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Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:59 am**

If you know anyone who owns one of these....

Apparently they have shitty transmissions.

When the wife found out her place of employment was being sold in 2013, all the employees were told, "Don't worry! We aren't firing people!" But I have been through this before, and I know they say anything to keep mass resignations from happening before they are ready to let people go on THEIR schedule...

Anyway, we downsized a bit, just in case, got rid of the SUV, and bought a cheaper, fuel economy Ford Focus for her commuting. Just in case.

Well, just in case didn't happen, she already got a promotion and a couple of raises, so that's all good.

And her Focus started being shitty at shifting gears.

Took it to Ford in January. They said this is becoming a common thing, and pulled out the appointment book they use for only the Ford Focus.... if they didn't have a separate book, apparently they only cars they would have time to service are the focuses. So they set me up the next available appointment.... in February. I was told they would examine the car for 2-3 hours, and determine if it needed a new tranny. February came, I read my book for 2 hours, and they decided it needed a new tranny.

So, we made the next available appointment to get that done... in May. They told me I would drop the car off and they would give me a loaner for a day or 2 until it was done. No problem at all.

May comes, I take the car in in the middle of running other errands, and they told me to have a seat and it would be 2-3 hours. Apparently they had no record of my already doing that, and they had no new transmission available, and were confused about why I was there. Someone dropped the ball there. I told them I didn't have time to stay and that I was a little ticked about this, and fortunately they seemed appropriately chagrined.

Honestly, I really like those guys.... this has been their only screwup in years, and I really like their posh waiting room and free coffee while you wait to get your oil changed. I have forgiven them.

Anyway, long story longer, this problem is so common that Ford can't produce new transmissions fast enough to replace them. Another few weeks went by, and they still didn't have a tranny for me.... all this time the wife is driving a chugging car... and they recommended I call Ford custserv myself and maybe that would speed them up and get me the part I need. I told them I don't have time for that crap, but I started wondering if we should just replace the car with a generous deal since Ford seemed to be unable to honor their warranty agreement. I said this to the service desk guys.

About a week later our salesman called us to let us know about massive trade-in deals for peeps with the 2013 Ford Focus. Ford can't fix them fast enough so they are trying to get them off the road, apparently. So we went ahead and took advantage of the rebates.... so now we have a Ford Escape with the fancy-schmancy electronics package, and the high-end engine so it gets the same mileage as the Focus, and the payment is only about $20 more a month, which is partially offset by the fact our car insurance went down by $8 a month.... I am speculating because of the better safety features.

So that's my long story.

tl;dr - If you know anyone with a 2013 (maybe other years too?) Ford Focus, tell them there are serious trade-in monies to be had.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:22 am**

And her Focus started being shitty at shifting gears.

Gears? The fuck are those?

Edited By Malcolm on 1433173128

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 11:36 am**

Um, that quote seems a little out of place...

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 11:38 am**

TPRJones wrote:Um, that quote seems a little out of place...

Dangers of multiple tabs open at once.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 2:42 pm**

Something I just thought of...

Before we left the lot, they already had the "used car" sticker in the window of our Focus. They weren't fixing shit... they were looking to unload it on the next person who wouldn't be under the "3 year/36000 mile" original factory warranty.

That's kind of evil.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:11 pm**

After driving shitty '90s American cars for a few years, I made the decision that I'm never buying another Ford or GM. Suzuki's working fine so far. About 20K miles in, first tire replacement.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:15 pm**

That seems kind of quick for tires to go bad. I think my past cars have been typically 40-50k.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 3:22 pm**

GORDON wrote:That seems kind of quick for tires to go bad. I think my past cars have been typically 40-50k.

There's no way those tires were new when I got the car.

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 5:54 pm**

GORDON wrote:Something I just thought of...

Before we left the lot, they already had the "used car" sticker in the window of our Focus. They weren't fixing shit... they were looking to unload it on the next person who wouldn't be under the "3 year/36000 mile" original factory warranty.

That's kind of evil.

Yeah, that's pretty bad. But not surprising. Glad we used all that tax money to bail them out. Would hate to lose an American Company with ethics like that.

Wait... we didn't have to bail out Ford, did we? Guess we know why now

Edited By Vince on 1433195704

Posted: **Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:12 pm**

Ford rejected the loan money. They say it's because they had pride or principles. I think it's because they knew they'd piss it away anyhow.

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 12:57 am**

Just to clear up some of the BS in this thread, I know three Ford engineers. Two of them are pretty high up in the company.

Ford knew what was coming and had been making cuts for a while to prepare for the economic downturn. They didn't NEED a bailout because their management saw what was coming and prepared.

Say what you want about their cars, but don't dis their management. They seem to know what they're doing.

Also, the vast, vast majority of dealers have NOTHING to do with the car manufacturer even if they fly that manufacturer's logo and sell only their cars. It's like how IBM and Cisco don't actually sell you their products, and you must go through a third party to get them.

Hell, I actually think it might be illegal for them to sell directly to you. Isn't that the whole thing Tesla is fighting right now because they want to sell directly to consumers and cut out the middle men (dealers)?

