Dealer Service or Fast Fit????

bgatty68 · Post by **bgatty68** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:08 pm

Hi I was wondering has anyone ever taken their car for a service to Fast Fit, the reason i ask is thati went to book the Wife's Punto Grande in for a service at the main dealer and was shocked at £427 for a 2 year service yet Fast Fit charge £150. Any opinions welcome as to going to non-dealers, anyone been to this company?? Reason im asking about Fast Fit is i was there for new tyres as this is where i go due to the good service and low price and have seen their servicing advertised

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 12:17 pm

bgatty68 wrote:Hi I was wondering has anyone ever taken their car for a service to Fast Fit, the reason i ask is that i went to book the Wife's Punto Grande in for a service at the main dealer and was shocked at £427 for a 2 year service yet Fast Fit charge £150. Any opinions welcome as to going to non-dealers, anyone been to this company?? Reason im asking about Fast Fit is i was there for new tyres as this is where i go due to the good service and low price and have seen their servicing advertised

hi bgatty,

I just checked my service records and I was charged £235 for a 2 year/24,000 mile service from the supplying dealer - in the South-East of England as well - for a Punto Sporting.
Now that was back in 2004 but costs will not have gone up THAT much!
I think you should phone around and see if you can get a better price.

If you do go to Fast Fit or the like, you must make sure they use the correct - Fiat - parts to keep the warranty valid. Savings on copy-parts are not worth having!

FYI, once the car will be over 3 years old, many Fiat dealers do a bronze/silver/gold service and the silver service (which is essentially a Major service like the 2 year one) costs £120!

bgatty68 · Post by **bgatty68** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:06 pm

hoovie,
i'm gonna ask if they use genuine parts at fastfit but i will also look around for a cheaper price. The thing is you said a 24k/2year sdervice i was quoted a 2year/36k service and it seems to be more as it's a punto grande

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:43 pm

The Punto Grande is of course the replacement for the older Punto. A little larger, but not that different mechanically, so costs should be comparable.

To put it into another context, my RAV4 60k/6 year service - which is the most major one in the schedule is £310 - and Toyota Dealers are not renowned for the bargain labour rates!

schedules are usually 1 year/9,10 or 12K miles, depending on what comes first, so I would have thought the service is, strictly speaking, a 3 year/36K service?

Our £235 2 year service was actually at about 10,000 miles.
does the 36,000 miles service include something like a cambelt change? I am not sure what the recommended mileage is, but the time for the 1.2 16V is 5 years and the 5 year service (actually done at 25K miles) was £500 - but that included cambelt, waterpump, brakes discs AND the MOT, so that £427 looks very extreme still.

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 2:47 pm

PS - what do you think of the Grande Punto? which model is it?

Got the Punto Sporting at the moment which had from new (now 6 years old) and before that had the older Punto 55S from new for 5 years, so 11+ years of Puntos and very little ever went wrong (certainly never got stranded) so am thinking "Look elsewhere or just stay Punto "

bgatty68 · Post by **bgatty68** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 4:03 pm

Wife had the older punto before the grande and loved it. The grande is nice and feels great to drive and the safety is good ( plenty of air bags, meets eurpoean Ncap 5) but feels a little slower compared to the older car but as its a bit bigger had to expect it really. The only thing i would say is dont get the colour coded seats as Wife got the dark blue colour and the blue interior and blue seats to match and it has been nothing but trouble. It doesnt stay clean, if its raining and as you get in/out of car it stains the seats badly, spoke to dealer and he knows about the issue but doesnt help us.

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Mon Nov 10, 2008 4:59 pm

how much bigger does it "feel", would you say?

My wife has never driven a big car, just the Puntos and a Fiesta and she thought the Grande Punto looks 'too big'

I love the look of it as well ('specially in Black) - prefer it to the trendy 500 still

bgatty68 · Post by **bgatty68** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 1:18 pm

it feels twice as big, but like i say its still nice to drive, power steering is excellent and it feels sturdy. My wife had only ever driven small cars and says she now wishes she had the old shape again( no pleasing some people)

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 7:17 pm

I think in that case, we will stay away from the Grande as I reckon mine would probably have the same feeling. The current Punto still got a fair bit of life in it
Treated it to a bit of 'detailing' with a clay bar few weeks ago and came up all posh again

Post by **ultimatehandyman** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:52 pm

The girlfriend has a Punto and it is a pretty reliable little car, but the sump actually rusted through on it and had to be replaced.

Apparently it is a very common problem on Punto's

Another annoying thing is that the windscreen wiper mechanism works loose from time to time and only one wiper works as the connecting arm comes loose for the drivers side. It has pushed back on for now, but if it comes off again I'll have to bodge it properly

Hoovie · Post by **Hoovie** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 8:57 pm

I am about to service the wifes Punto - lets hope it survives! (not touched the oily end for about 20 years!)

The first punto had the exhaust suddenly fall off at about 3 years, but no rust problems anywhewre on either (that I know about!!)

bgatty68 · Post by **bgatty68** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:30 am

nice clean job there hoovie

while we are on the subject does going to a non dealer who doesn't use original parts for a service(

changing oil, plugs and doing 30 checks how this is considered a proper service

) can this void a manufacturers warranty

bgatty68 · Post by **bgatty68** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 11:32 am

i forgot what is a 'clay bar'

Raf · Post by **Raf** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 12:59 pm

clay bar is a polishing product; maguiers doing the best one (in value for money terms otherwise Zymmol are the best generally).

clay the car after a wash and it leaves the surface smooth like glass.

with regards to warranty you have to check your small print but general rule is that they will worm there way out of any claim if they can. using non genuine parts will be one the reasons.

£427 is quite expensive for a punto service; ring a few fiat dealers as their prices will vary, then see if your stealer will match it. other than that there will be authorised indys that can service your car; ask your warranty company who they recommend.

bgatty68 · Post by **bgatty68** » Fri Nov 14, 2008 2:49 pm

how expensive are they?? i will call around for a cheaper quote on the service

Dealer Service or Fast Fit????

Dealer Service or Fast Fit????

Re: Dealer Service or Fast Fit????