Tired of reading about Dealership grips

[MENINBLK]

/Steps up to Podium
/Puts on FLAME SUIT

Excuse me for saying what I'm about to say, but I'm tired of reading all the ranting about Dealerships not wanting to give you guys service.

If you were running a business and someone came to you asking for "SOMETHING FOR NOTHING", and you didn't know them from Adam, except for the occasional visit, now and then, would you oblige them ?

If a customer come to your business fairly regularly, and had done a substational amount of business with you over the course of these regular visits, wouldn't you feel more inclined to help them out ?

A dealership is by NO MEANS a representation of the Vehicle Manufacturer, and please get this idea out of your head.
A dealership is just as much a service station as Joe's Auto Repair is.
The only difference between a Dealership and Joe's Auto Repair, is that while Joe is working to make a living, and CHARGES HIS CUSTOMERS FOR EVERYTHING HE DOES.

Your Dealership has the ability to purchase vehicles directly form the Vehicle Manufacturer to resell to the public, and has a 'lack of communication' channel betweeen themselves and the vehicle manufacturer, and is responsible for the repairing of vehicle recalls and warranty 'approved' repairs by the vehicle manufacturer, as per the contract they agree to, with the vehicle manufacturer.

Dealerships are NOT franchises.

Dealerships don't make in service what Joe does in his shop beause the Vehicle Manufacture pays very poorly in Warranty Claims, and also makes it MANDATORY for the Dealerships to send their technicians for training, which the cost of, comes out of the Dealership's income, not the vehicle Manufacturer's income.
You will never see Joe close his shop to attend a training.

So if you want your vehicle service by someone knowledgeable about your vehicle,you will take it to a Dealership.

Why is the Dealership more expensive ?
If you can't tell by what I've just said, then maybe you shouldn't be driving a vehicle that is technically challenging to Joe ?

Why is the Dealership finicky about who it chooses to support ?
Support has to be given, in order to receive it.
If we all support MercuryMarauder.com. then MercuryMarauder.com will be here for all of us, correct ?
AOL, MSN, and Earthlink are still in business. They aren't FREE either.
What about all of the freebie internet services ??? Most of them are extinct.
Support your Dealership, and you will be amazed at how much support they give to you.

When I had the three compressors replaced on my 1998 Contour, all I had to do was ASK.
All three were replaced bucase I asked the Service Maanger if it seemed a little too noisey to him.
All three were replaced under WARRANTY.

I know my Dealership's salespeople (about 75% of them), the Dealership's OWNER, the Service Manager, all of the Service Writers, the Service Dispatcher, and about half of the Technicians.
When you get to know this many poeple at your own dealership, their attitude about you changes DRAMATICALLY.
And my Dealership is not a small dealership either.
They have a garage that holds about 20 bays, and this is just ONE Building.

I take my car to my dealership every 3000 miles for service.
With my car I take 6 quarts of Mobil1 Oil and a K&N HP-2010 filter.
(This is $40 in parts supplied by me.)
The Dealership does the service and charges me $10.
If the car needs anything else, it gets added to the invoice.

When I take my wife's Focus, her service costs $34.95.
I let the dealership supply the oil and filter for the Focus.

This is NOT a lot to pay for all of the SUPPORT it buys me.


Thank you for reading.

/Steps off Podium
/Takes off Flame Suit

[the fat bastid]

So if you want your vehicle service by someone knowledgeable about your vehicle,you will take it to a Dealership.

while in for my 5000 mile check up(something we pay for):
me: "the tires different sizes so you can only rotate them side to side.." (something i shouldnt have to say)
service guy:"oh don't worry, the tech knows"
and my tires where put on wrong costing me another hour from work.
(something that really shouldn't of happened by that point)
and i got 7 quarts in an oil changes once.

that makes makes me wanna run back to them real quick.
my mechanic listens, my dealership doesn't.

