Servicing at Non-Ford Dealer (Arnold Clark)?

[dom550]

Evening all,

Got a 63-plate Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost 125. Bought the car in October, just after it went 3 years old. Never had a car newer than 12+ years before, so just want to check a couple things regarding "proper" servicing..

I bought it from Arnold Clark and they threw in some free services and MOTs. Just wondering whether it's OK to take the car to them for the next couple services, if none of the Arnold Clark's within distance are Ford ones? I'm not sure exactly what needs done at each service (it's not too clear, according to this thread - www.fordownersclub.com/forums/topic/86028-fiesta-10-ecoboost-service-schedule/), but just wondering whether it's a bad idea to take it to an Arnold Clark Renault, for example, in case they don't know what should be done at each inteval? If so, do people think I should take it to an actual Ford dealer, or just any independent that I trust?

Sorry if this is a bit basic, didn't have much luck trying to search it.

Cheers!

 

[Russ]

You'll get various answers to this one Dom.

I got my focus from Arnold 2 years ago (not far from the Chinese restaurant...) , bought 2 years free service/mot. (Nothing required at either and they washed/waxed the car before I got it back) this year though I'll get it done elsewhere closer to where I live. You should be ok but just make sure when you book the service/mot that they use the correct grade of oil for your car. I bought my fiesta mk6 and the focus from different branches (Falkirk/Whitburn) and haven't had any problems with either of them, they even fixed a split 'breather pipe' for me cheap even though it took over 2 hours of clearing oil away and searching to find it !

[Jonro2009]

You certainly will get different answers lol.

AC is not the most respected dealership about. They claim to be 'family run' and offer excellent sales and after sales experiences. In my experience it depends what day you go and who you deal with, but thats my experience. I bought a brand new Skoda from them and got 3 years free servicing although I chopped it in after 2. The work seemed ok, it was just basic services nothing special. oil filter, oil change and air filter was about the most exciting things. The car was washed and polished and the car ran fine so I can only assume it was done correctly. If its free servicing at the garage then I'd go for it. You can ring a local ford dealership and ask for a service price and what gets done, that way you know what to expect from AC. It should be in the service book though shouldn't it?


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[GaryPL]

Your car is only just out of the warranty.  So I'd be inclined to go with a final Ford one if the previous ones are all Ford stamps. They seem to have greater regard for full Ford service history when considering goodwill in the event of a car going wrong outside of warranty.

[Jonro2009]

If it's only just turned 3 in October then there is another 6 months before service isn't there, and Ford wouldn't consider any goodwill after 4 years would they? They try to wriggle out of warranty jobs inside the 3 years lol


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[GaryPL]

Oddly enough, I have seen it happening!  They are desperately trying to keep a lid on the exploding EcoBoost engines story.  One of the criteria they seem to be applying is a full Ford service history. And if you argue enough, they seem to be caving in...  https://www.facebook.com/groups/FordEcoboostNightmare/

[Jonro2009]

Oh FFS sorry @GaryPL possibly the worst person to joke about warranty issues with on the forum considering your 'Car Woes' post.


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[GaryPL]

1 minute ago, Jonro2009 said:

Oh FFS sorry @GaryPL possibly the worst person to joke about warranty issues with on the forum considering your 'Car Woes' post.


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Haha nothing to apologise for! I found it funny 

[Jonro2009]

Just having a read of that link you posted, interesting reading. I'm going to pass the link on to a couple of pals that have the focus 1.0 ecoboost


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[GaryPL]

Hope they find it useful. It's interesting anecdotal evidence that casts doubt on the dying 1.0 EcoBoost engines being down to a failing plastic pipe.  Many on there state that they have had the recall work done and the engines still went bang.

What will be more interesting is the engine in the 2017/18 ST.  It is rumoured that that too will have a 1.0 EcoBoost in, with something unbelievable like 200bhp.  I really can't get my head round that concept.  My brain is telling me that car won't last.

[dom550]

1 hour ago, Russ said:

You'll get various answers to this one Dom.

I got my focus from Arnold 2 years ago (not far from the Chinese restaurant...) , bought 2 years free service/mot. (Nothing required at either and they washed/waxed the car before I got it back) this year though I'll get it done elsewhere closer to where I live. You should be ok but just make sure when you book the service/mot that they use the correct grade of oil for your car. I bought my fiesta mk6 and the focus from different branches (Falkirk/Whitburn) and haven't had any problems with either of them, they even fixed a split 'breather pipe' for me cheap even though it took over 2 hours of clearing oil away and searching to find it !

Cheers Russ! Glad to hear you've used the Falkirk and Whitburn ACs and they were alright. Was Falkirk the Fiat/Abarth one? It'd probably be Falkirk, Grangemouth or Stirling that I'd use. I'll check out more reviews to make sure people seem happy enough with whatever one I might take it to.

 

56 minutes ago, Jonro2009 said:

You certainly will get different answers lol.

AC is not the most respected dealership about. They claim to be 'family run' and offer excellent sales and after sales experiences. In my experience it depends what day you go and who you deal with, but thats my experience. I bought a brand new Skoda from them and got 3 years free servicing although I chopped it in after 2. The work seemed ok, it was just basic services nothing special. Oil filter, oil change and air filter was about the most exciting things. The car was washed and polished and the car ran fine so I can only assume it was done correctly. If its free servicing at the garage then I'd go for it. You can ring a local ford dealership and ask for a service price and what gets done, that way you know what to expect from AC. It should be in the service book though shouldn't it?


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Yeah, I'd normally go for an actual family-run/independent type place, but I'm tempted by possibly getting a couple of services for free! Thought I should see whether there are any reasons to stump up and take it to a Ford dealer instead. Encouraging to hear another report of decent work by AC. I'll need to have a think about how lucky I'm feeling, giving the issue GaryPL mentions though. Might be worth getting a few more Ford stamps just in case something happens down the line. Nah, the service book doesn't give anything away - the link in my original post has some people talking about it though.

 

25 minutes ago, GaryPL said:

Oddly enough, I have seen it happening!  They are desperately trying to keep a lid on the exploding EcoBoost engines story.  One of the criteria they seem to be applying is a full Ford service history. And if you argue enough, they seem to be caving in...  https://www.facebook.com/groups/FordEcoboostNightmare/

Thanks for the input - it sounds like I'll probably get a decent job at a non-Ford AC, but I'll need to have a think about what you say. Might be worth getting a few more Ford stamps just in case something happens down the line. Cheers!

[Russ]

Yep Dom it was the fiat AC. When I bought the fiesta the young salesman (and I mean young!) opened the car up, said 'do what you need to do and I'll be back in 15/20 minutes' no hastle, pushyness etc and when I asked for a test drive, moved about 6 cars to get the fiesta out for me!