Ford Roadside Service with service

kevino · 15-02-2019, 07:39 PM

Ford offer NRMA (racq etc through the states) basic member ship when you service your Ford at a Ford dealer.

My wife has a powershift Fiesta and because of the transmission issues we always get the annual service at the local Ford dealer. With this comes Nrma (etc) basic membership for a year and paperwork arrives from nrma. This works okay.

My car is an LZ Focus and I get it serviced at an independent. But I buy a comprehensive package of roadside assistance from Nrma directly. Now as I do big kilometres I can get 2 or 3 services per year. it appears I,m paying the independent annual roadside basic assistance ties to Allianz each time I get it serviced. However there is no paperwork. I am really happy with the quality my independent provides as I have had my last 3 Fords serviced there, never an issue. But I now am unhappy with this apparent roadside rip off.

I picked up my wifes car from the Ford dealer today after its annual service. I asked the lady -how much for an LZ Focus service 90000kms. Answer $330.
Does this include roadside....yes!
Can this be separated out or deleted as I buy my own. Answer ...no but you can ask your roadside provider for a credit!

This whole roadside assistance is a shonk okay with my wifes car a local runabout one service a year it stacks up.

If I get 3 services a year with Ford or my independent I can pay for roadside assistance 3 times as well as paying direct.

Its obvious I,m going to have to find another independent who doesn't have this roadside assistance bs.

Can anyone comment on this apparent scam if one gets 2 or 3 x 15000km services a year.

AlanD · 17-02-2019, 11:48 AM

I believe that the roadside assistance is only available for the first 7 services or 7 years whichever comes first ie it ceases after the 105000Km service - Might be worthwhile asking if the service cost drops by $30 after that distance???

In our case on the MD (serviced in January) I got a letter from the RACV indicating that my gold plus membership had been extended by 5 months as a result of the Ford arrangement. So in my case I'm not getting ripped off as I will not have to pay a membership fee until next February (2020) rather than in September this year.

Cheers

happy1 · 17-02-2019, 01:16 PM

When I had my FG serviced by the Ford dealer I suddenly had another set of membership papers (and two lots of magazines etc.) from RAC WA, in addition to my existing premium membership directly wit the roadside assistance. I called them and asked if they could consolidate these two 'memberships', but that wasn't possible. Then I kept getting payment reminders from RAC WA when 1 year had lapsed after the FORD service.

Quite annoying really. Extra phone calls to manage this, wasted magazines / newsletters arriving in my mail, and no real discount in my already paid roadside membership which I need for my other vehicles and motorbike.

Cheers,

GTLEGEND · 17-02-2019, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by happy1

When I had my FG serviced by the Ford dealer I suddenly had another set of membership papers (and two lots of magazines etc.) from RAC WA, in addition to my existing premium membership directly wit the roadside assistance. I called them and asked if they could consolidate these two 'memberships', but that wasn't possible. Then I kept getting payment reminders from RAC WA when 1 year had lapsed after the FORD service.

Quite annoying really. Extra phone calls to manage this, wasted magazines / newsletters arriving in my mail, and no real discount in my already paid roadside membership which I need for my other vehicles and motorbike.

Cheers,

Yes it can be consolidated, the key is having your Ford dealer provide RAC with your name, address and date of birth, then RAC will match it up with your personal membership. If they have never asked you for your birth date, then there will be two of you in the system. The birthdate is the most important detail they need. If you call RAC and explain they should be able to help.

That's how I had mine sorted, but my dealer did it for me.

**pwr4ce** · 17-02-2019, 07:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTLEGEND

Yes it can be consolidated, the key is having your Ford dealer provide RAC with your name, address and date of birth, then RAC will match it up with your personal membership. If they have never asked you for your birth date, then there will be two of you in the system. The birthdate is the most important detail they need. If you call RAC and explain they should be able to help.

That's how I had mine sorted, but my dealer did it for me.