Anyway, them reselling your Focus isn't Ford, it's the dealer living up to the reputation of a used car salesman.

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 8:23 am**

My comment was mostly off the cuff and in jest not meaning to insult anyone.

While not a big fan of Fords, I don't hold any particular ill will towards them either. I was pleased that they didn't really need a bailout. Sucked that the administration forced them to take the money. That was about control.

Reselling the car with the known jacked up transmission is evil. Whoever is doing it. If the manufacturer is actually offering these rebates for trade-ins on the Focus because of these issues, then this IS bad management because they know the problem is going to get sold to another driver as a used car. They're taking the long term hit of a bad product on the road for the short term fix of getting out of expensive transmission repairs.

Edited By Vince on 1433334218

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 8:53 am**

My comment was mostly off the cuff and in jest not meaning to insult anyone.

I was not insulted at all. I shouldn't have said "BS". I should have said "Misconceptions". It was a late night decision as I was trying to rush towards bed.

I just was throwing info out there that folks might not have known. I agree with Randall, "Give credit where credit is due." Ford deserves more credit for preparing for the economic downturn while the other big companies did nothing.

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 8:57 am**

I agree that they were obviously doing something right on that count.

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 8:58 am**

1. WHen I followed up on the transmission fix 2 weeks, ago, they had told me that Ford was actually shutting down the Focus production line for 2 weeks so they could get caught up on making replacement transmission for the Focuses.

2. And as I said before, we've had 20 years of good expereinces with Ford, because in my wife's family pretty much all the males work for Ford and we get great discounts and we've always liked their custserv, so this particular problem wasn't making us angry, long-term. But here is what else that has happened with this transaction, that didn't shake out until Monday afternoon: As we know, my wife works for a bank, in the loan department. When the Ford finance guy started making the calls about, supposedly, who would get us the best rate, he said my wife's bank wasn't even responding, and Wells Fargo denied us (the car we were replacing was already on a Wells Fargo loan, we'd never been late on payments, and both our credit were in the high 700's), and the only bank that would do the loan was Huntington.

Well here's the deal: My wife's bank told them that since she was an employee, the deal would have to wait until Monday. My wife verified this Monday morning when she went to work, because she wanted to know why no one was answering the loan phones (or whatever) over the weekend, when people are typically buying cars. She was shown the call log, and Ford knew the answer as we were sitting in the guy's office. Then my wife's employer told my wife that that particular Ford dealer has a deal with Huntington, and they get kickbacks for throwing loans their way.

So basically, our Ford dealer lied to us about the financing, told us other options weren't available when they were, giving us a higher interest rate and more fees so they could get their kickback. My wife, on the phone, actually said, "You know where I work, did you think I wouldn't follow up on this Monday morning?" "No."

On Saturday we trusted that at their word and signed the Huntington papers (which we have since cancelled). Today, we are not sure we like them any more. It's one thing to be a slick used car dealer, it's another to lie to my face.

Edited By GORDON on 1433336419

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 9:05 am**

Ouch. That blows hard. Yeah, it'd be hard for me to go back to them.

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:52 am**

Say what you want about their cars, but don't dis their management. They seem to know what they're doing.

I bought their cars, not their management.

Today, we are not sure we like them any more.

You're not sure? Quite the forgiving dude you've become in your old age. Tell them to knock $5K off the price or they can go suck a dick and you'll report them to the BBB.

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:01 am**

Malcolm wrote:
Today, we are not sure we like them any more.
You're not sure? Quite the forgiving dude you've become in your old age. Tell them to knock $5K off the price or they can go suck a dick and you'll report them to the BBB.

The salesman is one guy, the finance guy is a different guy. Hard to say who knew what, when..... but yeah, I'm pretty sure they are all in on it.

And I kind of feel bad spending 4 hours of the guy's day buying a car on the employee pricing plan. They don't make much money off of those, because we are getting invoice price, but apparently they are tricking people with the financing shenanigans to make their money. It just didn't work on an actual bank employee. So yeah, I don't like the attempted money fucking, but I see why they would want to try it.

I seem to recall telling a similar story that happened years ago with a Ford finance guy in a different state, and Catt looked up numbers and said the Ford Finance division was their biggest moneymaker.

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:09 am**

GORDON wrote:I seem to recall telling a similar story that happened years ago with a Ford finance guy in a different state, and Catt looked up numbers and said the Ford Finance division was their biggest moneymaker.

Hey I found that thread.

Was hard to find since it was a front page post and not searchable in the forum software.

http://www.dtman.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=3;t=5245

Posted: **Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:10 am**

GORDON wrote:I seem to recall telling a similar story that happened years ago with a Ford finance guy in a different state, and Catt looked up numbers and said the Ford Finance division was their biggest moneymaker.

Not true in absolute profits, very true in profit %.

Q1 2015:
Ford Credit: $483M pre-tax profit (Can't find the revenue #)
Ford Auto: $936M pre-tax profit (on 31.8B in revenue)

2014:
Ford Credit: $1,854M (On Revenue of $8.9B); 20.9% gross profit
Ford Auto: $2,548M (On Revenue of $144.1B); 1.8% gross profit

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Ford Focus 2013