Thoughts on new Fiat dealers?

[Kevin1]

Our new local dealership in Portland, Maine has been a huge disappointment so far.
Early on I contacted them repeatedly to find out: 1. when they were opening, 2. Dates of a "grand Opening" event, 3. If we could arrange a group of Fiat owners and their cars to attend the opening, and 4. When they would have the 500 on the lot, and which models would be available for a test drive. Only one email was answered (no phone calls answered or returned) and it only said "We are open M-F 9-7, Sat 9-5." That's it! No local advertising , newspaper, radio or cable. As if invisibility was their marketing strategy. No one local I have talked to even knew a Fiat dealer had opened in Maine!
Maybe dealers in other areas are actually trying to draw attention and sell cars but Quirk seems to be treating their Fiat franchise like an unloved stepchild to their other dealerships. Has anyone on the forum found their dealership to be better than this?

[ga.spyder]

Hey Kevin..I have heard some good reports on some very active dealerships(Criswell,Hendrick,Fiat of Austin,etc..),but it seems a lot are more like yours!Its a shame,too.I have recently spent a good bit of time with a new 500 and people love the car.The dealers should be all over this,it is a right car at the right time.The lack of national advertising is very disappointing to me also.The dealer in Nashville isnt interested enough to return calls to the FFO organizing commitee!!The CEO,Ms. Soave, will be at FFO and the local dealership knows nothing about it?? Not a good sign.

[grittracing]

so what you are saying is dont come for the lobster expecting to drop in a the fiat dealer!

I would suggest. Email "Fiat" co. And telling them exactly what you just told us. They dont know unless we open our mouths. I know that is not the representation they want put out .there.

Matter of fack 90% of companies would love more feed back. I was dealing with a dealer i bought a new car from 2 years later had warranty issue went to get a new Battery and it took me emailing the corp office to get one. But i got it!

[spidernut]

My local Honda dealership also owns a large Chrysler dealership which is now "carrying the Fiat line" as he stated. He said the indoctrination given to the new "Fiat mechanics" amounted to a bunch of burly Dodge pickup truck mechanics walking around the 500 and saying "you want us to work on this thing?" Not a good start with some of the dealerships.

Mopar is essentially a company that produces a bunch of sedans and trucks on steroids - now it is owned by a foreign company that produces essentially small cars. I can only imagine the animosity that many of the Mopar dealers and service personnel are thinking.

[Mad-Machine]

why does this remind me of the last time Fiat sold cars in the US?

[sptcoupe]

There are four dealers in the Houston area, one of which has been extremely active, and the service has been great. In this case, the FIAT Studio Director has actively associated himself with our local group, has organized FIAT promotional events, had a large number of old and new cars (500s) at a major Italian show just recently, and has a very active Facebook page - and all of this before their Studio (Completely separtare from the Chrysler facility) has even opened and FIAT releasing cars to them.

On the service end, I had to get my Prima in for an oil change, but was having a hard time doing that with my travel schedule. When I talked to the dealer, he told me to bring the car in on the way to the airport, and that they would take me to and pick me up from the airport, which is about a 55 mile round trip from the dealer. And they did just that. The service manager called me twice when I was on the road to let me know the service was complete, and two days after I was back, I got a call from their FIAT Customer Relations Manager asking me if everything was OK. And when I got the car back, it was newly washed and vacuumed.

I have also had direct calls from FIAT in Detroit as they work through issues like the key programming issue, etc, giving me regular updates and asking me for any other isuses I have found (see the posts under the New 500 forum).

Not sure how much more they could do for service, but it has been a better experience than our Mercedes dealer has ever offered.