I linked mine to my NRMA membership by providing my membership number at the time of purchasing the car. I also follow up the NRMA a couple of weeks later to make sure that they have it on record and correctly linked (usually a replacement vehicle).
Each year I’ll get a renewal notice but this is countered at the next service when Ford update it.

superfly · 23-02-2019, 03:01 PM

I had mine linked with my previous car's RACQ membership. Only issue I had, for the last few years, Ford kept assigning my roadside to a car in Tasmania that happens to have the same plates as me. So I had to ring Ford each time to fix it up.

But as I was doing 15K in about 9 months, I kept loosing the 3 unused months. They didn't accumulate.

Top_Ghia · 24-02-2019, 08:45 PM

If you have a look at the service invoice from a ford dealer, you’ll see there is no actual charge for roadside assistance. It’s something ford actually pay for.
Get your car serviced once or 15 times a year and you’re not paying any more than Fords service price that’s all available on their website.
How is that a rort?

happy1 · 25-02-2019, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

there is no actual charge for roadside assistance. It’s something ford actually pay for.

I guess that's exactly the point we been trying to discuss. Nothing is for free in this world. Obviously the servicing cost is higher because of the various 'extras' that are included. When I was there it was of course also 'Sorry we don't have a loan car available that day. We can service your car, but you will not get a loan car, or, we can book you in a different day if you would like the loan car..' (There was no discount for missing loan car either).
Several of us would probably use the dealer more if servicing was more competitively priced, (which it could be if the 'extras' were optional).

Cheers,

Top_Ghia · 25-02-2019, 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by happy1

I guess that's exactly the point we been trying to discuss. Nothing is for free in this world. Obviously the servicing cost is higher because of the various 'extras' that are included. When I was there it was of course also 'Sorry we don't have a loan car available that day. We can service your car, but you will not get a loan car, or, we can book you in a different day if you would like the loan car..' (There was no discount for missing loan car either).

Several of us would probably use the dealer more if servicing was more competitively priced, (which it could be if the 'extras' were optional).

Cheers,

Wow, you’re amazing. You want refunds on stuff they don’t charge you for.
Of course you can’t just turn up and get a loan car. They are free but need to be booked in advance.
You probably also expect to pick up the loan car full of fuel and bring it back empty?

Itsme · 25-02-2019, 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by happy1

When I had my FG serviced by the Ford dealer I suddenly had another set of membership papers (and two lots of magazines etc.) from RAC WA, in addition to my existing premium membership directly wit the roadside assistance. I called them and asked if they could consolidate these two 'memberships', but that wasn't possible. Then I kept getting payment reminders from RAC WA when 1 year had lapsed after the FORD service.

Quite annoying really. Extra phone calls to manage this, wasted magazines / newsletters arriving in my mail, and no real discount in my already paid roadside membership which I need for my other vehicles and motorbike.

Cheers,

With my Ranger when I had it serviced at ford they would pay RACV basic road side assist in my account, I paid the difference in my RACV account as I had top roadside cover.
The only slight problem I encountered with RACV was my renewal dates changed depending when I had my ranger serviced with ford.
Been over 16 months since last service so don't know if this arrangement has changed.

Cheers.

ute83 · 25-02-2019, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Top_Ghia

Wow, you’re amazing. You want refunds on stuff they don’t charge you for.
Of course you can’t just turn up and get a loan car. They are free but need to be booked in advance.
You probably also expect to pick up the loan car full of fuel and bring it back empty?

So let me get this straight, you actually think that because it's not on the invoice that you are getting something for free. Do you also think that you get eleventy percent off your electricity bill compared to another retailer?

Top_Ghia · 25-02-2019, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ute83

So let me get this straight, you actually think that because it's not on the invoice that you are getting something for free. Do you also think that you get eleventy percent off your electricity bill compared to another retailer?

So what should the discount be for something you don’t charge for?