09-10-2015, 12:28 PM
On the one hand, it's out of warranty - Ford's warranty, at least...
But there should be a warranty from the dealer? If anything breaks in that period, might he argue that you didn't service it according to the manufacturer's instructions? Yes, perhaps you could counter-argue that he should have serviced it as part of the preparations for sale? Of course, SOG act would help here, even if the dealer didn't provide a warranty...
I don't know about the current service schedules, but for my 2001 Focus (also 1.8, and doing much better than yours by the sound of things - touch wood
), it's 12,500 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. That's pretty unambiguous. What does the handbook say?
It's painful in a way, because my annual mileage is currently between 1 and 2 thousand. But still, it gets a service every 12 months, at the same time as the MOT. It might be wasteful or unnecessary in reality, but I go by the book - I'm that sort of person. We have a good relationship with the Ford garage we use, and in return for our regular business, they understand that we look after our cars, and are pretty sympathetic when it comes to unexpected extras, etc. They also know that eventually, we'll buy more cars from them. My poor car spends most of its time parked in my garage, which is a terrible way to treat a car, but while it keeps going, I'm not sure what else I should do. We use it for long journeys, and the wife's more economical Fiesta for local runs.
So, I would advise you to go by whatever the book says. You might need some goodwill in the future; you might need to explain the perceived gap in the service history to a future owner; you might also want the reassurance from someone who has gone over it while it was up on the ramps - a lot can happen in 12 months (all unseen).
Another bonus we get from our Ford servicing is free AA breakdown cover. Even on our ancient vehicles. The price of servicing has not gone up since they started doing this, and so it saves us a fair bit each year.
People often buy "young in miles", rather than "young in time". Personally, I prefer to do it the other way around. I can't help but wonder how a 4 year old car with only 3000 miles on the clock would have been driven - but fortunately, modern engines do seem to be very tolerant, and "running in" isn't quite what it used to be as the initial tolerances are so much better than they once were. Even so, I'd be tempted to do a bunch of motorway journeys to "wake it up" - especially while it is still covered by the warranty you got from the dealer. My Focus was bought as an ex-dem at 5 months old, with about 4 or 5k on the clock. I then did nearly 20,000 miles a year until about 10 years ago, so I like to imagine that I "gave it a good start in life" before putting it into semi-retirement. Sorry for my anthropomorphic thinking here, but I'm still irrationally attached to it, and every time I dig it out and take it somewhere, I'm reminded of how nice it is...
I drive a lot of modern vehicles at work. Our current pool car is a new Focus Estate - a year or two old now. It's the very efficient diesel that is zero-VED rated, yet is pretty quick, handles well, and is almost silent. The seats and driving position doesn't suit me as well as my old one, but I do like it. A lot of the time I have to hire a car because the pool car is in use, and on the occasions that I get an automatic, I have to say that I really like the experience, especially in town. But so far, nothing I've driven has left me dissatisfied with the old Focus. OK, it would be nicer if it had a bit more sound insulation, but in terms of grip, handling, driver involvement and comfort, it's still up there.
Sorry to ramble
Mark
But there should be a warranty from the dealer? If anything breaks in that period, might he argue that you didn't service it according to the manufacturer's instructions? Yes, perhaps you could counter-argue that he should have serviced it as part of the preparations for sale? Of course, SOG act would help here, even if the dealer didn't provide a warranty...
I don't know about the current service schedules, but for my 2001 Focus (also 1.8, and doing much better than yours by the sound of things - touch wood
), it's 12,500 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. That's pretty unambiguous. What does the handbook say?It's painful in a way, because my annual mileage is currently between 1 and 2 thousand. But still, it gets a service every 12 months, at the same time as the MOT. It might be wasteful or unnecessary in reality, but I go by the book - I'm that sort of person
. We have a good relationship with the Ford garage we use, and in return for our regular business, they understand that we look after our cars, and are pretty sympathetic when it comes to unexpected extras, etc. They also know that eventually, we'll buy more cars from them. My poor car spends most of its time parked in my garage, which is a terrible way to treat a car, but while it keeps going, I'm not sure what else I should do. We use it for long journeys, and the wife's more economical Fiesta for local runs.So, I would advise you to go by whatever the book says. You might need some goodwill in the future; you might need to explain the perceived gap in the service history to a future owner; you might also want the reassurance from someone who has gone over it while it was up on the ramps - a lot can happen in 12 months (all unseen).
Another bonus we get from our Ford servicing is free AA breakdown cover. Even on our ancient vehicles. The price of servicing has not gone up since they started doing this, and so it saves us a fair bit each year.
People often buy "young in miles", rather than "young in time". Personally, I prefer to do it the other way around. I can't help but wonder how a 4 year old car with only 3000 miles on the clock would have been driven - but fortunately, modern engines do seem to be very tolerant, and "running in" isn't quite what it used to be as the initial tolerances are so much better than they once were. Even so, I'd be tempted to do a bunch of motorway journeys to "wake it up" - especially while it is still covered by the warranty you got from the dealer. My Focus was bought as an ex-dem at 5 months old, with about 4 or 5k on the clock. I then did nearly 20,000 miles a year until about 10 years ago, so I like to imagine that I "gave it a good start in life" before putting it into semi-retirement. Sorry for my anthropomorphic thinking here, but I'm still irrationally attached to it, and every time I dig it out and take it somewhere, I'm reminded of how nice it is...
I drive a lot of modern vehicles at work. Our current pool car is a new Focus Estate - a year or two old now. It's the very efficient diesel that is zero-VED rated, yet is pretty quick, handles well, and is almost silent. The seats and driving position doesn't suit me as well as my old one, but I do like it. A lot of the time I have to hire a car because the pool car is in use, and on the occasions that I get an automatic, I have to say that I really like the experience, especially in town. But so far, nothing I've driven has left me dissatisfied with the old Focus. OK, it would be nicer if it had a bit more sound insulation, but in terms of grip, handling, driver involvement and comfort, it's still up there.
Sorry to ramble
Mark
