[hewesy]

We decided to hand our 500X back earlier this week, my wife now has a company car so we took the opportunity to hand the X back without penalty (this is an option within UK PCP finance, as long as you've paid 50% of the loan you can voluntarily terminate the agreement with no penalty costs or negative marker on your credit file).

I can't say I'm overly sorry to see the car go, yes it was a great drive (I spent a lot of time in it for work this year and it was a good comfy place to be) and yes the spec compared to other small SUV's is very high IMO. Sadly, I had all manner of issues (rattles, brakes, exhaust, trim issues etc etc) which my dealer was woeful at resolving, or even showing any interest in attempting to resolve. And on top of that, when I complained to Fiat after probably the 8th trip back to the dealers I was told "well you have version zero of the car, you should expect some issues". Fiat Care on Social Media are about as useful too.

So I don't think I'll be rushing back to get another Fiat, shame as I had planned to keep the car long term but boy am I glad I went down the PCP route with an exit clause!

I will have a few genuine accessories for sale, I'll start another thread with those (FYI I've got genuine: bulb kit, floor mats, roof bars, boot liner and boot bag plus non-genuine floor mats).

Hewesy

 

[Chestnut]

Sorry to see you go as you were a good contributor to this forum. I can see many doing this and not returning to Fiat.

 

[hewesy]

Thanks Chestnut that's very kind. I'll still keep an eye out here from time to time, never know when my tiny Fiat knowledge might come in handy!

I suspect the same, I think Fiat will retain a certain number of repeat customers for the 500/500C and Panda but I'm not sure how many customers they'll retain for their other models. Largely though in my case the biggest factor was the dealer, absolutely hopeless.

I had hoped to keep the car as it was a great drive and spec but I just tipped over the edge in living with the car's "quirks". Not to mention the only one who thought they were unacceptable in a £17k car was me...

Hewesy

 

[Chestnut]

I know I won't be sticking with the brand when it's time to move on.