what do you think of extended warranty?

[Domenic Celeste]

Paid $1699 CDN for the Premium warrenty for a total of 5 years, 150,000kms, back in August.

Ii bought it because as previously stated it is like a lottery, but in my case it is the inverse.

If it weren't for bad luck I would have no luck at all.

I figured that any high value maintenance costs for me would be a kick in the pants, so I went for it.



Brought it in today to fix a brake sensor that was causing the cruise control to be intermittent, and some very bad clunking/squeeking in the front that was getiing worse over the last couple of months. The ended up replacing sway bar bushings, upper ball joints, end links, and the sensor.



The total bill would have came to $845 but I only paid a total of $115.



They also gave me a rental since they had to keep it overnight, in order get it on the rack, to complete the allignment.



So far I have gotten about 1/2 of it back and it has only been 3 months.

 

[S H]

well, after consideration, I did buy an extended warranty not from Ford. I took into consideration that this warranty includes roadside service similar to AAA. when I calculated what I would pay to belong to AAA, which I intended to do after the Ford Roadside service runs out, it ended up being MORE to join AAA for 3 years than to buy the entire warranty now. I did research in Better Business Bureau, and this company is longstanding with good ratings. Hope it works out. Actually I hope I don't need it, just like AAA.

 

[S H]

well, after consideration, I did buy an extended warranty not from Ford. I took into consideration that this warranty includes roadside service similar to AAA. when I calculated what I would pay to belong to AAA, which I intended to do after the Ford Roadside service runs out, it ended up being MORE to join AAA for 3 years than to buy the entire warranty now. I did research in Better Business Bureau, and this company is longstanding with good ratings. Hope it works out. Actually I hope I don't need it, just like AAA.

 

[Joe Rampino]

S.H.,

What is the name of the company you purchased the extended warranty from? I'm still on the fence on the extended warranty. In my case, using my 2003 with 40K miles, as an example, the AAA cost for their "Silver Plus" with a $50 deductible is around $2100. (I'm already a AAA member). At my typical driving mileage, this would cover me for the next 48 months or when I hit 100K miles. Both of which, should closely coincide. (Then it will be 2010 and I'll be ready to trade for the ST Adrenalin). If I sell earlier, I get a pro-rated refund for the unused portion of the warranty.



I'm just not sure of the economics, the $2100 payment is essentially paid up front, spread out over 12 months, with $349 down, then about $155/mo. I could swing the payments but maybe I should just set up a fund with the same amount, and hope I don't need to use it in the first year. I figure the warranty cost is roughly the cost of a new tranny. So the question is, do I shell out the $2100 to AAA, or do I just set up an emergency repair fund? Or another way to look at it is do I think that over the coming year, I'll have a major repair bill that will exceed $2100? What to do? Oh, what to do?:unsure:

 

[Kelly Hayes]

These are a couple of websites for Ford Extended Warranty quotes.



http://www.fordwarrantys.com/





http://www.ford-extended-warranty.com/

 

[Jenn D]

Also, talk to the bank you financed through. The credit union that I financed through actually offers warranties as well. The warranty they offer is for a vehicle that is nearing and just beyond factory warranty and can cover up to 5 years from point of purchase. They have extensive warranties that cover EVERYTHING for $2000 or a less extensive that covers only the major repairs for $1200.

 

[TrainTrac]

I just did a comparison of Ford ESP quotes. All for a five-year, 100,000 mile PremiumCARE extended warranty with $50 deductible. Here are the results:



http://www.fordwarrantys.com: $1595



http://www.ford-extended-warranty.com: $1835



www.fordserviceplan.com(This is Rusty's site): $1445.



As usual, it's hard to beat Rusty's pricing. Of course, I'd take all three of these quotes to my local dealer and give them the opportunity to beat them, but I doubt they would.



I'm thinking about getting one from Rusty when my 3/36 is about to expire.

 

[Joe Rampino]

I don't think I'm eligible for any of the Ford plans since I'm outside of the original warranty limits. I have a 2003 with 40K miles.

 

[Deleted deleted]

Depends on the vehicle you're buying. For a Ford, it's a good idea to buy a extended warranty. For a Toyota, it's most likely a waste of money since it most likely won't require any expensive service.

