Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches Southeast Trouble with Ford Dealerships Regarding Maint.

Hey there,

I took my car to Fairway Ford in Greenville, SC for the first 5 years of my Contour SE's life. They were constantly finding things to fix or replace. That was good or o.k with me until my warranty period was over and they continued to replace and fix. $6,000.00 later I finally grasped the concept that I was being ripped off. They actually talked me into 6 different brake and complete rotor replacements over this time period! That's just one example. Question: Does anyone have a similar experience at this dealership on the one they have attended? Please let me know what you did/do to keep from being raped every time it is maintenance time! Thanks.

There are alot of shops that will rip you a new one every chance they can. The idea is to avoid them. Unless it's a major repair ALL maintanence can be done by a mechanically competent individual. It's not brain surgery.

The Zetec has had 3 transmissions installed in it. 2 of which were paid for to the tune of 3K each. The second time it was not taken to Ford due to their lack luster previous service but to a local transmission shop that offered a 3 year 36K warrenty on their work. Good thing two because it's been rebuilt twice since the first install.

Ford makes all their money on parts and the dealerships make tons on service. Ford parts have a standard 40% markup from Ford to the Dealer. So you pay 40% more for the part to buy it at a dealer then Ford charges the dealer. The only exeption is on FPP (Ford Performance Parts) which is 10-15% depending on the item.

Your best option would be to find a local mechanic who is ASE certified and has alot of experience with Late Model Fords and Imports. The late model part is key since they will have metric tools and experience working on 50% plastic vehicles with tons of electronics. A good independent Mechanic will usually charge 40-60 an hour. This will depend on what the going rate is in your area.

If the car is out of warrenty it is a very good idea to shop around and not just blindly take your car to the dealership. They live off of the older cars. Because they can plausably get away with telling you that due to age you should replace most of the system. I.E. "Since your compressor is going you'll likely need an evaporator, condensor, and dryer unit." Or the real message,"I'm going to make you pay as much as I can get away with because you'll blindly believe me."

Just my advice. Good luck.

We had a problem with FORD too. They supposedly replaced the pre-cats, then later the catalytic converter.Hmmmm do you actually think they did? Cause ummm, we had to gut the cat since it went bad, and my pre-cat closest to the firewall has a hole in it, preventing the o2 sensor from reading. Coincidence? I think not! What we did end up doing is taking it to my husbands friend at the mercury dealer. Got some stuff fixed and they ran a scan on it for free *thank gawd* to see why its actin up. In all honesty, I will not ever go back to the ford dealership. They tend to wanna ream you a new one each time, as you can already tell.
Manda

i had the service adviser at for the other day bugging me to get a defog i think to clean the intake or the cats, also a fuel injector preasure cleaning a fuel filter, and coolant flush. thna when i told her ill do it myself she started asking me if i was go9ng to do it at my house and just seemed real pushy. than they pu ton the reciept that i declined maintenance to my car and that invoice was sent to my waranty company. can that effect my warranty. alli went in for was a dfpe sensor change.

They can't MAKE you get anything that you don't want or request. If you Warrenty company complains about it ask them to prove they are necassary maintence issues. I don't recall seeing any of those in the Ford Service Manual so I think you'll be OK.

Thank you for the feedback. At least I feel better now because I know I'm not alone. I will indeed do more shopping around. One thing: My car is going to be up for it's 100,000 mile maintenance soon. Do I need to take it to Ford to be serviced? This scares me silly and I just don't know what to do . What advice can you give?

Pull out your manual and find out the specifics of the 100,000 Mile maintenence. I don't remember them but I think it's the timeing belt and hoses is the only real extra. Alot of maintence can be done yourself. If you go to an autoparts place you can usually find a repair manual for your car. Pepboys is where I got mine. Just read through it and see if it is something you think you can do. Plus it is a good idea to have the manual and read through the repair process BEFORE you take it to be serviced so your informed if the Technician or the service writer try to Snow you. I have rebuilt the Suspension on mine and another SVT owers car plus I'm rebuilding a 2000 SVT that was rolled in my spare time. It is all in what you convince yourself you can do. Then following through with that. Plus if your Young and have more time then money its a great way to learn something.