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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
OK, when you have twin car seats, etc., plus other kids, you pretty much
resign yourself to the "mommy van" brigade. Or at least we did. Before the boys were born, we bought a new Ford Windstar (96) and it served us very well. After 80K miles, we decided to finally replace it with another car that we intend to hold for about another 8-10 years. We researched the safety options and cabin sizes (DH & I are both tall w/long legs), tried on a few imports and finally decided on the Ford Freestar. It has the safety air bag roll over canopy, side air bags, etc. So we pick up our new car on 10/15 and take it home, only to discover lots of "junk" in the factory paint surface (the car was wet when we picked it up). We're taking major blobs of "stuff" under the finish in about 23 places! Immediately, we call the dealer and Ford, both of whom promise to take care of the problem. After lots of wrangling, and we're still not done, Ford is saying the dealer will take care of it and the dealer is saying that Ford is the only one authorized to replace the vehicle. The problem? There are so many defects in the paint that the car needs to be repainted, pretty much all over. This "warranty repair" will immediately reduce the future trade-in/resale value of the car by about $2K! Even the Ford factory rep who inspected the car last week stated that is was a "one in a million fluke, but a terrible paint job". We don't want a repainted, reduced value, new car!! We paid for a factory finish! Not only that, but after 8 years, most repaints show wear over the factory, bare metal finish on a car. And what happens if/when we move to another state (part of our long range plan) and the new dealership won't honor the warranty repairs done here in CA?? This is a nightmare. Right now, the car sits in our driveway, unused for the moment. I'm afraid to put too many miles on it until this is resolved. Anybody with any ideas, I'd love to hear them. Thanks for listening. Lorraine |
#2
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
You might talk to a lawyer, but my initial reaction is that they
probably aren't legally required to give you a refund. If they can repair the car under the warranty, that's enough, and the fact that you don't value a repainted car as much as one with the original paint job isn't enough to change this. I doubt you can get the dealer to do more than repaint the car. If you have any chance of getting a replacement vehicle, it's probably by dealing directly with Ford, and convincing them that they should take your car back (and repaint it and sell it as used) for the sake of customer relations. I'm sure they sometimes do this, you just have to convince them that they should do it in your case. I don't know anything about the actual durability of car paint. I wouldn't personally have thought that having it repainted would be such a big deal, although I can certainly understand why you would prefer a car without defects in the first place. David desJardins |
#3
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
You might talk to a lawyer, but my initial reaction is that they
probably aren't legally required to give you a refund. If they can repair the car under the warranty, that's enough, and the fact that you don't value a repainted car as much as one with the original paint job isn't enough to change this. I doubt you can get the dealer to do more than repaint the car. If you have any chance of getting a replacement vehicle, it's probably by dealing directly with Ford, and convincing them that they should take your car back (and repaint it and sell it as used) for the sake of customer relations. I'm sure they sometimes do this, you just have to convince them that they should do it in your case. I don't know anything about the actual durability of car paint. I wouldn't personally have thought that having it repainted would be such a big deal, although I can certainly understand why you would prefer a car without defects in the first place. David desJardins |
#4
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
Lorraine,
If I were you I would call a local news station. They are always looking for stories like these, and it seems like they can get results we can't get because companies are afraid of bad publicity. I am sorry you are going through this. What a nightmare. Ellen -------- Erin 6/26/95 Bradley & Alex 10/5/00 |
#5
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
Lorraine,
If I were you I would call a local news station. They are always looking for stories like these, and it seems like they can get results we can't get because companies are afraid of bad publicity. I am sorry you are going through this. What a nightmare. Ellen -------- Erin 6/26/95 Bradley & Alex 10/5/00 |
#6
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
Ugh, that sounds horrible! I am so sorry! I agree with Ellen (surprise,
surprise) Defintely call a news station! ~Megan~ Aidan Matthew & Alexis Valerie Born September 28, 2002 www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aidannalexis |
#7
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
Ugh, that sounds horrible! I am so sorry! I agree with Ellen (surprise,
surprise) Defintely call a news station! ~Megan~ Aidan Matthew & Alexis Valerie Born September 28, 2002 www.babiesonline.com/babies/a/aidannalexis |
#8
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
A lawyer might be our next option, but we're trying to handle this without
having to incur legal expenses. The biggest deal about the factory paint, durability aside, is that, without it, or rather, having it "done over" immediately reduces the trade-in value of this car, by about $2,000. If this car, and another, without the re-paint, were side-by-side, the other car would fetch $2K more in the used market. We're in CA, so we're trying to research some consumer protection laws. It just doesn't seem right that, because Ford didn't do their QC properly, our new car will take a $2K hit. Anyway, that was the reason for my rant. |
#9
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
A lawyer might be our next option, but we're trying to handle this without
having to incur legal expenses. The biggest deal about the factory paint, durability aside, is that, without it, or rather, having it "done over" immediately reduces the trade-in value of this car, by about $2,000. If this car, and another, without the re-paint, were side-by-side, the other car would fetch $2K more in the used market. We're in CA, so we're trying to research some consumer protection laws. It just doesn't seem right that, because Ford didn't do their QC properly, our new car will take a $2K hit. Anyway, that was the reason for my rant. |
#10
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Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
Subject: Our New Ford Freestar - the "Perfect" Family Car? NOT! A Rant
From: "TwinMom" Date: Tue, Nov 4, 2003 1:57 PM Message-id: A lawyer might be our next option, but we're trying to handle this without having to incur legal expenses. The biggest deal about the factory paint, durability aside, is that, without it, or rather, having it "done over" immediately reduces the trade-in value of this car, by about $2,000. If this car, and another, without the re-paint, were side-by-side, the other car would fetch $2K more in the used market. From where are you getting this 2K figure? Maybe if you turn around and sell it next year you might be looking at that kind of a loss. But if you keep it the 8-10 years that you planned, I really doubt it will mean anything approaching a 2K difference. As far as what to do now, maybe one option would be to contact the CA BBB and file a formal complaint. Regarding different dealerships in different states -- FWIW we bought our RAV4 in Oregon. We have had issues with the engine light going on (long story but it had something to do with the catalytic converter and the way the chip was set -- we never actually had the car break down) and have had it looked at in dealerships located in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. Where we bought the car or had other work done on it was never an issue. Lori |
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