Hi,

I own a 69 plate Focus ST Line X 1.0 with about 3200 miles on the clock, last Sunday its gear box (manual) stiffened up (but was still going into gear) on the drive back from the cinema (about 6/7 miles) then refused to go into gear at all about 1/4 mile from my home. There was no burning smell or advanced warning of a problem, it's mainly motorway miles and hasn't been driven hard and hasn't given me any indications of a problem, aside from one incident where it revved hard unexpectedly when I went to shift down from 3rd to 2nd while approaching some lights. That was about 2 weeks ago and didn't happen again, so I didn't think any more of it.

It's been taken into one of the garages of the dealer who sold me the vehicle (another local branch as the one I bought it from were booked up for over a week and I just can't go that long without a car). They did an initial health check (all other aspects of the car were described as 'excellent') and said they'd need to remove and strip the gearbox to diagnose the problem and that if they decided it was not a warranty issue that it would cost me about £500.

I suppose my question really is: Could anything NOT be covered by warranty on a car that new and with that little mileage? I was a bit stunned by the idea that I'd be charged £500 just to know what was wrong on my brand new car, presumably meaning that the bill would be much higher to actually fix it.

Also, any ideas what this could be? I'm really not mechanically minded myself so I have basically no clue.

Unless they can prove you've been trying to change gear without using the clutch or something, then it's going to be covered under warranty.

As you've had the car less than 6 months, the burden of proof is on them to prove that you damaged the car and that it isn't just a fault.

I'm sure you will be fine, I've never had a garage warn like this, they usually at least look at it under warranty.

Also, it's not them that gets to make the decision about what is under warranty as it is not their warranty, it's Fords. That said, the 6 months I mention is your consumer rights, which is against the seller (the actual dealer you bought it from).

Thanks Alex,

I've just had a call from the garage, apparently it was the clutch and master cylinder which had failed, they're replacing those under warranty and I'll have the car back early next week with a courtesy car until then. So all's well that ends well, bit worrying to have anything go so soon, but at least it's going to be sorted.

Thanks again for the advice.