rolandrat Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Out of curiosity I called at Walton Summit Truck Centre near Preston to look at their service facilities and was very impressed. I saw numerous Fiat 3.0 ltr Comfortmatic Ambulances being serviced and was told that they average upwards of 250,000 miles and run trouble free apart from routine servicing. The clutches last a minimum of 75,000 miles but when one is changed it takes about 9 hours of labour. I asked about wheel bearing wear and was told that none have had to be replaced at all, but there again they're ambulances and not fully laden like motorhomes. Anyone who has any doubts about owning a Comfortmatic needn't worry one bit, its just confirmed what I've thought all along that they are a very good base vehicle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Good observation. Ambulances used to be sourced by local health authorities and each had different policies about what they liked or did not like. East Midlands Ambulance Service which includes Leics, Notts, Derbs and Northants had a strong Fiat connection since about 1995 and they ran Fiat's and Renaults up until 2011 when they tried some New Fiats and decided to go that way. Since 2012 Arriva have set up a supply and support service for front line ambulances which initially led to the supply of Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen vehicles; all with the Fiat 3.0 engine. The service has now been picked up by about 90% of authorities in the UK and because of the success of the Comfort-matic in service all of the non Fiat units will be replaced by the end of 2014. The vehicles are all serviced by main agents and only Fiat parts are fitted. In spite of the savings available by buying Bosch or other reputable after market parts; the agreement insists on traceability over cost. A bit mad, but the dealers are not complaining! One significant benefit of this is that more dealers than ever before are gaining in depth experience on Fiat Ducato product that they would previously never seen. In fact; our own knowledge bank could one day be eclipsed by a dealer....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robinhood Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 euroserv - 2014-07-17 1:15 PM One significant benefit of this is that more dealers than ever before are gaining in depth experience on Fiat Ducato product that they would previously never seen. In fact; our own knowledge bank could one day be eclipsed by a dealer....... Possibly even a VW one.......... ;-) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/transport/10973121/Fiat-shares-rise-on-VW-merger-talks-report.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 Never going to happen. At least not as that article suggests. VW have ended their agreement with Mercedes for the Sprinter/LT/Crafter and will not have a heavy van after next year. There is potential for a tie up with Iveco for that; and it could be this that is under discussion; especially since Fiat decided to offer the Ducato and not Daily in US markets. VW could market the Daily over there? There is a Chinese firm that has first dibs on Iveco Truck and that would include vans. Iveco (Fiat) could not afford to risk upsetting that agreement because of the strong sales in China of their joint venture products. Sergio Marchionne will not sell Alfa Romeo, and it is this brand and only this brand that VW has been trying to buy for about 5 years now. The idea of VW brands being sold alongside Chrysler's in the States is stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colin Posted July 17, 2014 Share Posted July 17, 2014 rolandrat - 2014-07-17 12:31 PM I asked about wheel bearing wear and was told that none have had to be replaced at all, but there again they're ambulances and not fully laden like motorhomes. I'm going to guess these are 4.05t maxi vans and in service weigh at least as much as a 3.5t campervan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rolandrat Posted July 17, 2014 Author Share Posted July 17, 2014 Perhaps Euroserv can confirm that, all I saw was all the ambulances that were at some stage of servicing. The service manager didn't say what type of chassis they were, but all were van based what I saw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 I can see the value of strict a dealer-service-only, manufacturer-parts policy to an organisation with a big fleet which runs continuously because of the "big picture" control it will allow. But does that mean we MH owners should use the same dealers and also insist on Fiat-only parts? I have had my eight year old Fiat-based Hymer serviced by a local garage since new and I think he uses as-available aftermarket parts. Maybe I've been lucky but so far no disasters. I have only done about 40,000 miles in eight years. I live near Walton Summit and did once ring them uo about the cruise control dropping out and eventually failing completely. My local garage owner reckoned it would need their facilities to fix. They were happy to book it in to investigated but I was comitting myslef to potentially expensive hourly costs so I held back. Then the brake light failed. The "lad" at my local garage was the only one around when I called and he looked at the brake light switch and a bulb but then found a failed fuse - which fixed both brake light and cruise control problems! Neither of us could understand how. Took him 15 minutes and he didnlt charge