I have a 2005 XL 4x4 with about 17,000 miles on it now. I am considering a Ford ESP extended warranty. I have never been a fan of extended warranties. It seems like a lot of the companies go out of business during the terms of the warranties and the hassles to recoup your losses are more of a pain than they are worth.

Within the next year or so, I will be out of the factory warranty. I worry about the cost of the many repairs owners discuss here in the forum. A 4 year, 100,000 warranty through Ford is about $1,200. They offer 0% terms up to 17 months. This plan covers major mechanical and electrical components. No luxuries are covered which works out well since the only luxury my XL came with is paint. LOL.

Is this a worthy consideration or am I better off taking my chances and hoping for the best?

 

I usually am not into the big extended warranty deals either but when I bought my truck I had it planned I am actually going to keep this beyond five years so I decided I would opt for an extended plan.
I got the Easy Care "TotalCare" Plan thaty my dealer offered and its 5yrs/75K in which I will probably hit the 5yr mark before the miles. I got the Prem. plan that covers everything(pretty much),rental car is being serviced yada.yada and it was $1700 for that.
I am glad I went for it on this one but to each there own mi amigo

If you think you will benefit from having it and it gives you piece of mind go for it

 

If the warranty is backed by Ford, go for it. If it is from a 3rd party (Millenium, etc), then run...far away...quickly...don't look back. Factory extendeds are worth considering. Everything else - as you pointed out - can be trouble.

 

Exactly if its backed by Ford and your local stealerhip goes down you can bring it to another Ford dealer and you should not have any issues. Heck you should have no issues weather your dealer folds or not as long as its Ford and backed your A.O.K.

 

If you plan on putting a lot of miles on your truck, an extended warranty would be worth while. Or, if you bought a used truck with high miles, an extended warranty would probably be in your best interest. Otherwise, extended warranties are for chumps. You'd be better off putting that money in a mutual fund.

 

I am seriously thinking about doing this. Any more opinions?

 

Anyone heard of Warranty Direct? They claim their warranties are accepted anywhere and the pricing looks good. Do any of you know what some of the vendors here sell the factory warranty for?

 

you have to ask your self how your truck is performing, how well have you maintained it, how long do you want to keep it and how has it served you, With Ford ( my expierances ) thier build quality is sub par, but if you maintain your truck according to ford service, extended warentys are a waste of money, ( if you have a lemmon, I would get a extended warenty, ) also consider your driving habbits, if you babay your truck, extended warenty's are a waste, if you work your truck extened warentys are awsome...

I have never had a engine or trans Issue with Ford, every thing else has fallen apart...

 

Extended warranties are offered for only one reason. They make a huge profit for the seller of the warranty. In electronics, (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) 95% of the profit is in the warranty they sell you.

Car companies’ offer extended warranties because they know that mathematically they will get back many times what they will pay out.

There are rare exceptions in cars/trucks where they are possibly advantageous to the buyer. I know of none, but I have been told these exist by people in the underwriting business. But they could NOT provide any examples...

That does not mean that no person will ever 'win' with an extended warranty. It just means your odds are about the same as 'winning' in Vegas. Could happen, but the smart money is on you losing.

That said there would be a great temptation to get one, if it was not too expensive, on a 5.4 3-valve truck.
No attack on these trucks but there is a documented track record of;

Plug snapping problems, which would NOT be covered by the extended warranty, maintenance items, even when they break while being changed are almost never covered. This would be between you and whoever you paid to do the job.

Plug failures, probably covered.
Coil failures, almost for sure covered.
Cam Phasor problems, almost for sure covered.
Transmission problems, almost for sure covered.
Torque converter problems, almost for sure covered.
Vibration problems, probably NOT covered as dealers will call it normal.
Injector sticking problems, almost for sure covered.

Notice, again, if your truck does not have a 4.6, or the big tranny then these problems in no way effect your truck.


Problems that have been reported on all platforms;
Throttle body failures, Should be covered, and is not that expensive if you swap it yourself.
Sticking e-brakes caused by sporadic use of e-brake. Probably covered, but easier to fix yourself.
Third brake light leaks. Probably not covered, easy to fix yourself.
Chattering rear clutches. Only on the bigger rear, not the little 8.8. Possibly covered. Could be called normal.


Most people who buy extended warranties sell the truck before they are very far into the extended warranty.
Again, if they thought you would use up even half the cost, they would not sell them.
Chris

 

If you drive your vehicle hard (lots of towing, lead foot, etc..) then the extended warranty may give you extra peice of mind.

Other than that, they are a total waste of money. Your best bet would be to take that $1700 or whatever is cost and put it away for when a repair does come along (or buy beer with it )

Cars these days from any manufacturer last a long time and major repairs past warranty and within typical expected life (<300K) are rare.

As long as you take care of the vehicle (drive it nice, regular oil changes, etc..) it will treat you nice right back.

 

I bought one from Ford as well. 6 or 7 years or 100,000 miles. I'll hit the years much sooner. Its a gamble but one I'm willing to make.

 

I'm thinking about the same thing. I put 18,000+ miles on my truck last year and would like to not worry about any big expenses for the first 100K miles.

I started doing some research a few weeks ago and went down to the dealership where I bought my truck. They tried to sell me their own extended warranty....clowns. This was of course after telling me I should stay away from third-party warranties since often you have to pay for the repairs out of pocket and then submit the bill to the company carrying the extended warranty. If I choose to do an extended warranty, it will be the Ford ESP. With Murphy lurking around, I'm not going to get stuck in some small town Ford Dealership asking them to honor some other warranty.

I agree with everyone's comments that these are nothing but profit for Ford. Otherwise, they wouldn't offer them. But lets be honest here, Ford isn't Honda or Toyota. IMO, If you have a basic F-150 then there isn't much to worry about. A good friend of mine put 150K very hard miles on his 1998 F-150 and had only one problem. But if you have a 4x4 or one of the higher trim models with lots of bells and whistles, I think they are worth it.

Just shop around online for the best price.

 

$1200.00 warranty vs. 75-80 an hour labor rate+parts???

I'd buy the warranty. I sell Ford vehicles at my families dealership. If you would like I can find out what cost is on the warranty. You don't have to pay MSRP.

I'll need the following so I can find out cost.

1. What type of warranty? Name? Powertrain? Base Care, Extra Care, Premium Care?

2. Miles? 48,000-60,000-75,000-100,000

3. Time? 3yrs,4yrs,5yrs,6yrs?

4. 4x2 or 4x4

Please keep in mind I'm in MI, so the cost of certain warranties may very. At least you will have rough idea on what to offer.

 

I not either, but I opted for the same one. I just wasn't comfortable with the 3/36. Like you said, covers pretty much everything. I was able to get them down to 1400.00 before I would sign the paperwork on the whole truck.

Jon

 

anyone with the extended warranty had to use it for a major repair and were then glad they got it?