what do you think of extended warranty?

[S H]

I'm just curious to get some opinions. I've never bought an extended warranty on anything I've ever bought before because I think mostly they are worthless. However, I'm considering getting an extended warranty for the ST, since I intend to keep this one for a long time. There are some things that have a bit of a tendency to go wrong with our vehicles, and some of those are quite expensive. What are your thoughts on extended warranties.. ford's, or some aftermarket. Thanks for your input.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Depends how handy you are with a wrench and how much you trust someone to work on your car.



The "insurance company" that sells you the warranty bets you won't need them, you bet you will.



I have never gotten an extended warranty because I never needed one. Any and all repairs I ever needed were done by me. If you take the money you would spend on a warranty and put them in savings bonds or CD's, you already have it covered. if you have to spend on any repairs, use that money. If you don't need any repairs, you can use that money as a down payment for a new car.



If you do feel you need an extended warranty, I would only recomend a Ford warranty. Some of the aftermarket warranties can be very shady and many go broke before you can ever use them.



It comes down to a flip of the coin. Only you can answer that question yourself.





Tom

 

[Brock Lagunas]

i think we should have an optional life time warranty. they claim these new cars and trucks car so fail safe cause of all the sensors, and programs in the computer. the only problems ive had with my trac has been with design. like how a little bit of mud keeps the back window from rolling all the way up.

 

[Kevin Palmer]

Buying an extended warranty also has much to do with your life style or your demands on life...



For example, my family has owned a salvage yard with 6 bays for repairs for 23 years now. I worked there for 18 years and I am still ASE Certified in many fields. While I worked there I would never consider paying for additional coverage. I fixed anything and everything myself.



However, I now work for the Government full time. I simply do not have the flexibility I use to have. We still own the shop, it just is not convenient for me to travel to the shop and handle the repairs. If it was expensive and was not covered then I would make the trip simply because it makes "Cents".



I do now have the extended coverage. If I have an issue I simply cal Ford, make arrangements to leave it with them and get a free rental car from them. My life goes on for a $50.00 deductible.



So in my case, it is worth the extra money for the convenience and not having a risk of being stranded somewhere with no vehicle or support.



If you have the capabilities and the time, don't buy the coverage as a general rule. If not, as in my case, I can not afford not to buy it...

 

[JohnnyB]

Many different ideas of if it is worth it or not.

I got the 6 year 75000 mile warranty for $1200.

It has already paid for it self.

Replaced all 4 ball joints, 2 of them twice, two tie-rod ends, bad radio. The ball joint jobs alone at Fords $95/hr labor rate would have been over $1000.

 

[Gerald Pierce]

Depends on your financial position. Can you afford the repair IF it happens? If not, get the warranty. We bought a 99 Merc in 00 that was a program car. Didnt know who drove it that first year, told myself I wanted the warranty. Got the Ford Extra Care. Needed a new tranny at 50k miles.... Cost me 50.00 out of pocket, so basically I paid 1250.00 for the tranny repair, since that is all the warranty ever got used for. Every other time it went into the shop, it was conveniently "not covered" (sensors). If I did it again, I would keep my money.



On my ST, I did not get it. I am a little concerned over the tranny, BUT, if it craps out, I will replace it myself... or buy the rebuilt one myself and pay someone labor to install it if I dont have the time. For now, I will focus on preventive maintenance.

 

[Brian Mack]

Extended warranties are an excellent idea. I would defintely go with a Ford ESP(extended service plan), but you can only purchase it it the vehicle is still within the manufacturer's 3/36 warranty. Most plans have a deductible, but even that is less than 1 hour labor cost.

 

[Jeff C]

If you plan on doing anything to your ST, don't get it. I have the 100k $0 deductible, and I've only brought it in for a few different things, and most have not been covered because Ford finds some way to blame it on a mod. I did get the hood repainted about 2 years ago, and now it's looking like I'll need the roof repainted (crows feet) and I'm doubtful it will be covered.

