Ford Warranty Say No! 2012 Fiesta Metal

Richard53

I really wasn't having a go at you for lack of involvement in the car. None of us is born knowing this stuff

However it turns out (and I seriously think you have a case, as servicing wouldn't have prevented an oil cooler failure or head warping, so still worth pursuing), get yourself a Haynes manual for the car. Most of it will be beyond your needs, unless you suddenly develop an interest in mechanicals, but they always have useful chapters on the checks and service items you need to look after. My daughter got her first car a few weeks ago, another Fiesta, and a manual was the first thing I got her. Around £16 well spent.

Tilt

Someone mentioned the significance of no owners hand book. I would agree 100% with that.

I think this provides the OP with an excellent case here should she wish to pursue the dealer for the repairs in court. I would of thought that under the SOGA this should be easy but I would advise speaking to a solicitor who specialises in consumer law, certianly before 'giving up'.

Without the owner's manual, how is the OP supposed to know how to operate and maintain the car? I'm also not convinced that not having the 'warranty' service (unless it is done free) would reduce the OP's statutory rights providing that the certain lubricants and fluids were maintained correctly.

I thought 'warranty' services were a thing of the past anyway. These use to have to be done within the first 1k from my experience.

Source a decent consumer law solicitor is my advice OP.

Tigsteroonie

But how do you prove that the OP wasn't supplied with an Owner's Manual? Was there any dated correspondence requesting it?

diesel_dog

I know that some Dealers use a sales check list which would include manuals, spare keys, sales receipt, new car first registration/tax, copy of customers insurance to register the car, servicing schedule book, recommend a friend scheme, etc, etc.

A copy to the customer and a copy in the sales file/folder.

forgotmyname

The 12,000 mile limit is just that a LIMIT.
The manufacturers maximum not a target.

My last oil change was at 4000 miles. The service will be up and it will probably be just over 6000 miles.

So the oil is 2000 miles old, Yet i will still get it changed.

The manufacturers limit is for people where the cost of running it is more important than looking after it.

Company vehicles and lease vehicles etc. They want as few services as they can get away with, As long as it doesnt fail inside the warranty period.

Oil should be checked weekly.

securityguy

diesel_dog wrote: »

That mileage isn't going to help you BUT, I would still ask the question that what would be changed on the first service that would of prevented this from happening?

The oil and the oil filter, for a start off.

I can't quite see what the dealer was supposed to do. The days of an initial service at half (or less) of the general service interval, and indeed 5/6000 mile services, have gone. The demands of fleets, modern synthetic oils and better manufacturing processes that don't leave swarf everywhere mean that the standard service intervals are either 10k miles or 1year or 12k miles or 1 year (12k because it's roughly 20k kilometres). There are cars with longer intervals (didn't Peugeot have some that were claimed to do 20k miles?) and there are cars with variable servicing, but the one year service is pretty much a fixed item.

So short of writing to customers every few months to say "hey, how many miles have you done?", most customers, especially those buying Fiestas, will have their first service at 12 months. My experience is that they do write to people, because they're keen for the business. But that wouldn't help the OP: they banged 18K miles onto a small car in 11 months, without changing the oil or filter, and then it seized. It's possible it would have seized anyway, but with 50% over the service interval, you'll never win that argument in a month of Sundays.

A lot of cars now have "service due" indicators, which work off both distance and time and, in some cases, how hard the car's driven. But a lot don't, and to assume that a car has one is foolish. And although, yes, cars with service intervals of more than 12k miles do exist, they're pretty few and far between, so once you're beyond 12k miles you'd better be damned sure that your car is one of that breed.

securityguy

Short-n-Sweet wrote: »

The oil is checked at least every few weeks

After 18K, anything other than the most exotic oil will have degraded significantly, especially on a new car. Checking the level is good practice, but oil doesn't just have to be in there, it has to be fresh enough to be doing its job.

Tilt

Tigsteroonie wrote: »

But how do you prove that the OP wasn't supplied with an Owner's Manual? Was there any dated correspondence requesting it?

'We' don't have to. We (or I am at least) are advising the OP on the info she is giving us. She is saying that she wasn't supplied with the owners manual and I am contributing on the basis that the OP is telling us the truth. If the OP is not telling us the truth, then all the advice (right or wrong) will be pointless.

Tilt

diesel_dog wrote: »

I know that some Dealers use a sales check list which would include manuals, spare keys, sales receipt, new car first registration/tax, copy of customers insurance to register the car, servicing schedule book, recommend a friend scheme, etc, etc.

A copy to the customer and a copy in the sales file/folder.

Yes indeed, good point... same at the Ford and Fiat dealers I worked at. The customer had to sign the list to say that they had received them as well. Can the OP tell us if she signed such a doc?

patman99

Wasn't it Ford who ran a Focus for 100k miles with Mobile One oil in ?. When they drained it and inspected the engine it was like new.