Brand new UK Vauxhall Corsa supplied by a lease company for my partner's driving school.
Less than 2000 miles. Base model.
Passenger side windscreen wiper starts to scratch the windscreen glass.(left hand side).
Taken for warranty repair to lease company's authorised garage.
Indépendant garage shows me that the entire wiper mechanism is loose before removing the plastic panels around the mechanism.
Indépendant Garage identifies problem as a broken windscreen wiper mechanism.
New wiper mechanism and windscreen required.
Stellantis response;
We are accused of "hanging" some sort of weight on the windscreen wiper to break it. WARRANTY CLAIM UNDER REVIEW. Under review of my right foot up their arse lol
Legally of course we are protected by consumer law... perhaps Stellantis have an exemption???
Garage response and my response;
You know what we're going to say......Stellantis build crap cars. Thank god this isn't my own money.
LOL you can't make this up
I thought Kia/Hyundai are unique in dishonoring their warranty, but it seems Stellantis is keeping up with them.
Your example is of coarse ridiculous. The car is so new everything should be covered. A wiper arm coming loose and scratching the wind screen is a rare event but it is definitely on Stallantis. Where in the owners manual are you instructed to tighten the wipers periodically.
That being said you mentioned Kia. The big trouble with Kia in the states has more to do with the dealers than the company. Every time I have had warranty issue I called Kia's customer service hot line and they fixed it in my favor. I live on the east coast and Kia is on the west coast. That's 3 or 4 time zones. The dealers know you can't get a hold of anybody at Kia before 12PM. That's why they call early in the morning and demand an answer right away. If you approve they can get paid twice. Once by you and then once by Kia. They are very good at intimidating women especially housewives who need their car back and don't want to aggravate their husbands. All car dealer do this but Kia dealers seem to be the worst. Hyundia recently set up a 24 hour help line and I hope Kia follows suit. I had a steering rack go bad on an old Kia. The dealer said the rack would take about 5 days to get and they wanted $1,100. They said the rack I would be getting would be a rebuilt which was fine by me as long as the car was drive-able. I said go ahead an hour later I checked my email and found a survey from Kia asking how the service was. I wrote back "When I get the car back the I will tell you but the car is not finished". They had submitted a warranty claim for the exact same work they were charging me for. Seems the rack was considered part of the drive train. I got an angry phone call from the service manager. The dealer called the next day and the car was ready free of charge and a brand new rack was installed. The average Joe would have waited the 5 days and paid never being the wiser.
While Kia and Stallantis are not known for there high quality it sounds to me like a dealer issue. I assume in the UK they have some customer service hot line just like in the states.
This is not an endorsement of any particular car brand. Sorry to be so long winded. Opposing viewpoints are welcomed.
Just don't tell my wife.
