After running the car through the automatic car wash or after a heavy rain storm, we would notice that the front passenger floorboard was wet. Thinking that it might be a bad door gasket, I took it into the dealer to be diagnosed. They determined that the problem was the body seam under the passenger front fender where the firewall and A-pillar meet. The dealer admitted that the seam had never been properly sealed with seam sealer from the factory. The dealer's solution was to have a local body shop take the passenger front fender off and have the seam welded shut. I was informed that this would not be covered by my extended warranty and that the repair was going to cost me approximately $500.00. When I purchased the car, I also purchased the best extended warranty package available; and was told that it would cover everything from bumper-to-bumper!! This is the second time I have been suckered into buying an extended warranty package on a Ford/Mercury vehicle and getting screwed on some technicality in the small print.
My son, being a body man, said that this was a totally stupid solution and that no one was going to weld on the car. So then the dealer wants to charge me a diagnostic charge of $185.00. Well, as you can imagine, I came unglued at this point. The dealer agreed to drop the diagnostic charge, and I agreed to take care of having the seam sealer reapplied myself. My son has reapplied the seam sealer and has undercoated the whole underneath of both front fenders. Because of the bad weather in our area, we still have not had a chance to test whether this has solved the problem completely.
My biggest beef with this whole issue is the fact that the dealer admits that the body seam was not properly sealed from the factory; but Ford Motor Company will not cover the repair under the extended warranty package!! If I did not have access to a great body man, my son, I would have been screwed out of another $700.00 on top of the $1400.00 I paid for the extended warranty package.
After running the car through the automatic car wash or after a heavy rain storm, we would notice that the front passenger floorboard was wet. Thinking that it might be a bad door gasket, I took it into the dealer to be diagnosed. They determined that the problem was the body seam under the passenger front fender where the firewall and A-pillar meet. The dealer admitted that the seam had never been properly sealed with seam sealer from the factory. The dealer's solution was to have a local body shop take the passenger front fender off and have the seam welded shut. I was informed that this would not be covered by my extended warranty and that the repair was going to cost me approximately $500.00. When I purchased the car, I also purchased the best extended warranty package available; and was told that it would cover everything from bumper-to-bumper!! This is the second time I have been suckered into buying an extended warranty package on a Ford/Mercury vehicle and getting screwed on some technicality in the small print.
My son, being a body man, said that this was a totally stupid solution and that no one was going to weld on the car. So then the dealer wants to charge me a diagnostic charge of $185.00. Well, as you can imagine, I came unglued at this point. The dealer agreed to drop the diagnostic charge, and I agreed to take care of having the seam sealer reapplied myself. My son has reapplied the seam sealer and has undercoated the whole underneath of both front fenders. Because of the bad weather in our area, we still have not had a chance to test whether this has solved the problem completely.
My biggest beef with this whole issue is the fact that the dealer admits that the body seam was not properly sealed from the factory; but Ford Motor Company will not cover the repair under the extended warranty package!! If I did not have access to a great body man, my son, I would have been screwed out of another $700.00 on top of the $1400.00 I paid for the extended warranty package.
- rfatheree, Clinton, IL, US