Is an Extended Warranty worth it?

[StevenC56]

If you're a member of a credit union and they have auto services, I'd get a bid from them as I used to work at one and we were always cheaper than dealers.

Once again, stay away from any non Ford warranty. If you've ever worked in Automotive service and had to deal with these 3rd party warranty companies, you know to stay very far away from them.

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[Ravensfan1996]

Depends on how often you buy new cars, if it’s every 3-4 probably not. If you plane to keep the car a long time then maybe. If you drive 20k miles a year in 5 years most ext warranties will done (100k). I drive 8k miles a year and plan to keep the car awhile, i got a 8yr 100k mile warranty from Granger for about $1800 a few months before my ‘21 expired At 3 years.

 

[Sikkun]

There's a big difference between a $50 piece of equipment that is easily replaced and has been proven to save lives/property and that of a $2000 "peace of mind" extended warranty. This is what we call a false equivalency.

Depends on how much money you have.

 

[Mach1E]

Any? I have smoke/fire, CO2 alarms in my house because...the fear of dying, I'm sure they are not crappy.

Hmm…. You almost have me there.

I would say that calculated risk mitigation is why you buy those alarms, not fear.

Those detectors are super cheap and a fire or dying is extremely expensive.

When you calculate the cost of risk mitigation of an extended warranty, that math sucks.

So instead of using the math to sell the product they give you the fear pitch.

Extended warranties suck, smoke detectors are a wise calculated purchase.

 

[StevenC56]

Extended warranties only suck if you buy one and never need/use it. Some people are not willing to buy one take that chance, others are willing to buy on and worry less after their B2B warranty expires. It's highly personal. Again if you get a new car every 3-4 years, it's probably not worth considering. But if you keep your vehicles 8-10 years, then maybe it is.

 

[devmach-e]

Extended warranties suck, smoke detectors are a wise calculated purchase.

And required by code, at least in my area. When we had unrelated work done on the house some 13-years ago, they wouldn't sign off on the permits until we showed them we had functioning smoke detectors in each room, and combo CO/smoke detectors outside of the rooms.

 

[devmach-e]

Extended warranties only suck if you buy one and never need/use it. Some people are not willing to buy one take that chance, others are willing to buy on and worry less after their B2B warranty expires. It's highly personal. Again if you get a new car every 3-4 years, it's probably not worth considering. But if you keep your vehicles 8-10 years, then maybe it is.

I easily keep my cars 8 to 10 years. Given the number of miles we put on our cars, the extended warranty would have died in year 5 or 6 of ownership. Even the ones that go to 125K miles.

 

[Ford_orr]

I bought an extended warranty for my Mach, $2,900 for an additional 5 yrs, giving me a total of 8 yrs of full warranty coverage. Did I waste my money? Could I have invested that massive sum of liquidity? Did I roll the dice and win big when in six years I have a major mechanical problem that will more than pay for the cost of the extended warranty? I don't care.

An important point that's being missed here is that for most people that buy an extended warranty, whether it ever comes into use or not is irrelevant. What we buy for that money is piece of mind and that's the "cost" for that piece of mind. Life is short, but for 8 of those years, I'll have zero worries about the vehicle I'm driving. If all I ever do is rotate the tires and top-off the windshield washer fluid the entire time, it'll still be 100% worth it.

 

[Mach1E]

I bought an extended warranty for my Mach, $2,900 for an additional 5 yrs, giving me a total of 8 yrs of full warranty coverage. Did I waste my money? Could I have invested that massive sum of liquidity? Did I roll the dice and win big when in six years I have a major mechanical problem that will more than pay for the cost of the extended warranty? I don't care.

An important point that's being missed here is that for most people that buy an extended warranty, whether it ever comes into use or not is irrelevant. What we buy for that money is piece of mind and that's the "cost" for that piece of mind. Life is short, but for 8 of those years, I'll have zero worries about the vehicle I'm driving. If all I ever do is rotate the tires and top-off the windshield washer fluid the entire time, it'll still be 100% worth it.

“Peace of mind.”

It’s repeated constantly in these discussions and it might as well be the tag line for the people selling the warranties.

