I am driving a soon to be five year old Grand Marquis with just under 50K miles. Ford is offering me an extended warranty for four years for $2350. Car has had all its warranty maintenance and regular oil changes…sooo do I need the warranty or is it safe to bet than I’ll spend less than $2350 on repairs in the next 48 months. I drive less than 10k miles a year and have never experienced any problems with this car. I sold my previous Marquis when it had 185,000 miles and never had to do anything to it but replace a heater coil.The increased use of electronics and computers in the recent models is my biggest concern, as I know they are expensive to replace. One mechanic’s opinion is that since it is an American made car I should buy the coverage. Has anyone had experiences that would help with this decision or is it just a question of spending money now to alleviate a worry. I am 70 yr old widow and plan to drive this car until it quits. I can afford to buy the warranty now but can’t decide if I should just wait and see if something breaks and then deal with it.
No. The warranty is priced so that the seller gets about 50% of that $2350. Then there is profit for the seller. Figure that maybe $1000 of that $2350 is paid out for repairs on all the GM/s of that age. It is possible that you might need to spend a lot to fix the car during the next 4 years, but very unlikely. I’d sped the money on a really fun vacation if it is burning a hole in your pocket. Or just save it and dole it out if you need to. Then take that fun vacation with the remaining money.
One more thing: it has to be a repair, and not a wear-and-tear item. As the car ages, things you might think are repairs are not because everything fails a a machine ages.
Odds are you’ll spend far less than $2350 (that’s how they make money), so I’d skip it. But a small number of people do save money with them.
But make sure it’s a Ford-backed warranty if you do buy.
Don’t buy the warranty. You don’t need it. Save your money.
Ford is “offering” you a warranty because it’s profitable for them, no because it’s necessary for you. You don’t need it.
As you already know, your Grand Marquis is one the most reliable vehicles on the planet. You don’t need to worry about it.
They’re just trying to get your money. As long as you maintain your Grand Marquis according to the factory schedule you have nothing to worry about.
thanks for your re-assuring comments…I have always declined extended warranties in the past on appliances, etc…but also have experienced that things with electronics can be tricky and that computers have limited lifetimes…so that was the impetus for considering this offer.
Other than agreeing with the others that you should pass on this, I might add that contacts like this may be the norm in the future. I’ve heard that car makers are really going to start pushing the selling of those extended warranty programs.
Shame on the idiot “mechanic” implying the marquis is not trustworthy. If he knew his business he wouldn’t try to scare you. Sounds like he is getting a cut of the action.
pmoore wrote:
do I need the warrenty or is it safe to bet than I’ll spend less than $2350 on repairs in the next 48 months
If you expected to get more than $2,350 on average, then Ford would be losing money with every warranty they sell. Do you think that’s what they decided to do here?
Electronics can be tricky, but if well designed, they have no limit on their lifespan. The idea that computers have limited lifetimes is false. Maybe it’s true for the computer on your desk that will be obsolete in a few years, and which has a hard drive with moving parts that may wear out, and a person interacting with it that may install software that causes problems and get it infected with viruses, etc. But a car’s computer is more of an appliance, like a telephone or radio. It has no moving parts. Since the internal software is not (generally) modifiable by the user, and having been built for a harsh environment, it is normally the most reliable part on the car.
As long as you don’t do something silly like jump start your car and hook the cables up backwards, immerse it in water, or get struck by lightning, it will likely outlast most everything else.
Look… “ford” isn’t offering the warranty… it’s a company among several others that sell extended warranties on all makes. It could be a completely bogus scam I see on the internet all the time. You could call Your State Ford district manager and find out if this is real or not or if they offer that program. I doubt they do but I could be wrong.
Ms Moore, your Panther is one of the most reliable cars on the road. Save your money. What they are offering is not a warranty, it’s a prepaid repair plan with lots of fine print. You don’t need it…If your car has the “air-ride” option, that’s the only mechanical weakness…That system is good for 8 or 10 years before it becomes troublesome…Should it fail, you can have the standard springs installed for a fraction of repairing the air-spring system…Drive on!
Don’t even think of buying the extended warranty. Put the money in the bank and draw interest until your vehicle ever needs repaired. You have a reliable vehicle so don’t lose faith because of a bunch of hucksters are trying to get your money.
One of the most important things to look at, should you decide to dig into this “warranty” scheme more closely, is the things it won’t cover. None of your “regular” maintenance will be covered. Even if it covers parts of your motor, the parts that generally fail and/or need replacement (water pumps, A/C compressors, alternators, etc), aren’t in the covered list. Same with the transmission; they may cover the actual gears inside it, but not the electronics that move those gears.
These warranties are always written with enough exclusions to make them profitable.
As everyone above has said…put the money in the bank and let it build interest, rely on a good mechanic (not the one that gave you that bad information), and drive happily onward.