Extended truck service plans, yea or nay

Morgan3820

Morgan3820

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OK, the truck has been ordered (Somebody tell @TCABM he was right, bigger budget was needed, sigh). Ford STX package, 5.0L, RWD with locking rear. Supercrew, longbed.
Now, when this shows up, assuming all goes well, one of the issues will be do I get the extended service plan. Normally, with all of my previous vehicles the answer was no. But, I am thinking about it this time. Hopefully, for the next several years, we will be traveling the US, far from my home mechanic. It would offer some peace of mind. The Ford plans seem complicated. Four different levels of coverage. Only good at Ford dealerships. Mandatory service records, etc. There are other plans out there that appear to be simpler.
What do y'all think? Worth it or waste of money?
 
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If you're traveling the US then (a) you'll burn through the service plan miles very quickly, with easy highway miles that are less likely to cause issues (i.e., lower expected value from plan), and (b) you may find yourself somewhere you need service and there's no ford dealer. Unless you need to put a hard cap on maintenance spend for financial reasons it's a net negative value in expectation.
 
"Extended warranties" are more like insurance policies than are the original manufacturer's warranties. If you like making insurance claims, go for it. :confused:

The marketing effort that the dealers put into these things should be a tell about how profitable they are -- for them, not for the customer.
 
I have a extended warranty for my Subaru that paid off last week. The car is only 3.5 years old and the A/C compressor ate itself. The repair bill without the warranty would have been close to 2K.

I’m a rare case were it worked out. Subarus are extremely reliable but when they do have issues it’s always several AMUs. I had to replace the head gaskets on my 2000 Forester twice at around 2k a pop and numerous rear wheel bearings for several hundred a pop. These issues were Subaru being cheap on late 90s GM components…

Plus the only shops that will really work on Subarus in AR is pretty much the TWO dealers in the state.

So all that combined, spending an extra AMU or two for the warranty isn’t an immediately horrible idea.
 
We’ve bought more vehicles than I care to remember over the past 40-some years. We’ve never bought an extended warranty. Not once did that turn out to be a mistake. Not once.

My mother had a late 90s Toyota Avalon that did have an extended warranty. When it needed the transmission overhauled, it only cost her a couple hundred bucks. In that instance, the warranty probably paid for itself… just.

Extended warranties are huge money makers, which should tell you whether they’re a good deal for the buyer. You’re placing a huge bet that rhe brand new vehicle you’re buying will fail in a way that the plan will cover before you sell it or trade it in.
 
The more electronic gewgaws that get crammed into cars, and the more clueless dealers are about how to troubleshoot and repair them (throwing $$$ parts at the problem in the process), the more I want a factory warranty under my belt so it's their problem and I'm off in their loaner vehicle.

3rd party warranties just seem like a nightmare to manage two entities pointing at one another over who's picking up the check. Pass.

$0.02 :)
 
A family member got a robo call a few weeks back about purchasing an extended warranty for their car. They said "yes" and immediately a salesperson jumped on the line. The salesperson was not happy that it was wanted for a 1965 Ford Falcon ... :dunno:
 
My $.02... I have a 2018 V8 5.0L (not Ford's best year for this motor) that has been in for timing issues once and waiting to go back in mid-May again for the same issue. Fortunately, it should be (it better be...) covered under the 60k powertrain warranty, but the hassle of having to constantly try and work into the dealer's schedule is a pain in the a$$, all while needing a reliable vehicle to get me to/from work. I love this truck, but having issues with a vehicle with only 50k miles has me really questioning whether I want to hold on to this truck long-term. I love everything about this truck, but the reliability, or lack thereof really eats at me considering the price I paid. Make sure you check your oil regularly, and I mean like every 1500 miles. That's a whole other issue with these engines.
 
My take is that insurance of any kind is gambling where the odds are against you, every time. To me, generally the only time it makes sense is where it's required by law, or where you can't afford to take the loss.

Now that said, if this truck or the dealer network has such a bad reputation that you think it's less reliable that Ford thinks it is, because they do plan on making a good profit on that warranty, then maybe it's a good deal. I have no idea if that's true, and it's not a slam on Ford, I've owned a few and they've been fine. But if that is the case, I'd have to ask why you'd go down that road, unless ALL new vehicles are like that.
 
ARFlyer said:
I have a extended warranty for my Subaru that paid off last week. The car is only 3.5 years old and the A/C compressor ate itself. The repair bill without the warranty would have been close to 2K.

