First Fiat Service

[Guest John Hinton]

We took delivery of a new Elnagh Clipper 90 with a Fiat 2.3jtd engine in October. When I asked the salesman when the engine should have it's first service, he told me it was 18,000 miles or 12 months. I received a service book a few weeks later but it was all in Italian. Coming from Walsall, I can barely understand English, let alone Italian. Can anyone put my mind at rest because I don't trust salesmen at the best of times and especially when we have spent such a lot of dosh. Rgds. John

[Guest Will Redfearn,Wirral Motorhome Club]

It appears to be the norm with vehicles nowadays. Thr new Renault Clio and Ford Fusion diesel which I have bought recently, both have a first service of 20000 miles. But I would contact Fiat uk or go for an italian meal and leave a good tip! You now wot oi mean?

[Guest Derek Uzzell]

If you do as Will suggests and visit a Fiat agent, you may find you can buy (or scrounge) an English-language service booklet from them. It might also be sensible to get them to look up your vehicle on the Fiat database (they will need the VIN number) to confirm when the warranty starts and its duration (probably 2 years) as there have been problems about this in the past. Failing that, you could always type the relevant sections of text in the Italian sevice booklet into an online translator (eg GOOGLE's Language Tools) that will produce an English equivalent that's normally good enough to make sense.

[Guest Neal]

John Just a thought (with my tongue firmly in my cheek!); doesn't 18,000 look the same in English and Italian? Regards Neal

[Guest ken]

John, the first service due for your motorhome will be before the 12 months is up from its very first inspection(pre delivery). I COLLECTED MY VAN IN JUNE 05 BUT ITS FIRST SERVICE WILL BE IN JANUARY 06. Make sure you check the dates as your warranty will be invalid, I phoned my local fiat dealer and they confirmed what Ive just said.All the best, ps, my warranty still runs for 3 years from june though.

[Guest peter goddard]

The information in our Fiat book gives service intervals and all other information in several languages, including English. Our 2.3 JTD appears to be made by Iveco and is in a completely family of engines from the 2 & 2.8 litre Fiat engines. All the service intervals are 50% greater than for the Fiat engines although we have a minor service done yearly, about 6000 miles.

[Guest Brian Kirby]

I had a similar problem with ours. Contacted Fiat technical, warranty department, and they sent me a copy of the English version of the warranty document. I was able to get an English copy of the handbook from the local Fiat commercial service centre, for about £5 if I remember. I neresting about the service interval being from date of PDI. I thought both this, and the warranty, ran from date of fires entry into circulation, i.e. the date of registration. After all you can't use it until it's registered. You lives and you learns! Brian

[Guest Mike C]

Hello Brian, You are correct. The start date for Warranty and UK Breakdown Insurance should be the date of registration. As an example, on a UK vehicle the coachbuilder may have the base vehicle PDI'd and this could be months before it is sold to a customer as a new vehicle. My Swift base vehicle was PDI'd in February and I purchased it in April. Warranty and AA cover commenced on date of registration. For imported vehicles sold in the UK as new, the dealer should notify the vehicle manufacturer of the date of registration and the warranty should commence on this date (This will probably not include Breakdown Insurance). The base vehicle will have gone on to the manufacturers database on date of PDI or sometimes date of Sale to coachbuilder and this will be modified by Fiat when they receive the registration details in the UK. The failure of a dealer to notify the base vehicle manufacturer of date of registration may well explain why some contributors to this forum have had difficulty with warranty claims and service schedules on imported vehicles. Not being a clever dick but have just spent time sorting out this very issue with Fiat et al. Regards, Mike C.

[Guest Brian Kirby]

Hello John, and thanks. Sorry about the previous typos, must be more careful in future! What caught my attention, however, was Ken's comment re the service interval. What Ken says above is that irrespective of the dates the warranty and breakdown cover commence, the first service becomes due 12 months from PDI, and not 12 months from registration. Since most of us seem likely to be servicing at the 12 months interval rather than at the 18,000 miles interval, that could make quite a difference to when a 'van's first service should actually be acrried out. Did you discover anything on that front during your investigations? Regards Brian

[Guest John Hinton]

Thank you all very much for your guidance. It just seemed a lot of miles before the first service. I can remember the time when you had to take a new vehicle back after a 1000 miles to have everything tightened down. I think I will take Derek's advice and find my nearest Fiat agent and try to scrounge an English service book. There was a note with the Italian service book, stamped & signed by Fiat Auto S.p.A. (in English) saying that there was a 24 month warranty starting from the first day of registration. Oh by the way Neal, I think 18,000 in English would be 28,968 in Italian, wouldn't it? Regards, John.

[Guest Mike C]

To clarify the situation about when the first service is due this is the information I have been given by Fiat Commercial and confirmed by my local Fiat dealer. Assuming that the vehicle has been correctly registered on the Fiat UK database the first service should be carried out at either the mileage interval (18000 miles) or 12 months from the date that Fiat are supplied with as the Date of Registration. It may well be that this date and the PDI date are the same. In the case of my Swift it was first registered on 11/04/05 and the 12 month anniversary is on the Fiat database at 03/05/05,the date that Fiat entered the registration details. Mileage from the PDI is covered under the mileage interval. This makes sense because of the sometimes long period between PDI and Sale. Should the purchaser be penalised by loss of warranty and the 1 year service interval? Fiat says no. Ken, May I suggest that you speak to Fiat Commercial (Tel: 0800 719000) to check that the 12 month anniversary for your vehicle has been correctly set up at the registration date and in which case your first service should be due in June 2006. Your dealer should be able to order for you a UK English language handbook set including the service book. John, Imported vehicles have a 2 year Fiat manufacturers warranty and 1 years dealer insurance warranty. Your dealer should be able to order a UK English language handbook set, including the service book, for you. Hope this is of assistance. Regards, Mike C.

[Guest Brian Kirby]

Hello Mike Many thanks for the above clarification. My apologies for not including you in my "hello" to John, since it was your information that started me off wondering about Ken's statement! Regards Brian

[Guest Brian]

You can probably order the service booklet from your Fiat garage. I did for my 2.8TD Ducatto, it relates to the van prior to conversion, costs £10 last year. The habitation side is obviousely a separate thing.