[merc406]

/Steps up to Podium
/Puts on FLAME SUIT

Excuse me for saying what I'm about to say, but I'm tired of reading all the ranting about Dealerships not wanting to give you guys service.

If you were running a business and someone came to you asking for "SOMETHING FOR NOTHING", and you didn't know them from Adam, except for the occasional visit, now and then, would you oblige them ?

If a customer come to your business fairly regularly, and had done a substational amount of business with you over the course of these regular visits, wouldn't you feel more inclined to help them out ?

A dealership is by NO MEANS a representation of the Vehicle Manufacturer, and please get this idea out of your head.
A dealership is just as much a service station as Joe's Auto Repair is.
The only difference between a Dealership and Joe's Auto Repair, is that while Joe is working to make a living, and CHARGES HIS CUSTOMERS FOR EVERYTHING HE DOES.

Your Dealership has the ability to purchase vehicles directly form the Vehicle Manufacturer to resell to the public, and has a 'lack of communication' channel betweeen themselves and the vehicle manufacturer, and is responsible for the repairing of vehicle recalls and warranty 'approved' repairs by the vehicle manufacturer, as per the contract they agree to, with the vehicle manufacturer.

Dealerships are NOT franchises.

Dealerships don't make in service what Joe does in his shop beause the Vehicle Manufacture pays very poorly in Warranty Claims, and also makes it MANDATORY for the Dealerships to send their technicians for training, which the cost of, comes out of the Dealership's income, not the vehicle Manufacturer's income.
You will never see Joe close his shop to attend a training.

So if you want your vehicle service by someone knowledgeable about your vehicle,you will take it to a Dealership.

Why is the Dealership more expensive ?
If you can't tell by what I've just said, then maybe you shouldn't be driving a vehicle that is technically challenging to Joe ?

Why is the Dealership finicky about who it chooses to support ?
Support has to be given, in order to receive it.
If we all support MercuryMarauder.com. then MercuryMarauder.com will be here for all of us, correct ?
AOL, MSN, and Earthlink are still in business. They aren't FREE either.
What about all of the freebie internet services ??? Most of them are extinct.
Support your Dealership, and you will be amazed at how much support they give to you.

When I had the three compressors replaced on my 1998 Contour, all I had to do was ASK.
All three were replaced bucase I asked the Service Maanger if it seemed a little too noisey to him.
All three were replaced under WARRANTY.

I know my Dealership's salespeople (about 75% of them), the Dealership's OWNER, the Service Manager, all of the Service Writers, the Service Dispatcher, and about half of the Technicians.
When you get to know this many poeple at your own dealership, their attitude about you changes DRAMATICALLY.
And my Dealership is not a small dealership either.
They have a garage that holds about 20 bays, and this is just ONE Building.

I take my car to my dealership every 3000 miles for service.
With my car I take 6 quarts of Mobil1 Oil and a K&N HP-2010 filter.
(This is $40 in parts supplied by me.)
The Dealership does the service and charges me $10.
If the car needs anything else, it gets added to the invoice.

When I take my wife's Focus, her service costs $34.95.
I let the dealership supply the oil and filter for the Focus.

This is NOT a lot to pay for all of the SUPPORT it buys me.


Thank you for reading.

/Steps off Podium
/Takes off Flame Suit





Hmmmmm, let me guess, your a Dealer, a store owner, or something like that.


After shellin out 30-35,000 plus interest on top of that, yeah I think the product should be seviced with a real Big Smile :D :up: :bounce: :pimp:


Oh that's gripes with an e, that's ok I can't spell either.

[BillyGman]

Pete, weather you work in a dealer or not, I appreciate your posts and the valuable advice you've recently given to me about the problems I've had w/my Marauder. I think there are two sides to this coin. I can understand your point as well as agree w/it in part, however having had some bad experiences w/dealers myself who were supposed to be knowledgeable about my Marauder, I can also agree in part w/Fat Bastid and Merc 406. There are definatley two sides to this coin, and a lot of it has to do w/what you plan on doing to your car, and what direction you want to go w/it. I think that the further from stock that you go w/your car, the less you want the dealer's mechanics screwing around w/it. Especially if you work on cars yourself atleast ocassionally. I've found a number of the dealers' mechanics to be careless, and in some cases downright incompetent.

