Dealer denying warranty coverage

Skud · Aug 2, 2006

Hey all,

I took my 02 GT into the dealer today because it has had an axle seal slowly leaking on the driver's side for about a year. My car is a Canadian car and I was living in Canada when I bought it. I also had it registered in Canada for two years before I moved here. Being a Canadian car is has a 5 year 100,000km powertrain warranty on it.

A week before I stopped in to see if they would honor the warranty. The service tech looked it up int he computer and said that it did indeed have the warranty, but he had to talk to his warranty manager. The next day they called back and said they would honor the warranty, so I made an appointment.

Well I take the car in today and about a hour and a half later I get a call from the service tech. "Well, I got the car up on the lift and I see you have some severe modifications done to the suspention so we can't honor the warranty" (exact words).

JUST this weekend I put on some FRPP C springs and bilstein shocks. I also have some MM full length subs.

So I ask him "OK, how do these parts cause the axle seal leak?" He said that the modified suspention puts "too much" stress on the axels and caused the seal to leak. I told him that the seal has been leaking for over a year and I just did the suspention modifications less than a week ago. I then offered to show them the receipts for the parts that I just had installed.

So he called his service manager and they changed their tune. "We can't honor the 5/100,000 warranty because your car isn't registered in Canada anymore". Even though they told me they would in the first place.

So we argue back and forth for a bit and he said he has to call his Regional Service manager who is flying back from Nevada. He's going to call me tomorrow..

Any thoughts? I don't want to have to pay for this myself and I'm not trying to screw anyone here.. I just want fixed what should be fixed under warranty..

Thanks!!
Riley

blackfang · Aug 2, 2006

That is straight up Bullshyt! Ask them how a ford spring that was OEM equipment on the 85 SVO help cause excess stress on the axle. Also ask them how springs (which act as a cushion for the axle) can cause stress?

01Steeda · Aug 2, 2006

blackfang said:
That is straight up Bullshyt! Ask them how a ford spring that was OEM equipment on the 85 SVO help cause excess stress on the axle. Also ask them how springs (which act as a cushion for the axle) can cause stress?

well he is gonna say 1. that spring was designed for the SVO not an 99-04 mustang that have different wieghts.

2. different spring rate caused more wieght to be pushed to the axles hence the wear...

Is he right? Hell no, but that will be his argument... just remember he has the burden of proof that theses parts did indeed cause the leak.

I would sling him some BS to... tell him he needs to find an engeneer that can back up his claims in detail because you are one and will be ready to explain the opposite in court (it will never get that far).. it's BS we all know but hell if he can sling it so can u.

Mustang5L5 · Aug 2, 2006

That's BS.

Go to another dealership

Skud · Aug 2, 2006

I think I have already got them with the aftermarket suspention tactic. When I offered to show them the receipts proving the springs were only on for two days, they then told me they couldn't honor the 5/100,000 warranty because my vehicle isn't registered in Canada anymore..

I don't know how they can void your car's warranty based on where you live.. Especially since I BOUGHT the car with that warranty and had lived in Canada with the car for at least two years prior..

I think I'll try another dealership. But this is already my 2nd one that's given me the BS regarding the "not registered in Canada" BS.. Originally I was ecstatic because they were going to honor the warranty. The service tech even verified with their "warranty manager" and she said it was OK. Now they've made a complete 180..

Oh well.. More arguing tomorrow.. I'll let you guys know the outcome..

Riley

ANGRMNGT · Aug 2, 2006

I had Town & Country Ford in Charlotte, NC void my cars warranty when i brought the car in for a bad A/C pully and the only mods to my car where bassani mid-pipe & cat-back at the time.

They pretty much can and will do what ever they want. If you have have made any changes to the car they will point at those changes for causing the problem.

Really need to ask around and find a dealer thats "mod" friendly.

Pennywise2 · Aug 3, 2006

Mustang5L5 said:
That's BS.

Go to another dealership

+100 Bingo!

thomas91169 · Aug 3, 2006

you modded your suspension. you are trying to fix a suspension problem under warranty. you will lose the fight. its like saying "i snapped some rods, but i have this procharger@15psi, will you still honor the warranty?"

now i could see calling BS if you had welded on flomasters, and they tried to say the modified exhaust note vibrated the seals loose, but you have modified suspension and are trying to get other suspension related things fixed under warranty. you should have fixed the leak before the mods, or removed the mods and put them back on after the work.

dont get me wrong, im all about ****ing over stealerships when it comes to warranty work. ive returned countless cars to stock conditions for warranty work, key word there is stock conditions. you must be smarter than the dealership for them to fix things under warranty.

or hell, like my buddy's wrx, for warranty work(got a new tranny), we returned it to stock under the hood(they didnt notice a 20g but oh well, their loss), and have a old guy bring it in, so they cant say "ooh wrx, broken tranny, umm streetracing gtfo!", they see a old guy and say "eh he probably drives the car like an old man, its subies messup". once again, be smarter than the stealership. or my other buddies leased RSX-S that we turbo'd, and he blew the motor, and we removed everything and he got it fixed under warranty cause when they asked if he raced it, his response "this pos slow ass car, i just commute and thats it". suckers.

Stangsgrl · Aug 3, 2006

Nothin against you and sucks when dealerships try to get picky with stuff when the mods had no effect on what's wrong with the car...

but why did you wait until now to bring it to the dealership if it's been like that for a year and you put that stuff on last week? Did it get worse? Just curious..

Just try another dealership I guess.

Uncle Meat · Aug 3, 2006

Stangsgrl said:
Nothin against you and sucks when dealerships try to get picky with stuff when the mods had no effect on what's wrong with the car...

but why did you wait until now to bring it to the dealership if it's been like that for a year and you put that stuff on last week? Did it get worse? Just curious.

