Are extended service plans for Ranger worth the cost?

[joeb427]

Looking at 8years/60K miles with zero deductible for $940 myself.
When I sold my 2000 S/Cab last month it had traveled all of 94K miles, all urban driving.

My choice.

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[harringtondav]

I’ve never bought one for any vehicle. I’ve been able to fix everything I’ve had issues with so far and I sell parts for a living so I can buy at pretty good discounts. If someone wasn’t very mechanically inclined and didn’t have a good connection for parts I think it’d be a good idea to buy the extra warranty.

As I said in my original post, neither had I, until 2014 when I started updating our 21 yr old vehicles. I've had service manuals/wiring diagrams for each of the five older cars. Same with the last three new ones, including the Ranger. I'm retired from Deere, spending two years as and Area Service Manager, so I have the skills.

Like you, I could handle any problem with the older cars. With the new three, I can handle any parts change outs. But with nearly everything on today's vehicles relying on a controller, diagnostics is the problem. Deere technicians are mostly parts changers these days. Tier 4 and other systems require the service dept. to connect the tractor by Ethernet to Deere central for problem diagnostics. I'm pretty sure Ford and other mfgs. do the same. I'd guess an out of warranty diagnostics visit, plus a controller/sensor/input replacement would pay for the Ford ESP.

....besides, I'm not getting any younger, and am getting tired of wrenching. Oil changes and tire rotations are my limit these days.

 

[caprtaineddie]

It seems like everything has to be diagnosed with computers and problem codes. I had some problems with my GMC, but it wouldn't show any codes. Therefore, they didn't know what to fix.

 

[Mokume]

As I said in my original post, neither had I, until 2014 when I started updating our 21 yr old vehicles. I've had service manuals/wiring diagrams for each of the five older cars. Same with the last three new ones, including the Ranger. I'm retired from Deere, spending two years as and Area Service Manager, so I have the skills.

Like you, I could handle any problem with the older cars. With the new three, I can handle any parts change outs. But with nearly everything on today's vehicles relying on a controller, diagnostics is the problem. Deere technicians are mostly parts changers these days. Tier 4 and other systems require the service dept. to connect the tractor by Ethernet to Deere central for problem diagnostics. I'm pretty sure Ford and other mfgs. do the same. I'd guess an out of warranty diagnostics visit, plus a controller/sensor/input replacement would pay for the Ford ESP.

....besides, I'm not getting any younger, and am getting tired of wrenching. Oil changes and tire rotations are my limit these days.

I hear you loud and clear bud, me getting off a creeper now is downright comical...

I'm also old school like you, still know how to change points and condenser, time a distributor to the engine, set timing with both a light and "road timing" overhaul and adjust a carb., etc...

Nowadays they call themselves "techs", I still call myself a mechanic, show me an engine from the 50's-70's that won't start or doesn't run right and chances are, I can fix it.

 

[caprtaineddie]

When I was signing the papers on my truck Wednesday, they tried to sell me the ESP for something like $2200. I said no, but would like some reassurance that the Flood Ford ESP is for real. The price seems really low.

 

[joeb427]

When I was signing the papers on my truck Wednesday, they tried to sell me the ESP for something like $2200. I said no, but would like some reassurance that the Flood Ford ESP is for real. The price seems really low.

It's genuine Ford ESP.

 

[harringtondav]

When I was signing the papers on my truck Wednesday, they tried to sell me the ESP for something like $2200. I said no, but would like some reassurance that the Flood Ford ESP is for real. The price seems really low.

I asked my dealer for their best price on our Dart, and bit. Then I realized any dealer of any brand can sell you the mfgs. extended warranty. So I shopped around for my Cherokee's plan, and beat my own dealer by several hundred dollars.

....30 yr old son just bought his first new car. I tried sharing this experience, along with negotiating experience from eight past new vehicle purchases with him. He was in a hurry. I bet that dealership is still passing the bottle.

 

[caprtaineddie]

It's genuine Ford ESP.

Thanks!

 

[caprtaineddie]

I asked my dealer for their best price on our Dart, and bit. Then I realized any dealer of any brand can sell you the mfgs. extended warranty. So I shopped around for my Cherokee's plan, and beat my own dealer by several hundred dollars.

....30 yr old son just bought his first new car. I tried sharing this experience, along with negotiating experience from eight past new vehicle purchases with him. He was in a hurry. I bet that dealership is still passing the bottle.

Thanks to you too!

 

[Mokume]

When I was signing the papers on my truck Wednesday, they tried to sell me the ESP for something like $2200. I said no, but would like some reassurance that the Flood Ford ESP is for real. The price seems really low.

What Flood is offering is indeed real, the reason why the price is so low is that they sell the policy for just $100 above their cost. I personally spoke with Gardiner from Flood Ford a couple of weeks ago and opted for the Premium Care coverage for 8 years (actually just 5, all considered) with zero deductible and a cap of 60K miles.
The reason why I opted for such a low mileage cap is that I sold my 20 year old Ranger in December, it had traveled all of 94K miles.

 

[VAMike]

The reason why I opted for such a low mileage cap is that I sold my 20 year old Ranger in December, it had traveled all of 94K miles.

I imagine it's hard to drive far on an island?

 

[caprtaineddie]

I imagine it's hard to drive far on an island?

Honolulu used to be one of the cities that I flew to. You can do a bunch more driving there than one might realize. I can't tell you the number of times I got lost just trying to go up to the national cemetery!

 

[caprtaineddie]

What Flood is offering is indeed real, the reason why the price is so low is that they sell the policy for just $100 above their cost. I personally spoke with Gardiner from Flood Ford a couple of weeks ago and opted for the Premium Care coverage for 8 years (actually just 5, all considered) with zero deductible and a cap of 60K miles.
The reason why I opted for such a low mileage cap is that I sold my 20 year old Ranger in December, it had traveled all of 94K miles.

Thanks for the info. I'm going to give them a call.

 

[Mokume]

I imagine it's hard to drive far on an island?

Well, to give you an idea, the island of Oahu, where Honolulu is located has a land mass of 597 square miles, there are currently 980,000 people inhabiting the island.
As of 2019, there were 792,000 vehicles registered on Oahu alone, which makes for some horrendous rush hour traffic. I estimate that on Oahu alone, once can drive at highway speeds for 45 minutes, tops, provided there's no traffic jams.
I also estimate that a car that has been driven 100,000 miles in Honolulu's urban traffic is the equivalent of twice that on the mainland, as we all know, stop and go traffic is murder on the entire drivetrain, not to mention the brakes. I live in an area of Honolulu which is 5 miles or so inland from Waikiki Beach and about 10 from metro Honolulu proper.
People who live further away from Honolulu's core (due to housing cost) average about 3 hours in morning and afternoon traffic in their daily commute.
Sure am glad I'm not one of them.

PS: Yes, CaptainEddie, the National Cemetery of the Pacific can be daunting to find, but from where I live, I can have you there in 15 minutes...but I've lived here all my life
Curious, what airlines did you fly for?

 

[Anthony]

I've used Flood on all my new vehicles and lemmee tell ya, the 2014 Focus I had used it a A LOT. and yes it is a genuine Ford warranty, not a 3rd party.

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