Excuse for not covering on a vehicle warranty

heathergmail1

Hi im after some advise, we bought a ford mondeo in January from Bristol Street Motors in Birmingham. It is an 09 plate and had approx 32k miles on the clock, a 2.2 diesal.

We purchased a 5 year extended warranty from Ford. Now touch wood the cars been great. However we took it in today because the Engine Management light and oil light have been on. Its all been reset but apparently the man told my husband that it would not be covered on a warranty because he doesn't do enough miles - yes doesn't do enough. Hes only done 2000 miles since January and as its a 2.2 engine it would be classed as neglect. He says we were mis sold the vehicle as the size of the engine he should be doing 20k miles per year.

Now is the biggest pile of poo I have ever heard or is it a valid reason? I understand thats its a big car but surely there is not limit to the miles you dont do? :rotfl:

Thanks

OddballJamie

It's not the size of the engine that's the problem, it's because it's a diesel.

Diesels engines thrive on high miles, you shouldn't even consider buying a modern diesel when doing less than 15k a year.

If you continue to do a few thousand miles a year I would seriously consider swapping for a petrol engined model before any further problems happen. At least in the meantime, give the car a run every couple of weeks.

heathergmail1

But is it a valid reason for denying warranty coverage?

spacey2012

The man at the garage is talking absolute and utter rubbish, contact the people who sold you the warranty.
Then contact trading standards if you get no joy.

neilmcl

heathergmail1 wrote: »

But is it a valid reason for denying warranty coverage?

It is if what you do is detrimental to the operation of the car. What was the actual problem with the car?

OddballJamie

All depends on what goes wrong and whether they class it as wear and tear.
For example any DPF issues are generally classed as wear and tear, same as DMF and clutch problems.

I haven't seen the full terms but I assume as the car gets older over the five year warranty they will be classing more and more as wear and tear.

heathergmail1

The issue was the Engine management light was on amber and the oil service light was on constantly.

The fan also took longer to kick in and then switch off.

The guy at the garage said its because we dont do enough miles and the quality of the oil degrades if its not used (this I do understand) but surely not doing enough miles is not a valid reason !!

heathergmail1

OddballJamie wrote: »

All depends on what goes wrong and whether they class it as wear and tear.
For example any DPF issues are generally classed as wear and tear, same as DMF and clutch problems.

I haven't seen the full terms but I assume as the car gets older over the five year warranty they will be classing more and more as wear and tear.

Sorry whats DPF and DMF?

OddballJamie

The engine management light is to tell you there is a fault so you get it checked at the garage. Do you know the actual fault they found or have they just reset the light for now?

OddballJamie

heathergmail1 wrote: »

Sorry whats DPF and DMF?

DPF is a Diesel Particulate Filter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_particulate_filter

DMF is a Dual Mass Flywheel
Here's a little video on it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRL_1KW79NA

Both can be problematic with low miles.

heathergmail1

OddballJamie wrote: »

The engine management light is to tell you there is a fault so you get it checked at the garage. Do you know the actual fault they found or have they just reset the light for now?

They have reset the light for us and advised us the issue will be with the quality of the oil. Its due a service in November.