+1

It wasn't really the smart thing to do, modding the suspension and THEN taking it in for warranty work. If it had been leaking for a year you really should have had it taken care of before installing these new mods. Yeah, hindsight is 20/20... Showing them the receipts for your mods actually hurts your case I think. In their eyes you just installed these unauthorized mods and now your car has a problem. Got proof that the problem existed a year ago to show them?

U.M.

Mike97gt · Aug 3, 2006

Go to a different dealer and try again.. I really don't get why they are giving you such a hard time on a simple repair.

merc123 · Aug 3, 2006

Ford tried to void my warranty for the 1-2 shift clunk on my 3650 because I had a tri-ax. He said they're going to do it because they "already had it all out"

blackfang · Aug 3, 2006

They can not deny the warranty, but just the warranty claim

Uncle Meat · Aug 3, 2006

I'm sure some dealerships will look for any excuse possible to keep from performing warranty work which may not be profitable for them. It is after all just buisness as usual.

U.M.

Skud · Aug 3, 2006

I just got a call from the service manager and he told me that they won't honor the warranty because I no longer have the vehicle registered in Canada. They said they were having problems with people driving to Canada to purchase a car that had the 5 year/100,000km warranty so they put in a stipulation that said the vehicle has to be registered in Canada to be eligible for the warranty..

I explained my situation that I bought the car in Canada and lived in Canada for 2 years prior to moving here, but they didn't want to listen and gave me the phone number for Ford and told me to call them and dispute it..

I called Ford of Canada and they said that they should be honoring the warranty and that it's good throughout all of North America.

I have yet to call the number they gave me..

Thanks!!
Riley

Mike97gt · Aug 3, 2006

Uncle Meat said:
I'm sure some dealerships will look for any excuse possible to keep from performing warranty work which may not be profitable for them. It is after all just buisness as usual.

U.M.

Yeah that is true.. It's not the dealers that loose out badly it's the techs themselfs and the writers to a lesser degree...

Ford pays the tech about half of what the same job would pay if it was a cash ticket. The dealer don't care to much because they don't loose out like we can..

Example..

If a outer tie rod under warrenty pays .3 or 3/10th of a hour to replace then the dealer gets paid 3/10th of a hour , they pay us 3/10ths of a hour no matter how long it took us.. If I spend a 1/2 hour on it I get 3/10th from the dealer if I spend 8 years on it I get 3/10th of a hour pay

the dealer does not really loose out because no matter how long the tech takes to do the job they are only paying him how long ford SAYS it should take..

So lets say the dealer gets paid 100 dollars a hour labor rate.. ford then pays them 3/10ths of that so 30 bucks.. and the tech lets say gets paid 20 dollars a hour, that means he gets 6 bucks.. so the dealer still made money..

That same tie rod might have made the tech .6ths or even a hour on a cash ticket.

I know it sucks to have a hard time getting problems fixed under warrenty.. But ford has made it really hard on us mechanics to make a living on warrenty work...

sure it might be buisness as usual and all we care about is profit.. but the last I checked I can't buy food on a " I fdid a good job on this car under warrenty and lost money" note.

and my landlord sure as hell don't care if I spend 3 days fixing a rattle for a guy and got paid 2 hours for it.

Skud · Aug 3, 2006

I stopped in to pick my car up and more good stuff happened..

The service manager decided that not only do I not have the warranty anymore, but the rear-end isn't part of the "powertrain". Only the engine and transmission are. So even if I did have warranty it wouldn't be covered under the powertrain warranty.. So I was starting to *really* doubt this service manager's abilities and knowledge.

I went to the front counter and the service tech got my papers and keys and said "Ok, that'll be $113"..

I was speechless. I asked him what is was for "It's for the time it took to look at the car and to take the tires off and put them back on." Normally I would agree if they had said "It'll be xxx dollars if it's not under warranty" but, originally I was told they would honor the warranty (which is why I made the appointment) AND they checked with their warranty manager and she said it was OK. So, based on what they told me I had warranty.

I then asked for my keys so I could go get the warranty booklet that showed the rear-end was covered. While I was walking back into the dealer the original service tech who had told me the warranty was valid met me and apologized for the whole thing and said I didn't owe them anything. I showed him the warranty booklet and told him I called Ford and they said the warranty was throughout North America. I said they told me to tell you to call the Ford of Canada Warranty center and they would explain how to get reimbursed for the work. He said he would call them and would let me know.. So I thanked him and left.

I think what's happening is that the service manager is being a jerk and the techs have nothing to do but what he says. That's why the tech came outside with me and apologized..

I guess I'll wait and hear what they have to say..

Thanks!!
Riley

Mike97gt · Aug 3, 2006

that was really nice of him to aplogize for what the management did..

BTW at my dealer we tell the customer up front if the repair is not covered under warrenty they are responsible for the diag fees... they should have told you that.

Skud · Aug 3, 2006

I agree, they should have. I think the reason they didn't was because the tech had already confirmed the warranty with me and said everything would be covered.

I think after I dropped my car off, the manager took over and overruled everyone else. The manager should have called me before they did the work and told me he wouldn't honor it..

I feel sorry for the techs..

Riley

DocG · Aug 3, 2006

I can see where the tech's get screwed by warranty work if it takes them longer to fix it. But by the same logic, the dealer is getting screwed too. If you spend 6 hours fixing a 1 hour job....yeah you only get 1 hour pay, but the dealer ain't making any more money off you for the other 5 hours either. You lose 5 hours pay, and the dealer loses 5 hours of service fees. Or am I missing something here? So I can imagine since a dealer probably makes 5 times more than you, they are even worse about doing work that they get a set limit on reimbursement.

Dealer denying warranty coverage

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