Ford Warranties

[Derek Uzzell]

JudgeMental:

 

I can answer for Mel B - her Rimor Sailor is RHD and was purchased in the UK via an official UK Rimor agent.

 

(It's worth saying that - according to the UK Rimor dealership I contacted - Ford-based Rimor motorhomes marketed in the UK have a 2-year Ford Base Warranty (FBW). This is evidently incorrect and proves that information about FBW duration provided by UK dealerships needs to be treated cautiously.)

 

The position of the Transit's steering-wheel is (in principle) irrelevant where the duration of the Ford Base Warranty (FBW) is concerned, as it's not the vehicle's specification that 'controls' the FBW terms and conditions it's the country in which the vehicle is first bought retail.

 

In practice, saying LHD = a 2-year FBW and RHD = a 3-year FBW is a reasonable rule of thumb but, as I said earlier, it might be possible to buy a RHD motorhome from a Continental European dealer and thus end up with a 2-year FBW on that vehicle. The converse might also be true, where a new LHD motorhome is purchased 'first retail' in the UK and thus attracts a 3-year warranty. I explored the latter option myself in 2004, where a UK Chausson agent would have ordered for me a Chausson Ford-based motorhome that was then being produced only in LHD format. As the deal fell through, I don't know what the FBW duration would have been but, in theory, if Chausson had agreed to supply the motorhome directly to the UK agent, then the motorhome should have attracted a 3-year warranty.

 

Language is a tricky thing and Mel's reference to sorting out "the habitation side" and your comment that the "habitation warranty should be OK" don't automatically relate.

 

I'm pretty sure I've described in the past on this forum how motorhomes often have four types of warranty - 1) Base vehicle, 2) Major Appliances, 3) Conversion and 4) Watertightness.

 

"Major Appliances" means things like the heater and fridge that have their own warranty terms and conditions as specified by the appliance manufacturer. The duration of an Appliance warranty may well not match that of the Conversion warranty. For example, if one studies MMM's test-report on an Elddis Autocirrus (March 2008, page 148), it's noteworthy that the Conversion warranty is 1-year in length: however, the warranty on Truma heating appliances is 24 months. On the other hand, a Conversion warranty is usually longer than 1-year (with 2 years being commonplace), but I believe Dometic's UK warranty on their leisure-vehicle refrigerators is only 12 months. (In fact, Mel has told me off-forum that her Rimor has had fridge problems and the Dometic warranty issue did arise.)

 

It's the norm for the Conversion warranty of UK-built motorhomes to demand regular 'habitation servicing' (usually annually) to maintain the warranty's validity, but this is often not a requirement for non-UK-built motorhomes. The Watertightness warranty terms will invariably insist on regular damp-checks being made throughout the warranty period - usually annually, though I think it may be 6-monthly for Rimor motorhomes.

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

Yes of course Derrek. perfectly correct and I forgot......

 

In my case:

 

2 year Ford warranty on chassis (LHD import)

 

3 year EuraMobil warranty on habitation/camper

 

6 year water ingress warranty (subject to yearly checks and stamp in book)

 

 

[Mel B]

When does a '2 year full warranty' not mean what it says ... when it's a Rimor! What I have managed to find out so far about our vehicle's warranty according to the various parts manufacturers' handbooks:

 

= Truma boiler - 2 years :-D

= Thetford toilet - 3 years :->

= Dometic fridge/freezer - 1 year :-( although the nice man from Dometic who we met at the NEC when our van had just past it's first birthday agreed to sort out the fridge problem FOC, good job as it was the main circuit board and would've cost a packet!

= Smev bits - I haven't a clue what the warranty on their appliances is as their booklets don't say a thing ... I'll have to try to find out. *-)

= The motorcaravan part of the vehicle, ie all the bits that are actually manufacturered by Rimor, have a 2 year warranty. :-S

 

We also have a water ingress warranty of 5 years, for this we have to have a 6 monthly damp check carried out and the book stamped and the chit sent away to Rimor, which Southdowns are willing to do for us (many thanks to them seeing as we didn't get it from them). B-)

 

Dealers don't know what the ins and outs of the warranty are as we have found out. What they tell you, and what is right, can be two different things! 8-)

 

The most annoying thing is that the one piece of kit that had the shortest warranty, the Dometic fridge/freezer, just had to be the thing that went wrong!!! *-)

 

Rest assurred that for any 'van we buy in the future, if the whole lot isn't covered for at least 2 years, we'll be looking for an extended warranty as part of the deal. >:-)

 

As for the dealers who we bought our van from, we'll, we're still talking to them about it .... :$

[caggsie]

I'm a newbie to the forum and to motor homing and seem to be having the same problem with my warranty with Ford as John. I have, since March 21st been the proud owner of a 08 Dethleffs Fortero. Only been out in it 4 times

 

To cut a long story short, there is an issue with the van billowing out black smoke. Phones up the local ford garage (tell me is a warranty issue so feeling very confident it would get sorted)to be told that it was registered on their database in March 06 and as such only has supposed 10 month warranty left on it. This also maybe "in question"as no servicing record.

 

It was first registered to me, sold as having full warranty from dealership for Ford and Dethleffs.

 

I am in correspondence with dealer and today have contacted Dethleffs.

 

can anyone help?

