Anybody get called yet from Fiat about Prima Edizione Delivery?

[Joe Dolgetta]

Hi Chris, also wanted to let you know that Fiat of South Atlanta has a Facebook page with pictures of there facility being built.

Regards,
Joe D

[Joe Dolgetta]

Hi Chris,

I thought I sent you a email before my last to tell you all about Fiat of South Atlanta, and the very pleasant call I had with Tom Elliott who is the Fiat Studio main sales rep. I felt a whole lot better after speaking to Tom. He knows everything about the PE program, and is ready to start taking in the PEs next week. I told him that I would try and have my car re-routed to his place if possible. I would much rather take delivery at Fiat of South AtL since they are totally up to speed on the program. You can contact Tom at: 770-242-6342, [e-mail]

Cheers,

Joe D

[AllenR]

Thank you Paul.

Sadly I received a reply this morning that the Fiat studio in Tulsa has been cancelled.  There is still an official Fiat website for Fiat of Tulsa, which I find a little misleading, but I'm sure website maintenance is somewhere down on the list of priorities right now.  

Having had many friends buy early Mini's with no local support,  and the headache of taking half a day off work to go across the state to go to a dealership,  I do not wish to continue with my Fiat purchase.  If I find out that this e-mail communication was mistaken, or if in the future a studio does open in Tulsa, I will probably be a customer of the brand, until then, Ciao.

[Mike S]

I was going to change the delivering dealer to the Sarasota dealer and Fiat informed me there would be an additional delay getting my car. They would first send it to the Ft. Lauderdale dealer and then to Sarasota.

I passed on that and will bitch at the delivering dealer.

Some good news, the CIAOFIAT line now has roadside assistance when you call.

[sjmst]

Mike S wrote

I
Some good news, the CIAOFIAT line now has roadside assistance when you call.

Should be more like phoneside assistance since none of us have our cars.

[cinquecento]

Actually the roadside assistance has been going for roughly a week now I believe, I did chuckle just a bit when I realized that roadside assistance was one of the very first things FIAT implemented here.  Irony?

[FiATL]

Joe, thanks for the update.  More Atlanta info.  I have spoken with the people in South Atlanta and they are VERY enthused about the Fiat franchise.  

I also spoke with Janet at Fiat today regarding Mall of GA.  I was not the only person who has had issues with their lack of knowledge.  My call to Janet was prompted by a call I make to Mall of GA this morning.  After getting passed around only to end up in someone's voice mail, I called Fiat USA.  As soon as I hung up with Janet, Russell Porter called from Mall of GA as he was monitoring the calls when mine came in and was very frank about the sudden departure of their Fiat guy.  He did tell me that my car and others were on the way to their location and that they should have their dealer license in the next 10 days and that he (or the Fiat replacement they were interviewing for right now) would personally follow and make sure my car got delivered as soon as it arrived.  

Janet at Fiat told me if I had any more issues w/ Mall of GA to call her.  If I do, I will demand that my car get transferred to South Atlanta.  I spoke with Thomas on the phone and met two really enthusiastic sales people (James and Krista I believe) when I stopped in to drive their demo two weekends ago.

This shouldn't be so hard, should it?!

[Giallo Edizione]

Mike S wrote

ISome good news, the CIAOFIAT line now has roadside assistance when you call.

That's great!  Italian car company.  Has a service to tow your broken down car before you even own it. :-)

[PaulL]

#395 sitting in Jacksonville, FL
#140 On it's way to Jessup, MD, ETA 3/17

I think that the majority of these cars will be released within the next few days and delivered to dealers shortly thereafter. I know alot of dealers are still waiting on their dealer license, once that is set you guys should be driving very soon!

[PE#454]

Paul, could you check the status of #454, please?

[sjmst]

Well, as long as you are checking...anything going on with 499?

[PaulL]

#454 shows its in Nashville
#499 still in Doremus, NJ

[sjmst]

PaulL wrote

#454 shows its in Nashville
#499 still in Doremus, NJ

Ah, last time ETA at Doremus NJ was 3/5 or 3/10. Now it IS there? Better!
Thanks

[PaulL]

Yeah, it looks like it got there on the 7th!

[sjmst]

NICE!

[sonicsby5]

Paul, have they updated #215 since you last checked?  Or has the tracking system been updated since 2-28?  We all appreciate your help.

[Joe Dolgetta]

Agree!! This shoud be pretty straight forward. I didn't know you visited Fiat of South ATL. I didn't even know they had a Demo until I visited their Facebook page. So, are you going to stick it out with Fiat Mall of GA? Janet was going to let me know if Fiat of South ATL could do a Home delivery (no additional charge), and send one of those enthusiastic sales persons to deliver it. Even if Mall of GA gets their new Fiat rep, they still have absolutely no Fiat support structure at all. I think by May, Mall of GA will be in better shape to sell Fiats, and that it will probably be a descent place to deal with regarding service, but it still take away from the initial delivery. Also, I think the 10 days for their license is wishful thinking.

[PaulL]

It's showing that as of 3/2, #215 is in Kent, WA.

[unclelaverne]

I hate to be a pest Paul.  Got any info on 315?

[FiATL]

I'll stick it out for the time being.  I am anxious to get my car but I'm out of town some of next week and weekend so I won't be rushing to pick up anything before I get back anyway.  1 more issue w/ Mall of GA and I'll be on the line to Janet seeing how the great folks down at South Atlanta can assist.

FYI, to anyone outside of GA, the doc fee thing here is a huge racket and there is no way around it unless you're willing to buy in a state that doesn't charge it.  They all do it here and you either suck it up or drive to get something elsewhere.  I've purchased well over a dozen new cars in the 15 years I've been in Atlanta and the only times I've been able to avoid is to take a road trip to another state.

One of the MINI dealers here STILL charges a doc fee and a dlr prep fee (in addition to the MINI destination charge on the sticker.)  At last check these fees totalled over $1100.  In 2005, I drove 2 hours up the road to Greenville and paid less than $200 in doc fees.