My Ford Fiesta is due it’s annual service soon.
When I booked it in I was asked are there any issues with the car that bothered me.
I told them I was concerned that the steering wheel often locked & I couldn’t get it moving without a lot of jiggling about.
I was then told they would have to run a diagnostic check and when I asked the cost they told me £106. I told them not to bother. What puzzles me is why this isn’t it included in the already expensive service?
I take it to the Ford dealer - are they trying to rip me off?
No carol, that seems standard practice to add the diagnostic fee, just for the technician to plug in his code reader, do you mean it’s hard to get the key out?, sometimes you have to jiggle the wheel to get the lock off…
How old is the car?
I know it might sound a very stupid question, but would a simple mechanical fault like a sticky steering lock really show up on a diagnostic test machine?
Carol, if your car is six years old then you might be better finding a trusted independent garage , ideally a ford specialist, though that isn’t essential, sometimes with steering lock issues , the wheel has to be moved slightly to free off the steering lock , that’s normal , but if it’s more than that, it might be better taking it elsewhere to have it looked at,
There’s no mandate to use a Ford garage to have repairs carried out, unless you’ve signed up.to something specific which involves you handing the car back at some stage.
In our last service, the dealership wanted £400+ to change the brake disks and pads (advisory, as they had a good few thousand moles to go on them). We said no, and it cost us £150 all in from a recommended third party, and even that wasn’t the cheapest.
My husband says they are ripping you off, he said go to Halfords and buy some WD40 and just spray a little into the ignition lock and put the key in and turn it to the aux position and move the steering wheel a couple of times.
Carol, be careful using WD in the ignition lock, wd40 is a solvent and can dissolve any grease plus it can harden over time and you will need to keep using it in the lock to free it again, try a silicone or electrical contact spray.
I have never heard of a garage charging for that computer thing to be plugged in and ran. If I have a problem with the car my guy plugs it in and tells me what’s causing the upset. It’s usually something easy and quick to fix and I don’t get charged much at all, sometimes nothing. When I have to pay it’s because a new part is needed and I have to pay for that.
I took my car for it’s service & MOT and was told the rear axle brushes needed urgent attention at a cost of £286.70.
I declined to pay it but it passed the MOT anyway and I was told the rear axle brushes were slightly split but not at all urgent & could wait till next year.