 

regards

 

Caggsie

[Mel B]

Hi Cagsie and welcome

 

Don't bother with correspondence (other than to back up what you've been told verbally), get on the phone to your dealer and give them a big kick up the bum - they have not done their job properly - they need to do the necessary paperwork etc to make sure that it is correctly registered with Ford as being new from 21 March 2008. Our Rimor on a Ford (outgoing model the same as yours) was bought new by us in Feb 2007 and definitely has a 3 year warranty which started on that date.

 

Remember no matter how nice the people are at the dealers, you have a duff vehicle which hasn't been registered propertly with Ford and they need to sort it out pronto. Don't let them fob you off. It is not for you to contact Dethleffs who will probably not bother to reply or just refer you back to the dealers - the purchase contract is with the dealers, they need to sort it out for you.

 

Keep the pressure up on the dealer to sort it quickly and your van fixed for you (may just need some adjustments etc) so you can enjoy it.

 

Mel B

 

 

[caggsie]

Thanks for the support. Feel really disillusioned by it all. Will try and be more forceful.

 

regards

 

Cags

[Guest machra]

Reading this thread I decided to see what my warranty situation was as I do not trust my dealer to get things right. I visited my local Ford dealer and on checking the database they found that the VIN was on the computer but there was no VRN or purchaser information to go with it. They told me to phone Ford Customer Services (FCS). FCS told me that the van had a 3 yr warranty as it was registered on their computer as being a UK spec vehicle. Warranty ran from date of first registration, Oct 07. They then put missing info on their database. Most worryingly they also informed me that the vehicle was subject to a safety recall. (They had not been able to send out a recall notice as they had no purchaser info)

[caggsie]

I have phoned both the garage and FCS, both are singing from the same hymn sheet. The base vehicle is registered on their database from March 06 and there is nothing (FSC yesterday evening) that the dealer can do to update information. Dealer tells me differently, that there is a full warranty and have sent details to Ford to update system. As yet Ford say not. I no longer know who to believe. I have given dealer 2 weeks to sort out situation - here's hoping this can get resolved quickly.

[Derek Uzzell]

caggsie:

 

It's a mite peculiar that your March 2008-bought-new Fortero is (apparently) based on a March 2006 Transit chassis. In March 2006 I'm pretty sure Ford would still be producing the Mk 6 Transit, so it should be visually evident that your motorhome is built on an 'old' model Transit, rather than the current Mk 7 chassis on which one might reasonably expect a 2008-purchased motorhome to be based.

 

I assume you were aware of this at the time of purchase and I can, to some extent, appreciate that Ford might be wary of adjusting their computer records for a motorhome that has suddenly been bought 'new' some two years after its chassis left the Ford factory. Certainly, if I were Ford, I'd be wondering where the thing has been since then and what it has been doing during that period. If your motorhome's chassis has indeed been standing idle for a couple of years, then one might also understand it if Ford were reluctant to handle under warranty a problem that might have been provoked by that lack of use.

 

It may well be that there's a logical explanation for the long time-gap between date of chassis-build and date of motorhome sale. As it is, if you have purchased the motorhome in the UK as its first retail buyer, then it ought to come with a 3-year Ford warranty commencing with the date of sale to you. If your dealer has told you purchase-details have been sent to Ford, then the warranty start-date should be reset appropriately. However, this may not happen overnight and you need to ensure that your dealer remains proactive on your behalf by maintaining a dialogue with Ford until the warranty-date problem has been resolved satisfactorily.

[caggsie]

Thanks to all who responded to my dilemma, I now have a warranty on the van. Thanks to the servicing man at the garage finding out a name and fax who the registration etc has to go to and me forwarding that to the dealer. It is being sorted as we speak - Yipee!!!!!

[Mel B]

Well done Caggsie! At least now if summut breaks they'll sort it out for nowt! Not that I'm wishing anything will go wrong of course! 8-) :D

[Guest JudgeMental]

 

At long last I can report! I have had an email from Belgian EuraMobil dealer that EuraMobil have resolved the problem with my warranty. It now starts April 07 (when I registered it) not December 06 (when manufacturer took delivery of chassis cab)

 

Called local Ford dealer and he has confirmed this is now on his system...

 

So there is hope for us all yet lol :-D

[brom]

Just to confirm what has been stated on this thread - the warranty for Fords registered first in the UK is three years, starting from the date of registration here. However, don't take this as read - I checked with Ford Warranty department (tel 08702 416726), and gave them the chassis number. They confirmed it was three years, but Ford's computer had it registered on 12th December 2007 - when the van arrived at Dethleffs for conversion. I then had to send a copy of my V5 and an explanatory note pointing out that the van was registered to me as first owner, in Britain, on 22nd May 2008, and that the warranty should run from that date.

This was accepted, and the computer record changed. No warranty card or certificate is sent out, but I asked Ford to send me a confirmatory email, which they duly have. That states ...'This also brings your vehicle into line with all other UK registered Ford Transit vehicles'.

Moral - on buying a new vehicle, always check the information the manufacturer has on its database, as it is quite likely to be incorrect! Don't rely on the dealer, who may not be clued up, and certainly has other deals in mind at the same time - it is easier (on my experience this time) to talk direct to Ford and get the info from the horse's mouth.