Ford Warranty Work

My daily driver is a company car. It is a 2010 Ford Escape (4cyl/4wd) that the company leases through GE Capital.

I have a Ford Dealership within walking distance of my house but that is not the dealership where the car was delivered.

The car is now 6 months old and has 14k miles. The tan leather wheel has two places where the finish has chipped away or worn away from the wheel. Imagine tan wheel with to black spots showing at the 4 o'clock position. This is where two pieces of leather meet so the poblems are actually two seperate pieces of leather.

This morning I stopped at the dealership to inquire if this is a warranty item. In the first sentances the service rep proposed one initial question, "did you buy it here?" I replyed with, "No, but why would that matter?"
The reply was that this will be difficult and picture will have to be sent to Ford and only they can decide if it is a warranty item." The impression I got was that this was inconvenient for them to do if I was not their customer. This inconvenience was hyped by the statements from he Rep that the car would have to be here for hours and inconvenient.
My rebuttle here was, "keep it, I walk home from here, no problem, keep it for days if you need to."

So, what do you inside guys know? How can I best work with this dealership? Their location is sooo convenient for me. How can I interest them in providing me service as good as they might give to the cars bought there?

Yes, the car has been there before to service a bad sunroof switch (delivered that way) and to complete a transmission software update.

If the shop and the shop manager don't resolve it, call the customer relationship center- 800-392-3673

They should help resolve the issue.

Eric

shouldn't matter where the car was delivered.. the dealerships get paid for doing the work either way. What would happen if you were several hours from home and a warrenty problem kept you from returning home but there was a dealer only a mile away? I really doubt they would say they cannot help you because you did not buy the car there.

reminds me..... " the whippings will continue until moral improves"

I'd ask for an appointment with the dealer principle.... tell him exactly what transpired, and check what happens...

nothing? - find another dealer... convienence means nothing if they don't care.

Chances are its the dealer principal thats causing the problem. The service manager will want all the work he can get through the shop, because that makes his numbers look better. He couldn't care less, and Ford couldn't care less, where the car was sold- unless it was out of country. The sales department has put in place policies to try to browbeat people into buying from them.

It wouldn't work on me- I'd inconvenience myself horribly to never darken their doorstep.

Had a similar problem years ago with a Dodge dealer. I'd bought a used Dakota at an independent used lot(which happened to be next door to the dealership), and toasted the transmission under warranty. Took it to the Dodge dealer and they sat on it for a week without even looking at it. Called the Chrysler dealer across town, limped it over there, and they had it fixed in 3-days.

I never could figure out why the Dodge dealer wouldn't want to deal with it, aren't warranty jobs good money-makers???

I don't think they make as much on warrenty work as regular work

Yes, it is Ford's call on if it is warrantiable. It MAY be a "wear item", which would mean only 12/12.

As for the dealership itself, it is a case if Ford rejects the claim, the warranty person can call the DM and get them persuaded to approve the claim based on the fact you bought it there. But since you did not, they won't.

Let me put it a different, but same way. Say some company like MSD Ignition has a manufacturer warranty in place. You buy it from Scummit, Juggs, or any number of internet avenues. It dies, but you know it has a warranty. So you run to BFE Speed on Main St and want a new one since there is a warranty, it's DOA, and they are closer then who you bought the box from originally. BFE Speed says go fly a kite in a rain storm, "You didn't buy it here. No warranty." This is roughly the same thing as regular vehicle warranties. You aren't the regular customer, you are a once in a lifetime person and always will be, hence their reluctance to work on it. Sure, you can "push" the issue, but you aren't making any friends.

Been there, witnessed it, done that, etc, etc, etc....

Brian

petegossett wrote: Had a similar problem years ago with a Dodge dealer. I'd bought a used Dakota at an independent used lot(which happened to be next door to the dealership), and toasted the transmission under warranty. Took it to the Dodge dealer and they sat on it for a week without even looking at it. Called the Chrysler dealer across town, limped it over there, and they had it fixed in 3-days. I never could figure out why the Dodge dealer wouldn't want to deal with it, aren't warranty jobs good money-makers???

Speaking from experience, warranty work only benefits the dealer itself. Everyone else gets screwed. Manufacturer has to pay 40%+ cost normally for the broken part. The tech only gets X hrs to fix it based on a cheater way of figuring the time from the manufacturer. Service writer has to hear the earful from the customer bitching that it shouldn't have ever broke, then they have to push the right buttons or type in the right code to "get paid". Customer is getting screwed by inconvienence of the broken part and having to take broken vehicle to the "stealership".

But to answer the question directly, warranty work is worthless and doesn't pay E36 M3.

Brian

Had a problem like this with a Mercury Capri years ago. At 31k miles, less than two years old, the top leaked. Mercury refused to service the top. The dealership was no help as I didn't buy from them.

Haven't bought a Mercury, or a Ford come to think of it, since.

I wish I could help more than offer my own negative experience.

I just recieved a call from the dealership.
The wheel will be covered under warranty.
Part expected to arrive tommorow. Install expected to take one hour.
Car will be there until tommorow end of day.