[boogiedude]

I went with a friend to the the only fiat dealership in the state and had a pretty bad experience too. There were about 35-40 cars all lined up outside and inside the dealership, but not a single salesman or representative anywhere! We wandered around inside the showroom for a little while sitting in the different trim levels and just checking things out when a sleazeball salesman walks over and proceeds to talk down to the two of us(I'm 20 and he's in his late 20's) about the cars and their features etc. He then told me he had a prima edizione available that someone had ordered but backed out of and offered me a finders fee if I found someone interested in the car of a whopping......... $20

The show room was also pretty bare and boring and they had a few t-shirts on display but none for sale

[manoa matt]

And if you really want to split hairs, the dealership in Hawaii is the only one in the whole country that is not a Fiat dealership. Most places it's: Fiat of Chicago, Fiat of Cincinnati, etc. Here Its: Cutter Fiat.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/business/ ... wroom.html

"Most of Fiat's new U.S. dealerships were required to follow the "Fiat of (market)" naming convention, but an exception was made here as the Cutter name has been synonymous with auto sales in Hawaii for decades."

Were they thinking if they named it Fiat of Honolulu, they would not sell any cars???

[sptcoupe]

I really think anyone who has had a bad experience should take the time to contact Detroit and l;et them know, with specifics. They seem to be genuinely interested in the "customer experience", and I think FIAT will take these instances seriously. I am traveling and don't have the number to call/email contact handy. Can anyone post it?

[Kevin1]

I really think anyone who has had a bad experience should take the time to contact Detroit and l;et them know, with specifics. They seem to be genuinely interested in the "customer experience", and I think FIAT will take these instances seriously. I am traveling and don't have the number to call/email contact handy. Can anyone post it?

Consider it done. For anyone else on the forum interested in contacting Fiat there are three addresses listed on their customer service website. Notice the footnote referenced to Mr. Marchionne's email address. . . how can it take up to two months to reply to an email and still be considered acceptable? I feel neglectful if I don't get back to one of my customers the same day.

Primary contact

Laura Soave
Head of Fiat North America
laura.soave@chrysler.com
(248) 576-5741

Secondary contact

Alfredo Altavilla
Fiat SpA Senior Vice President of Business Development, Member of Group Executive Council and Chief Executive Officer of Fiat Powertrain Technologies
alfredo.altavilla@fiat.com
39-011-006-1111

Chief executive(*)

Sergio Marchionne
President and CEO
sergio.marchionne@fiatgroup.com
(248) 576-5741

* Executives should only be contacted when your letter or email has not been acknowledged within six to eight weeks.

[So Cal Mark]

my experience with Fiat of Costa Mesa or Orange Coast Fiat or whatever other nickname they are using today was also pretty negative. Besides the typical rip-off tactics when buying a new car, they submitted the registration with the wrong bank listed as lienholder. My finance company is understandably pissed about this and I'm still trying to get it sorted out with DMV. I was really hoping that new Fiat dealerships would operate differently, but by merely letting Chrysler dealers open Fiat stores it's just the same old tired song when trying to buy a car.
The local dealer in Ontario which is only a few miles away still isn't open and getting return calls from the GM is hit and miss. I also offered to arrange a So Cal FLU gathering for the grand opening without much success. He did call me about a month ago and said he was following up on leads from customers that wanted to buy a Dodge Charger and wanted to know if I still wanted one.
Getting return calls and email from my Customer Service contact is pretty poor too. Every once in awhile he sends me an email with his cell ph and tells me to call anytime. I respond to the email and call, leave a message on voice mail and never am able to talk to him.

[ga.spyder]

Ms. Soave and Mr. Altavilla will both be at FFO..the rep from the Fiat studio in Nashville,probably wont!!!Ridiculous.Hendrick and one of the Atl. dealerships are planning to send cars and reps of their studio.I guess we get the good with the bad?

[baltobernie]

I guess we get the good with the bad?

The Good: Fiats before 1986
The Bad: Fiats built afterward

[BEEK]

im going over to fields fiat in orlando this week. im going to drive my spider, when i get there im going to tell them. "im glad you guys are back in business, my poor old car has not been serviced since 1982, i need a tune up and timing belt." then watch the reaction

[ga.spyder]

I would pay to see that !!