me, presumably because I'm a regular customer. They do all the routine servicing and changed my cam belts a while ago for example. What say Euroserv? Should we MH owners use local garages or Fiat dealers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Within the vehicle warranty period, I use a Fiat Professional garage. Outside this period, I use a garage I can trust who is experienced in dealing with motorhomes. On occasions, that has been a Fiat Professional garage. It depends on where we are living. For most things, I believe a knowledge of motorhomes is more important than a knowledge of Fiats. For the last few years, I've used Platts of Longton, Stoke who are Fiat Professional dealers and were recommended on this forum. They understand Fiats, motorhomes - offering different service options depending on use, do a good enough job, are easy to find, and have ample parking for motorhome sized vehicles I used to use C&M Auto Services in Lancaster [ex TB Turbos staff] but they don't do warranty work for Fiat. They know their stuff though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
euroserv Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 StuartO and others; This is a thorny issue to be sure. In the case of motorhomes, where the mileage covered between scheduled services is small I would be reluctant to pay high labour charges and premium prices for oils and other parts. I just don't think that a main dealer adds any significant value; especially when (as long as you use a competent garage and they use equivalent or original parts) it won't compromise your ability to claim on the warranty should the need arise. Some independents also have considerably more experience with these vehicles over the longer term (we do) and some do not. There are peculiarities and quirks with all brands; experience of them is the key to cost effective diagnoses of faults, not so much expensive diagnostic tools! On the other hand, when the vehicle will be in constant use and stressed for much of it's life while still responding to emergencies the reassurance and 'comeback' that you get from using a main agent is worth paying a premium for. Our policy is a combination of the above. When it comes to parts; we use mostly originals except for oil filters which can bought for half the price and are just as good and rotating electrics which have OE part numbers on them as well as Bosch or Marelli numbers for a lot less money. They are the same items! One thing to bear in mind is that the Truck sites that are also Fiat agents are always going to have cheaper labour rates than car dealers. They are used to getting much lower rates from the transport operators and are inclined to be more realistic. For this reason we use our local Daf/Fiat site for cambelt replacements these days. They can do the job with Fiat parts for not much more than we can. It leaves our workshop clear for more reactional work like wiring faults, and our lovely customers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StuartO Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 Brock - 2014-07-18 9:26 AM .....I used to use C&M Auto Services in Lancaster [ex TB Turbos staff] but they don't do warranty work for Fiat. They know their stuff though. I used TB Turbos in Lancaster before and during their time as a Fiat Dealer and was happy with them. Sad when they went bust (what was the story?) and now pleased to hear their staff are still accessible in C&M Autos. I see they have a website: http://candmauto.co.uk/ and they are fairly close to where TBTurbo used to be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 For Fiat service we would recommend Brownhills, they are Fiat professional accredited, and clearly know about motorhomes. We have always found them to be excellent. Can not wait for September when we will have our new Fiat based Rapido so can have service work and any warrenty work done at one place, Brownhills rather than the hassel we have now with our Ford based Tribute which is serviced at Brownhills but warrenty work done at local Ford main agent who are not helpful and do not know anything about motorhomes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertandjean Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 For Fiat service we would recommend Brownhills, they are Fiat professional accredited, and clearly know about motorhomes. We have always found them to be excellent. Can not wait for September when we will have our new Fiat based Rapido so can have service work and any warrenty work done at one place, Brownhills rather than the hassel we have now with our Ford based Tribute which is serviced at Brownhills but warrenty work done at local Ford main agent who are not helpful and do not know anything about motorhomes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DuxDeluxe Posted July 18, 2014 Share Posted July 18, 2014 euroserv - 2014-07-17 2:21 PM Sergio Marchionne will not sell Alfa Romeo, and it is this brand and only this brand that VW has been trying to buy for about 5 years now. The idea of VW brands being sold alongside Chrysler's in the States is stupid. I would agree with that but Sergio will do anything he thinks is strategically right and has an astonishing track record of getting it right. This man is something else - sorted my company out, good and proper. Still our chairman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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