Should I Have A Space Saver Wheel?

[doninwales]

Just last week I bought a second hand Focus Zetec 1.0 125, registered in 2013, from a local Ford garage.

However, I have only just noticed that there is no spare wheel!
No full size wheel, nor space saver.

There IS a space under the carpet in the boot, but I've not yet checked whether it is big enough for a full size wheel or just a space saver.

We only realised when we placed some shopping in the boot and it sagged because of the big space under the carpet.

I'm considering going back to the Ford garage that I bought the car from, but am not sure what my rights are, nor what I should expect.

Did the 2013 car originally come with a space saver?

Or was it an option, and the boot space was there to accoommodate a spare wheel if that option was chosen?

(Though I can't believe the boot carpet was expected to sag if no wheel was placed in the space under the carpet).

And what are my rights?

Should I expect the Ford garage to have supplied a space saver wheel, 'if' it originally came with the car?

Or, since I have already paid and received the car, have I lost the right to question the absence of a spare wheel?

TBH, I hadn't even thought about it until yesterday when we put the bags in the boot and the carpet practivally caved in.

Your help/advice would be much appreciated :-)

Cheers,

Don

[Stoney871]

Have you checked if you have an inflation pack instead?

Enter your reg or vin here and it will tell you what your car came with from the factory-

https://www.etis.ford.com/vehicleRegSelector.do;jsessionid=0ACDA4462DC1D32EA8F4D594126C96BB.fcvas502

[SeanW]

I think it's an optional extra these days. Quite an expensive one from what I've heard!

Do you have a tin of tyre goo and a mini-compressor?

[doninwales]

Thanks for the advice, Stoney871.

Have gone to that site and under the section titled 'Minor Features', amongst 100 or so other items, it includes the following:

• Spare Wheel-22.5 X 7.5
• Less Tyre Pressure Sensors
• With Standard Rear Shock Absorbers
• 7 X 17" ET 50MM Alloy Style 2
• 215/50 17" W Rated BSW Tyre
• Limited service Mini Spare Tyre
• With Standard Tyre Tread - Front
• With Standard Tyre Tread - Rear
• Less Wheel Covers
• Locking Wheel Nut

Am not sure how to read this.

It seems to include 'Spare Wheel' and 'Limited service Mini Spare Tyre'.

Assuming it DID originally come with the Mini Spare Tyre, do I have the right to expect my second hand car to be provided with one?

Or have I lost that option since I accepted the car without one (though I didn't even know, since it's not something you automatically check). Likewise I didn't check the operation every button on the dashboard, every light, every seatbelt etc.... - you just assume they would all be there and working as expected. When buying from a Ford Dealer is it still 'buyer beware' and I should have checked 'everything' before accepting the second hand car, or, should I be able to expect that all original equipment exists and is functioning properly unless the salesman had indicated differently?

[simcor]

Really it is something you should have checked when you looked at it then asked the dealer if it comes with a spare wheel. As you have bought it I doubt the dealer has any obligation to provide you one. Best hope would be they give you a can of tyre goo. Most new cars don't come with spare wheels anymore unless they are specified as an optional extra as already mentioned. You can always ask the dealer though the worst they can say is no.

[Dee_82]

anyone know if you can get something to put in the hole for the space saver? think id probably rather have a wee storage box with some essentials hidden away rather then stuck to the side panels

[doninwales]

That's certainly a great thought. Making use of the space with a storage box of some sort.

I wondered if the hole for the space saver is standard across all Focuses.

But then. if the space saver wheel was optional, and people chose NOT to have one, then it leaves this big space under the boot carpet. As soon as you put something in the boot it just dips ungainly into the space. I find it hard to believe that that was deemed acceptable. Surely there was some sort of 'filler' to prevent the boot floor from sagging into the space....?

[Dee_82]

closest ive found was a wheel cover

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SPACE-SAVER-TYRE-WHEEL-SPARE-BAG-STORAGE-FOR-ANY-CAR-/141379623004?pt=UK_CarParts_Acc_Wheels_tyres_Rims_Car_Wheels_ET&hash=item20eae1d85c

Which is pretty much useless, I cant believe someone somewhere hasn't thought of that though, a blimey, a round really useful box would do!

[alexp999]

Spacesaver is standard on all MK3 Focus(es), except for when a few things are optioned in I believe.

If the boot carpet is sagging, that means the last owner took it out as if the spacesaver was not included from the factory you would have a large piece of foam filling the hole with a tyre repair kit in it.

If the car was sold as Ford Approved or Ford Direct, it should include all original accessories like from Factory afaik, otherwise the garage can get away with just saying it is sold as seen.

No harm kicking up a fuss and seeing if you can get one though...

[doninwales]

Thanks for everyone's help and advice. But.....problem solved :-)

I noticed the sagging in the boot earlier this week.

Meanwhile, my wife had taken the car back to the garage this morning on the way back from taking kids to school.

When I bought the second-hand car I had requested and paid for rear-parking sensors. But they had forgot to fit them when I picked the car up last weekend.

Wife popped the car back for them to fit it - took less than an hour.

I just went out to the car to check the size ofthe space - was assuming was only big enough for a space saver, but wanted to check it wasn't a full-size space.

And......there is a space-saver wheel there!

lol.....

I can only imagine that when they fitted the rear-parking sensors they noticed the space, and decided that there should have been a wheel there - and put one in! Cheap tyre, but I don't care about that. Problem solved. Unexpectedly, but very happily :-)

The slight extra weight will probably knock my fuel economy by some small fraction, but I've yet to come anywhere near the quoted mpgs anyway.

Peaked at around 44 mpg on a 30 mile mainly motorway journey. Closer to 41 with urban driving.

[Pete14tc]

Nice the problem is resolved. I have always insisted on a space saver wheel on my last 3 cars, 2 had the inflation pack as standard. The reason being, my wife has had in the past 2 blowouts through pot holes in the road and without a replacement wheel she would have been in the brown stuff, (sorry I would) ha ha. Sales are normally very obliging before you buy the car but afterwards I'm sure the story would be totally different.

[Grebe]

Optional extra - space saver is £100 with new car