Subarus are extremely reliable but when they do have issues it’s always several AMUs. I had to replace the head gaskets on my 2000 Forester twice at around 2k a pop and numerous rear wheel bearings for several hundred a pop.
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I’ve always liked Subaru’s. Came very close to buying a WRX Wagon back in 2005.

But your experiences don’t really jibe with “extremely reliable”. And don’t seem to be unique with your Subaru.

As an aside, instead of the WRX Wagon we ended up with a 2005 Honda Element. Still have it, with over 200,000 miles and only one major repair - a clutch failure. To be fair, might have been at a mileage/age that would have been covered by an extended warranty, but they often try to weasel out by excluding “wear items”, even when the problem is not wear related.
 
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I’m a no on these, never a regret.

Say you buy a new truck from a dealer, get a 5 year extended warranty, aren’t you really buying a 2 year extension? You already have the basic 3 year, why overlap it? By the time that 3 year expires, one should have a feel for the vehicle.
 
ARFlyer said:
I have a extended warranty for my Subaru that paid off last week. The car is only 3.5 years old and the A/C compressor ate itself. The repair bill without the warranty would have been close to 2K.

I’m a rare case were it worked out. Subarus are extremely reliable but when they do have issues it’s always several AMUs. I had to replace the head gaskets on my 2000 Forester twice at around 2k a pop and numerous rear wheel bearings for several hundred a pop. These issues were Subaru being cheap on late 90s GM components…
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Glad it's not just me. Our 2017 Forester ate a compressor and a condenser while it was still in new car territory. At least there has been no milkshake bringing boys to the yard... yet.
 
schmookeeg said:
The more electronic gewgaws that get crammed into cars, and the more clueless dealers are about how to troubleshoot and repair them (throwing $$$ parts at the problem in the process), the more I want a factory warranty under my belt so it's their problem and I'm off in their loaner vehicle.
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I purchased an extended warranty for my vehicle. My reason was specifically to cover the electronics.
 
Flymy47 said:
My $.02... I have a 2018 V8 5.0L (not Ford's best year for this motor) that has been in for timing issues once and waiting to go back in mid-May again for the same issue. Fortunately, it should be (it better be...) covered under the 60k powertrain warranty, but the hassle of having to constantly try and work into the dealer's schedule is a pain in the a$$, all while needing a reliable vehicle to get me to/from work. I love this truck, but having issues with a vehicle with only 50k miles has me really questioning whether I want to hold on to this truck long-term. I love everything about this truck, but the reliability, or lack thereof really eats at me considering the price I paid. Make sure you check your oil regularly, and I mean like every 1500 miles. That's a whole other issue with these engines.
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I was on the fence with engine choices, initially leaning to the 3.5 ecoboost. I had heard of the oil issues with the 5.0L but started thinking that it was a smaller problem than the cam phasors on the 3.5L. Then the Gen4 5.0l came out with cylinder deactivation and belt drive oil pump and I did a hard no until I started looking at it. Cylinder deactivation seems to be well engineered and some of the forum participants made me feel a little bit better about it. They have put different cylinder rings in the GEN four which seems to have alleviated the oil consumption issue. All this and some other anecdotal information plus lack of YouTube angst about the GEN4 5.0L engine has me going with the 5.0 L in the new truck build. Maybe they finally got it right
 
We bought the extended warranty for my wife’s 2016 Escape for the same reason we bought her a new car to start with…she was going to be doing a lot of trips back and forth to Wisconsin (with a few to Michigan thrown in for good measure) and she needed to be comfortable with what she was driving.

We bought the 140k mile warranty, and she’s about 70k beyond that now, but fortunately no issues.

she did have it in for service once where the service manager went on about the troubles they’d had with their 2016 Escape, so like anything, it can be hit or miss.
 
Let it ride..... I remember buying an Acura for my wife, she loves those cars. The salesman spent way too much time telling us how reliable they are, to the point I had to tell him he made the sale, but if he doesn't get us out of there in 10 more minutes we are walking. Go back the next day he starts pitching the extended warranty and how devastating it would be if the transmission lunched itself. I started laughing and said "you spent a half an hour yesterday telling us how reliable the car is, now you're telling me I need an extended warranty?" Not sure I want the car now. He shut up pretty quickly. The service deal isn't worth it unless it's free.
 
