Motoring Discussion > Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway?	Buying / Selling
Thread Author: Hard Cheese	Replies: 31

New Mon 31 May 10 10:47   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Hard Cheese

Hi All, We have seen a Fiesta registered in Jan 09 and 14700 miles however it has not yet been serviced. Therefore it is 4 to 5 months over the service limit on time and around 2300 miles over on mileage, nevertheless the dealer (non franchised though a national company) assures me that they can validate the warranty to Ford's satisfaction. Any thoughts? Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 10:52   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Zero

I would leave it where it is. Plenty of others to choose from. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 10:54   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - -

Agreed walk away, neglected from the word go. If you bought it you would always have that niggling worry that an expensive warranty claim might be kicked out for the above reasons. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 10:57   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Videodoctor

Ford will have you over a barrel if anything goes wrong. The dealers always make out that everything will be fine but after they have your money they don't care.Also over 14,000 miles on a 16 month car is quite a lot.Your best to look elsewhere or you'll regret it. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 11:11   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Hard Cheese

Thanks all, while the supplier's warranty might cover all we have a friendly local Ford dealer whom I would want to use re warranty work in required. >> Also over 14,000 miles on a 16 month car is quite a lot. >> Is it these days? I have done 18k is 6 months in the FocuST. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 11:49   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Iffy

...Is it these days?... It's a lot for a supermini, many of which do well under 10k a year. A thousand miles a month or more is average for a Focus-sized hatchback. As a side issue, I don't imagine may Focus STs do high mileage, most buyers would go for a diesel for that use. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 11:52   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Zero

And his spine must have taken a pounding. A hard riding car with the roads being at their very worse for decades. Not a good time to do 3k miles a month. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 11:57   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Hard Cheese

>> And his spine must have taken a pounding. >> To the contrary, it is firm though compliant with great seats, it does have a vibration from the front currently that needs sorting tho. EDIT: And my commute is on great roads. Last edited by: Cheddar on Mon 31 May 10 at 11:57 Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 13:58   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - smokie

Definitely walk away. I have experience of trying to get Ford to pay for something under warranty and it simply isn't possible when your service record is incomplete or late. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 14:44   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Arctophile

According to my Ford handbook there is a tolerance of 1 month/1000 miles on the service schedule. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 16:20   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Kithmo

>> According to my Ford handbook there is a tolerance of 1 month/1000 miles on the >> service schedule. >> That's what I was told by my local Ford dealer. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 18:50   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Bellboy

have you looked for the dual controls yet on it? Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 18:59   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Stuu

The thing I always read about buying mainstream cars, is that you should seek out the best examples because theres so much choice. Seems strange to want one that hasnt been serviced on time when there are thousands out there which have. Reply to this message | Report message

New Mon 31 May 10 22:43   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Hard Cheese

Thanks all! >> Seems strange to want one that hasnt been serviced on time >> Yeah we have been looking for weeks and at last we have found one ;-) Reply to this message | Report message

New Tue 1 Jun 10 07:44   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - L'escargot

My Focus was 16 months old when I bought it and it only received its first service just before I picked it up. There was no problem with the warranty and I had things done (at a different dealer from which I bought it) up to 3 years from when it was new. The mileage factor wasn't a problem because it had only done 4000 miles when I got it. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 4 Jun 10 20:48   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Hard Cheese

So the car is 16 months old and has done 14.5k, 4 months and 2k miles over the service deadline. So how much less is it worth than the same car that has had a service so has 18 months manufacturers warranty remaining? It is already nearly £1000 under the Parkers price and at least £1000 under the price a Ford dealer would want. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 4 Jun 10 21:04   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Iffy

Cheddar, You don't say how much it is, but £1,000 under the guides sounds reasonable. There's no guarantee Ford will reject any warranty claim. Say a seatbelt inertia reel goes, they could hardly reject that claim on the grounds of a late service. It's not so far outside the deadline, and if your use of the car is not great, you would soon even out the mileage a little bit. Fords are basically good, sturdy cars - as you know - so this one could be a good buy. Just get it dealer serviced straight away. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 4 Jun 10 21:40   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Zero

It has no warranty. Leave it where it is. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 4 Jun 10 21:44   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Iffy

...it has no warranty... You don't know that until you make a claim. Or I should say 'if you make a claim', because whoever heard of a Ford going wrong? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 4 Jun 10 22:47   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Hard Cheese