That doesn't describe every dealer mechanic by any means. Some of them are very good I'm sure. But when one of them tries to steal your stock torque converter on you, hoping that you'll forget about it only having 4500 miles on it, simply because you've just had them install the Stallion torque converter, then it kinda tends to give you a feeling that they just don't give a rip about you or your car. Especially when they leave one of the transmission mounting bolts that threads into the engine hanging out of the threaded hole halfway. This came after them having to call Precision Industries twice because they couldn't get the torque converter installed, and leaving the emergency brake cable bracket installed incorrectly, so that it was making noise. All that happened as a result of just one visit!!! And the labor charge was $300 out of my pocket, and add to that another $150 for a transmission fluid change!! So even though it was only the first time that I had visited that particular dealer, I was throwing a good amount of money their way, and look what kind of service I received. Because of everything that hapened in that one visit, it's very difficult for me to draw a conclusion that these kinds of things are simply isolated incidents.

I do understand your point of having to establish a working relationship with the dealer in question, as well as being willing to financially support them. I haven't neccessarily any argument w/that concept, but personally, I've found it very difficult to find a dealer who puts mechanics to work on my car who even come close to showing that they might have an ounce of concern for my car, or support for me as a Mercury customer. They come across to you as if it's YOU the customer who has to prove yourself to them rather than the other way around. And that's where I agree w/what merc 406 stated. Just show me a dealer who is within a 45 minute drive from my residence who I can trust in the least, and I'd be glad to support them financially. But I cannot find one. I've tried two of them in the short 11 months that I've owned this car, and both have struck out at the plate as far as I'm concerned, the last one being the only real hi-perf dealer in my homestate that I'm aware of. And I'm leaving out the scenario about what happened to me w/the Air conditioning on my Marauder while visiting the first dealer that I went to w/it. Just like the second dealer, I had to go back a second time for them to correct the screw-up that they did during the first visit.

Todd and MAC seem to both be very happy w/the dealers that they go to, so I'd like to think that there are dealers that are very good, and therefore are worth supporting w/your finances. But in some areas, they're just NOT to be found as far as I know. So even though I haven't flamed you here, I think you might need your "flamesuit" on for this one buddy. :D

[MikesMerc]

Pete:

Although I appreciate your point of view and agree for the most part (about the constant whining), there is much more a of connection between the manufacturer and the dealership than there is with Joe Service Station.

Becoming a Dealer is, in fact, much like being a franchise. You cannot just open a dealership if you want to. It must be approved by the manufacturer. The approval process includes an evalution of the location, local market saturation, dealership experience, knowledge of manufacturer programs, and financial strength.

The manufacturer's dealer group determines how large of floor plan you can have (that's the debt against the inventory you carry), inventory levels, staffing, and numerous service and support criteria. The amount of delaership rebates and advertising allowances is doled out according to the dealerships success at meeting manufacturer criteria.

Second point, almost all dealerships make the most money from the backend of the store (that's the service department). This is a fact, not an opnion. In addition, warranty work accounts for 60 to 70% of service revenues on the average.

All that said, you'd think the dealer would be a bit more conscientious about service. On the whole, the dealerships have been doing better over the last 10 years, but still fall short of reaching consumer expectation. At a time when the dealerships are looking for more autonomy from thier manufacturers for entreprenurial reasons, the manufacturers are working hard to clamp down as they are aware that the Dealership is the "face" to the public.

Just FYI for those unfamiliar with the industry.