I wouldn't be worrying about it with an F-150, especially with the 5.0L. I have one on the wife's Caddy CTS V-Sport, but that's because it's got a ton of fancy electronics, mag-ride suspension, and a tightly-wound twin-turbo V6 that I'm not comfortable enough to do more than change spark plugs on, lol.
 
PaulS said:
Let it ride..... I remember buying an Acura for my wife, she loves those cars. The salesman spent way too much time telling us how reliable they are, to the point I had to tell him he made the sale, but if he doesn't get us out of there in 10 more minutes we are walking. Go back the next day he starts pitching the extended warranty and how devastating it would be if the transmission lunched itself. I started laughing and said "you spent a half an hour yesterday telling us how reliable the car is, now you're telling me I need an extended warranty?" Not sure I want the car now. He shut up pretty quickly. The service deal isn't worth it unless it's free.
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Had that same experience talking to a sales droid the last time I bought a new vehicle. They were pushing the rustproofing and “paint protection” plans hard. Told him that if they thought we needed that, then I wasn’t interested in buying the car at all.

The mechanical and electronic warranty is of debatable value; once in a great while someone actually comes out ahead. The paint and rustproofing is a straight up ripoff.
 
It’s a bet. If you like betting, take the money to Vegas and put it on the roulette wheel. At least you’ll know the odds of winning. The vehicle manufacturers aren’t going to tell you the odds on the extended warranty bet, but it’s pretty certain they HEAVILY favor the house.
 
There are two different things.

1) Extended warranty - this is an extension of the manufacturer warranty to cover things that fail. Check carefully as they may not cover "normal wear and tear" that is, the item just wears out.

2) Extended service plan - this is an extension of the free SERVICE (oil changes, inspections, brakes, etc). Depending on the required inspections (especially if the warranty it longer than the included service plan) may make a lot of sense.

I have done extended warranties on 4 vehicles. On two of them, they worked out. One was a wash. The last one has been a great deterrent in that it is a lifetime (no time or mileage limit) bumper to bumper warranty as long as the original owner still owns it. I am coming up on 11 years with that one with NO issues.

I did an extended service contract on my 2002 BMW M3 as the required inspections were not cheap. The extended service plan was cheaper than the inspections, plus got free oil changes (with $10 per quart oil). So it was worth it.
 
Does Ford still charge a $100 diagnostic fee for Extended Service plan repairs?
 
FastEddieB said:
I’ve always liked Subaru’s. Came very close to buying a WRX Wagon back in 2005.

But your experiences don’t really jibe with “extremely reliable”. And don’t seem to be unique with your Subaru.

As an aside, instead of the WRX Wagon we ended up with a 2005 Honda Element. Still have it, with over 200,000 miles and only one major repair - a clutch failure. To be fair, might have been at a mileage/age that would have been covered by an extended warranty, but they often try to weasel out by excluding “wear items”, even when the problem is not wear related.
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I believe Subarus are one of the most over rated cars on the market. Subaru has done a masterful job marketing them to appear indestructible. Kind of reminds me of the Volvo marketing campaign several years ago implying they were the safest cars you can buy. The only thing that made them safer was they typical driver of a Volvo was probably the most conservative driver on the highway and got into fewer accidents! Re extended warranties that would be a hard pass.
 
The subaru 6 bangers are fantastic. Of course they killed them off in 2019. The 4s (especially the turbo 4s) all seem like buzzy little basics to me.

185K on ours, still going. In fact I'm tired of it and the thing just won't die and give me cause. It's a cockroach.
 
DaleB said:
The mechanical and electronic warranty is of debatable value; once in a great while someone actually comes out ahead. The paint and rustproofing is a straight up ripoff.
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For the 2012 Ford Focus we did get a warranty on the electronics. Turned out to be a wise move as the transmission computer was updated twice and then finally replaced. I've never bought extended service plans before & don't recommend them but in this case I just felt it was a good move.

For all the cars I've ever owned that one was the closest to the bottom of the barrel that I can remember ...
 
My 2016 Subaru Outback is at about 105K miles now, with nothing but routine maintenance. It even still looks nearly new. I've never had such a good experience with my previous Ford, Nissan, Acura, or Mazda vehicles (admittedly only one of each). The only true lemon I've had was a Mercedes, their ill-fated C230. 36 dealer visits for warranty repairs (all electrical, but almost all of them different) in the three years covered by warranty. Then it ate two transmissions after the warranty-expired sensor triggered. Both coolant leaks into the transmission fluid. And the alarm system would occasionally trigger while driving...I racked up a lot of miles with the alarm blaring and the lights flashing, until I could get it home and disconnect the battery.
 