My experience is turning around but I am still approaching with caution.

alfadriver wrote: If the shop and the shop manager don't resolve it, call the customer relationship center- 800-392-3673 They should help resolve the issue. Eric

Exactly, I would do it just for the attitude. Tell them you are "concerned" about how your car will be serviced given your experience.

I used to visit the website "BlueOvalNews.com" on a regular basis, when I owned Ford vehicles.

A similar question was asked there. The dealer that fixes your car under warranty gets $XXX. Usually they lose money on it, therefore, as a NON-customer, you aren't going to be greeted with open arms and a hot cup of coffee.

When you buy a vehicle at a new car dealership, it's their hope you will continue to shop there, no matter how crappy they may treat you. The factory also "seems" to want you to return there, otherwise, they would close all the service bays at dealerships with mediocre customer quality scores. (Yeah, I know, they couldn't really do that, but, hey?)

BTW, I've never worked at a dealership, so all the above may be C&B posted by folks at BON.

Ranger50 wrote: Yes, it is Ford's call on if it is warrantiable. It MAY be a "wear item", which would mean only 12/12. As for the dealership itself, it is a case if Ford rejects the claim, the warranty person can call the DM and get them persuaded to approve the claim based on the fact you bought it there. But since you did not, they won't. Let me put it a different, but same way. Say some company like MSD Ignition has a manufacturer warranty in place. You buy it from Scummit, Juggs, or any number of internet avenues. It dies, but you know it has a warranty. So you run to BFE Speed on Main St and want a new one since there is a warranty, it's DOA, and they are closer then who you bought the box from originally. BFE Speed says go fly a kite in a rain storm, "You didn't buy it here. No warranty." This is roughly the same thing as regular vehicle warranties. You aren't the regular customer, you are a once in a lifetime person and always will be, hence their reluctance to work on it. Sure, you can "push" the issue, but you aren't making any friends. Been there, witnessed it, done that, etc, etc, etc.... Brian

Big difference on aftermarket parts. When you read the fine print, it always says to return the failed part to the manufacturer, not the store you bought it from. The manufacturer will then test the part (bury it in a peat bog and use it for a fire-lighter) and eventually decide whether to mail you a new one or not. With a car, you are returning to the manufacturers representative.

integraguy wrote: When you buy a vehicle at a new car dealership, it's their hope you will continue to shop there, no matter how crappy they may treat you.

This is one case where it might be worth it to shop on dealer service reputation rather than price. For example you have 2 Ford stores in town. Store A is 2 blocks from home so you know you'll do all your service work there. The salesman is a tool, the price is $500 more than dealer B. Store B is across town. The salesman is a newb who isn't a scumbag yet and the price is $500 less. The questions you need to ask yourself are: is it worth the extra $500 to stay close to home? Will the service department take care of me? What reputation does the service department have?

Keep in mind that no matter how shady the sales-lizard is, you'll never have to see him again. If you get your service done at the dealership-especially important if its FREE service-you'll see the service guys once or twice a year for the next 3-4 years. At a minimum. Is it worth an extra $500 at purchase time if they take care of your $5000 transmission failure that happens 100 miles out of warranty? HELL YES!

Hopefully you never have to face that situation. Even if you don't, is your piece of mind worth the $500? Just something to think about.

Another angle: in many cases interior part 'wear' (along with cracked glass and paint work) must be approved by a district rep. That's a completely different issue from a sunroof switch or a transmission software update.

When a car is sold, if it moves from the district where it was sold to a different district, the rep has to be even more careful because they are on a budget for 'discretionary' repairs which would include worn interior trim. Look at it this way: if there's an 'iffy' repair, due to that whole budget thing they are much more inclined to cover it on a car sold in their district. Yeah, I know that sounds sucky but that's how it works. A GE Capital car would have been directly delivered to GECap, meaning no dealership saw a dime from the sale. It's possible some dealership somewere did the PDI inspection, but believe me there is no money in that.

Something else: leather steering wheel covers are very prone to damage from hand creams, it makes the leather soften and swell. I have worked with more than one car line which singles out that damage as non covered. So yeah the service rep and the manufacturer rep are both going to tread carefully.

Why? The dealership has to buy the part and pay the tech to do the repair, then wait for reimbursement by the manufacturer. If it's found to be a non warrantable condition the whole thing gets charged back to the dealership. So if you ran the place and thought there was a good chance the claim would be rejected and you didn't sell the car in the first place, what would you do?

Jensen,
Thanks for the answer.
All you said jives. I was told that pictures would need to be taken to get approval. My guess is the pictures went to a regional guy.
The car was "courtesy delivered" at a dealership about 30 minutes away. I remember the term "courtesy delivery" because there was hardly anything courteous about the whole thing. Literally, all I got was a, "sign here - here are your keys."
I think I saw on papers that the dealership got $250 for the delivery.

The service rep actually mentioned hand lotion but his tactic was less clear. He said something about woman being hard on the wheel with rings and hand cream.