By D. Brian Smith
Photography: D. Brian Smith & Ha Le Smith
After waiting for more than four months for a $4,000 settlement check from our car insurance company, the Smith family was on the hunt for a nice used car. Though I wanted something sporty with a manual transmission and a torquey, competent in the horsepower department engine, I would be sharing the daily driver with my wife. Since we'd be opting for an automatic, the wifey would make the car payments. That was the agreement. Meanwhile, I'd save up my money to afford a used sports car with a tantalizing mill and manual rowing the gears machine to keep my race car driver dreams in sight.
We purchased the 2019 Ford Mustang EcoBoost with its paddle and stick-shifted 10-speed automatic transmission from Huntington Beach Hyundai on May 15, 2022. The car had 37,000 miles on it. It was still covered under its 5-year, 60,000-mile Ford Motor Company Powertrain Warranty. The Hyundai dealer performed a 120-point service certification, did a four-wheel brake job, replaced the four tires, and sold the Mustang to me. We purchased it with “free” oil changes to 97,000 miles. We also purchased an extended engine warranty from an independent vendor called Fidelity at the time of purchase that took the engine warranty to 97,000 miles. With the approximately $60 of added expense from the two just mentioned added warranties to the Ford powertrain warranty, our monthly payment is $475.50.
About two months later, the battery went dead. I tried to bring the car into HB Hyundai on an early Saturday morning. They were swamped with customers wishing to get their cars serviced. I then drove down the street to Ford of Huntington Beach. They were also swamped. On Sunday afternoon, a neighbor used his car and my jumper cables to jumpstart our Mustang. I then went to an AutoZone on Brookhurst Street in HB and had them change the battery.
In mid-August, my wife Ha, Labrador Shelby, and I attended events at Monterey Car Week. I cover the automotive enthusiast events during that week, including the Pebble Beach Concours d ’Elegance, for my website, www.MontereyCarWeek.net. We began to have issues with the Mustang’s air conditioning system. The AC system intermittently wouldn’t blow cold air.
In early December 2022, my wife was driving the Mustang. While making a left turn at an intersection using the turn lane, the car stalled the first time. She informed me of this issue immediately. I phoned Ford of HB. The earliest service appointment we could get was about a week later. I share the car with my wife. That evening, when we were both home from work, I drove the car and noticed the engine check light was on the dashboard. During that week, the engine check light stayed on. The car stalled another 30+ times, sometimes at very dangerous points while my wife or I was driving. The Ford of HB dealership technicians couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the Mustang. My service advisor finally contacted me after the Mustang had been there for a couple weeks. He told me what parts needed replacing. They performed the work. I picked the car up on Monday, December 26. It was in the dealership’s shop on this first visit for more than three weeks. During those three weeks, the dealership did provide a courtesy Enterprise rental car.
A month later, at the end of January 2023, the engine check light came back on. I phoned the dealership and arranged to bring the car back in for service. The dealership again provided a courtesy Enterprise rental car.
About a month later on a Thursday, my service advisor contacted me that they had figured out what’s wrong with the car (supposedly – a bit of foreshadowing here). He explained that two emissions coil packs are bad and two spark plugs need replacing. He further explained that those items aren’t covered by Ford’s powertrain warranty. I stated that a car’s engine won’t run without those items, so they have to be covered under the warranty. The service advisor explained that they are wear and tear items. I told him that, if you think about it, every part of a car’s engine is a wear and tear item. The service advisor said that it would cost $890.16 to replace the two emissions coil packs and the two spark plugs. I was not happy. I said yet again that the car should be covered under Ford’s 5-year, 60,000-mile warranty. The car at that point had about 48,000 miles on it. The service advisor at that time and throughout this 10-week+ ordeal agreed with me that Ford corporate should honor the Powertrain Warranty and pay the repair charge, but it wasn’t his decision to make. I was at an impasse with the Ford of HB dealership.
I contacted the Bureau of Automotive Repair that same week. I couldn’t get ahold of anyone until the next week. A worker there said he would pay Ford of HB a visit. He did so on a Wednesday. He phoned me and basically told me that the BAR couldn’t really help me.
I contacted two different people at Ford corporate, who work in customer service and who intake Lemon Law claims. Neither person was of any help. The first person didn’t know what CARB (California Air Resources Board) stands for. The second customer service person talked like a robot and said our 2019 Mustang that has the 5-year, 60,000-mile powertrain warranty and has been in the Ford of HB dealership two times for much more than 30 days with the same engine check light issue, doesn’t qualify for a Lemon Law Claim. By the way, for California, those two just mentioned elements do qualify the car for a Lemon Law Claim.
On Saturday, March 4, per the recommendation of the service director at Ford of Huntington Beach that just previous Thursday, March 2, I phoned Ford corporate’s customer service and spoke with a Ford customer service agent for about an hour and ten minutes. She agreed that a California Lemon Law claim should be filed. She told me that I should agree to the $890.16 charge for the ‘repair’ of my car, since that would show my good faith and help my Lemon Law Claim with Ford. I told her that the car is covered under the 5-year/60,000-mile Ford Powertrain Warranty. She said that I need to agree to having the work done. I complained again. She said that she was going to call the dealership that day, talk to my service advisor, tell them that I agree to have the work done, and that she was going to initiate a CA Lemon Law Claim with Ford.
