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Alfa Romeo Dropped From My Area

20K views 142 replies 35 participants last post by  The_Dude  
#1 · (Edited)
I don't know how to say this, but I am S.O.L.

In 2021, I went to Monterey Car Week. I attended the Alfa Romeo special events and it was my first time getting a seat behind the badge. I am a long term BMW M owner (I've owned 8 BMW's over the years). I test drove the Stelvio QV and then the Giulia QV at their test drive event, and I was hooked. The Giulia Quadrifoglio was the best driving sports sedan that I had ever had the pleasure of operating and I fell in love instantly. For the last 3 years, it's been my dream.

Still recovering financially from Covid, I put off getting one until earlier this year when I picked up a low mileage Trofeo White 2018 with technicos and giallo brakes with rosso interior accents. My dream spec. I bought the car knowing that I would be moving back to Hawaii and we have a dealership here that services and sells Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lotus, Lamborghini and Ferrari. I booked a flight to New Jersey with my wife and we drove the car all the way back to Miami.

I just arrived back to Hawaii on Wednesday of last week. My car is currently on a ship to be sent over here after a cross country journey from Miami to Los Angeles. I called our dealership named "Velocity" here to schedule my belt service and oil change and I was punched in the gut. They informed me that they dropped Alfa Romeo as of May 10th and they will no longer service any Alfa Romeo vehicles. Crazy. Not only did they tell me that they won't service Alfa Romeo's any more, they didn't have anywhere to refer me to have my vehicle serviced on the island of Oahu. Now, if you're not familiar to Oahu, we have almost a million or over a million people living on our island so it isn't some middle of nowhere place. We are pretty much a well developed city. I purposely delayed maintenance so I could have my car serviced here and because I was in the middle of a move and getting the car worked on in LA was not feasible.

I would think it's to be expected that if our Alfa Romeo dealership was to no longer sell vehicles that they would at least service them for a certain period of time or have some sort of contingency plan for existing customers to which they told me that they don't. I called Fiat Chrysler America to get a solution and they told me that they didn't even know about this. FCA told me they didn't have a solution for me either but they would pass up my concerns. There are a fair bit of Alfa Romeos on the island too. Are all customers with warranties left out to dry? We don't have any Indy shops here either. I was going to purchase a MaxCare warranty from Alfa Romeo upon arriving to the island and now I'm wondering if I should have even purchased the car.

It genuinely feels like such a slap in the face. I was planning on spending almost 5K on service when my car got here. I finally got to live my Alfa Romeo dream and that dream now somewhat feels short lived. I now have an asset that has little to no value where I live because there is nowhere to repair it and the worst part is that if I want to ship my QV to LA for maintenance, not only will it be close to $3,000 both ways, I can't even ship the vehicle for a repair if the car has a "Check Engine Light" on the dash, per the shipping companies for liability reasons, (if there were something to go wrong). My Alfa Romeo dream has turned into somewhat of an Alfa Romeo nightmare.

EDIT: @AlfaRomeoCares Are you guys able to help me please?
 
#2 · (Edited)
Sorry to hear your new to you Alfa experience is already being spoiled.

Technically... you can get the car serviced at "any" Stellantis dealership. That's "technically". Realistically it doesn't quite work that way.

I am assuming you got the Mopar MaxCare warranty?

You may be stuck finding a good third party mechanic. Look around and reach out to other higher end car owners in your area, and see who they use maybe? Then take it to your local Dodge\Fiat\Chrysler dealership and let them handle getting warranty work done.
 
#3 ·
Sorry to hear your new to you Alfa experience is already being spoiled.

Technically... you can get the car serviced at "any" Stellantis dealership. That's "technically". Realistically it doesn't quite work that way.

I am assuming you got the Mopar MaxCare warranty?

You may be stuck finding a good third party mechanic. Look around and reach out to other higher end car owners in your area, and see who they use maybe? Then take it to your local Dodge\Fiat\Chrysler dealership and let them handle getting warranty work done.

Did a bit of googling... I know that going island to island isn't the easiest thing in the world, but there appears to be an Alfa Romeo dealership in Honolulu. Is that slightly more feasible than shipping back to Los Angeles?
The one in Honolulu, Oahu (where he lives), is the one no longer servicing Alfas.
 
