11 Sep Luino garage
Daniele, our savior in times of need
Oh no! Please don’t! After a good 12 hours’ drive from Germany in our big SUV (lots of luggage, big dog…), we arrive at our garage in Laveno-Mombello, where we “store” a small car that we then use to get to our house, which is in the mountains and difficult to access. So we reload everything, squeeze the dog into the mini trunk and off we go…. Or not. The little Jeep won’t start, even though it’s only been parked for two weeks. How on earth can a car battery discharge so quickly? But OF COURSE my best husband ever has a jump starter in the garage, so after some time and a lot of sweating to see if it would work, we were able to start it.
After starting, however, a number of warning lights came on in the dashboard. Some yellow, some red. I’ve heard that red is not so good… The engine also stuttered a bit, which is a bit worrying when you have a long, very steep mountain stage ahead of you. No matter, no risk, no fun! We finally arrive at the house with a lot of effort and a lot of sweat. So we unload everything, look after the dog and call Daniele immediately.
The company AUTOLAGHI S.R.L. (licensed dealer and workshop for FIAT, LANCIA, JEEP and PIAGGIO) two years earlier when we wanted to buy a Piaggio Porter, i.e. a mini tipper truck, to be able to transport things through the narrow roads to our house in the mountains.
AUTOLAGHI S.R.L. is a traditional company that has been based in Luino on Lake Maggiore for almost 50 years and – as we learned later – was even named Italy’s best FIAT dealer in terms of customer satisfaction a few years ago.
We drove to Luino and met Daniele Canuto, the good soul of AUTOLAGHI S.R.L. We slowly realized why the company had received this award: Daniele loves and lives his job. “When customers come to us, they are either about to make an important decision, namely to buy a car, or they are entrusting us with something that is very important to them for repair. My job is to give customers very good advice and make them feel that they can trust us. That’s what I love about my job!”
Daniele was a little taken aback by our request to buy a van and said, “But if you only want to transport a few pieces of furniture there, then I can lend you a small van, you don’t need to buy one.” When we remarked that he still needed to work on his qualities as a sales manager – as it says on his name badge – he laughed and said that we were quite right. We bought the Piaggio anyway and are very happy with it. It is also particularly practical that his employee Monika, who is responsible for payment and paperwork, speaks very good German.
So we went to his small sales office and completed the formalities. Between various documents and catalogs, I discovered a score of “Phantom of the Opera”. When I asked, I found out that Daniele not only plays a wind instrument – oboe, I think – but also conducts several orchestras. And the fact that he is an enthusiastic rally driver and – as the various trophies and certificates on the wall testify – probably not that bad at rallies, only made him even more likeable.
So we always have lots of interesting topics to talk about and best of all, Daniele speaks excellent English.
Back to our problem Jeep: on the phone, we tell Daniele about our starting problems and the disco lighting on the dashboard. “I think I know what the problem is. Just come here, I’m sure when we start the car again, all the lights will be off. It’ll be the quickest and cheapest repair you’ve ever had.” Huh?
So we actually drove straight to Luino, straight to the small workshop located under the sales rooms. Daniele was already waiting for us: “Well, turn off the engine.” Really? Will it start again then? Well, they might have a jumper cable here in the workshop….
So we switch off the engine. “Now start it up again!” Daniele tells us. We start the Jeep. It starts without a hitch and all the warning lights go out. “See, I told you. This is a known problem with Jeep. In the long term, something should be replaced. I can order it for you and then you can come back next week.”
When we go to pay, he laughs. “I didn’t do anything!”
Unfortunately, we are now regular customers at Daniele’s with our Jeep, which we bought in Germany, because problems are constantly occurring. We have become a bit of a friend of Daniele’s and the visits to his garage are a pleasure, and not just because of the picturesque drive from Laveno to Luino.
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