Don't Trust Your Ford Dealers Service Department

[Fremont Kid]

I won’t trust your dealer’s service department. Mine is just fine.

Agree. Mine has already driven my MME Premium AWD.
Mache_JD14: I will say they are not required to report it to the insurance company. However, if they are not replacing with genuine Ford parts then perhaps you should. Subrogation is an insurance practice where your insurance company would charge all damage to their insurer because they are at fault. Your dealership not reporting is more to prevent a subrogation charge against them, than your company recording this as a claim against you. As such, require that they replace with genuine Ford parts, not after-market parts. You don't want some future damage to be undervalued or replaced with after-market parts because that is what your dealer used. Most likely a Ford dealership will use genuine Ford parts. But, insist they do.
I also agree with SCOOPMAN that you have the right to take YOUR VEHICLE to whichever body shop YOU CHOOSE.

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[MellowJohnny]

I would also go the route of an independent repair. When my first Mach-E order was damaged in transit they said fixing it “the right way for a customer” was replacing with new parts. They wanted to perhaps keep the car and said most if it can be repainted - the cheap way out. Which for them was OK, but not an acceptable remedy for a customer.

If you let them fix it I’m sure they’ll opt for the cheapest option, not the right option.

And if the light it cracked in any way it needs to be replaced for sure.

 

[Neil4Real]

This thread was a good read, but clearly ITT are people that don't understand this is WAY more common than people realize.

If the dealer does the work themselves, do not go with it, but most outsource this work and already have a solid relationship with a local body shop that they use for both new and used car repairs. Porters mess up cars, test drivers, etc. It happens A LOT. They don't make insurance claims for most and just take it to their contracted body shop.

When I took my Mercedes in, I called my local dealer and went to the body shop they used. It was a Caliber Collision that had amazing reviews. They talked to me about how Mercedes used to do it in house and then this Caliber got the contract, etc. They would get about 5 cars a week from the dealer to do repairs on, different reasons as stated above.

My MME Premium's fender bender was treated the same. Found a body shop that did all the work for a local Ford dealer, great work.

Ask what body shop they work with, look into them yourself. This doesn't need to be complicated at all. You just go to the body shop when they inspect it and get a run down on what they'll do, the warranty terms, etc. Let them know if you're unhappy with it, they have to make it right, blah blah.

I'm not sure why everyone is saying the dealer will super cut corners. Unless you're at some Ford dealer that is insanely small, this process is going to be very normal and they're not going to call the body shop and say this one is for an already sold car, so you can cut corners compared to the cars we still have to sell. Obviously if the dealer gets presented with 2 options that might be different, but that is why I suggest you just be there for the inspection and make it clear what you want and your expectation and the body shop and dealership just confirm the dealership is 100% for the costs. Easy, easy.

The real thing to focus on is get something for the inconvenience, too. When my wife's car was hit at a Jeep dealer many years ago, super, super small fender bender, I got all weather floor mats, the extended warranty and a 2 year service contract. I'd definitely push for the extended warranty, but the really good one that covers Day 1 rentals, etc.

 

[rohankumar]

Really sucks that this happened to you, at least they fessed up and took accountability. I dropped my car off last week on Thursday for a powertrain malfunction / reduced power fault on FordPass. I didn't get the car back for almost a week as they kept struggling due to a delay with the gear shift module part from Ford. On checking the backseat when I got the car i noticed footprints of a car or a small dog. Digging in deeper into the FordPass trips section i see that the car was driven around significant distances. My daughter's allergic to cats, so I told them to look into the issue and get back to me. They need to do better than this .......

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