[BigMerc]

Regardless of how you feel about Dealerships, they constantly get it WRONG!!! and just because you take offense for ALL dealers, the fact remains they stink most of the time. I can't change that and you shouldn't stand up for a bunch of moes that don't take the time to do it right. You do it right and you'll have the good rep, do it wrong and you'll get that too.
But don't start a thread saying you are tired of dealership complaints, when there is a VALID basis for those complaints. my dad had a saying: "A monkey in a tuxedo, is still a monkey" fancy lights and buildings don't cover up poor service.

[Silver_04]

My dealer damaging my car in 6 places and taking four months to fix their screw ups warrants a big gripe. Not knowing how to fix the car right the first time gets another gripe. Not knowing my car is a Marauder gets another. Shall I go on?

Hot damn, 300 posts :banana:

[Fourth Horseman]

My only real gripe with the dealership where I bought my car is that they're not mod friendly. They've made some mistakes, putting the wrong replacement parts on my car at times as well (surprise, it's not just a black Grand Marquis!) Still, I take it to them for all of my warranty repair work. I'm dealing with a local Ford dealership for my mod work, though. They're mod friendly, easy to work with and very close to me (about a mile and a half away).

In general, I'm very much in agreement with what you said, and what others have stated here: build a relationship with your dealer (or in my case dealerS) and things will generally go smoothly.

I've got much bigger gripes with Ford Motor Co. than I do with their dealers.

[LNYTUNS]

I agree with Fouth in a way. I don't just think that it is just the dealerships that put a bad taste in some of our mouthes, its Ford. I have had some big problems with the Green Bay dealers and I am guilty of the occational gripe about them. Now look at it this way, I like the local Honda dealer, but that is probably because I never have to go there, my Honda works and has never needed warranty work. If there was not so much warranty work on our cars there would be less complaints, just guessing. If all you had the dealer do was routine lubes (because everything else worked like it was supposed to) less people would have a problem with them. Unless they put 7 quarts of oil in your MM. Its a gamble where ever you go.

[jgc61sr2002]

[QUOTE=merc406]Hmmmmm, let me guess, your a Dealer, a store owner, or something like that.


After shellin out 30-35,000 plus interest on top of that, yeah I think the product should be seviced with a real Big Smile :D :up: :bounce: :pimp:


I concur. When you puchase a FMC vehicle the warranty is 3/36,000. If there is a problem it is the dealers responsibility to correct it.

[Bluerauder]

/Steps up to Podium
/Puts on FLAME SUIT

Excuse me for saying what I'm about to say, but I'm tired of reading all the ranting about Dealerships not wanting to give you guys service.

If you were running a business and someone came to you asking for "SOMETHING FOR NOTHING", and you didn't know them from Adam, except for the occasional visit, now and then, would you oblige them ?

"...snip..."

This is NOT a lot to pay for all of the SUPPORT it buys me.


Thank you for reading.

/Steps off Podium
/Takes off Flame Suit

I like my L/M dealer service department. They provide very good service, treat me as a valued customer, understand that it is very inconvenient for me not to have my car, don't try to pad their workload, and the charges are reasonable.

As a consumer, I do expect to get what I pay for. After a '94 T-Bird engine replacement (at Ford's expense) at a Ford dealer that I used to deal with alot, I don't expect to see a 2 foot puddle of transmission fluid under the car because someone didn't put the seals in ---- at all. And after a $600.00 A/C replacement at the same Ford dealer, the lines were connected improperly. Both of these incidents cost me a couple more days. Years ago, such shoddy and incompetent work would put such a place out-of-business in short order. Seems that the tolerance for slip-shod work has gone up in lots of areas of business.

I'll pay a fair price -- but I want a decent repair. That's my 2 cents.

Oh by the way, thanks for waiting until your were off the stage to take your Flame suit off. This is a G-Rated site.

The podium is now open ..............

