Extended Warranty?

[generaltso]

A day does not go by that I don't get at least two calls from extended warranty companies.

“We‘ve been trying to reach you about your vehicle‘s warranty.......”?

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[machefan]

A day does not go by that I don't get at least two calls from extended warranty companies.

Heck I have 8 warranties already, I keep buying to get them to stop calling me. It's crazy...

 

[Woeo]

You’re wrong. I have self insured across many vehicles and am confident my expenses have been significantly less than the premiums would have been.

Anecdotal evidence, however, as long as you are willing to accept a loss of, perhaps, tens of thousands of dollars you should be fine

 

[Bookworm214]

A day does not go by that I don't get at least two calls from extended warranty companies.

The same one called me twice today!

 

[ChasingCoral]

Anecdotal evidence, however, as long as you are willing to accept a loss of, perhaps, tens of thousands of dollars you should be fine

It takes a risk to make money.

 

[SteveUk]

Vauxhalls had a problem in the 90s where the Tigra engine would self destruct and cost thousands to replace. The engines were a write off so you'd lost a lot of out of warranty. I had that one, a whole new engine was needed.

Same for one of the higher spec cars.

Vauxhall I think at that point was GM.

These were hushed up known issues.

Then there was the Focus and Ford tried to avoid compensation for the faulty coolant tube that melted and if you didn't stop in time destroy your engine. I had that one. Caught it just in time before my engine was lost.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

It takes a risk to make money.

Skipping the extended warranties almost always pays off. You're not alone in the "self-insuring."

 

[DBC]

Skipping the extended warranties almost always pays off. You're not alone in the "self-insuring."

That is how it should work. If you have 100 people, and 1 of those will suffer a loss of $10,000, then at the most basic level insurance will have each person paying $100 as a premium and 99 out of the 100 paying more in the premium than they would pay for the loss.

"Self insurance" would entail each of the 100 putting $10,000 aside to cover the potential loss. If they don't do that, and they don't because it's too expensive, then not subscribing to insurance is simply assuming you won't be the 1 out of 100 that suffers the loss. IOW they are simply assuming the risk.

Consequently, having an extended warranty "not pay off" is a good thing.

The funny thing is, many people who reject an extended service plan where self insurance would entail putting a sizable amount aside will then buy one of the many insurance plans for relatively small items such as windshields or tires and so forth that would require very little to be set aside. This is hardly surprising since it tracks people's natural inclination to underestimate unlikely events and overestimate more likely ones. All finance people at the dealer understand this on some level.

 

[Woeo]

It takes a risk to make money.

So true. Like you I typically self-insure. I have only ever purchased two extended warranties, once for a range with certain known issues and once on a car.

For the auto warranty I endeavored to remove as much of the dealer profit from the transaction as possible, so I would, hopefully, be paying mostly for the value of the true warranty bit and not too much profit. Part of the difficulty managing this effort is determining how much the manufacturer views as the 'cost' of warrantying the car and how much profit the dealer is attempting to add to the transaction.

I believe others have mentioned that Flood and Ziegler are good starting points if one wants a Ford ESP at a fixed cost. They sell Ford warranties and maintenance plans closer to the price Ford puts on the products, ostensibly accepting a thin margin in exchange for a huge increase in the volume of sales. Internet lore has the margin being very low. Similar opportunities exist for other manufacturers.

Using the fixed cost pricing information I was able to negotiate a price lower by half from the dealer's initial offer by asking them to undercut the internet price. If they know you can go elsewhere only pride prevents them from competing on price.

Thus far I have not made a claim under the auto warranty plan [beyond accessing same day auto service 'free' rentals]. But I am only one electronic control module away from it being a good decision....

 

[generaltso]

Thus far I have not made a claim under the auto warranty plan [beyond accessing same day auto service 'free' rentals]. But I am only one electronic control module away from it being a good decision....

The free 1st day rental is one of the things I really like about extended warranties, and have used this perk often because I really hate taking shuttles. My decision to purchase a warranty really comes down to the price. If it’s not super expensive, I think it’s worth the peace of mind. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. I bought the extended warranty on my wife’s Pacifica For around $900. So far, it has paid for a new air conditioning compressor and a new Uconnect head unit. Those repairs would have been in the thousands, so this time, I won.

If I can get an extended warranty for the MME for around $1000, I’ll probably do it. If it’s much more than that, I’ll probably roll the dice.

 

[Woeo]

Currently Flood has the 2021 Mach-E as a model when selecting parameters to request ESP pricing, however the system defaults to Mustang/Mustang GT when actually pulling the data.

Maybe soon.

 

[NmbrsNvrLie]

I’m also happy to sell extended warranties guaranteed by me personally to anyone that wants them. $1,500 for double the standard warranty. My contracts will have all the same bull$$$$ as the rest of those and like all warranty companies, I will try my best to not pay out claims.

You’re paying for a false sense of security. My firm has done a lot of audits of extended and other warranty plans, and the claim rate is about 5%. The other 95% covers their administration costs and rest goes into their pockets as profit. These are a hard pass for me, as I like my money.

 

[JellyBelly]

A day does not go by that I don't get at least two calls from extended warranty companies.

Yes I get that too frequently for vehicles I have not even owned in several years

 

[DBC]

I believe others have mentioned that Flood and Ziegler are good starting points if one wants a Ford ESP at a fixed cost. They sell Ford warranties and maintenance plans closer to the price Ford puts on the products, ostensibly accepting a thin margin in exchange for a huge increase in the volume of sales. Internet lore has the margin being very low. Similar opportunities exist for other manufacturers.

Using the fixed cost pricing information I was able to negotiate a price lower by half from the dealer's initial offer by asking them to undercut the internet price.

If you buy an extended service plan you need to shop around. Not doing what you did is crazy.

As for what to expect, the Mach-E is a new model and Ford's first BEV, so hard to know. Other things Ford should know. Ford has high warranty costs in general so that's likely a factor. Also it's good to keep in mind that the battery is likely the most expensive part of the MME, and it's covered by a different warranty and not by the extended service plan.

If you really want good warranty there is always a new vehicle!

 

[Illinibird]

I will probably purchase the extended warranty but not at time of delivery. I’ll check Internet price and go from there.

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