This review refers to a branch of FIAT in WEST Kent:

The fiat range of cars are fairly good. The build quality is reasonable, and the rustproofing is good. The styling is fairly modern, but it could be better. Reliability is down to luck. Some fiats are very very reliable, whilst others are on ebay for "spare parts" within five years.

I had a fiat for some years. I purchased it from new, and I loved the car. The sales department were "friendly" when I parted with my money. That's where the "friendliness" stopped. Their attitude changed once I had bought the car. They were not interested in problems, and even "twisted the truth" just to fob me off!

My fiat made a light knocking noise from the engine area. It only happened occasionally, and went away once the engine had been revved. One saturday I checked the car's oil and the level was perfectly normal ... well clear of the "min" mark. The car was booked into fiat's "lovely" service dept the following week, so that they could investigate the noise. After an inspection they claimed that I had let the oil level drop below the "minimum" mark. This is complete and utter rubbish. As I mentioned above, I checked the oil a few days earlier, and the car wasn't burning oil. I gave up trying to solve the problem, and the knocking noise continued for several years! I had no failures, no oil-burning, no breakdowns .... nothing. The knocking noise was unrelated to oil, which I checked regularly. The noise even occurred with the oil level at MAX (cold engine).

Later that year I had the foolish thought of returning to the same dealership for my fiat's annual service. They kept me waiting in the reception area for a good few minutes. I could see this stupid girl and one of her dummy colleagues looking at me in the back office, giggling. Is this the way you treat your customers?! I'm paying their wages, and they carry on like a bunch of adolescents! I vowed never to return to that dealership. They have lost TWO car sales due to their attitude ... they've cost themselves over £20,000 in lost car sales .... congrats :-)

I had the next service done in another fiat branch. A 10,000 mile service cost me ..... get ready for it ...... £190!!!!! The grease-monkeys seemed friendly, but the customer-facing staff were offish. After that I serviced the car myself. The car was 100% reliable to the day I parted with it!!!!!

Confucious say: Man who drops watch down toilet has crappy time.

I say: Dealership who treats customers like crap will see crap on their annual sales figures.