In reading some of the messages here, comments like this are commonplace:What do you do for service, regularly scheduled service or warranty, or unscheduled problems/breakdowns, when you buy from a dealer far away from your home/work location?

In my case, I'm looking at a MMH, but the only Mercury dealer is 30+ miles away, and there are 3 or 4 plain old Ford dealers within that 30 mile drive.

I suppose I'm asking several different questions here? Would you get a MMH serviced at a regular Ford (non-Linc/Merc) dealer, even a brand new MMH, and in general what do you do when you purchased your vehicle from a dealer hundreds of miles away?

 

A. Ford and Mercury dealers gladly service each other's vehicles. I used to take my Explorer to a Lincoln Mercury dealer all the time.

B. 99% of all the parts in an FEH/MMH are the same as those in their gas-only counterparts. Therefore, unless you have a battery/CVT/electric motor issue, any Ford/Lincoln/Mercury dealer can service it.

C. Any F/L/M dealer that sells Hybrids is supposed to have a specially trained hybrid mechanic on staff. What I would do is call your local dealer's service department and ask if they have a mechanic on staff trained to service the FEH/MMH.

 

Thanks for the quick reply, Tim.

As a practical example, if you bought a new hybrid vehicle from Dealer A, 300 miles away, would you take it to Dealer B, 10 miles away for warranty service? Even in the first few weeks of ownership?

I'm interested to find out how people have handled with this exact situation.

 

That's what I did, I had to go 250+ miles out of state to even get a FEH. Luckily I havne't needed service yet, but have had the oil changed at 2 different local Ford dealers. Any F/L/M and/or any of the above dealers can service. Any that sell hybrids should have a hybrid tech. I will need to decide where to have my wrench light service done. It's very intermittent, but signs point to the batt ac door. Guess when it's 16 out it's not a major concern
Just call some of the local Ford dealers and ask if they can do Hybrid service. I even go to Wally for my tire balance/rotate. It's cheap (like a one time $20is charge for lifetime, then I do my grocery shopping while it's getting done)

Then only think special about the selling dealer, at least in my case, was something like 1st oil change free. No your selling dealer might be doing other 'specials' but not worth a 3+hr drive each way for me for a 'free' oil change!

 

Warranty service is paid for by the auto company (Ford), not the dealer, so you can get warranty service at ANY dealer in the US, and they are very happy to get it since they make a profit from warranty service.

 

I've had my 5/10/20/30K services done at 4 different dealerships. I haven't seen where they care as long as it's in the Ford family. I do remind them several times that it's a hybrid and that it requires the multi-blend oil and has slightly different checklist items.

 

Yeah, there is no bitterness about where you bought it. They make money on servicing the vehicles....especially now...and as pointed out, warranty work gets paid no matter who sold it....and maintenance like oil changes is just more money in their pockets.