Extended Warrany - To do or not to do

Maintenance/Repairs
1

I am seriously considering in purchasing a 2005 Ford Freestyle Limited. The car has 21000 miles. The basic warranty has expired.



It is my understanding that I can purchase an extended warranty from the dealership, though not from Ford.com because the warranty has expired.



I will have a payment for a few years (proabably 4). Should I get an extended warranty?

2

Better odds to put the payments in the bank, most will say. In addition to that, I bought a car with a transferable extended warranty in place. I had trouble getting the dealer to do work that I thought was covered and necessary.

3

Agree; these warranties are bad news except for the guys who SELL them; the commission is fantastic. There is usually so much fine print in them as well, that your chance of cashing in on a real claim is slim or at best very difficult. Put the $$ in the bank as your “repair piggiy bank”.

4

How has the car been during the warranty period? Also, a lot of these extended warranties are really scams. The only ones to even try to consider are offered through the manufacturers, in this case Ford. Most off-brand warranties are simply money vehicles, and when you file a claim, they will work hard not to pay out. And even if the claim is valid, they will stretch the claim period as far as they can go before finally paying out. Read any such extended warranty contracts very close to see what kind of loopholes are built into it. I simply don’t bother to even consider them for myself.

5

I don’t know how it ran during the warranty period, it seems fine. This warranty will be through Ford as far as I know, not off market. I am 100% sure I will not do an off market warranty as I have heard the same horror stories.

6

The 05 was a below average reliability year for this model, according to Consumer Reports. Brakes and body integrity were sticking points. I have never gotten an extended warranty to ever pay off. The only people I know who get their extended warranties to pay off (repair costs exceed warranty cost) were folks who purchased Chrysler products, so I would take my own chances.

7

If it’s a private company, (not Ford) then it’s not a warranty, it’s just repair insurance. Check for co-pays. Usually they are enough to cover the entire repair! Put the money in YOUR bank instead of the insurance companies bank…

8

Thanks to all for the feedback so far, I LOVE this list. Ford finally did a recall on the brakes and the problem seems to be fixed. I feel really stupid asking this but what is body integrity???

9

I can’t remember all of what body integrity covers but I think squeaks and rattles, door problems, misaligned parts and bad paint are in this category. Door seals and mirrors and problems with things like that. Body leaks and noise maybe. When it comes to extended warranties, you get nothing if the vehicle is totalled in a crash or if you sell it next month.

10

Read this >>> http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/cars/new-cars/buying-advice/extended-warranties-4-08/overview/extended-warranties-ov.htm

11

Well any car can have major expensive repairs.

The profit to the salesman and company is usually over 50%. So for every $1,000 you spend the insurance company has less than $500 to pay for repairs or they will loose money, something insurance companies do not do. Some peop;le will get nothing back and some will get a lot more than they pay.  Most will get far less. In addition you need to keep in mind that the insurer has worded it to eliminate as many expensive things as they can.

Remember that the seller is out to make money and they get to write the rules and set the price.  They are not going to sell them at a loss so one way or another they are going to have you pay more than they will pay out.  

Would you gamble with a car dealer who gets to set all the rules and knows all the odds?   

Your decision has to do with the value of the piece of mind it gives you. If that is worth the $500 then buy it. Don't expect it to cover everything however, most are written to keep cost down and exempt what they know will cost them money.

Good Luck

12

I had an extended 7yr/70K warranty from Chrysler for my 1996 Caravan (Regional rep gave it to me - long story).

Anyways, when 70K miles approached, one of my CV joints and one of my valve covers was leaking. I brought the van into the dealer to have those fixed. The dealer called back at the end of the day and said:

  • The CV joint is leaking because of a bad clamp. The warranty only covers bad boots, not clamps. We’ll gladly fix it for you for $xxx.xx.
  • The valve cover is leaking but it’s not leaking badly enough to be covered by the terms of the warranty. We’ll gladly fix it for you for $xxx.xx.

As the valuable advice has noted in this thread, be really careful with these. They tend to be a good deal for everyone but you.

13

When I bought a 91 Taurus in 1993, it was already out of warranty. The car was fine except for a noisy PS pump. For peace of mind, I bought a 4/48 Ford ESP warranty for ~$700 for the car. Here is the link, https://www.genuineservice.com/esp/welcome.do Near the end of the coverage, the dealer replaced the inner/outer tie rods and the PS pump under warranty without any hassle. At least in this case, I think I broke even. The 4/48 coverage was from the original in-service date so I had warranty coverage for about 2 1/2 years.

Ed B.