Michael McAleer answering your motoring questions
Poor service is a common complaint
From Chris Morris: Have you - or indeed any other Irish motoring section - reviewed the Fiat Sedici? I bought one in February 2007, and since then I've seen only two others on the road. Reviews in the UK media are minimal and also inaccurate: one said it is permanent four-wheel-drive, when it is in fact two-wheel-drive with two different grades of four-wheel-drive. I find my diesel model very satisfactory, and wonder why it is being ignored by the Irish media?
We did our test on the Sedici in the July 12th 2006 edition of Motors. As we stated at the time, it's a new segment for Fiat and not one buyers would normally associate with the brand. That means many simply would not consider calling a Fiat dealer when looking for this type of car.
The biggest problem for the Sedici is that the Suzuki SX4, with which it shares much of its underpinnings, is significantly lower in price. The 1.6 Sedici 4x4 Dynamic starts at €22,625, but there is a 1.5-litre Suzuki that starts at €17,495.
I would also take issue with the claim that the British reviews were wrong. The fact is that the Sedici has a four-wheel-drive system, while the SX4 is solely a two-wheel-drive operation. The Fiat may spend most of its time in two-wheel-drive mode, but it has the ability to change to four-wheel-drive. You might not use it much but you pay for the extra technology. Certainly Fiat claims it as 4WD: it's very name is derived from the Italian for 16, which as you know is the answer to 4x4.
From C Cummins: I am wondering if you could explain my experience dealing with a salesperson in a Ford dealership. I was looking for a Focus of around 2000 for my son. The salesperson said that they pass cars of that age on to "trade" but that he had one coming in with very low mileage that I could have on "as seen" basis. There followed a series of phone calls. After a week, the receptionist told me that he would call to let me know if the car was coming in.
I gave up when he never got back to me. I thought the days of disinterested salespeople not returning calls was over.
Ford state that the salesperson in question did try to call back and left a message with the receptionist to tell you that the car he was hoping to sell you never arrived. The salesperson should have made direct contact with you.
While it's hard to say definitively that this was a case of a disinterested salesperson and not a mistake by the receptionist, poor service is a common complaint in the Irish car market. While industry observers expected sales staff to turn into order-takers during the busy periods of 2000 and 2001, the fact that poor customer relations continues today - even with the market facing a drop in sales - is evidenced by numerous surveys by car manufacturers of their own dealerships.
For all the efforts at training, the simple truth is that there is a very high staff turnover rate in car dealerships, partly due to the fact that many people quickly discover they are not up to the job. Alternatively, they are good at sales, in which case they see that they could do better on their own.
There is no quick fix, but distributors and importers should be informed if a salesperson or dealer is not offering proper service. It's ultimately their brand that is damaged when this occurs.
From D McNamara: Who bears responsibility for oil spills on the road? I ask because several roads in my area have had oil slicks over recent years that could prove treacherous, particularly on dark evenings. I've read on your pages that councils can be sued over potholes. Is this the case here?
Not necessarily. You can take the local authority to court over potholes that cause damage to your car, if you can prove that they were not repaired properly. The essential thing is to prove, what is called in law, a misfeasance.
In this instance the responsibility doesn't really lie with the local authority, but rather the person responsible for the spillage.