A (minor) tale of woe

[JonnyO]

My previous car was written off by a bus driver and SWMBO insisted that she would like a return to a small MPV. A cheap economical family wagon was fine by me so I sourced a 2004 Ford C-Max 1.6 tdci from a local Ford dealer. They wouldnt budge on price but said they would service, MOT it and do some minor fixes I wanted. There final offer was to fill it with diesel to secure the deal. I said I wanted to think about it and check with the missus so shook their hands and left.
I called them back the next day to accept the deal and went along today to collect it.
Well to start with the car wasn't day for me to collect and I was there for an our and a half waiting for them to get it valeted and tyres fitted. Just when I was about to leave they told me that the offer of the fuel was only if I had accepted the deal on the day. Never mind that I had called them at 9 am the following morning! They wouldn't budge on this knowing they had me over a barrel as I couldn't get home without the car. They wouldn't even do anything when I reminded them that I was looking to also get a Focus CC in a month or two and that I wouldn't be back to them if they reneged on this deal.
Ah well, it's just 30 says I and I departed. I parked the car up at home, left for work and came home this evening to let the missus take he first spin in it.
No more than a couple of miles down the road the car goes into 'limp home' mode with no power and won't go over 3000 revs.
Obviously I'm going to get the ca back to the dealer tomorrow but the likely candidate win this fault is the EGR valve on this engine and it often doesn't record a fault code and can be very intermittent. If they get funny about it how do I best tackle this and force them into a repair even if the fault does not reoccur tomorrow morning?

[mybrainhurts]

Could be an injector.

Mondeos go into limp when one of the turbo pipes splits. A regular event, but don't know if your motor is similarly susceptible.

Whatever it is, they've got to fix it.

Next time an injector goes, find an independent who reconditions them for half the price of the dealer's job.

[tercelgold]

From reading previous threads, the most important thing is to inform them and take it back. The fault was present when you paid, if it's left a few weeks the fault developed due to X.


Otherwise i'd get rid of it and take the cash back, they sold you a dodgy car that came out of dealership and failed in 30 miles.

[JonnyO]

Am I entitled to get a courtesy car whilst it's in for repair and how do I tackle an intermittent fault with them? All assuming the car isn't rejected which may happen I suppose...

[s3fella]

It sounds like a dog, reject it and start again with another dealer.

C Max s are ten a penny.

[matc]

I wouldn't go in threatening to reject the car etc. just call in the morning and ask for the sales manager; he'll probably advise you to bring it in, but make it clear you want a courtesy car and that you're a bit dissapointed.

Then just give them a reasonable chance to fix the fault, if they can't then you're within your right to reject the car.

I tend to find situations like this are about attitude, there's no reason to go losing your rag with them straight away.

[JonnyO]

Thanks. Not going to lose my rag about it, it's just a car and I know the law is on my side. I just don't want to inconvenienced by repeated trips to the dealer or being without a car for any length of time.
Not sure how anyone could say the car is a dog from what I've said so far? It's very clean and tidy with good history that happens to have a fault. Could happen to any?

[m44kts]

Ask for a tank of fuel for the inconvenience too, just to be cheeky.

[tercelgold]

JonnyO said:

Am I entitled to get a courtesy car whilst it's in for repair and how do I tackle an intermittent fault with them? All assuming the car isn't rejected which may happen I suppose...

No, you have no rights if you agree for them to fix it, it just becomes a long list of faults and repairs and the longer that becomes the less likely you are to get the money back.

matc said:

I wouldn't go in threatening to reject the car etc.

I would, Ford Dealership selling a Ford that goes into limp home mode. Did it break down in a couple of miles ?; then ask for the money back and they can have the car, which they can obviously easily fix and resell, being a Ford dealership, they lose nothing as they would have had to repair it anyway in this case.

Ford dealership means paying a big premium over an independent and an even bigger premium over a private sale.

Edit:"Well to start with the car wasn't day for me to collect and I was there for an our and a half waiting for them to get it valeted and tyres fitted. Just when I was about to leave they told me that the offer of the fuel was only if I had accepted the deal on the day."

80 GBP at least, they really care about their customers at that dealership.

Edited by tercelgold on Thursday 15th March 21:09

[JonnyO]

m44kts said:

Ask for a tank of fuel for the inconvenience too, just to be cheeky.

Ha ha! I like it! May just well do that!

[s3fella]

You need to reject it.
I think you'll find they have realised it has a problem, hence the lack of the other prep, they've been trying to fix the motor and it has failed again immediately.

It is a dog, which is why it's been traded in, get shot of it pronto and buy a proper one!