[Cobra25]

Sum people have problem's with their Dealerships ,some don't. If you don't like them find another that works for you. Personality,my Dealership has always stuck by me,and worked with me. I make it my business to get to know and talk to them, sometimes on a personal level. If you talk to them with a little respect when you have a problem they in turn will do the same and want to help you out more. Treat others as you wish to be treated.

[sailsmen]

I have had good service from my dealer. I try to have a relationship with htem and have brought my Ford Van to them for service.

[Donny Carlson]

I have posted about the lousy service I get at my selling dealer, AND the lousy attitude by thier local competeing LM dealer.

It has EVERYTHING to do with the dealer. These are dealers who are "car people," and by that, I mean ones who support performance, support those of us who freqent this board. For me, that dealer is Team Ford in Marietta, Georgia. I will drive 2 hours to have them work on my car AND pay their prices for service because this is a dealer that not only sells a ton of Ford cars and trucks, but doesn't turn their back on owners who are car people and who love to mod their cars. The local LM dealer won't get another cent of my money, and the only instance where I'll set foot in their shop again is if my car is mistakenly towed there. I'd rather pay to have my MM put on a flatbed hauler and shipped over to Team than towed into those jerks that are literally two miles from my house.

And they have NEVER said "we don't service Marauders, take it to a Mercury dealer" or "you have to have your selling dealer handle that warrantee claim."
Cripes, my selling dealer sticks you in a room with the TV permanently set on Jerry Springer and Judge Judy, the magazines are two years old, and you can never get an answer to any questions without someone acting like you passed gas at that exact moment. Team's waiting area has walls with big picture windows so you can watch your car getting worked on. They have display cases in the show room full of racing parts and performance mods that people can put on their cars. Now THIS is a dealership!

[TAF]

Once you've had the best ^^^ ALL others are just...posers.


Couldn't have said it better myself, Donny.

[Sactown]

My purchase/service dealer has been pretty good. Winter Volvo L/M in Sacramento. Down side is their hours and they job out body and paint. I have had some early problems with my MM and they have worked hard to resolve the problems to my satisfaction. What could have been a horrible first few months with a new car was made much better by this dealer. If I do some mods, I will try to have them do things for me if they are willing. Might cost more, but they are probably the most familiar with a MM in the area.

[Marauderman]

I have posted about the lousy service I get at my selling dealer, AND the lousy attitude by thier local competeing LM dealer.

It has EVERYTHING to do with the dealer. These are dealers who are "car people," and by that, I mean ones who support performance, support those of us who freqent this board. For me, that dealer is Team Ford in Marietta, Georgia. I will drive 2 hours to have them work on my car AND pay their prices for service because this is a dealer that not only sells a ton of Ford cars and trucks, but doesn't turn their back on owners who are car people and who love to mod their cars. The local LM dealer won't get another cent of my money, and the only instance where I'll set foot in their shop again is if my car is mistakenly towed there. I'd rather pay to have my MM put on a flatbed hauler and shipped over to Team than towed into those jerks that are literally two miles from my house.

And they have NEVER said "we don't service Marauders, take it to a Mercury dealer" or "you have to have your selling dealer handle that warrantee claim."
Cripes, my selling dealer sticks you in a room with the TV permanently set on Jerry Springer and Judge Judy, the magazines are two years old, and you can never get an answer to any questions without someone acting like you passed gas at that exact moment. Team's waiting area has walls with big picture windows so you can watch your car getting worked on. They have display cases in the show room full of racing parts and performance mods that people can put on their cars. Now THIS is a dealership!

