Has anyone had any experience with service contracts? Are they worth the money?

 

Yes, they are very much worth the money - if you're the one selling them....

Otherwise, it's a personal matter as to whether or not you can afford to be self-insured.

Steve

 

I don't know you guys. But if you don't have enough mechanic skill and space, service contract is a great opion to maintain your truck. I got mine and I enrolled to their Myford.com so that every maintance was track on records. And I have this experience from my other car on 60,000 miles maintenance that charged me for almost $600.00. So with this factor sevice contract is great to protect you "investment".

 

They really aren't worth it. $1600 I paid for a 24 month 24K mile and never used a dime of it. I was mostly concerned with air ride, but it still works fine and I pissed away $1600.

Most new cars have such a long warranty nowadays anyway that extendeds are unecassary. Lincolns come with 4 years or 50K miles, and the cheapo's come with 100K warranties

 

I bought one on my truck and never used it, never needed to. We also bought one on my wife's Focus. That one paid for itself. It was the Ford ESP plan and they fixed everything we brought to them no questions asked. I think it helps to have a cooperative dealership as well.

 

those contracts are pure profit for the dealer.you already have a good factory warranty. cars are built so much better these days anyway. unlike 10-15 years ago 100k is half life for a car.buy the contract right before your factory warranty is up if you plan on keeping it.they dont tell you can do that when you first buy it.just think most people dont keep cars past factory warranty 5-6 years anyway. they know that. so why pay for what u probably will never use???

 

i guess i got a pretty good deal. i bought my truck with 39000 miles so my factory warranty was gone. that is why i looked at this plus i enjoy working on my stangs and there is no way i could work on this thing. i got a 5 year 100000 mile warranty or 5 year 60000 mile really cause it is in addition to the 39000 miles actually. went ahead got the platinum coverage for 1780 we get a honeywell co. discount. seems to be pretty good i guess we will have to see in time.

 

ok if your buying something like that i guess i can see might be worth it. if you are buying brand new,complete waste of money.also check out the warranty companys track record. ive heard of people buying the warranty and then the company goes out if bussiness, gets bought by another company and they dont honor it. all kinds if horror storys.

 

It depends. If you're gonna keep your truck for a long time, then yes, I think they're nice to have.

 

That and MFG warranty pays quintin less

 

No, they're not worth it in my opinion. I typically keep my vehicles for 8-10 years. Out of the ten or so Ford's I've owned over the years, only 1 ever had a problem that was covered by the ESP. After the original factory warranty expired, repairs (not counting regular maintenance) on these old trucks seldom came to more than $300 in their lifetime.

Better off to put your cash into a money market account. The money will be there if you need a repair, and it'll do nothing but grow if you don't need it. At the end of the ESP, you got nothing.

 

exactly they give a lot of info. here about all that. like how important it is that the co. is an A+ company, what exactly the deductable is and does. for example he told me some co. tell you 100 dollar ded. and that is per part at the repair. for example if you need a starter goes out and alternator so co. charge 200 dollars, where this one if the starter, alt. and tranny goes that is 100 dollar ded. they pay for the rest directly to the dealership or where ever you want to take that has a guy who is certified to work on your vehicle.

 

All service contracts are a waste of money. It's just something the dealer or salesman tries to tack on to make more money. They're mostly pure profit for the seller. The chances that you will actually spend more on repairs than the cost of the service contract is almost nill.

 

You know I agree service contracts are a rip, but after experiencing my stuck open injector and blown Cat, I dont know? With my Ford, a ESP may pay for it self. I bought mine online through a Ford dealership and it was Half the price they tried to sell me one at the dealership. And my deductable is only $50 and it extended to 6 years and 75k miles. I figure by then something is going to happen, judging from the injector, cop problems, Brake problems, and electrical problems so far. If you buy one get it online, at least you will not pay as much and it is a Ford ESP policy just like the dealership. Good luck with your decision. By the way I have and do work on vehicles with very little problem, but it is the cost of parts that scares me or the possible major failure as seen on this site with the 5.4 right after the regular warranty expires. I would never buy one until I owned this vehicle.

 

I purchased a used 2003 Ford Explorer XLT-4WD with the 4.6 aluminum V8 and ordered an ESP Ford Warranty, online, as someone else has suggested. I think mine was like a 5 year-75K ESP Warranty that really covered a lot of parts in my Explorer.

Well, last week, I almost probably got my money back from the warranty, as my Explorer has, over the past 5 or so thousand miles developed the "famous" Explorer ring and pinion whine. No questions asked and the dealer replaced the ring and pinion gear-set, replaced the clutch packs, as mine is a factory traction-loc rear end and loaned me a free car for the day my car was at the dealership.

The service writer told me the job would probably have been close to $1400 for the parts and labor in the repair. I am on the $100 deductible.

I also have developed another slight problem with the transmission possibly hanging the torque converter, under certain conditions and it will probably require a new torque converter lock-up solenoid, which will probably be another several hundred dollar job.

I also purchased a non-ESP for a used 1999 Ford F-150, I purchased about 4 years ago, and did not get enough repairs out of it to cover its cost (around $1100 and no deductible. I needed two lower ball joints, one upper control arm and ball joint and one front rotor; however, that bill did not get up to $1100, as it only ran around $600 with labor and parts. It was a very good warranty; as the front-end shop gave me no hope of getting my claim covered; however, when they called the toll-free number to get claim-authorization, it was ALL covered, except the front end alignment charge of $49.00! The shop-guy couldn't believe the warranty company would not worm their way out of the claim!