I tried to call my service advisor at Ford of HB. I got his voice mail. I couldn’t leave a message, since his voicemail box was full, so I sent him an SMS with my cell phone number. I didn’t get a return call from him that Saturday, March 4.
About a week later, the Ford of HB dealer had also finally diagnosed that the AC’s condenser was leaking. They couldn’t figure that issue out in December, as they claimed the weather was too cold to tell. With also fixing the condenser, the bill would be $2,100!
Fast forward to Saturday, March 18, I go out to the Enterprise rental car that is parked in my gated apartment complex parking lot to go pick up my wife at work in Westminster. The car is not in the parking spot where I parked it. My first thought was that the car had been stolen in broad daylight on a Saturday afternoon. Hence, I call 911. The 911 dispatcher somehow sees where I’m located (with her 911 GPS/cell phone technology) and puts me on hold. She comes back on the line in a moment and tells me that the car has been towed to a car tow lot in Santa Ana. I realize that the apartment complex management team advised the tow truck driver to tow the rental car, because there wasn’t a parking permit sticker in the windshield. Mind you, the tenant parking lot was ¾ empty on that Saturday afternoon (and is always so on weekends). This apartment complex doesn’t give any written warnings. They just have cars towed. Perhaps they have a deal with the tow truck/tow yard company, in which they split the profits. After going to the apartment leasing office and complaining vehemently, I opened up the Lyft app on my cell phone and arranged a ride to the tow yard.
After spending $23 for a ride to the tow yard in Santa Ana, I learned that the tow yard doesn’t take American Express. The towing and towing yard ‘storage’ charge was excessive, $542, and the rental car was in their tow yard for about one hour on that Saturday afternoon. At the time I had about $50 in my checking account. I called Wells Fargo Bank. They would not provide me with overdraft protection, despite the fact that I would have my work check auto deposited that next Wednesday.
I then called American Express. AE kindly told me that I could go to an ATM and withdraw up to $500 from an ATM. Thankfully, I had $150 in my wallet. I used Google on my phone to find the closest ATM. The closest ATM was about one mile away in a convenience store. My dog Shelby and I set off on foot. Our one-mile walk back to the tow yard, with $550 in my wallet in a sketchy area of Santa Ana, wasn't bad. This was due to the fact that Shelby, our Labrador 3-year old daughter was by my side protecting me from any hungry, crazy homeless people that we encountered along the way. And we encountered many, I must say. With the $542 paid to the tow yard employee, Shelby and I drove to my wife’s work to pick her up.
That next week, my Ford of HB service advisor contacted me about my car. The car was done. Since I said I would only pay for the engine issues, the bill came to $890.16. On Wednesday, March 22, I drove the rental car into Ford of HB, paid the bill with my American Express card, and drove into work.
On Friday, March 24, the engine check light came back on the dash. That night, at approximately 10 pm, I texted the Ford Lemon Law customer service person the photo of the engine check light being back on the dashboard of my 2019 Mustang.
On Saturday morning, March 25, at approximately 8 am, I drove the again broken 2019 Mustang to Ford of HB to talk to my service advisor and explain that the car still has the same issue (a third time). While waiting to talk to my busy service advisor, I called the Ford corporate Lemon Law lady, who I had been dealing with since March 4. I asked her if she had received my texted (or possibly emailed) photo showing that the engine check light was back on. After a pause, she said that she had. I complained that the car is still broken. It’s a lemon. I’ve just paid almost a thousand dollars, and the car is a pile of crap (or words to that effect). The Ford Lemon Law lady told me that they have decided my case. I asked her what their decision was. She said by California law that she couldn’t tell me. I had to receive the decision in writing. She said that the decision was made on Friday, March 24 and that I would get the decision via email by Monday, March 27 and by letter on Wednesday, March 29.
I didn’t get any email or letters that week. I didn’t finally receive a written rejection letter until Saturday, April 8. The Ford Lemon Law lady claimed that a coworker had misspelled my email address, and that’s why I never received an emailed rejection letter for the claim. Ironically, I have traded several emails with the Ford Lemon Law lady to two different email addresses that I have provided her. Yet, she claims that her coworker misspelled my email address and that’s why I didn’t get the rejection email on Monday, March 27.
Also, on Saturday, April 8, that’s when I contacted American Express by phone and disputed the $890.16 charge from Ford of HB.
The engine check light blazes bright red on my dash to this day, specifically Saturday, April 22, 2023.
On Monday, April 3, 2023, my wife Ha tried to drive home from her work in Westminster, CA, some 3.5 miles away from our apartment in Huntington Beach. This was just after 9 pm. The car stalled three times. The “See Manual” check warning that also displays a picture of a wrench showed on my dashboard. My wife took a photo of the warning light. The engine’s computer put the engine in limp mode. Ha was able to drive the car home the rest of the way on limited power.
Since Monday, April 3, 2023, we have been able to only very sparingly drive the car short distances, for fear that it will stall and/or blow up. The engine check light remains on the dashboard, in crimson red.
Above is a longwinded explanation for why I disputed the $890.16 American Express payment to Ford of HB. Since Ford of HB appealed my dispute, I had to spend over 1.5 hours on the phone with three different American Express customer service personnel on Wednesday, April 19, 2023, from approximately 10:45 pm PDT to 12:15 am PDT to get the dispute reinstated.
In addition, I have also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. That process typically takes a month to 45 days.