 

[Arthur Akard]

 

[Arthur Akard]

A co-worker of mine and her husband did a lot of research on extended warranties before they bought their last car. From their research they found that generally speaking it was not worth it for the regular type truck/car. As long as a person performed the standard maintenance work on their vehicle they never really needed the extended warranty (Of course there are always exceptions). Where they found it was worth the money was on higher end/complicated cars. They ended buying a 2004 Audi AWD A-6 with the turbos. By the time it had 20,000 miles on it they had to have the special brakes changed out and one of the turbos replaced - which paid for the warranty. Based on my experience with regular cars, you change the oil regularly and perform the standard maintenance more than like you will never get your money back on an extended warrenty becasue you won't need it. But of course you will always find someone who bought the extended warranty on his or her 1994 Ford Ranger and had most of the vehicle replaced using the extended warranty.

 

[Bart Adkins]

I have the premium package extended warranty...haven't needed it yet but if I had it on my old Ranger, well...I guess I'd still be driving my old Ranger!

 

[TomT]

I don't believe in them myself. Of course you never know when you might get a crappy vehicle. My wife's 97 Expedition has over 120,000 on it and I never spent a dime on it except for routine maintenance until it hit 100,000. Over the last couple of years I've replaced most of the front end parts, a heater core, computer and a few other things. But I'm not complaining.



For the price we pay for vehicles these days they SHOULD last 100k without any major problems. It just pisses me off that Ford and GM don't have at least 5 year warranties.

 

[Deleted deleted]

I think it depends on the make of the car to some extent. I didn't purchase an extended warranty for my Toyota, and so far I don't regret it. When we purchased a Ford Escape, I didn't hesitate to buy one on it.

 

[S H]

After reading all your answers, my opinion now is... I don't know yet. I was surprised by how many of you have purchased extended warranties for one vehicle or another. I've never actually known anyone who had purchased one. I have only 5000 miles on my trac so I have time to research and decide. Thanks for all your input.

 

[Taco Jackson]

I am still debating the extended warranties myself, but one viewpoint I have considered recently is this:



If X warranty costs $1200 let's say. Realize then, that basically the warranteur is in this for a profit, so they are essentially saying "On average, you will spend less than $1200 in this warranty period.". Let's just guesstimate $800, taking $400 out for their profit, salaries, building, paperwork, all that.



So basically, they're saying on average you will cost them $800 in your warranty period. Can you afford $800 when it comes time to repair your vehicle? If you can afford $1200 for the warranty, you can afford the $800 "average" repair bill then.



Now of course, like all insurance, the point is to even out the "spikes". You likely won't have $800 in Sport Trac trouble. You'll have probably $0, or $3,000. The average spike is probably in the $2000-4000 range. Is that tolerable? Obviously home insurance is a great deal because no one can usually afford the $200,000 spike of a burned down house. But "repair insurance" which is all a warranty is, the spike is much smaller. If you can eat that spike if you happen to be one of the small % that get hit with a "my tranny fell apart at 37,000", then don't get the warranty and statistically you'll more than likely come out ahead.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Extended warranty is like the lottery: they both make lots of money for the people selling them.

 

[Ed Scully]

I have the extended ford warrenty, and love it. It has saved me $$$$ At 46k had the tranny done 3 times. Twice under reg. warrenty. last time over 36K. Would have been like 1500$ to fix it then,IAC replaced.

 

[Johnny O]

Most extended warranties run up to 100k max. Most problems IMO occur after that. I bought an $800 extended warranty on my jetski, it blew a piston pin and lunched the whole motor two months after the warranty expired. :angry:

 

[Dre L]

The extended warranty on my first car wasn't worth the cost of the paper it was written on. With that I passed on an extended warranty for the trac.



To my surprise, my insurance came with something called MBI which I was paying $66/year for. When I asked them what it was, they said Mechanical Breakdown Insurance, covers you for any mechanical failure with a $250 deductible, 7 years / 100K miles. Works better for me.

 

[Gavin Allan]

Noblman-- too bad they sold it as a "7 years / 100K mile" warranty. Since you already had the 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty, they should have rightfully called it a "4 year, 64,000 mile warranty that you pay for for 60 months".



Also, the warranty companies fail to acknowledge the other warranties that overlap their coverage (emmissions, rust-thru, drivetrain, etc.)



That sort of deception really gets me angered about extended warranties.