Recall problem: Knightdale woman left with $10,000 engine repair and no rental

KNIGHTDALE, N.C. (WTVD) -- A Wake County driver found herself stuck with an undrivable Ford and a $10,000 repair bill despite the problem with her car being covered under a manufacturer's recall.

"All of a sudden all these lights just came on my dashboard. The low engine oil pressure, the engine light, and the car started decelerating," Knightdale resident Diona Boone said.

Once she got her 2020 Ford EcoSport to the dealership, she learned her engine was gone.

"That's when they took the oil pan out and (saw) all the debris that caused the engine failure."

Boone said when she did her research she learned the problem fell under a recent recall. Because of that, Boone was hopeful the repair would be covered. However, the dealership had bad news for Boone.

"They contacted Ford to see if they would pay for it? Ford was not going to pay for it because they hadn't come out with an official fix for the car yet. So they were like, 'Either you can pay the $10,000 or just let us know when you're going to come get your car,'" Boone said. "But the car is not drivable the engine is shot!"

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After finally getting the recall notice in the mail, Boone eventually heard that her repair would be covered under the recall, but she was still not offered a rental car.

That meant she had no car to get around and had to continue to make car payments on a car she could not drive.

According to the letter Ford sent her explaining the recall, the parts to fix the issue under the recall were not immediately available.

With no definite timetable of when the parts would be available, she reached out to Troubleshooter Diane Wilson, "I've been going back and forth with them for over a month and a half now. After calling multiple people, going through multiple channels, that's why I reached out to you because I was tired of getting the runaround -- going back and forth."

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Wilson got in touch with Ford, and no one responded, but Boone soon heard back from Ford, and she now has a rental car until the parts under the recall are available. She also got confirmation from Ford that the repair would be covered under the recall.

Boone is relieved to finally have a car to drive while she waits for the repair to be done.

Boone is not alone as there are millions of cars impacted by manufacturer recalls, and many of the recalls don't have a fix to those recalls. The key is to continue to push the dealership and also the manufacturer to cover the rental especially if the car isn't drivable like in Boone's case.