Yeah -I gotta admit-I too have been to Team Ford Twice and I'm 4 hrs away==and their place--is as he describes--a friendly bunch of guys who know why your there--for any reason--...yeah--wish it was closer to me too--but it beats out all of Charlotte for now--humm..seems Dale Jarrett Ford here in town needs to make a few changes---being NASCAR an all.......my .02 worth...Tom

[junehhan]

Well, when you spend your money, you have to remember that it's your money. Before an institution is going to get any of my money, they must have earned it beforehand. Otherwise, this is a free market and i'll just go elsewhere. If you spend $30-35k on a car, that isn't enough for them to stand behind a product that they sold you? If they choose not to care, then they are the ones who forfeit a potential lifetime customer who will go elsewhere into the market where they will recieve the service the selling dealership originally should have given. Potential customers are gained and lost all the time, and it's up to the dealership to decide whether they are going to gain their FAIR share, or LOSE their fair share. When you purchase a car from the dealership, they are not hurting and you have really done them a favor as you have bought a product that otherwise may have just sat around gathering dust. Especially when you opt for an extended warranty to go with the car, they have profited off you just fine.

Service after the sale, is particularly going to be important in whether that customer will become a repeat customer, and perhaps a customer for life. If the service provided after the sales leaves the customer with a negative impression, the they are the ones who have failed in giving the customer a positive impression of the service experience, which will make them think twice before spending any service dollars at the dealership for work. Generally speaking, people have trouble justifying the act of spending money at a service department that they don't know if they can trust or not. If the service department has created a negative impression of themselves, then they alone are to blame for the customer not wanting to trust them with work, not the customer who just spent $35k at their dealership to buy a car.

[MapleLeafMerc]

Hi Pete

No need for a flame suit. Just let me say that

1. My company has bought several cars from the dealer I got my MM from. I won't mention any names, but the initials are Donway Ford. The service manager there told me that the swirls on the paint were from me washing the car. :nono:

2. The average Cdn dealer doesn't appreciate cars like the MM

[Patrick]

Service after the sale, is particularly going to be important in whether that customer will become a repeat customer, and perhaps a customer for life.

And thats My dealership!!!! Yes I will give them the credit they deserve!! Mullinax Lincolon Mercury!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!

[MENINBLK]

I do not work for a dealership currently.
I did work for a Buick Dealership and got out soon after Desert Storm ended.
We were given an option to work a shortened work week or be unemployed.
We all opted for the shortened work week.
Those were the worst 10 years of my life....

I am now working for a computer hardware manufacturer and I am looking to change my career again soon.

Things weren't so bright when I first started with my Ford dealership either.
I owned a 1995 Ford Escort Wagon.
It had a 4 cyl engine that took 4 (FOUR) quarts of oil with a filter.
Every time I took it to them for service, it came back to me with 5 quarts installed.
I would grab the Service Manager by the balls and make him pull my dipstick.
After he looked at it, I would ask him, "Is it really that hard for the Technician to pull the dipstick after he puts in the oil to make sure its RIGHT?"

When I worked in the Buick Dealership, if you put in too little or too much oil and didn't pull the dipstick to check it, you were TERMINATED.
No questions asked, no second chances.
It was explaned to you when you started working that nothing but EXCELLENCE was what we offered to our customers, and expected from our employees.
We were the #1 Buick Dealer in Westchester and we didn't get their with advertising.
We got there with Customer Experience and word of mouth.

If you don't address the problems your dealership creates, then they keep on reproducing the problems for other customers, who do the same thing that you do, keep your mouth shut, you don't mention it, and you go off to a strange dealership and start over again...

If you took the time to correct these mistakes, you actually help your dealership to mind its employees.
They don't know what happens unless the customer mentions it to them.

And if you don't wish to address your dealership directly, you can call the Manufacturer's Customer Support and they will address it with your dealership for you. Then your dealership has to correct it to your satisfaction, and you will be contacted by Customer Support to verify that you are satisfied.

There is nothing that moves a dealership faster than a call from the manufacturer.

[Rangero]

I had the Merc dealership do ONE thing, put in DR's Stage one. My gears whine between 60-70 and I had to redo the chip install. I'm just not impressed with the work or concern they pretend to show. This is the ONLY experience (with the dealership) I have had with service and as such am dreading any future relations even though I know they are coming. Guess I'm griping...

