Modern cars - clutches

photome

spendaholic wrote: »

Almost four weeks later we got our car back. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and Ford categorically stated and reiterated over and over again that they never, ever, ever cover clutches in their warranties ... however, due to our history with them and this particular dealership, they did agree to go halves with us on the cost.

The work, which was done 3 weeks ago (our car's been sitting there ever since), was initially quoted as £1,600 and Ford offered us £460 for parts and labour but no VAT. So when we asked what the other £680 was for, it came back that they were prepared to pay £706-odd, inc VAT, leaving us £706-odd inc VAT to pay, which still only came to £1,410-ish and not £1,600.

Ford Relations went from one 5-day period to another 5-day period without any contact or updates and we had to call the hire car place, the service place, the warranty place, the customer services place ourselves. Until I went on social media with it ... and someone responded immediately and then kept us updated every single day for a week.

They held our car hostage and didn't even do the first-service it was originally booked in for. But we were permitted to collect it last night - although they had cleaned it for us.

When he handed over our invoice with all the parts listed, he said (and I quote): "and that's your warranty on the parts ..."

"But it's a clutch ..." said I. (See above. Nuff said.)

They're absolutely not getting our first-service now, even if it does include a year's free AA membership. And if we still decide to get me a Ka or a Fiesta next year, we won't be going there for it.

Not sure what you ended up paying but think you should have started your own thread

arcon5

£14000... you paid £700............... LOL ye sure great deal there¬!

spendaholic

photome wrote: »

Not sure what you ended up paying but think you should have started your own thread

It would have just been merged with this one.

We ended up paying £706 and they paid £706. But it was still a fault with the car and not driver abuse. We think it should have been covered by warranty ... ESPECIALLY when they gave us the new warranty for the new parts - i.e. a clutch.

audigex

facade wrote: »

He probably means that the way people drive nowadays is to rev the engine until it is bouncing off the end of the rev counter with the limiter cutting in, and then slip the clutch to get going, which wears them out.

In The Olden Days, we used to drop the clutch in at slightly above tickover, and the car would just pull smoothly away, but we only had a couple of gears, and much bigger low revving engines.

Shouldn't be a problem. if you drive it properly and the clutch is fine when you buy it.

Most of us still do that in fact, I often pull away at tickover because I have unlimited torques. 60,000 miles and haven't noticed any issues with the clutch. (Just don't ask me about the emissions... thanks VW)

There's a valid point, though, that with rev-happy little petrol engines with no torque, you have to plant the accelerator to get going: an issue for the likes of a Corsa, Clio etc, particularly with a teenager behind the wheel who's still driving on the "Try not to stall on your test" techniques.

almillar

Just imagine if everyone is now in neutral and has to get back in gear before driving off!

You need to look up what 'green and amber' means at traffic lights. The person at the front of the queue needs to pay close attention, and maybe be in gear if they like, the rest of you have plenty of time to get into gear and get moving. You shouldn't just wait for the car in front of you to start moving, before you take ANY action, you should be ready to go.