(Age 24) Courtesy Car for Car Repair? FORD ISSUE

Gregorb97

I had to take my car into the Dealer for a fault which has been underlying. The car is still under warranty (68 plate/2019) and I bought the car from this dealer back in November 2020. 

They initially expected to have the car for 2 days maximum, but they are now telling me that theres a major problem with the control module and they require a part which is currently on back order and they don’t know when they’ll receive it…

I’ve now been without my car for a week, and I’ve had to chase the dealer up every day to find out what is actually going on with the car. Every time I explain to them that I can’t go without a car for much longer, they’ve said that they don’t have any courtesy cars at the moment, and that I can’t hire one through Ford as I’m under 25 (24).

This surely can’t be the case? I’ve driven multiple hire cars before for work purposes, and have had no problem being able to get added to my employers business insurance etc.

Not entirely sure what I can do. You pay a lot of money for a car, and they really expect you to just be able to go without it for weeks and possibly even longer, without anything to replace it in the meantime just because of of my age?

Any ideas or if anyone knows more about what rights I have regarding car repairs I’d appreciate the answer. Thanks

AdrianC

They require drivers to be 25 or over for their hire cars. Other hire firms may not... So use one of those.

If they had a courtesy car available, they would lend it to you - but, unfortunately, they don't.

Your rights are to have the problem repaired under the warranty. That's what they're doing. There is no legal right for every part to be available within a certain number of days... Nor is there any legal right to a courtesy car while you wait.

Is it a problem which takes the car off the road?

BOWFER

Have you spoken to Ford customer service, rather than the dealer?
They would have the ability to override the dealer's own terms and effectively order the dealer to give you a loan car, I've experienced this myself several times.
If the car is financed, worth speaking to the finance company too as you're effectively paying for something you can't use.

BOWFER

AdrianC said:

Is it a problem which takes the car off the road?

I would assume the phrase "I've told them I can't do without a car much longer" says yes to this.

neilmcl

You could try going down your statutory consumer rights route stating that under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, any remedy offered by them should be done so "within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience to the consumer". Your argument would be that doing without a car for so long does cause a significant inconvenience and they should mitigate this by supplying one, how they source this is down to them.

Sandtree

AdrianC said:

If they had a courtesy car available, they would lend it to you - but, unfortunately, they don't.

Things are rarely as black and white as this. Its obviously true that if they have nothing at all then they cannot lend but its not necessarily true that if they say they've nothing that its the case. Some dealerships at least operate a pecking order where those on the lower rungs get told nothing available and those on the upper get given something appropriate.

BOWFER

Sandtree said:

AdrianC said:

If they had a courtesy car available, they would lend it to you - but, unfortunately, they don't.

Things are rarely as black and white as this. Its obviously true that if they have nothing at all then they cannot lend but its not necessarily true that if they say they've nothing that its the case. Some dealerships at least operate a pecking order where those on the lower rungs get told nothing available and those on the upper get given something appropriate.

Agreed, there's always cars available...always....the forecourt is literally full of them.
it's just a case of getting the right 'procedure' and permission.
We had an example recently where the dealer didn't have any courtesy cars, but the girl in reception told us to book our car in for the fault via the roadside assistance instead, as they had two cars sitting that were allocated to roadside assistance clients and could only be sanctioned by them.
Lo and behold, we got a car.

The OP has only got two posts and has gone silent, so I think he's maybe 'scattergunned' a few websites for answers, but if he's still looking here he really needs to go above the dealer and onto Ford direct.

neilmcl

BOWFER said:

Sandtree said:

AdrianC said:

If they had a courtesy car available, they would lend it to you - but, unfortunately, they don't.

Things are rarely as black and white as this. Its obviously true that if they have nothing at all then they cannot lend but its not necessarily true that if they say they've nothing that its the case. Some dealerships at least operate a pecking order where those on the lower rungs get told nothing available and those on the upper get given something appropriate.

Agreed, there's always cars available...always....the forecourt is literally full of them.
it's just a case of getting the right 'procedure' and permission.
We had an example recently where the dealer didn't have any courtesy cars, but the girl in reception told us to book our car in for the fault via the roadside assistance instead, as they had two cars sitting that were allocated to roadside assistance clients and could only be sanctioned by them.
Lo and behold, we got a car.

The OP has only got two posts and has gone silent, so I think he's maybe 'scattergunned' a few websites for answers, but if he's still looking here he really needs to go above the dealer and onto Ford direct.

A similar thing happened to me years ago when I had an Audi with a warranty issue. They said they didn't have a courtesy car available but advised me to drive up the road then call out the Audi roadside assistance team. Half an hour later, car was picked up and after a lift home I got a car delivered within the hour.

Things have changed slightly as some manufacturers don't always have a full fleet of replacement cars but they still have contracts with the likes of Enterprise which can supply the cars on their behalf.