Friday, still within warranty, the “Coolant Overheated” light came on, and the vehicle engine shut down. There was no loss of fluid, so I suspect a fairly complex but easy to diagnose computer, thermostat, or pump error.
I called Ford Emergency Assistance, and they said I would be towed to the nearest Ford dealer, at no charge, which I was JUST before closing time for the service department.
The dealer I was towed to is NOT who I bought the vehicle from, and is about 70 miles away from where I bought it.
Im a LITTLE nervous because:
What incentive does this dealer have to fix the problem right away, since I’m not one of their customers?
As soon as I showed up at their door and told the service writer the situation, the first words he mumbled were “we don’t normally do warranty work on weekends”. The service writers seemed a little dopey, too . . . .
I even mentioned to the service writers, hey, I live like, kinda far away----can you help a brother out with a vehicle? And I was told not only does this dealership not have a vehicle for me, but the other rental places in the area were closed. (CONTRAST THIS to when I had a breakdown with a Chevy 10 years ago, brought it to the dealer I bought it from and IMMEDIATELY got a loaner vehicle while the problem was fixed.) I Ubered home for $87 but now am out about $50 bucks rental car every day this is not fixed.
15 years ago, I drove my mother up from Florida and her out-of-warranty Lincoln Continental broke down, and we limped into a Ford dealership in Shithole, NC where they delayed and delayed and delayed even looking at it until we broke down and bought a Taurus for $13,000.
Friend after friend has assured me that hey, Ford wants to protect their brand name, and this dealer will address the problem and have me on my way ASAP. But, in many ways, I feel if they wanted to be dicks, they do have me over a barrel.
My expectations of “protecting the brand name” is this dealer will at the very least take a look at my vehicle Monday, worst case scenario the issue fixed by Wednesday at the very latest.
Am I being fair? If I don’t get at least a plan of action by mid week do I call Ford? The dealer I bought this car from? What are my options as a consumer if I get a jerk job?
You don’t have to take the car to the dealership where you bought it to have warranty work done. I’ve used several dealers for my Ford recall (not warranty) work as I am sort of equidistant from 3 of them.
I mean like, what if you bought the car and moved across the country?
Their incentive to do well is that hey you brought the car to them for a reason (you live closer than the other dealership?), perhaps you will bring it back again.
I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve needed a rental when my car was in the shop, as I have another car available to me. I do know that last time I spent some time in a Ford dealer service area, they were shuttling people to the nearest Enterprise to rent cars and that’s it. I know another Ford dealership in the area advertises that they will shuttle you to wherever you need to go after you drop off but that’s all. So I don’t think that obtaining and paying for a rental car is something Ford does.
Dealerships don’t provide rentals. Often people who have accidents get rental cars while the dealer repairs their damaged car. Those are paid for by the vehicle owner’s insurance company.
Depending on how fancy your car insurance is, it might contain a feature to pay for a rental whenever your car is in the shop. It costs nothing to check.
In theory you should get identical warranty service from any on-brand (i.e. Ford) dealership; not just from the one where you bought the car. If you don’t get that experience, the manufacturer wants to know. Dig up their factory customer service hotline and start complaining.
But overall, having a car crap out on a weekend far from home is a guaranteed PITA even if everybody involved performs to the max.
Nitpick: It depends on the dealership. Dealers of luxury brands often do, and they’re more likely to offer it if you’ve bought a top of the line model (hell, some pick up and deliver the car).
Nitpick of nitpick - dealers sometimes (IME, often) will provide a loaner car - not a rental- while they are working on yours, especially if yours is in warranty. As for Ford specifically, it seems that it depends.
Call you local dealer to see if they can intervene on your behalf. If not, the Ford regional office nearest you may be able to help.
It seems to me that a lot of car buyers assume a dealership retains some vested interest in a car they’ve sold, when that’s only true in the loosest sense. They want you as a customer, for all the usual reasons, and would prefer you bring your vehicle to them for service because it reinforces the relationship (and the likelihood you’ll buy expensive services and your next car from them).
But warranty work is paid for by the manufacturer, sometimes lavishly, and with few exceptions ANY dealer of that model will be happy to take your car in for warranty service. Dealerships that get snotty because you bought it somewhere else are very likely to be the highest-pressure, lowest-rated, most obnoxious ones, and their attitude is supposed to shame you into buying your car there next time. (Mid-town dealers with higher prices and crappy attitudes often hate the outlying dealers who cut prices and treat customers better… so your “driving to save” choice undercuts their local monopoly.)
How can the new dealership attempt to woo you as a future customer if they don’t do a good job fixing your car (said repairs being covered by warranty and therefore they are certainly going to be paid the full agreed-upon amount by the manufacturer)?
ETA: This is essentially a golden opportunity for the new dealership to sell themselves to you and establish a potential future relationship. They’re going to get paid for the actual repairs anyway - but this is their chance to prove they’re better than the other dealership - easier to work with, friendlier, whatever. Any reasonably sensible dealership will realize this.
The problem is usually what I alluded to - the customer goes to a remote dealership (10, 25, 50 miles away) to get a better deal and maybe better treatment, but then brings the car to his local dealership for service. There’s probably a reason the buyer avoided the closer dealership near him, and they know it… so their tactic is bullying.
Considering the OP stated that he lived “kinda far away” from the dealer to whom the vehicle was towed, it sounds to me like the car broke down while he was away from home and he didn’t have much option as to who would be servicing it. OP, can you clarify?
Yes, but Ford pays less than the rate charged to customers. So that’s the incentive for them to give customers work priority over warranty work (especially on weekends, when customers want their cars back to get to work next week).
But they can’t treat you too shabbily, because you could complain to the Ford regional office, who will reprimand them.
A smart dealership would take this as an opportunity to gain you as a regular customer, by treating you really well.
But not all dealers are smart. And this one sounds like a not-smart one, based on the way they’ve treated you so far (comments about warranty service, lack of interest in finding you rental transportation).
Interesting. I had a Mustang way back. Needed warranty work done and they gave me a loaner for two days. Signed paperwork similar to rental stuff and took the keys from the service desk. But that was in the 90’s and their finances have changed.
And sometimes it depends where you bought the vehicle- the dealership where I bought my car will happily do even warranty work on cars purchased elsewhere, but the loaners and courtesy shuttle are only for vehicles they sold. Which in a reversal of something previously mentioned, is part of the reason I drove 20 miles to buy the car from this dealer rather than buying from the one nearby.
I think that varies by dealer. The one I bought my mustang from would offer a loaner when it was in for service, but wouldn’t if they were working on my ranger which I bought elsewhere.
I suspect the OP’s comment about not living locally, coupled with it being warranty work where he was towed to (as opposed to bringing the car there himself) meant that they realized this was a one-&-done repair & that this was not the opportunity to gain a customer. Nor would it hurt them because chances are, he doesn’t have many friends *in the area *to complain to if he’s not a local; therefore his complaint doesn’t affect their other (potential) customers due to bad word-of-mouth.
Yes, it’s a dickish maneuver, but I can see why the service manager low-prioritized this repair.