[Mr. Pickles]

Not sure if I highlighted my ordering fun but here it goes:



June 4 I ordered car
order is placed June 6
June 8 I get VIN
For the first 2-3 weeks I get the ol "it's in pre-production from the FIAT help line.
My dealer calls...tells me it's actually in production (she calls same number I did)
I called back...told..preproduction
a week or two later..it's in production according to the Fiat line
I see on local dealer's web page, same color and model is coming but is a Lounge with every option (dealer bumps trade to make Mr./Mrs. Pickles happy
I start calling on both cars..just to see what info they can provide.

Last Tuesday...Fiat help line tells me my original car doesn't exist anymore. The VIN pulls up nothing.
The replacement Lounge is currently sitting at the Teluca plant awaiting final loading to choo choo train.
I call dealer with info...she calls...finds out my original car is still in production but that replacement Lounge is on Rail 2 and is scheduled to depart July 27th.
(original ship date for Lounge was June 23rd)
Dealer says....car will probably arrive at their studio first week....second week of August.
2 hours later...dealer calls me back and says..Nevermind, it just pulled up on a truck. it's here.

This morning, Fiat USA calls me back to tell me my Lounge (the replacement) is to ship out July 26th.....I tell the fellow...um, it's here. I sat in it last night.

Oh! He says. cool!


So...what they tell you...may not be accurate. I think they are going off the info they have...but that's not up to date or flat out wrong.

The Fiat web site still shows my Lounge in transit.

Confused yet?

 

[Azzurro]

lol, that's really all over the place. So hard to get a straight answer.

 

[Deron]

Me thinks FIAT needs to hire some Communications Analysts. Yikes.

 

[GotFiat]

that's why when i was at the studio and someone said special order i panicked and started looking around for alt. and the quoted wait time now is 90days! 90days!!

 

[FIAT5]

Mine took a day....bought it off the lot in April. loaded bianco sport, manual! Im going to be ask...why order one? The dealer has loads of them sitting on all the lots and its not like there are a million different options on these cars to configure. choose a pop, lounge or sport...then auto or manual, then color and you are all good and get your car that day!

BTW im loving this 90 days wait....better resale value so far

 

[Mr. Pickles]

If you are looking for a sport, pop, or lounge 500, you have a large selection.
If you wanted a 500C, you have 2 or 3 per dealership to choose from. I wanted a specific color and no one had it anywhere. No one still has it. Mine is the only one I've seen in 5 dealerships. I've been looking for 2 plus months.

 

[Kananott]

Mine took a day....bought it off the lot in April. loaded bianco sport, manual! Im going to be ask...why order one? The dealer has loads of them sitting on all the lots and its not like there are a million different options on these cars to configure. choose a pop, lounge or sport...then auto or manual, then color and you are all good and get your car that day!

BTW im loving this 90 days wait....better resale value so far

I wish my dealer had manuals. They are nearly all automatics ($1000 extra), or wrong color, or they have something I don't want.

 

[Deron]

If you are looking for a sport, pop, or lounge 500, you have a large selection.
If you wanted a 500C, you have 2 or 3 per dealership to choose from. I wanted a specific color and no one had it anywhere. No one still has it. Mine is the only one I've seen in 5 dealerships. I've been looking for 2 plus months.

Ditto. I've scanned Lounges across the country and have yet to see what I ordered.

 

[ABARTH]

Through a source very close to the plant I've found out that there was a big problem with a batch of instrument clusters (infomation centre) They had to park all the finished cars until replacement clusters arrived.

At least they are no knowingly releasing a car that is not ready yet.

 

[Deron]

Through a source very close to the plant I've found out that there was a big problem with a batch of instrument clusters (infomation centre) They had to park all the finished cars until replacement clusters arrived.

At least they are no knowingly releasing a car that is not ready yet.

Absolutely!