Michael McAleer helps readers with their motoring problems
From Sandra Mooney, Dublin:
I'd like to know if any of your readers who bought a new Fiat Punto this year have experienced problems with the body computer? I bought a new car in Cork on May 17th and had an electrical power steering failure on July 31st. The car had to be towed to a Fiat garage in Swords, Co Dublin.
I was told it was a loose wire between the computers in the engine. However, on October 12th I had the same problem - and the Injection System Failure Light was on. I contacted Fiat Ireland on October 14th and they took the car away.
I had to chase them several times as no one bothered to let me know what was happening. I have now been informed that my car needs a body computer which has to be ordered from Italy and will take at least 10 working days. This is due to a waiting list for this particular part.
I don't know when I will get my car back. It has just over 5,500 miles on the clock and was obviously defective when I bought it. I have been extremely disappointed at the way Fiat Ireland has treated me and have also written to the Society of the Irish Motor Industry.
The dealer in Cork has told us he is following the situation but it was now being handled by Fiat Ireland. He had been contacted by the SIMI about the issue.
We contacted Fiat who said there is no overall problem with the body computers on Fiat Puntos. "Over 14,700 Puntos were registered here in 2001 and to date in 2002 and we have supplied just 368 body computers over these two years."
Fiat Ireland says that since it became aware of the problem on October 15th it has been proactive in its dealings with Ms Mooney. "We had the car taken from Ms Mooney's home to a dealer for a thorough check to establish the nature of the problem."
Joe Gantly, communications manager at Fiat Ireland, said: "Our customer care call centre tried to contact her without success on a number of occasions (I state this as a fact, not a criticism). We have offered her a Fiat Stilo as replacement car while the work on her car was being carried out. Ms Mooney declined the offer the first time it was made. Fiat Ireland says the new body computer was ordered on October 23rd and arrived last Friday. It expects the car to be ready as we go to press. Fiat says it regrets the problem and apologises to Ms Mooney for the inconvenience caused.
From Brendan Cullen, Crumlin:
I'm the owner of a 01 Seat Ibiza. Last week I had the misfortune to have a dent put in my rear nearside door while parked in a car park.
Needless to say the culprit left no details and, rather than go through the insurance (I'm only 25 so I wouldn't be worth it), I'm going to pay for it myself. I have an estimate for €300!
I've heard that where the dent is clean (no scratches) some places can perform cold repairs, in other words just press the dent out.
Have you heard of this?
First of all, most insurance policies have a €500 limit, below which claims do not effect your no claims bonus. So you should look at putting it through your insurance first.
Next, check out three or four of the bodyshops in the Crumlin area. They are in the phone book.
Get quotes for the job and from this, pay a visit to the best two and take a look at their work. With bodywork, if you go for the cheap option you could end up with a poor finish and a far harder job to fix it again.
A good repair on bodywork will pay off when you go to trade the car in of sell it. So cutting costs now could mean a lower trade-in or sales price later.