#5 ·
Do Not Panic. As you said, the Giulia Quadrifoglio is the best driving sports sedan that you had ever had (and that you will ever have), so keep it as the dream that she is. My reco's: (1) start with doing that big service that you were planning to do in Los Angeles, while the care is there. That will take care of that part. (2) I am 80% sure that the technicians that used to service Alfa Romeo in that dealer you are talking about are still living in the island. Track him/them. They will be able to work in your car, after hours. (3) perhaps a longer conversation with that dealer service manager will make him/her re-consider to service Alfa Romeos, assuming that as you said, there are several in the island. And lastly, (4) connect with the other Alfa Romeo owners and together, do number (3) above. I am sure this has a solution. Try to find it.
 
#7 ·
This really sucks. The only thing I can think of to help is to go to that ex-dealership and find out who the Alfa tech is (or was). Get his/her contact info and get advice direct from the tech. Maybe there are plans to open an indy. Good luck!
 
#13 ·
I have no idea how to get in contact with any of them. There's maybe like 3 QV's out here?
Try social media. There are several Alfa Romeo facebook pages. Visit the dealer and talk face-to-face with the service manager.
Yeah I would try Facebook, or perhaps hit up local car and coffees. If you ever see another Alfa parked somewhere then leave a note on the window. Flag one down if it's diving.

I would start by buying the MES software and appropriate cables. This way, routine maintenance can be performed by any Indy. With the help of this forum, a competent enough person, i.e. an Indy tech, should be able to use MES and reset things for you

But definitely go talk to the techs at the dealership.

What about other Hawaiian islands? Do any of them have Alfa dealerships or Indy shops, and is it feasible to get the car to that island.

Also, slim slim chance but tagging @AlfaRomeoCares
 
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#14 ·
I don't know how to say this, but I am S.O.L.

In 2021, I went to Monterey Car Week. I attended the Alfa Romeo special events and it was my first time getting a seat behind the badge. I am a long term BMW M owner (I've owned 8 BMW's over the years). I test drove the Stelvio QV and then the Giulia QV at their test drive event, and I was hooked. The Giulia Quadrifoglio was the best driving sports sedan that I had ever had the pleasure of operating and I fell in love instantly. For the last 3 years, it's been my dream.

Still recovering financially from Covid, I put off getting one until earlier this year when I picked up a low mileage Trofeo White 2018 with technicos and giallo brakes with rosso interior accents. My dream spec. I bought the car knowing that I would be moving back to Hawaii and we have a dealership here that services and sells Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lotus, Lamborghini and Ferrari. I booked a flight to New Jersey with my wife and we drove the car all the way back to Miami.

I just arrived back to Hawaii on Wednesday of last week. My car is currently on a ship to be sent over here after a cross country journey from Miami to Los Angeles. I called our dealership named "Velocity" here to schedule my belt service and oil change and I was punched in the gut. They informed me that they dropped Alfa Romeo as of May 10th and they will no longer service any Alfa Romeo vehicles. Crazy. Not only did they tell me that they won't service Alfa Romeo's any more, they didn't have anywhere to refer me to have my vehicle serviced on the island of Oahu. Now, if you're not familiar to Oahu, we have almost a million or over a million people living on our island so it isn't some middle of nowhere place. We are pretty much a well developed city. I purposely delayed maintenance so I could have my car serviced here and because I was in the middle of a move and getting the car worked on in LA was not feasible.

I would think it's to be expected that if our Alfa Romeo dealership was to no longer sell vehicles that they would at least service them for a certain period of time or have some sort of contingency plan for existing customers to which they told me that they don't. I called Fiat Chrysler America to get a solution and they told me that they didn't even know about this. FCA told me they didn't have a solution for me either but they would pass up my concerns. There are a fair bit of Alfa Romeos on the island too. Are all customers with warranties left out to dry? We don't have any Indy shops here either. I was going to purchase a MaxCare warranty from Alfa Romeo upon arriving to the island and now I'm wondering if I should have even purchased the car.

It genuinely feels like such a slap in the face. I was planning on spending almost 5K on service when my car got here. I finally got to live my Alfa Romeo dream and that dream now somewhat feels short lived. I now have an asset that has little to no value where I live because there is nowhere to repair it and the worst part is that if I want to ship my QV to LA for maintenance, not only will it be close to $3,000 both ways, I can't even ship the vehicle for a repair if the car has a "Check Engine Light" on the dash, per the shipping companies for liability reasons, (if there were something to go wrong). My Alfa Romeo dream has turned into somewhat of an Alfa Romeo nightmare.