But honestly with this car, what exactly keeps you up at night worrying that it will break out of warranty?

Most likely it’s the HV battery and related components.

And the extended warranty does not cover those.

The only things it does cover are the cheaper repairs. Things unlikely to cost you thousands out of pocket.

 

[B177y]

“Peace of mind.”

It’s repeated constantly in these discussions and it might as well be the tag line for the people selling the warranties.

But honestly with this car, what exactly keeps you up at night worrying that it will break out of warranty?

Most likely it’s the HV battery and related components.

And the extended warranty does not cover those.

The only things it does cover are the cheaper repairs. Things unlikely to cost you thousands out of pocket.

There are lots of threads about having to replace LED headlights and/or tail lights. Just these seem to cost around $2500 plus labor. A warranty with the extra LED light coverage cost me around $1800 IIRC for my Lightning.

Gone are the days of going to the local auto parts store and buying a replacement bulb. It doesn't keep me up at night, but I can spread that $1800 payment out over a couple of years interest free. For me, that's the "peace of mind".

I'm also getting older and less enthusiastic about working on my own cars. EV's currently are less user-serviceable than anything I have had previously. I am comfortable with a laptop and FDRS/ForScan, but that can still only take me so far. Any issues will likely require a dealer visit, which is another reason that drove me towards the extended warranty.

Plenty of modules can get borked from a bad OTA or other unknown reasons, and there's still plenty of random mechanical parts that seize or break like on older cars. Not everything is related to the HV system and it's warranty.

I didn't purchase an extended warranty on my MME when I purchased the car, but I did for my Lightning. I likely would have purchased a warranty for the MME as the end of the B2B got closer, but I traded it before then. I hope I never need to use the warranty, but I'm glad I have it.

 

[Ford_orr]

The only things it does cover are the cheaper repairs. Things unlikely to cost you thousands out of pocket.

 

[jwalther]

There is no black/white answer. Of course warranty or insurance providers make money, meaning on the whole they collect more in premiums than they pay out. So? You need to look at the numbers applicable to your situation. When I bought my car I purchased a Ford 6/60 ESP (my anticipated ownership of the car) with lighting coverage using my points and $688 out of pocket. One covered claim and I'm ahead. I'd buy that again today. Would I pay $2500 for the same coverage? Probably not.

 

[Mach1E]

There are lots of threads about having to replace LED headlights and/or tail lights. Just these seem to cost around $2500 plus labor. A warranty with the extra LED light coverage cost me around $1800 IIRC for my Lightning.

Gone are the days of going to the local auto parts store and buying a replacement bulb. It doesn't keep me up at night, but I can spread that $1800 payment out over a couple of years interest free. For me, that's the "peace of mind".

I'm also getting older and less enthusiastic about working on my own cars. EV's currently are less user-serviceable than anything I have had previously. I am comfortable with a laptop and FDRS/ForScan, but that can still only take me so far. Any issues will likely require a dealer visit, which is another reason that drove me towards the extended warranty.

Plenty of modules can get borked from a bad OTA or other unknown reasons, and there's still plenty of random mechanical parts that seize or break like on older cars. Not everything is related to the HV system and it's warranty.

I didn't purchase an extended warranty on my MME when I purchased the car, but I did for my Lightning. I likely would have purchased a warranty for the MME as the end of the B2B got closer, but I traded it before then. I hope I never need to use the warranty, but I'm glad I have it.

So you’re willing to guarantee to pay a few thousand dollars out of fear of “having to pay a few thousand dollars” in order to sleep better, I guess that’s a choice.

 

[MacherAWD]

But honestly with this car, what exactly keeps you up at night worrying that it will break out of warranty?

Door components, cameras, sensors, wiring harnesses and computer modules. Plan on owning the car for 10 years and want all the gizmos to last

 

[Teslaeata]

Extended warranties are sold everywhere. Why? They make lots of money for the companies selling them.

If you can afford to pay for the occasional big repair, then you will come out better in the long run by self-insuring.

My own experience is by underwriting the cost of repairs leaves me well in pocket.

One checkout operator once asked “would you like to take out extended warranty on that” to which my response was “it’s a £13 iron, are you mad?”

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