[BillyGman]

Rangero, I've noticed that w/the MMX driveshaft, you do get a bit of a whine, or a hollow type sounding whistle. And on my car it's definately from the driveshaft. And it goes away as soon as I hit 70 MPH. it isn't all that loud, and it was noticeable when I had the stock exhaust. So I'd say that the noise you've described is actually coming from that driveshaft. Apparently, that's just the way the Dynomax driveshafts are. But like i said, it isn't that noticeable at all. On my car it only was noticeable when you had your foot on the gas just slightly. It would go away as soon as you took your foot of the gas, or as soon as you reached about 70 MPH.

On my car, I know it's the Dynomax MMX driveshaft because before I put it in(and I installed it myself) there wasn't any noise other than the bad vibration at 90 MPH which was much more noticeable, and was a whole diffent kind of noise. And as soon as I got it off the lift after installing that driveshaft, the noise was there while accelerating between 40 and 70 MPH. And that's all that I did to the car that day. just the driveshaft installation.

But it isn't loud enough nor noticeable enough to merit taking it out, and since ne having 4.56 gears required the driveshaft in order to avoid the terrible driveshaft vibration that i was getting w/the stock shaft at 90 MPH, I left the MMX shaft in.

[MENINBLK]

I had the Merc dealership do ONE thing, put in DR's Stage one. My gears whine between 60-70 and I had to redo the chip install. I'm just not impressed with the work or concern they pretend to show. This is the ONLY experience (with the dealership) I have had with service and as such am dreading any future relations even though I know they are coming. Guess I'm griping...

This is where you should be voicing your concerns back to the dealership.
If they did work for you and you ended up redoing it because it wasn't done correctly, mention it the following time you visit the dealership.
It is *possible* that you would get credit for the work done, towards a future service.

At least give your dealership a chance to respond to doing something that wasn't to your satisfaction.
Griping about it here, you're preaching to the choir.

I had a headlight switch recall done to my Contour.
The technician who did the job cut the harness and attached a new pigtail and switch, by crimping the wires together with splices.
The result was I had headlights that were dimmer then before the recall was done.
Over a weekend, I ripped out my headlight switch, and soldered each cable, in place of the crimps, and fixed the problem.
On my next visit to the dealer, I told him what my problem was and what I did to correct it, and I got a free transmission service out of it.

You don't have to slam anyone when you tell them, just bring it up in a conversation, and see how they respond.

[djmcnary]

Well, I must be one of the lucky ones. I purchased my MM used, from a Jaguar/Land Rover dealer near DC. I drove the vehicle back to Southern IL the same day I bought it. (yes, long drive!:) ) One of the first stops I made was the local Ford Dealer that I would be taking it to.

I was introduced to the Service Manager previously be a mutual friend, so I "kind of" knew him.

When I picked up the car, I noticed that the passenger side headlamp was fogged over inside. (it had been raining) I mentioned it to the Ford SM and he said that it would be no problem, it would be covered under warranty. He then asked if the driver's side was doing it too (wink wink), so of course I said "I believe so." So voila, two new headlight assemblies, no questions asked!

This is the same SM that checked the VIN through Fords System and learned that the original owner had opted for the 5 yr/ 100k extended warranty, and then took me to the correct person at the Dealership who showed me how I could transfer it to my name for $50!!

So far I have been lucky....I got a GREAT car, at a GREAT price...had a GREAT first drive (around 850 miles) and have hooked up with a GREAT Dealer and SM.

With this luck, I may just go and buy my first Lottery Ticket. :banana: :banana:

Later,

Douglas

[hitchhiker]

I'm tired of people that can't Spell!


:lol: :lol: :lol:

[djmcnary]

I'm tired of people that can't Spell!


:lol: :lol: :lol:

Yeah!

Me too!!

Only I am one of them!!!;)

Where is the spell checker when you need one?

:lol:

Douglas