this week petches have really excelled themselves.

i needed my AGP to be at its best for an Auto Italia magazine test and photoshoot and sods law took over and the car developed its first ever performance related fault.

last sunday the car just wouldn't boost and top end performance just ceased to exist, no warning lights, no bang, it just stopped pulling.

at work until thurday when petches said they would look at the car at 8.30am, bearing in mind i had to leave for london thursday afternoon with a perfect car.

john, the regular abarth tech started on the car straight away but the fault codes coming up weren.t a lot of help.

no chance of getting any new parts in the time available so petches swapped parts from the AGP they had on the forecourt, trying different bits to correct the fault. After a suggestion from other forum members they swapped the dump valve and the problem was cured.

whilst working on the car they spotted a slight coolant leak and fixed that as well.

the job was done by 12.30, time to clean the car and head for london. warranty issues were left until later and a subsequent call confirmed that it was covered by 3rd year warranty and i can go back next week for a new part to replace the borrowed one.

the service given was way beyond the call of duty and saved what would otherwise have been a major disappointment in having to cancel my trip

I've also been at the dealership this afternoon for a brake fluid change. As usual great service from Laura & Kyle on the service department. Always a bonus when the price you pay is less than the quoted price. Came away happy with two large boxes 

Previously, they did a fantastic job in curing my ABS & ASR issues. Not to mention the cracking deal they did on my upgrades.

Just thought i would add details of my experience following 1st service at SG Petch 29/12/11

I had booked the A500 for it's 1st service having been quoted the most competitive price ( after having price matched another dealer).

The whole experience was fairly straightforward and pleasing enough. I found them to be professional, polite and helpful.

I did encounter a slight issue, when the binding rear brakes came into question. It was confirmed that they had been binding slightly and i was then asked to pay an additional charge to have them stripped / cleaned adjusted etc.

I questioned this as i did not feel that my 1 yr old car with 6k miles on should have this issue, given that it was a well documented problem encountered by plenty of owners. After all was said and done, we agreed to await confirmation from Abarth UK that they would cover the cost of this.

Unfortunately they did not get back to them whilst i remained there, so this along with some other warranty work will be carried out when i return.

I must say that after the initial "discussion" over whether i should be liable to pay or not for the additional work on the brakes was sorted out, i found them to be excellent, they called me promptly, were very polite and helpful.

I would gladly return there in the future and consider buying a car from them. The only slight blot was the "brakes experience" which is now going to be resolved.

  Up again to Petch, great service as usual, dropped car of at 8.30am, 18k service finished by 9.45am. Car washed and hoovered. Great price on the service, except they charged me for an air filter i didnt need , i am sure they will reimburse me for it though.
Thanks again.

KEVO

Dropped my car off last Friday for an oil and filter change.. Top quality!

Jonny even dropped me and the Mrs. off in York and then picked us up later! Fantastic service from Jonny!!! Especially considering the Service Manager said they wouldn't be able to drop us off or pick us up!!

Also got my car back a LOT cleaner than it was.. Inside and out!



Looking round the garage just made me want to buy another new Abarth though!!