Put my car into Arnold Clark due to heater not working. Said it would be a big job as dashboard needs to come out. Turns out it was the cable that controls the heater selection was twisted. They say this is not covered by the warranty and want £102, is this correct? Thanks.

Should be covered under the manufacturers warranty. Did you buy it new and what year is it?

Should be covered under the manufacturers warranty. Did you buy it new and what year is it?

Its a 59 plate (September 2009) I bought it in February 2010.

Just how do they say you managed to twist the cable if they had to get the dash out to put it right ?

Sounds like a build fault to me and should be covered , contact Ford directly if i was you.

Yea I would totally agree with all, that is definertly a warranty issue, don't pay a penny.

Yea I would totally agree with all, that is definertly a warranty issue, don't pay a penny.

I paid to get my car back, had another problem and needed to get home. This morning I phoned Ford, they confirmed that it is not covered by the warranty. The girl said she would speak to Arnold Clark, who repeated its not covered. The girl at Ford then said they would give me the next major service for free as a goodwill gesture, this would be more than £102. Happy with that I suppose.

If you have been given a freebie worth more than the warranty job then you should be happy!

Agreed, you got a good deal out of them However the general warranty goes like this...

"can you damage the item, or can you 'wear it out' through standard usage" or "is the item quick / easy for the driver to replace" - if the answer is yes, then its not covered (tyres, wiper blades, bulbs, filters even!)

"Can the damage have been caused by the driver, deliberately" - Grey Area (Clutch / Gearbox)

"Did the driver really manage to damage an item that is almost impossible to get to, without severe interference" - then it should be covered...

As for this twisted cable, you couldnt really damage it, and to do so, you would have had to take the dash apart...

So to avoid paying a warranty repair worth £102, Arnold Clark give you a free service worth a lot more?

Great for you, but somebody at Arnold Clark needs to learn simple maths...

Just make sure to get it in writing from the Service Manager, so there's no arguments when you actually take the car in for its free service.

I paid to get my car back, had another problem and needed to get home. This morning I phoned Ford, they confirmed that it is not covered by the warranty. The girl said she would speak to Arnold Clark, who repeated its not covered. The girl at Ford then said they would give me the next major service for free as a goodwill gesture, this would be more than £102. Happy with that I suppose.

Result , nice one. Still kinda sucks that probably a build fault is not covered by warranty !

Put my car into Arnold Clark due to heater not working. Said it would be a big job as dashboard needs to come out. Turns out it was the cable that controls the heater selection was twisted. They say this is not covered by the warranty and want £102, is this correct? Thanks.

As long as it less than 3 years old and less than 60,000 miles it should be covered, they have changeg from a flexible cable to a solid one, also you dont remove dash to replace, you certainly would,nt get that for £102 it would be more like £500 if that had to happen.