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GaryM said:
My 2026 Subaru Outback is at about 105K miles now, with nothing but routine maintenance. It even still looks nearly new. I've never had such a good experience with my previous Ford, Nissan, Acura, or Mazda vehicles (admittedly only one of each). The only true lemon I've had was a Mercedes, their ill-fated C230. 36 dealer visits for warranty repairs (all electrical, but almost all of them different) in the three years covered by warranty. Then it ate two transmissions after the warranty-expired sensor triggered. Both coolant leaks into the transmission fluid. And the alarm system would occasionally trigger while driving...I racked up a lot of miles with the alarm blaring and the lights flashing, until I could get it home and disconnect the battery.
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I've seen plenty of necro posts, but this is the first future post.
 
Generally they are not worth their cost. Set aside the cost of the warranty/ESP and use that for routine maintenance.

Other than oil & filters (oil, air, cabin air), I’ve replaced the battery and just recently exchanged coolant, trans/diff fluids, and brake fluid over 80K miles including occasional towing of up to 9k lbs.

Pretty sure you’ve got electric power steering like me on the 5.0 so no service there.
 
If you do decide to get the extended warranty, you usually don't have to get it from the dealership where you buy your vehicle. And it's a high-profit item, so you might be able to find a dealership willing to make a good deal.
 
I purchased my 2017 F150 3.5L Ecoboost new from the dealer and they wanted some insane price for the factory extended warranty ($6k-ish). Instead of getting ripped off, I bought the same warranty from Flood Ford online for $1855 (premiumcare esp, $100 deductible, 6 years, 125,000 miles).

For years I felt like a fool for buying it. Earlier this year, with two days remaining on the warranty, I had $4,000 worth of engine work done on Ford's dime (cam phasers).

So anyhow. I'm not normally a "buy a warranty guy"...but sometimes they can work out.
 
jesse said:
I purchased my 2017 F150 3.5L Ecoboost new from the dealer and they wanted some insane price for the factory extended warranty ($6k-ish). Instead of getting ripped off, I bought the same warranty from Flood Ford online for $1855 (premiumcare esp, $100 deductible, 6 years, 125,000 miles).

For years I felt like a fool for buying it. Earlier this year, with two days remaining on the warranty, I had $4,000 worth of engine work done on Ford's dime (cam phasers).

So anyhow. I'm not normally a "buy a warranty guy"...but sometimes they can work out.
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Curious, is the Ford flood plan in addition to the factory warranty or concurrent with the factory warranty?
 
Lindberg said:
If you do decide to get the extended warranty, you usually don't have to get it from the dealership where you buy your vehicle. And it's a high-profit item, so you might be able to find a dealership willing to make a good deal.
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This is a good point. I have negotiated everyone I have purchased. But in my case it was tied to the purchase Give ma a btter price, or I will go somewhere else to buy the warranty AND the car,
 
Morgan3820 said:
Curious, is the Ford flood plan in addition to the factory warranty or concurrent with the factory warranty?
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Flood sells the factory ford ESP (valid at any ford dealer in north america). All Ford ESP plans (regardless of the dealer that sold you it) runs concurrent with the factory warranty. Said another way, if you bought the truck on 1/23 the warranty expiration times would be as follows:

OEM Standard Warranty (3 years, 36000 miles): Expires 1/26
OEM Powertrain Warranty (5 years, 60000 mile): Expires 1/28
Ford ESP expires at purchase date + whatever years/mileage you purchase.

ESP provides you with some other perks (if you choose them), like a rental car during any repair, etc.

In my case, I bought 6 total years and 125,000 total miles. I knew I would be over 60,000 miles well before 5 years, so I wanted to cover for that. I also thought it'd be nice to have another year of coverage after the 5 year loan expired. I don't normally buy a warranty, but this truck was expensive, and I knew I would beat the hell out of it and push it to the limits. It's not a soccer mom truck. It's spent much of its life towing things that most people don't think a half-ton can tow for thousands of miles up and down mountains. I'll probably buy the extended warranty again with my next truck.

I saw a comment earlier about "a ford dealer might not be near you". That is absolutely hilarious. There are roughly 4500 Ford dealers in North America. Rural spots are not ignored in the distribution. I'd much rather have a warranty that I know is as good as cash at 4500 different locations than trust some third party warranty and hope some random mechanic will accept it.
 
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