EDIT: @AlfaRomeoCares Are you guys able to help me please?
I was stationed at the big pink Army hospital(Tripler) years ago(2005) on Oahu and the island was very limited in terms of dealership availability. However, I believe that you may be able to find an import repair specialist on the island that work on European models like Alfa Romeo, BMW, Mercedes,etc. So all is not lost, but you will be paying out of pocket for servicing and repairs.
 
#16 ·
Wow... and here I was pissed that I would have to drive (or tow) 2+ hours if my dealer closes. I didn't envision having to contend with the Pacific Ocean between me and warranty service. :oops:

Personally, I'm not that attached to anything mechanical. I really like my car, but once it becomes a PITA it's gone. I'm not going to play whack-a-mole trying to find a decent independent mechanic and then pay out of pocket for the privilege.

You've gotten solid advice here, and I truly feel for you - I hope you find a solution.
 
#17 ·
Wow... and here I was pissed that I would have to drive (or tow) 2+ hours if my dealer closes. I didn't envision having to contend with the Pacific Ocean between me and warranty service. :oops:

Personally, I'm not that attached to anything mechanical. I really like my car, but once it becomes a PITA it's gone. I'm not going to play whack-a-mole trying to find a decent independent mechanic and then pay out of pocket for the privilege.

You've gotten solid advice here, and I truly feel for you - I hope you find a solution.
Agree. I’d already decided I won’t own these cars without a warranty, and the exploding sunroof in my Stelvio this week drove that point home. I’d have that car on the first boat back to the mainland unless he can find someone foolish enough on Oahu to buy it with zero dealer support.
 
#22 ·
Reason #952 why these cars depreciate so hard. Alfa needs to fix their US dealer service network, even if they have to dig into their pockets to subsidize Mopar dealerships to be able to service these cars; @AlfaRomeoCares this is getting beyond pathetic. Such an amazing product but I can't in good faith recommend it to people unless I know they know how to turn wrenches and troubleshoot.

I'm sorry about your experience man. The number one thing you can do is do not accept your situation; start getting familiar with the car once you get it shipped over. Get it up in the air and start carefully looking at e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g to familiarize yourself. These cars really aren't that hard to work on for most basic things. Doing the belt service? Yeah, wouldn't really want to do it myself but if I had to I could. But brake pads, rotors, fluid changes, clearing codes, etc etc can all be done by you without the need of a dealer. If you buy one of these cars, you simply have to be able and willing to wrench on it/play with the electronics yourself otherwise you are in for a world of hurt.

It's already been mentioned here, but your absolute first order of business is to buy MES, a bluetooth adapter and the required cables. You'll also need SGW bypass since your car is post 2017 MY. This should all be included as a "new to me Alfa" kit that comes with every car, it's that important. The amount of BS and headaches you can save yourself with this thing is worth it's weight in gold. If all this sounds scary (I thought the same at first), I promise you it's not. It's like a simple OBD2 code reader basically with a few extra steps. If you need help finding this stuff PM me.
 
#24 ·
Reason #952 why these cars depreciate so hard. Alfa needs to fix their US dealer service network, even if they have to dig into their pockets to subsidize Mopar dealerships to be able to service these cars; @AlfaRomeoCares this is getting beyond pathetic. Such an amazing product but I can't in good faith recommend it to people unless I know they know how to turn wrenches and troubleshoot.

I'm sorry about your experience man. The number one thing you can do is do not accept your situation; start getting familiar with the car once you get it shipped over. Get it up in the air and start carefully looking at e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g to familiarize yourself. These cars really aren't that hard to work on for most basic things. Doing the belt service? Yeah, wouldn't really want to do it myself but if I had to I could. But brake pads, rotors, fluid changes, clearing codes, etc etc can all be done by you without the need of a dealer. If you buy one of these cars, you simply have to be able and willing to wrench on it/play with the electronics yourself otherwise you are in for a world of hurt.

