FOCUS ON FAIRNESS
In 2015 I bought a 2011 Ford Focus Titanium diesel in Perth with a five-year extended warranty and advised the dealership, Titan Ford, that I was moving to Darwin at the end of the year. I was advised it was OK to transfer warranty servicing to Hidden Valley Ford in Darwin. In March the car was put in for service and there was a recommendation to re-book for “inspect of transmission harsh shifting”. I paid $422.39 for transmission fluid and filter replacement. I was advised to leave the car for further testing. When I was about to pick it up, I was told the car was “unsafe to drive” because the transmission needed replacing for $18,000. Ford refused a request for assistance and the extended warranty only covered me for $1000. When I collected my car, I got another bill for $432.40 for fluid, oil, kit element and gasket. I went to Repco and was quoted $3000 for a replacement transmission — but I was also told I did not need to have the transmission replaced and that it was safe to drive my car. I have emailed Hidden Valley Ford requesting a written statement that my car’s transmission is all OK. Plus, I asked for reimbursement of my additional unnecessary costs, about $600. Sue Hancock, email Stephen Kruk says: “I have spoken to the customer and the dealership will send her the letter she has requested. We will reimburse her the appropriate amount, although I don’t know the exact figure yet.” Re inflated service costs, I suppose I should be pleased that Nowra Subaru only charged me $239.25 for the 5000km service on my 3.6 Liberty — Subaru’s website quotes a cap of $253.25. It should have been much cheaper considering a charge of $110 for 6.5L of GTX Pro 10W30 oil, as the dealership probably
and never looked back. There are no shakes, vibration or any of the symptoms your reader experienced. The take-off speed is a little slower if you’re used to a four-cylinder vehicle. Mary Zammit, email Good to hear that you like your car but there are a few quirks in a three-cylinder engine. And yes, acceleration can be a bit dozy as they typically don’t have strong torque delivery. pays less than half that. It sucks that you are charged double for a product. Pure greed. Tom McLean, email You’re right. Oil is very expensive at service time but it’s not just dealers that mark-up. Check the price of wine in bottle shops against restaurants. At least your dealership came in under the cap. WRITE TO MOTORING AT PO BOX X 2808, GPO SYDNEY, NSW, 2001 OR PAUL.GOVER@NEWS.COM.AU
detects that it is exceeding the speed limit, the road sign display flashes red. If there are any plans to augment the visual warning with an audible alert as a running change, we will let you know”.