Ford Focus 2020 - 1.0 ST-Line 5dr

Avoid like the plague. Absolute cowboys who sell dangerous and unroadworthy vehicles. There trick is to reset the engine management light to cover up any faults and within a couple of days of buying the light comes back on. They then tell you to take it to a local garage to get a diagnosis (at your expense) and then refer you to the warranty company to get the repair done. Unfortunately most of their cars are sold with no or very little service history so the warranty company won’t repair. Braceys know exactly what they are doing. Dig deep on Google before you buy from these guys as they will rip you off. Note: After leaving this review the owner ‘Andrew Bracey’ has gone onto my business page of Google and FB and left fake reviews. Maybe if they concentrated on selling decent cars and less time on social media they wouldn’t get such poor reviews.

I bought a Ford Focus from Bracey’s, for nearly \xa39,500, outright, no finance, a little over a week ago. I had always kept them up-to-date with issues regarding the vehicle apart from just one time, which I will explain later on. During the test drive I did note to Simran that the clutch bite point was quite high, but since it was the first newer vehicle I have driven, I assumed this was normal. It was only when I was driving it back and hit start-stop traffic, I noticed it was not normal and needed quite a lot of oomph to move off. Took it to my usual mechanic who I trust, who said it needs replacing. No worries, I have warranty and it’s covered under that, but notified Bracey’s anyway. I then parked up at Asda, didn’t leave anything on/plugged in and my battery died, and since the battery died I have had no power steering, or any other driver aids such as hillstart assist, ECS, etc. changing the battery did not fix these issues. Again notified Bracey’s to convey my stress, but politely. I went directly through extended warranty as I didn’t want to be a burden on them as these might not be issues that were apparent. It transpired that it was the original Ford battery from factory. Car is a 68 plate. Now, Bracey’s claim to check their wet belts on Fords or any other wet belt cars. I do not believe this to be true. The wet belt in the photo below is what they signed off as “good condition” after their “inspection”. This would fail even an idiot’s inspection. There is no way I could have done this damage in 7 days of ownership, even if I tried. The car is on 70,000 miles, and I was going to do this regardless because it was at the end of its realistic expected lifespan. But Bracey’s thinks this is “good condition”. I think not. Don’t trust their so called “inspections”. I did contact Bracey’s, turned out it was the owner, Andrew, who responded to my complaint in a rude and sarcastic manner. Totally unprofessional to someone who had just spend nearly \xa310k at their business, and has had nothing but problems in the week of ownership. I said I would expect them to pay for it due to their “guarantee” and I shouldn’t really need to use my warranty this early on, but he’s now giving me no option but to. He said it’s the law that I have to go to them for their “permission” to take apart the engine and inspect and they are absolving themselves because of this. At no point during the sale, or indeed the paperwork did they say this. Maybe this is something they should make clear. They also tried to blame the professional mechanic for the damage to the belt as he apparently “messed with the timing”. You mean when the car was stationary, up in the air, unable to move? Yeah right... These people don’t seem to realise you don’t have weeks to wait for them to do this. No car, no work. I also have legal obligations I have to uphold regarding my children so cannot sit around and wait for them to decide when they will bother to fix it, if they even do it at all. The treatment you get is diabolical for even questioning their “inspections”. The cars are cosmetically good, but mechanically? Absolutely not. Again, the photo shown is the wet belt after owning the car for 1 week, a little over 100 miles (80 of those were driving the car back to my house after purchase). This is a wet belt that is deemed “good”. Moments away from snapping. The car needs over \xa33,000 of work done. Steering rack, clutch, timing chain and wet belt. Don’t expect them to do much about it. Update: Warranty would not cover any work apart from a partial cost of the clutch. I have now started court proceedings as Andrew himself refused any responsibility for the repairs. DO NOT GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THEM! I have spent \xa33,000 on getting my car back on the road!