It's already been mentioned here, but your absolute first order of business is to buy MES, a bluetooth adapter and the required cables. You'll also need SGW bypass since your car is post 2017 MY. This should all be included as a "new to me Alfa" kit that comes with every car, it's that important. The amount of BS and headaches you can save yourself with this thing is worth it's weight in gold. If all this sounds scary (I thought the same at first), I promise you it's not. It's like a simple OBD2 code reader basically with a few extra steps. If you need help finding this stuff PM me.
Reason #952? That’s punny.
 
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#25 ·
I had this to consider here in DFW. I loved my Guilia but the dealer in Hurst took on all the service cars that the Ft. Worth dealer had before they closed suddenly and it took me a month to have my car diagnosed. On top of that they had no loaners so I was out another $650 US for a rental. Because there was basically only one dealer in the area and they were looking at min 5 days for any service work even when they were caught up I had to sell my beloved Guilia. I couldn't be without my daily for that long if something went wrong again. Traded it for a BMW M340i. Great car and I lobe it but still sigh when I see a Guilia drive by. Fortunately I still have my 4C to stay in the AR family. Don't care if they take a long time to fix that one. IMHO Stellantis will wreck this brand if they haven't already done so.
 
#27 ·
I went in to my Alfa purchase with eyes wide open, dealer situation is sad, too few and of those few too many offer poor service. I also own Ducati bike, understood I'd not rely on either for essential transportation and I'd be doing my own maintenance. I found a quality local indie shop for the Alfa, if and when I use them I'll be supplying them with factory service manual and I'll do the resets with Multiecuscan and SGW bypass. I'd expect a quality indie shop could be found in most metropolitan US centers, Alfa owners may have to supply shop manual and do their own resets.
 
#35 ·
Sorry to hear your new to you Alfa experience is already being spoiled.

Technically... you can get the car serviced at "any" Stellantis dealership. That's "technically". Realistically it doesn't quite work that way.

I am assuming you got the Mopar MaxCare warranty?

You may be stuck finding a good third party mechanic. Look around and reach out to other higher end car owners in your area, and see who they use maybe? Then take it to your local Dodge\Fiat\Chrysler dealership and let them handle getting warranty work done.
Is this a different number? In my post I said I called them.
FWIW, I've had good success reaching out to them on X. They've been able to open a case for me, get a rep to call, etc.
@AlfaRomeoCares
 
#36 ·
I'm see multiple Chrysler-Dodge dealer on the island. As I've detailed in the past, I have a great relationship going with the CDRJ dealer 10 minutes from my house. Alfa would have to work out something special for you on original warranty work, but once you go MaxCare, you can use any Stellantis dealership. (There have been some reports on here of specific dealers not wanting to work on the car, but I wouldn't want them touching it anyway.) Before you do anything more extreme, I'd take a drive over and talk face to face with a Service Manager to see if they'd be on board with taking it on. I can confirm they definitely have the right tech tools to do the diagnostics, resets, etc. You'll need to be patient with their learning curve, but it could be worth it. (At one point, I had to return because they didn't reset the oil change in both places.)

Best of luck on this, regardless. I can't even imagine....
 
#37 · (Edited)
I don't know how to say this, but I am S.O.L.

In 2021, I went to Monterey Car Week. I attended the Alfa Romeo special events and it was my first time getting a seat behind the badge. I am a long term BMW M owner (I've owned 8 BMW's over the years). I test drove the Stelvio QV and then the Giulia QV at their test drive event, and I was hooked. The Giulia Quadrifoglio was the best driving sports sedan that I had ever had the pleasure of operating and I fell in love instantly. For the last 3 years, it's been my dream.

Still recovering financially from Covid, I put off getting one until earlier this year when I picked up a low mileage Trofeo White 2018 with technicos and giallo brakes with rosso interior accents. My dream spec. I bought the car knowing that I would be moving back to Hawaii and we have a dealership here that services and sells Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Lotus, Lamborghini and Ferrari. I booked a flight to New Jersey with my wife and we drove the car all the way back to Miami.

I just arrived back to Hawaii on Wednesday of last week. My car is currently on a ship to be sent over here after a cross country journey from Miami to Los Angeles. I called our dealership named "Velocity" here to schedule my belt service and oil change and I was punched in the gut. They informed me that they dropped Alfa Romeo as of May 10th and they will no longer service any Alfa Romeo vehicles. Crazy. Not only did they tell me that they won't service Alfa Romeo's any more, they didn't have anywhere to refer me to have my vehicle serviced on the island of Oahu. Now, if you're not familiar to Oahu, we have almost a million or over a million people living on our island so it isn't some middle of nowhere place. We are pretty much a well developed city. I purposely delayed maintenance so I could have my car serviced here and because I was in the middle of a move and getting the car worked on in LA was not feasible.

