half year old car with 36,000 miles. This was followed up by a yet another call to say that the caliper had seized and this this too needed replacing. The bill is now up to about £700!
Whilst I am no mechanical boffin, it would seem to me that the caliper has failed prematurely resulting in wear to the disc. Should Fiat not therefore be accepting this as a warranty claim?
Any advice gratefully received!
Last week it developed a strong burning smell, only noticeable outside the car. Phoned the garage who asked if there was a plastic bag wrapped around the exhaust. Mrs JV explained patiently that there was no plastic bag and that it smelt like burning brakes. Took the car into the garage. Received a telephone call later to say that the front pads were 80% worn and needed replacement.
Fair enough I thought. However, then received a further call to say that the discs needed replacing which I do not feel is acceptable on a two and a half year old car with 36,000 miles. This was followed up by a yet another call to say that the caliper had seized and this this too needed replacing. The bill is now up to about £700!
Whilst I am no mechanical boffin, it would seem to me that the caliper has failed prematurely resulting in wear to the disc. Should Fiat not therefore be accepting this as a warranty claim?
Any advice gratefully received!
Well, the way to check that would be to check the other disc. If the one where the caliper is worn is marked and the pads are heavily worn; and the other one is not, then it was due to the sticking caliper. If not it wasn't.
Brake pads after 36,000 miles doesn't sound too bad and it does seem to be common practice to always tell everyone that discs need doing when they don't. So that's normal. Not sure why you are having to pay for the caliper though.
Brake pads after 36,000 miles doesn't sound too bad and it does seem to be common practice to always tell everyone that discs need doing when they don't. So that's normal. Not sure why you are having to pay for the caliper though.
varsas said:
Well, the way to check that would be to check the other disc. If the one where the caliper is worn is marked and the pads are heavily worn; and the other one is not, then it was due to the sticking caliper. If not it wasn't.
Brake pads after 36,000 miles doesn't sound too bad and it does seem to be common practice to always tell everyone that discs need doing when they don't. So that's normal. Not sure why you are having to pay for the caliper though.
Thank you, I will ask to see the discs if they start making a fuss. I don't have a problem at all with paying for the pads.Brake pads after 36,000 miles doesn't sound too bad and it does seem to be common practice to always tell everyone that discs need doing when they don't. So that's normal. Not sure why you are having to pay for the caliper though.
Fish said:
if driven enthusiastically disc and pads at 36k would be good. I got through a set of pads in 9k on an MX5. Sticking caliper could be fault and hence warrenty or if driven hard and not maintained could be brake dust that jammed it.
The car has only been used for trips to work and ferrying the kids around. It has always been serviced exactly when it should have been.fiat will accept a claim for the caliper, depending on how the claim is worded to them they may pay for the discs, unfortunately my experience from working in a dealer the pads being on the car for your mileage may not, unless you can prove with a reciept that they were changed not so long ago. it all depends on the comparison of wear from siezed side to non siezed side
paoloh said:
JulesV said:
Fiat have still not accepted any of this as a warranty claim. Meanwhile they are now out of calipers and cannot get any until the end of the week. Not happy.
What is the rason for the caliper not being a warranty claim?klimakool said:
fiat will accept a claim for the caliper, depending on how the claim is worded to them they may pay for the discs, unfortunately my experience from working in a dealer the pads being on the car for your mileage may not, unless you can prove with a reciept that they were changed not so long ago. it all depends on the comparison of wear from siezed side to non siezed side
I don't have a problem at all with paying for the pads. My gripe is that it would appear that the caliper problem may have damaged the disc. The car has been serviced from new by the supplying dealer which is where it is still languishing.As above, how does wear on the other side of the car compare?
If the discs and pads are worn out at 36,000 which seems entirely possible they're not going to give you a new set of brakes for free just because one of the calipers has jammed. IF the caliper had a genuine fault then they might reasonably replace that part under warranty and charge you for everything else.
I'd have thought a successful warranty claim on a 2008 car with 36,000 miles would be pretty unusual. Might get some sort of contribution though.
If the discs and pads are worn out at 36,000 which seems entirely possible they're not going to give you a new set of brakes for free just because one of the calipers has jammed. IF the caliper had a genuine fault then they might reasonably replace that part under warranty and charge you for everything else.
I'd have thought a successful warranty claim on a 2008 car with 36,000 miles would be pretty unusual. Might get some sort of contribution though.
JulesV said:
They have now agreed to replace the caliper and one disc under warranty. I have to pay for the other disc and pads so not too bad I suppose. Thanks for the advice.
I think that's really poor. As someone else said, half the reason for buying new is the peace of mind of a warranty.If it weren't for the one failed caliper, you wouldn't be buying any of the other parts. By paying for the one disc damaged by the caliper they are already taking some responsibility for consequential damage. I could understand this attitude from an aftermarket warranty company but not from a manufacturer.
I'd be contacting Fiat UK and making a fuss. And never buying another one.
k off and fix it.JulesV said:
They have now agreed to replace the caliper and one disc under warranty. I have to pay for the other disc and pads so not too bad I suppose.
Reading the thread from the top this is the outcome I was going to advise you to fight for. They won't give you anything for nothing, and in 36,000miles you have definitely consumed most of the pads and could easily have consumed a good portion of the front discs depending on where/how you drive.The caliper however is an inexcusable failure and definitely something to expect 100% warranty cover on at that age, and if it has destroyed a disc they should be paying for at least 50% of the cost of replacing the fronts (ie one disc). You could be bolshy and try it on to get more out of them but you've already got the fairest result for the repair itself.
However it was pretty poor of them to suggest you might have to pay for the caliper in the first place, and since they've not got any calipers in stock and (I'm assuming since you mention a spare car) they haven't given you a loan car or hired one for you then if you can be bothered you could make a complaint to Fiat UK and try to get a compensatory goodwill payment towards the rest of the repair. They can only say no, and you might get a good result.
Edited by Doniger on Saturday 12th February 12:40
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