Your Everest would have come brand-new with a three-year/100,000km warranty which has now well and truly expired. So you can forget about Ford contributing to the cost of repairs.

Roof racks cop a pretty hard life in some cases, and damage to their coating or paint is not uncommon. Even if it's just the effects of UV radiation (rather than physical damage) roof racks are in the direct firing line of the sun's rays for a lot of the time.

The best advice would be to get an automotive spray painter to repaint the roof rails in a durable product that matches the original finish. This shouldn't be difficult for any professional shop and would return the car's appearance to new, providing the rails are the only blemished areas.

You were right on the limit of the Everest, close to both the towing limit and the GCM limit, so you needed to be mindful of that when towing and you shouldn't be towing in the overdrive ratios. It sounds as thought the transmission was overheating, which suggests the Everest is borderline for cooling when operating at its supposed limits. Anyone planning to tow in a similar loading situation should consult a towing specialist before they go to make sure they're fully prepared for the trip. Maybe the Everest needs extra transmission cooling. To be fair to the Ford dealers they can't diagnose a problem that isn't presenting itself at the time the car is in their workshop. As a consumer your best option if the carmaker isn't being helpful is to go to the consumer affairs department of your state government.

The Everest is categorized as a non-offroad passenger car under Category MA. If it was an off-roader under the ADR system it would be categorized MC. By doing that Ford was able to keep all Everest variants, both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive, under the same ADR compliance plate approval, whereas MC only allows for 4WD and Ford would have had to have separate compliance for its 2WD and 4WD models.

Ford stands by the off-road capabilities of the Everest, and says the 4WD Everest meets the requirements of the MC category, and that using it off-road won't void the warranty. While Ford is comfortable with the situation and says it has no plan to change the Everest category anyone buying one should be aware of potential issues with insurance if you use one inappropriately, or modify it as you want to do.

The warning is out that anyone wanting to buy a 4WD Everest for off-road use should invest the time and do the homework to make sure you can do what you want with it. At the end of the day it's a case of buyer beware.