I would think it's to be expected that if our Alfa Romeo dealership was to no longer sell vehicles that they would at least service them for a certain period of time or have some sort of contingency plan for existing customers to which they told me that they don't. I called Fiat Chrysler America to get a solution and they told me that they didn't even know about this. FCA told me they didn't have a solution for me either but they would pass up my concerns. There are a fair bit of Alfa Romeos on the island too. Are all customers with warranties left out to dry? We don't have any Indy shops here either. I was going to purchase a MaxCare warranty from Alfa Romeo upon arriving to the island and now I'm wondering if I should have even purchased the car.

It genuinely feels like such a slap in the face. I was planning on spending almost 5K on service when my car got here. I finally got to live my Alfa Romeo dream and that dream now somewhat feels short lived. I now have an asset that has little to no value where I live because there is nowhere to repair it and the worst part is that if I want to ship my QV to LA for maintenance, not only will it be close to $3,000 both ways, I can't even ship the vehicle for a repair if the car has a "Check Engine Light" on the dash, per the shipping companies for liability reasons, (if there were something to go wrong). My Alfa Romeo dream has turned into somewhat of an Alfa Romeo nightmare.

EDIT: @AlfaRomeoCares Are you guys able to help me please?
Hello, fellow Hawaii Alfa owner here. Funny thing is that I just posted about this on the Oahu European Car Club Facebook Page.

Couple of things, and I have good news for you -

1. Velocity is no good. We tried to take our Alfa in for warranty repairs earlier this month, they REALLY told us “we can’t service Alfa Romeo since Alfa is pulling out of the North American market.” Big lies and they expected us to believe it.

2. According to Velocity, they stopped dealing with Alfa in April. So they are liars.

3. There’s a bunch of us in a similar situation and I was the first to contact Alfa North America to open a case. Velocity gave us Alfa owners NO notice of this. You’re actually better off not servicing through Velocity since their service department is comically bad.

4. Good news - there IS a dealership that Alfa is working with on island, since a number of us are hurting right now. There’s some red tape before this dealership can become Alfa Certified and handle warranty repairs. No timeline yet but my Alfa Customer Service agent has been in touch with me weekly.

5. There’s a Rossi Red Giulia QV that I saw on a flat truck the other day. He’s hurting too.

6. As far as Indy shops go, there is a shop on island that does high end European cars, and they would probably be your best bet. Contact me offline and I’ll get you the details. I haven’t contacted them yet since our Alfa is still under warranty and we prepaid our oil changes.

7. I would contact Alfa Customer Care at 844-253-2872 and open a case with them. That way you are on their system and will be notified when the dealer I mentioned in # 4 has been approved to perform Alfa-certified work. You get your own case manager that stays with you until this is resolved.

At any rate, welcome to Hawaii, the Alfa community is small, come out to the Oahu European Car Club meets, I am usually there with my BMW would personally love to see your QV in person. Maybe then I’ll take the Alfa out to the meets, LOL.
 
#43 ·
I can back up what alfaPanda said. I used Velocity for my warranty services and they were a massive hassle to get any service from. As far as warranty work and all that Jazz, I opened my case to get a refund on my warranties and service contracts. I’ll probably just send it to some local repair shop for any work I can’t handle out of my garage.
 
#44 ·
I've been busy with school and been sick, so haven't had the chance to reply to Panda or you, (sorry). I met the guy with the red QV on FaceBook. His car had a rear end impact and sat at Velocity for 11 month, YES, 11 MONTHS, only for them to replace a rear wheel and send the car back to him and then tell him it was fine, lol.
 
#50 ·
That's great Alfa is trying to accommodate owners stuck like this!

I wonder what the distance threshold is for them to do that. Like what if you're located in one of the lower 48 (side note, but isn't HI even lower lol) where you can drive to another dealer (even if 10+ hours/ 1000 miles away), would they still make the same offer?

Either way, hopefully Alfa can inspire enough confidence for HI owners to keep their cars 🤞🏻