Misleading Ford Bulletin Has Lead to Huge Repair Costs

FL91

Hi,
I'm not sure if this is the best place to post but I'm looking for some advice and this is the site Google directed me to!

I bought a Ford Focus from a car dealership with a mileage of 22,000, on a finance deal that meant I own the car when I complete my payments (I'm a student, and thought a newer car on a reasonable finance I can manage would be a better option than a cheaper, older car with typically very expensive issues attached!)

After 10 months, and at about 28,000 miles the 2nd gear kept popping out and eventually wouldn't work at all. I went to the dealership and got the usual "it's not our issue..." I went to the company I pay each month for the car and again I was told it was not their issue. I called Ford and was told to go back to the dealership - you get the picture.

Long story short, I went to my local mechanic who managed to go on the Ford bulletins to try and diagnose the problem, it boiled down to a manufacturing fault, that is common with certain cars that had certain parts made in a certain factory in a certain time period which my car fell into essentially, and he quoted me £950-£1000 to fix it based on the labour and parts detailed in the bulletin.
This was August 2014. I'm a student so by the time I managed to save enough to meet the quote, with a £200 buffer amount it was January 2015.

I took it to the garage and get a call a few days later to say, they carried out the work advised by the bulletin but 2nd gear still popped out, but that they work carried out up to this point was at £1000 (they removed and rebuilt the gearbox etc.)
I was then told they think a certain part was needed, that would cost £350, I said go ahead, I'll do some more shifts at work! I was then told that that wasn't the issue, it was in fact a £60 clutch-fork that needed to be replaced, and my gearbox had in fact been fine all along.
My grand total was £1439, with only 10 hours labour included because they felt bad that it wasn't fixed in the first week (they had it 2.5weeks) and that the work outlined by the bulletin was unnecessary. The garage have been honest and upfront the entire way, I don't believe they've tried to fleece me at all.

Ford obviously were aware of the manufacturing fault in relation to my car as it's apparently a common issue, but their bulletin made no reference to a new clutch-fork at all, I know the mechanic chose the right bulletin because I sat with him studying each one and it matched the problem perfectly. When I called Ford they didn't make me aware of this fault, after I spoke with my mechanic about the clutch fork, I called the dealership who sheepishly admitted they knew of the fault but would only have mentioned it if I took the car to be fixed by them - I asked how much they would have charged and it was close to £1900 because they would have to complete the (unnecessary) work outlined in the bulletin before replacing it, and charge me full labour costs.

My question is this - considering my car broke, after 10 months and before it reached 30,000 miles due to a known manufacturing fault, do I have any leg to stand on when it comes to asking Ford or the dealership for some form of compensation that I can put towards to cost of repair? Like I said, I'm only a student so I'm unaware of my rights in this instance so if you all say "nope, that's life, sorry" then I will take your word for it! But I'm covering this cost myself with what's left of my student loan and my part time jobs so if it was possible to catch a break I obviously want to try!

Thank you in advance for your insight, I really do appreciate your guidance.
F.

forgotmyname

10 months after buying froma dealer you would need proof that the fault was there when you bought it or that it should have lasted longer.

You mention the mileage but not the cars age. The previous owner could be someone like me that spends a lot of time in traffic, 1st 2nd,1st,2nd..Busy roundabout where you need to accelerate briskly or sit there fo an age waiting for a huge gap.

Sounds like your garage mis-diagnosed it also. Sounds like a worn synchromesh to me which would mean gearbox removal.
Usually a reconditioned box is cheaper.

custardy

FL91 wrote: »

Hi,
I'm not sure if this is the best place to post but I'm looking for some advice and this is the site Google directed me to!

I bought a Ford Focus from a car dealership with a mileage of 22,000, on a finance deal that meant I own the car when I complete my payments (I'm a student, and thought a newer car on a reasonable finance I can manage would be a better option than a cheaper, older car with typically very expensive issues attached!)

After 10 months, and at about 28,000 miles the 2nd gear kept popping out and eventually wouldn't work at all. I went to the dealership and got the usual "it's not our issue..." I went to the company I pay each month for the car and again I was told it was not their issue. I called Ford and was told to go back to the dealership - you get the picture.

Long story short, I went to my local mechanic who managed to go on the Ford bulletins to try and diagnose the problem, it boiled down to a manufacturing fault, that is common with certain cars that had certain parts made in a certain factory in a certain time period which my car fell into essentially, and he quoted me £950-£1000 to fix it based on the labour and parts detailed in the bulletin.
This was August 2014. I'm a student so by the time I managed to save enough to meet the quote, with a £200 buffer amount it was January 2015.