>> ...it has no warranty... >> >> You don't know that until you make a claim. >> To be clear the suppling dealer will provide a warranty though the manufacturer's warranty is likely to be void, that being said and as mentioned above, the Ford dealer did say that failures that are completely unrelated to servicing should be honoured and they also mentioned seatbelts as an example however engine etc issues are unlikely to be covered by Ford - though they would be covered by the suppling dealer. The issue there being that the suppling dealer is an hour away where as the friendly Ford dealer is just up the road and the suppling dealer's warranty may not be so comprehensive as the original manufacturer's warranty. So how much more would you pay for an 18 month old Fiesta with service history than without? Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 4 Jun 10 22:51   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Zero

I wouldnt be thinking about it. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 4 Jun 10 23:15   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Avant

Bear in mind also that the first owner who neglected to have the car serviced was probably the sort of (rhymes with hillock) who generally neglected his/her car and / or drove it badly. It's up to you of course. But if it were me looking for a year-old Fiesta I'd want one with as few risks as possible. If I were happy to take a gamble, I'd pay a lot less for something, say, 5 years old. Even then I'd want a full service history. There must be so many Fiestas out there with FSH, whatever the size of your budget. Reply to this message | Report message

New Fri 4 Jun 10 23:18   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Iffy

Seems to me a lot of fuss is being made about an oil change which is two months late, during which for most of the time the car has probably stood idle. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 5 Jun 10 07:25   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - L'escargot

Forget all about the unsubstantiated opinions given by uninformed Jonahs and get it straight from the horse's mouth. Ring (or email) Ford and ask them about your warranty reservations. www.ford.co.uk/Footer/ContactUs Last edited by: L'escargot on Sat 5 Jun 10 at 07:25 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 5 Jun 10 09:31   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Zero

Or why not ask Smokie. He has provided substantiated proof on here of the difficulty of a Ford warranty claim in the event of an incomplete service history. or is he an uniformed Jonah? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 5 Jun 10 10:15   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - smokie

Correct Zero, Ford can allow some leeway which I can't recall the exact detail of - I think up to service 1000 or 1500 miles/1 month late. My service was 7000 miles late then 2000 miles later the bottom end went. Car will soon be 2 1/2 years old, and has 32k on. And hasn't been run short of (expensive) oil. While I've had legal advice that I could possibly take Ford or the dealer to court over it, the burden of proof (along with the cost) is on me, and because it would only be 50/50 that the cause could even be identified let alone the reason for that cause be proven, it was a hiding to nothing. Hence I am quite a few thousand light in the pocket as a result of being lethargic over getting a service done. Fortunately I found a cheaper option than the £6k which Ford wanted for a new engine, which I am hoping will be satisfactory. The car is due back next week, once it's back I will post the whole sorry tale so you can all point at the idiot who missed a service and laugh... :-) Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 5 Jun 10 23:28   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Hard Cheese

>> While I've had legal advice that I could possibly take Ford or the dealer to >> court over it, the burden of proof (along with the cost) is on me, and >> because it would only be 50/50 >> I really doubt any success there, I mean what have Ford or the dealer done wrong? There is no proof that the engine was not fit for purpose and the service schedules are quite clear, and any 12 year old budding lawyer would point out to the court that if you could not be bothered to service it then could you be bothered to top up the oil. I am not saying you didn't rather that you would not have a leg to stand on. >>Fortunately I found a cheaper option than the £6k which Ford wanted for a new engine, which I am hoping will be satisfactory. >> Recon? 2nd hand salvage? Last edited by: Cheddar on Sat 5 Jun 10 at 23:29 Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 6 Jun 10 08:32   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - smokie

The replacement engine is a test one from Ford engineering with less than 1000 miles equivalent apparently, so nearly new. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 5 Jun 10 12:52   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - L'escargot

>> or is he an uniformed Jonah? >> I don't know. Smokie, do you wear a uniform? Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 5 Jun 10 13:49   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - smokie

Not in this heat... :-) Reply to this message | Report message

New Sat 5 Jun 10 23:29   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - Hard Cheese

Went to see the said Fiesta today, two owners in 17 months and signs of neglect beyond the over due service. We will look elsewhere. Reply to this message | Report message

New Sun 6 Jun 10 14:08   Ford Fiesta - Warranty, service time and mileage leeway? - mikeyb

Shame that as at £1K cheaper it sounded like it may have been worth a punt if it was just an overlooked service. 2 owners and poor condition I guess means that there is probably more to its history than we will ever know! Reply to this message | Report message