 

[Michael Cacioppo]

An extended warranty limits your exposure to repairs. The maximum amount of repair exposure is $1200, the price of the warranty. I do all my own work and have an extended on three of my cars. The reason being is that I have locked in my repair exposure amount. One tranny or engine will more than cover the expense. If say that the average repair on a Trac is $800, then the cost of the extended warranty was actually $400 over the repairs. This is the cost of protecting yourself against catastrophic problems, engine, transfer case, transmission, etc. The smaller items brakes, tune ups, struts/shocks, etc are normal wear and tear and are not covered. I do these myself.



By definition, the majority of the costs of repair, ON AVERAGE, will be less than you pay for the warranty. It's a safe guard in case you are NOT average. In addition, a new model will have more problems than an established design. You can get a good idea of the trouble spots when a vehicle has been out for a while. For the early trac models it appears that an extended warranty would more than pay for itself based on the feedback on this site. That's my two cents.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Darin, said:

Depends on the vehicle you're buying. For a Ford, it's a good idea to buy a extended warranty. For a Toyota, it's most likely a waste of money since it most likely won't require any expensive service.

Wow! That's funny (true, maybe, but makes me laugh).



So if a Toyota costs almost $2,000 more than a comparable Ford, one might as well buy the Toyota, because if they buy the Ford they will need to buy the extended warranty too and therefore the costs are about the same. And, if you consider that TIME (as in time in the shop) is money, then the Toyota is a superior buy; all other things considered.



Does that about sum it up for a lot of people?



(ready for the crap storm)

TJR

 

[Thomas Rogers]

MikeC says:

By definition, the majority of the costs of repair, ON AVERAGE, will be less than you pay for the warranty.

Exactly, Mike, that's because people often don't keep vehicles as long as they expect, and warranty companies like to deny claims whenever possible.



For those that are skeptical, consider this:





Let's say Joe and Jane buy the exact same Ford, Joe doesn't buy the extended warranty, and Jane does. Jane's TCO is $1500 more (the cost of the ext warranty) than Joe's, guaranteed, not considering any costs of non-warrantied work.



So, let's further assume Joe and Jane both keep their Fords for 5 years and 60K miles.



Do you think Joe will pay more than $1500 total in unwarrantied work? Do you think Jane will pay any amount for unwarrantied work during that 5 years?



It's an insurance policy, plain and simple. Jane is betting she will have problems that would have her pay out more than $1500 out of pocket, and Joe is betting he won't. And, the insurance (er warranty) company is betting that when its customers have claims, a large percentage of them can be denied or made so difficult to collect on that they pay out very little.



That's my 2¢ and the way I look at it.



I keep vehicles for about 5 years and 60K miles. And, I for one, won't buy a vehicle that I think will cost me over $1500 in unwarrantied work during that period...and if it happens that I do end up with a clunker, than that auto manufacturer just lost my business for life (GM lost mine).



TJR

 

[S H]

Rampo...to answer the original question put to me "what company did I buy warranty from".. it was WarrantyDirect. I chose this one because 1), it was much cheaper now than going back to ford to get one 2) it is a company that has been around a long time.. I know this means they have probably made lots of money on warranties, and paid out much less, but, as stated by others, I'm buying insurance, and I didn't want a here today gone tomorrow company. 3) I do plan on keeping this vehicle at least 7 years if not longer, regardless of what needs fixing because I love it, it meets my needs precisely, and if I don't trade at 3 years while it's still worth something, I'll need to keep it several more to save up a down payment for next vehicle. 4) If by some chance I do feel the need for a new vehicle at three years, this warranty is transferrable for a small fee. 5) I felt I could more easily cover the cost now, rather than waiting and just paying the cost of the repair later. One or two repairs in the next 7 years, and I break even. I may be in a different pay situation at the time of the future repair, and I felt I could cover the cost now easier than perhaps in the future. Of course, if nothing happens I just paid for "peace of mind".

A friend with an ST just had to get some electronic part replaced and that part and the labor to do it was about $200. She was freaking. Those of you who do simple (and complex) repairs yourself, would just laugh and buy the $40 part. I can change the oil, but I can't do much else. So that figured into the decision also.

I opted for the option that is basically an extension of the 3year/36,000 mile ford warranty extended to 7/100,000. covers most everything. Covers much more than the ford warranty. time will tell if it was a wise investment or a waste of money. However, if it turns out to be a waste of money, I figured I've probably wasted more than that over the years, a little more won't kill me.