Peeling Paint Pisses Off Ford Owner

Local TV station CBS5 ran a story about a five year old Ford Expedition that was suffering from peeling paint on its roof. Further analysis by a body shop and a laboratory showed that the roof had absolutely no primer on it. Oops. The local Ford dealer offered to cover half the cost. The car's owner, Janet Behr (apparently no relation to the paint brand), felt that she shouldn't have to pay any of the cost. Behr contacted Ford about the factory covering the repaint job and was subsequently told no. Next stop was CBS5 and another call was made to Ford, this time by the TV station. Ford finally agreed to cover the $1,500 repair bill. While Behr was researching the issue, she found a lot of other kindred spirits out there experiencing the same issue with their Ford vehicles.

Ford obviously got painted into a corner by the TV station and stepped up to the problem. However, how many other folks out there are not being enough of a "squeaky wheel" to get taken care of? When it comes to stuff like this, there's almost always going to be some sort of a battle. The outcome can depend upon your dealer and its willingness to go to bat for you. I always advise folks to check out the service department of a prospective dealer before giving them any business. Not all cases can be ironed out and may require extraordinary measures, but it never hurts to stack the deck in your favor.

Full CBS5 story and video can be found here.