Can any vehicle expert answer these questions?

I think that now to find a garage that one absolutely trusts is worth it's weight in gold. 

I do no mind paying for real work that needs to be done but have had a few experiences when being quoted for work that another garage says is not needed at all.

When I wasn’t convinced that my caravan dealer was servicing our van properly I spent a worthwhile £45 having a local mobile engineer going over it.  I then put the van into the dealers for the annual services and the differences were unbelievable, the damp readings were straight out of a scammers instruction manual.  One serious problem, front window drop wasn’t mentioned by the dealer.  With my Volvo I don’t use main dealers I find a Volvo specialist, great service and a lot cheaper

HD

I must admit I don't check the oil level in my car as I do so few miles between services. However out of curiosity I did check what sort of dipstick I had and it seems to be all metal.

David

David My ford Kugar has an all plastic dipstick as did my previous Mondeo

The 'old' dipstick was certainly predominantly if not totally metal. The replacement dipstick as supplied by the dealer is round metal wire from the 'handle' down to a flat piece of metal about 50mm long which shows the level marks. The two pieces of metal are joined by a small piece of plastic. Whether the old one was like this, I can't remember.

An interesting thought that has occurred to me is that if the dealership didn't know how the dipstick had got broken, how would they know, and state, that the broken off part would cause no problem?  I'm waiting to hear back from Ford Motor Co and also get to speak to the service manager at the dealership, who seems rather elusive. I have also spoken to the CaMC legal dept.

I think the dealership is assuming that the broken bit is in the sump, in which case it won't do any harm in there .... the oil pump sucks via a strainer so won't block the pump suction

Thanks, EmilysDad. Your comments are what I was hoping to hear from someone. They are what I was thinking / hoping might be the case but at the back of my mind was, could the bit be thrown about in the sump and end up  being jammed between the crank and the big ends of the con rods.

I suppose it could 🤔 but doubt it would do any damage .... a crank is a pretty solid lump.