jeebowhite
February 1, 2012, 7:42 am
I had this same argument with Kia, after they messed my service up on my car. As an 'industry' the warranty claims come in, and are checked against the service record, 9/10 if your car hasnt been serviced correctly (in relation to the part that requires the replacement) your warranty may be argued / voided (for example, the engine seizes because you havent replaced the Oil frequently, its collected filings and somehow clogged the engine) you try to make a claim within the warranty period, however because there is reason to believe the oil is at fault, due to the lack of servicing / changing they can and likely will argue that its not covered by warranty and so the fee lies with the owner. However, if you dont replace your oil filter as per the service schedule, and your gearbox falls out / explodes, and there is no way to link the oil filter to the error (no matter how hard they may try) then the warranty still remains in tact. Its all about how you can partition the blame against the servicing / maintenance against a part that couldnt possibly be affected by it. However 9/10 times, the manufacturers will only care about the oil and oil filter being replaced. The rest may not be considered in a warranty claim.
DrDes, I appreciate that this may sound worrying, but to be honest I dont believe it will be too problematic to you, I would still write to the dealers / Ford UK, because if its acknowledged the dealers advice is at fault, you could still get warranty claims honoured, as it was Ford who possibly caused the problem. However I dont believe you will suffer any catastrophic failures that will require you to be too concerned. I would say, write the letter, but dont expect anything back, chase it, and keep on at them as a hobby *in case* anything happens, but overall I think you should be fine