Another Fiat Chrysler spare parts fiasco and what to do about it
An unsolicited e-mail from a typical, ripped-off Chrysler 300C owner shows why the Fiat Chrysler / Stellantis brand is in trouble. Here's what happened...
If you own a vehicle from the Stellantis (nee Fiat Chrysler) catalogue, such as a Jeep, Alfa Romeo, Chrysler or Fiat, their aftersales support has failed again.
In 2020, Fiat Chrysler Australia boss, Kevin Flynn, promised he was going the spare parts department a thorough inspection and reducing the cost of over 17,000 bits of replacement car.
I reported on their recently failings in this regard: Yet another Jeep spare parts disaster >> and Jeep caves in over family's massive $50k diesel fuel system repair bill >>
And in the recent past, Jeep has also tried to blame online trolls for their sales plunge, which is complete rubbish.
Kevin Flynn said last year:
But it seems their dealers perhaps haven’t gotten that email - maybe it’s in their junk folder.
A guy named Pete contacted me with two pieces of bad news, 1. he’d bought a Chrysler 300C in his past; and 2. it had a problem. Knock me down with a feather.
Pete said:
Put my car in for a service check earlier this week, a service check because it has been a year and it needs to be done, not for the mileage. They diagnosed a "noisy water pump". The car is a 5yo Chrysler 300 with 40,000km…
The quote came back at just over $2,000, installed.
-Pete
I’m not surprised, but it does contradict their rhetoric last year about fixing up their parts pricing. They clearly have not.
Pete is also a very understanding consumer, certainly more generous with his reaction to such a figure than many others would be, I’m sure. He says:
It seemed a generous amount for what is a relatively simple pump. In reality, it will just be a worn bearing, but of course you can’t replace that, you need to replace the whole assembly. I guess this is supposed to justify the price…
I will get the work done, but here's the grind. If I work with approximations, then 4 hours’ labour should be enough to do the work, (half a day) at $150 an hour there goes $600, and I can work with that. But that means the water pump must be approx. $1400. This is a sticking point.
I totally agree with Pete on this. Let’s say a car is 5000 parts, and a water pump is one-five-thousandth of the total car. That’s, roughly, $7 million to build a Chrysler 300 from genuine spares. Sounds about right, and by that I mean ‘wrong’.
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The Internet: Doing your own research
Of course, in the modern day, it’s relatively easy to do your own due diligence on parts pricing, especially internationally.
There’s e-Bbay (although I advise against it), warehouse direct outlets, auto parts stores, you can send emails to overseas brands and buy parts directly from the factory (almost) and have them shipped at a fraction of the cost a dealer might impose upon you, despite having the same part already on a shelf locally.
It takes 5 minutes to find a genuine parts in the US for a fraction of the price - well done, Fiat Chrysler Australia.
In Pete’s case, he probably visited Mopar.com or factorychryslerparts.com and found he could’ve, hypothetically, told the exorbitant dealer to ‘shove it’, metaphorically. This is what he found:
I went to the manufacturer spare parts site in USA, where that part is available, and it even has a special discount price applicable right now, $210, plus shipping, reduced from $237. The pump is complete, including gasket kit, bolts, studs, ready to install.
Typical. When are these Australian dipshits - no reference to individuals is made - when are they going to realise we have the internet now? This kind of naked profiteering is a complete disincentive to become a customer.
Pete continues, rather altruistically:
I understand companies cannot be benevolent societies. But it is a really big margin at the full list price, to get from US$210 (AU$280), to AU$1400. Looks like about 400% margin to me, although shipping, and holding the shelf stock needs to be accounted for.
Maybe I shouldn't be surprised. More surprising is the fact that the water pump failed at 40,000 kilometers (24,000 miles), and you can’t just replace the bearings. It’s the way of the world, the accountants rule.
And car companies claim to be ‘green’, and one of the most manifestly un-green is having to throw away an entirely serviceable water pump because it needs a couple of new bearings pressed into it. That’s a filthy business model, so wasteful of resources, and a terrible deal financially for the consumer.
The bean counters who have come up with this system clearly don’t care about being green, they just want to reduce costs. Instead of having one part on a shelf in your warehouse, you would have three or four packets including the bearings, impellers, shaft and the water pump housing. This is a more expensive logistics operation which would take 5000 parts stored to 15,000 parts.
Pete also shared his views on this kind of spare parts serviceability problem in relation to electric vehicles.
Issues like these will surely become a future sticking point for service departments, when EVs eventually become a viable alternative. Managing that transition will be a truly exciting experience for support managers. Issues like these will surely hasten that transition.
I don’t necessarily agree with Pete here, but someone at some stage of their life is surely going to come across the service department quote with a figure that blows you away.
So how do you respond this kind of situation?
Having your warranty expired is quite different to ‘acceptable quality’ under the Consumer Guarantees under Australian Consumer Law. You can read ACL in detail here >>
Your manufacturer’s warranty can run out after a number of years, but your consumer warranty continues long after that carmaker warranty expires. And the manufacturer’s warranty cannot impact on what you’re entitled to under Consumer Law.
Basically, a carmaker’s warranty cannot tell you you’re not entitled to a remedy or refund for a major failure, nor can their warranty restrict you from having an independent mechanic service your vehicle using quality, fit-for-purpose parts.
Some carmakers, not all, pray on your ignorance of these consumer laws, which have existed since January 1, 2011. A dealership cannot sidestep their obligation to you, or Pete, if a part fails much longer than an ordinary person would expect it to last.
If a dealer denies your warranty claim, go home, take time to research the ACCC Complaint Letter and use it to write to them and use all the important consumer law keywords.
Once you hit them with all the key consumer law points, that tells them you know the rules and they are likely to back down and ‘readjust’ their quote to you. Pete would’ve been entitled to a free repair for his water pump, which shouldn’t have failed to early in its life.
Chrysler said in 2020 it did (or was doing) a review of all their parts sold in 2019 to have them ‘realigned’. That’s pretty clearly either bullshit, or they only did a half-arsed job.
Buying cars: Eliminate dud brands & shop around
My next piece of advice is to just clear of dud brands. There are several very good brands selling high quality cars and which offer reasonable parts and servicing should you find yourself needing a new water pump like Pete, or some other significant repair.
If a dealer quote seems excessive, get independent quotes from a trusted independent brand specialist, or multiple specialists. There are people out there who live and breathe your make and model of vehicle, they think about those cars all day, they probably even drive one daily, and they work on them all the time. They know how to get you the parts cheap, and they can often fit them much quicker than the dealer.
And remember, an independent mechanic’s business is hinged on saving you money. If the small independent mechanic isn’t able to be a cheaper alternative to the dealership, he’s going to lose business. It’s almost a given that the friendly bloke in the slightly dusty independent workshop will be cheaper than the shiny expensive dealership - and if you’re mechanically minded to the point you’d like to know what’s going on with your car, he’ll probably let you have a look underneath.
But get quotes, do an hour’s research and make calls - don’t take the dealer’s quote as the only option available.
And on Pete’s idea that EVs will change this part pricing extorsion, it won’t solve this problem. Electric vehicles are still bound by the same kinds of commercial dynamics; coolant pumps, wheel bearings, suspension bushes, air-conditioners and parts of this nature are still going to fail.
If you’re about to drop $50,000 on an electric vehicle from upstart carmaker BYD, you might like to hear about the customer ‘support’ one Canberran couple received after a major battery failure on the highway…