Service - the bane of Palio . Review on Palio - Petrol

I bought a Paliopetrol in 2003. The product is problematic to some extent. So, even with a smooth driving style and good maintenance, small problems keep appearing. But one can still tolerate those small problems as long as they are corrected properly, in the first go, at an authorised service station/ dealer. But my experience with Fiat service centres has been pathetic, to say the least.

I would like to highlight 2 of the problems for which I had to repeatedly go to the service centre:

A. Coolant Leak - After 18 months and 20,000 kms, the car suddenly started heating up in a few minutes of travel. As the service time was near, I took the car for a complete service and told the problem of overheating. Now my visits:

1. For service - they opened the hood and saw that there was no coolant. Diagnosis - Did not bother to check the problem. Just refilled the coolant. Result - car heating again in 10 days.

   
   




2. Second visit - bothered to lift the car and look for leakage. Diagnosis - leak from plug on timing side. Changed plug, pump etc. Result - car heating again in 15 days.

   
   




3. Third visit - bothered to lift the car and look for leakage. Diagnosis - leak from plug on gearbox side this time. Changed plug etc. Result - car heating again in 15 days.

   
   




4. Fourth visit - bothered to lift the car and look for leakage. Diagnosis - leak from pipe. Changed pipe etc. On a lot of scolding to look for the real problem, they said the problem was with the thermostat, which has now been reset. Result - this repair was done a week back...let's hope for the best.

   
   

B. Rankling Noise from car rear - After 2 months and 2,000 kms, the car started producing a noise from the rear side while running. Some of these visits happened during the warranty and some later. Now my visits:

1. First visit - did not bother to look for noise. Diagnosis - Nothing - could not hear any noise. Result - no action.

   
   




2. Second visit - bothered to look for the problem. Diagnosis - faulty rear door setting - correction supposedly done. Result - noise persists

   
   




3. Third visit - bothered to look for the problem. Diagnosis - faulty rear shocker setting - correction supposedly done. Result - noise persists

   
   




4. Fourth visit - bothered to look for the problem. Diagnosis - silencer displaced - correction supposedly done. Result - noise persists

   
   




5. Fifth visit - bothered to look for the problem. Diagnosis - Finally found that a hand brake spring was causing the noise- correction done. Result - noise disappeared

   
   

The problems were small but the service took very long. In summary -

• They are not able to detect the source of the problem at the first attempt and keep solving a problem which does not exist.

  
  




• One has to go to the service station again and again for the same problem. They keep changing parts which are fine.

  
  




• In addition to the trouble of visiting the service station time and again, one has to spend money over and over.

  
  

For several problems, I have been to Palio service stations 3-4 times each. I think the real issue is:

• Either the service personnel are not trained properly because they do not seem to understand the car

  
  




• Or, more seriously, the service centres just cheat their customers as they dont have enough volumes to sustain business as Palio does not sell in good numbers now.

  
  

Anyways, the car is now doomed. This is also borne by the fact that inspite of launching the Palio D, Palio NV and then Petra, sales have continued to slide.

All passionate Palio lovers who read this review, please do the following before commenting -

1. Read the title carefully

   
   




2. Just ponder on why inspite of a good product and excellent positioning, sales of Palio have fallen drastically.