Is this the most impressive followup on warranty for a 4X4 that you’ve seen? We think it is. Imagine the scenario, one that any
remote-area 4WDer dreads: mechanical failure that leads to immobility. This happened to a couple along the Canning Stock Route recently, just south of Well 25. This is almost bang-on halfway along the Canning, amongst the Harbut Ranges. In other words, you’re pretty damned remote.
The Earthcruiser, based on an Iveco Daily 4X4, suffered a problem with the transfer case, locking itself out of high and low range. What to do? Make a Canning Stock Route warranty callout?
After a couple of (satellite) phone calls, a plan was quickly put into action, with impressive results. Because towing wasn’t really plausible with a vehicle of that size in the kind of remote country it was in, Iveco WA instead chose to whip a good transfer case out of a new Daily 4X4 they had in the yard and send it express to Newman, 1,200 kilometres away.
That’s impressive, sure. You often hear other manufacturers quote weeks of wait for a new part. But what they did next was even better. Two mechanics representing IvecoCare, Tom and Cameron, loaded the transfer case and other neccessary gear into a 4X4 ute, and headed out of Newman to meet the stricken Earthcruiser along the Canning. Two days of 4WDing, including three hours to cover the last 85 kilometres, had the team working on the 4X4 at 10pm.
At 1am, the transfer case was out. By 8.30am the next morning, the new case was in, and the 4X4 was once again mobile. A three day turnaround for a Canning Stock Route warranty call. Hats off to IvecoCare, and Tom and Cameron the mechanics for getting the job done. If only all new vehicle warranties were this good!
5 comments
That is Great Service indeed
It can be quite different….
We had a Break Down with our Mitsubishi Challenger 2012 at the Heather Highway Gibson Desert on our way to the gunbarrel
We had to be towed to Kalgoorie 1000 km and after we had to wait there for 4 week and two moore breakdowns with the same Problem we finally got a new Engine in Perth .
In total we lost 6 weeks of our 7 month tour.
HI Joerg, I used to work for a major dealer in WA who had
Mitsubishi and Hyundai. Hyundai was always good with its warranties, maybe because they were the new kid on the block. It was quite often a fight with Mitsubishi Australia and the service reps had to go in to bat for the customer to get warranty claims. Pity because the pajero has a lot going for it.
Wow having done the CSR its amazing service Iveco is to be congratulated and commended!
Certinately was not the same service in June 2016 for a Unicat 1833 and a Unimog we saw bogged solid on the salt plain somewhere around Lake Disappointment. The overseas couple were bogged and their brand new winch seized solid as there was no oil in the case. They phoned 000 on their Sat Phone (as you do!) and the Police suggested a call to the local mine. Surprisingly the mine sent a large 4×4 fork lift from the mine to try and recover them and their Unimog mates who were also bogged. Guess what? The fork driver, decided he would leave the hardstanding as well, and now we have three vehicles bogged!
We were only in a normal 4X4’s so definitely could not help. I still wonder to this day how and if they ever got the vehicles out!
Swaying me towards one as a tow vehicle
It appears that Iveco’s have an oil overheating problem in the gearbox, as does my isuzu NPS. Has Iveco divulged what went wrong with the box. The best warranty in the world doesn’t help if your continually broken down. Warranties don’t last forever.