Dealership service advice

smk77

My wife took her 03 Ford Ka in to the Ford dealers she bought the car from for a service a few weeks. When she bought the car she was given free servicing for life which is great..or is it?

When the car was serviced we were told the following needed fixing:

Driveshaft leak
Wipers
Rear suspension coil/spring plus shock absorbers
Discs (and pads because there were 50% worn)
Engine coolant

I think that was it. Anyway, we told them to fix the coil and shock absorbers because that seemed fairly important. The brakes had only been done 12k miles earlier and they seemed fine so we told the garage that we'd sort them out. The rest we left too to either fix or get fixed elsewhere.

The MOT was done today by a local indepentent garage and we were told that the brakes are fine. Also, we were told that when one coil is replaced the other should be done at the same time otherwise the 2nd one will brake. Is this true? This garage doesn't appear to go inventing problems (they are have been very honest with my father-in-law and brother-in-law over brakes when dealers have said they need replacing). The wipers were also fine.

The Ford garage also told my father-in-law that stuff needed doing on his car only to find out from the independent garage that there was no need.

To me it looks as though the deal has been inventing problems. Fortunately they didn't take much money from us but I am very annoyed that they appear to be doing this. I wonder if there was ever a problem with the coil? My wife has bought 3 cars from this garage but will never buy from them again.

Is it worth making a complaint about the garage to Ford or should we just walk and never do business with them again?

arrowsmith

I would have thought the best thing to do is to keep getting your services for free. Just don't get any work done there and take it somewhere else to get fixed and for a second opinion if anything does need doing.

smk77

arrowsmith wrote: »

I would have thought the best thing to do is to keep getting your services for free. Just don't get any work done there and take it somewhere else to get fixed and for a second opinion if anything does need doing.

You are right. Unfortunately, I have reasons to believe that the garage aren't doing very good services. They missed a few things off a neighbour's work van..The van is big and orange and comes to your rescue if your car breaks down. You' expect a van like that to get a proper service..or are the mechanics so thick that they thought they'd get away not fully servicing such a vehicle?

chrisw

The MOT was done today by a local indepentent garage and we were told that the brakes are fine. Also, we were told that when one coil is replaced the other should be done at the same time otherwise the 2nd one will brake. Is this true?

It's true that coil springs and shock absorbers should generally be replaced in pairs, not because the others will break but to keep the car properly balanced with regard to handling. This also particularly applies to brake pads and discs which should always be replaced in pairs, ie each side at the same time.

vansboy

To be fair to the garage, some of the items you listed, are prevention rather than cure, if you like, jobs.

Wipers, OK, so change these anually is a good idea - easy enough to do yourself.

Discs - not really safe practice to only do the discs, so both together is best. If they're, say half way to being needed, then they probably would need to be done BEFORE your next free service & you might need to be without the car, while they're done, complain that it hadn't been done on the service, or risk running on worn brakes before booking it in!! Even if they work OK on MoT machine, they can still be needing replacement.

Coolant - assuming this meant a change, good idea, as it is a every 2 year job really.

So maybe they're not pulling a fast one.

VB

DealDrivers_company_representative

Ford have not offered a ' free servicing for life' deal on anything in recent history so it sounds like an incentive dreamt up by the individual dealer you bought from and they must have had some pretty tight small print in place around what was 'free' as it certainly wasn't backed by the manufacturer.

There's never anything for free...not really...so my guess is the dealer's local marketing idea was that the labour would be free if you always took it back to them and not another dealer for your servicing, but they'd more than make up for their loss on hourly labour charges on parts.......

If you want to check if a deal is manufacturer-backed or just the 'brainchild' of a single dealer to harness local loyalty, just check the manuf'rs website first...that always tells you if they are running a UK wide offer at your time of purchase...or not.

rosscobley

Springs have to be replaced in pairs and if they havent done both of them take it back. When i snapped a spring on my astra i had to order a new set from vauxhall. They told me that they have to order a pair as it is unsafe to change just one. I also ask a friend who is a head mercanic. he told me that springs should always be done in a pair

scotsblood

rosscobley wrote: »

Springs have to be replaced in pairs and if they havent done both of them take it back. When i snapped a spring on my astra i had to order a new set from vauxhall. They told me that they have to order a pair as it is unsafe to change just one. I also ask a friend who is a head mercanic. he told me that springs should always be done in a pair

Correct!!

Whilst managing a Jaguar dealership we had numerous owners who had paid an independent to replace just one spring/shock absorber/suspension bush/bearing, etc etc as it was "cheaper" than our quote for two. If things were put in as a pair they should be replaced as a pair. The interaction between a new and used component on different sides can be a nightmare!

As a rule of thumb be VERY wary of any "free" scheme not backed by the manufacturer, it won't be free!!!

Check that if the car came with a dealer supported warranty that any work that was noticed during the XXXXXX point inspection (that would have been a condition of the dealer getting the warranty approved by the insurer concerned) was actually carried out prior to it being sold!!!
If they have nothing to hide they should show you the technicians report.

plane_boy2000

One of the Ford dealers by me in teh south west were offering similar schemes of their own back a few years back. They ended up in very hot water as they gave away so much free servicing / MOT's for life etc that they actualy went bust. Turned out that they were making good money in the servicing department, but as the offers rolled on they were doing so much free work that they couldnt even cover the overheads. As it was a large dealership with two smaller ones on the outskirts of town Ford bought them out to retain the presence in the area. No free servicing deals being offered now though..........