I took it to the garage and get a call a few days later to say, they carried out the work advised by the bulletin but 2nd gear still popped out, but that they work carried out up to this point was at £1000 (they removed and rebuilt the gearbox etc.)
I was then told they think a certain part was needed, that would cost £350, I said go ahead, I'll do some more shifts at work! I was then told that that wasn't the issue, it was in fact a £60 clutch-fork that needed to be replaced, and my gearbox had in fact been fine all along.
My grand total was £1439, with only 10 hours labour included because they felt bad that it wasn't fixed in the first week (they had it 2.5weeks) and that the work outlined by the bulletin was unnecessary. The garage have been honest and upfront the entire way, I don't believe they've tried to fleece me at all.

Ford obviously were aware of the manufacturing fault in relation to my car as it's apparently a common issue, but their bulletin made no reference to a new clutch-fork at all, I know the mechanic chose the right bulletin because I sat with him studying each one and it matched the problem perfectly. When I called Ford they didn't make me aware of this fault, after I spoke with my mechanic about the clutch fork, I called the dealership who sheepishly admitted they knew of the fault but would only have mentioned it if I took the car to be fixed by them - I asked how much they would have charged and it was close to £1900 because they would have to complete the (unnecessary) work outlined in the bulletin before replacing it, and charge me full labour costs.

My question is this - considering my car broke, after 10 months and before it reached 30,000 miles due to a known manufacturing fault, do I have any leg to stand on when it comes to asking Ford or the dealership for some form of compensation that I can put towards to cost of repair? Like I said, I'm only a student so I'm unaware of my rights in this instance so if you all say "nope, that's life, sorry" then I will take your word for it! But I'm covering this cost myself with what's left of my student loan and my part time jobs so if it was possible to catch a break I obviously want to try!

Thank you in advance for your insight, I really do appreciate your guidance.
F.

Are garages only using bulletins to diagnose faults these days?

FL91

Thanks for your response! It's a 59 plate if that helps? They replaced the synchromesh just in case it was that and took the gearbox apart and back together in case something wasn't aligned properly but it still didn't work after so replaced the clutch-fork and that sorted out the problem. When the problem arose I wrote to the dealer so I would have a record of communication with photo's of the mileage and date it stopped working but that's all I have :-/
Thanks again,

FL91

Haha I did wonder!

AdrianC

FL91 wrote: »

Thanks for your response! It's a 59 plate if that helps

So outside the manufacturer's warranty - by a wide margin. You bought it from a Ford main dealer, or just a general used-car sales place? What warranty was with it?

reddwarf2002

My advice would be to write a letter of complaint to Ford Head Office with the invoice for the bulletin work and state that you expect ford to re-imburse you for the cost of this known problem. If you can state the bulletin number and details then that would help too. If you are very lucky they MAY opt to offer you some contributions. But I suspect because the work was carried out through an indy then they will have nothing to do with it.

The other option would be to take the selling dealership to Small Courts to get your money back. However this would be extremely difficult as, although you asked them about it and they denied reponsibility, I'm not 100% sure whether a LBA (Letter Before Action) is a must. You also then have to prove that the problem was present when you bought the car. Would the bulletin be enough to prove this, I'm not sure?

Even though you've been told otherwise, your loan company is also liable for it. But how you go about squeezing their arm someone more knowledgeable might be able to tell you...

AdrianC

Just re-reading your original post, you agree with the mechanic that the fault appeared identical to the Ford bulletin regarding a known issue, which required the gearbox to be stripped and rebuilt. So you had the gearbox stripped and rebuilt.

But that turned out not to be the problem your car was having...?

So the problem wasn't the one covered in the bulletin after all.

colino

More BS being spewed out here and I'm not going to bother looking through the TSBs to call it. Changing a, "clutch-fork" wouldn't cure a car, any car, of popping out of one gear.

welfayre

colino wrote: »

More BS being spewed out here and I'm not going to bother looking through the TSBs to call it. Changing a, "clutch-fork" wouldn't cure a car, any car, of popping out of one gear.

Took the words right out of my mouth

forgotmyname

Does it even have a clutch fork? CSC on those? So no fork?

Its 5+ years old, So unless you bought it from new and did the low mileage yourself and had it serviced at the same garage, They might have offered a goodwill repair with the hope you buy your next car from them.

Its fixed now. Have a whinge and move on. From what you put above i wouldnt take that garages verdict as being close to an engineers report on the fault.

They got it wrong...