With my help (and some good GRM help) my M-I-L has special ordered a '13 Ford Escape SEL 2wd, not 4wd and no Nav but every option including technology pack, parking pack and bigger engine.
She is 80 yrs old.
Her son (my B-I-L) has put the bug in her ear that she should buy an extended warranty.
It burns me because I really know his motivation is that he will get the car when she passes or stops driving. He is mechanically inclined and every vehicle my in-laws have ever had has gone to their son when they are done with it. The in-laws would keep the cars ten years and then their son would keep them going sometimes up to 300k miles. In each case, he never paid a dime for the cars. Most recently, after the passing of my F-I-L, I saw a '03 S-10 with 65k miles go to the son.
At 80 yrs old, my M-I-L puts on about 8k miles per year. At best, I would expect she drives for another 10 years and in the later years driving less miles. In total, I never expect the car to have more than 65k miles during her ownership. As you can guess, I see little or no need for the extended warranty, but... This may not be my fight. She has the money and she wants to leave a "benefit' for her son, so...
What should I expect to be charged for this Ford Plan (I will not go with an aftermarket plan.)
Ford has this website about their ESP program.
http://owner.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Owner/Page/ESPPage
It requires you to have a VIN to see pricing. I dropped in some VINs that I got from an Inventory Search but it seems that if the car is not yet in service, the website will not give pricing. I suspect that this is so the dealership can arbitrarily add on pure profit to the price.
Oh Great GRM, can you get me some pricing?
Does anyone here work at a Ford Dealership that would like to complete the sale of the program with me and or give me some major negotiating power? I envision the ability to sit at the dealership and say, "I will pay $x,xxx.xx for the ESP." The dealership will say they want $y,yyy.yy and I will say thanks but I will get it elsewhere.
Do I have to buy this plan from the delivering dealership?
How many miles and years can these plans go? I think I may be more interested in years than I am about miles.
The car will only be garage kept and dealership serviced.
Put the money in a GIC. I bet when the extended warranty would have run out, there will be money left.
What has been said so far is true, that is, you have until the "regular" / factory warranty runs out before you MUST buy....or about 4 years and 10 months in this case.
I bought ESP when I purchased a near new Ranger. The area around the hole for a trailer ball in the rear bumper was sort of rusted (after less than 1 year in service) so I thought there was a chance the truck had been used for towing. ESP on a 1 year old Ranger, back in 1996, cost about $800 to $1,000 if I remember correctly. Stupid me, I didn't realize that the 1 thing I wanted covered.....wasn't, the clutch and it's related parts.
In your M-I-L's case, I would think ESP was a waste of money as she will probably stop driving before the factory warranty runs out. My Mom stopped driving at 84 years of age and she had been figuring she would wind up driving my Dad to his doctors and such.
Oh, yeah, I think I read somewheres that the price/cost of ESP can be negotiated...just like any other part of the vehicle, even tho it's purchased way after the original sale.
Here's what I think...
First off, I work at a Ford dealership. We deal with extended warranties all the time. The Ford Premium Care warranty is by far the best and most extensive warranty out there. Aftermarket warranties don't cover a lot of things and really do not care about the customer. Ford ESP does. Especially if you're taking the vehicle back to the selling dealer, they'll go out of their way to make sure you're happy. Now, that being said, it is NOT a bumper to bumper warranty. I don't care what the salesman tells you. It covers almost everything but some components like paint, tires, brakes, trim, buttons and some electrical switches are not covered. Make sure you look at he printout flier he hands you about the warranty. There's over 500 components covered, but still take a look at the flier.
In the Service Department, we love to deal with Ford warranty as opposed to any of the aftermarket ones because, as I said, Ford seems to be the only one that really gives a crap about the customer. I've had aftermarket warranties send us used parts or demand we use junkyard parts to repair a vehicle.
Datsun1500 wrote: You will run out of years. Most extended warranties max out at 6 years. Edit, here's a thought. You can buy an extended warranty at the Ford Dealer anytime before the factory warranty runs out. Since the power train warranty is 5 years on that Escape, tell her she has 5 years to decide if it is worth it
Actually, the new car coverage plan can only be purchased before the original bumper to bumper warranty expires by either time or mileage. That is, IIRC, 3 years/36000 miles or 4 years/50000 miles, check to make sure! If the bumper to bumper expires but the powertrain is still in effect, then no a new car extended warranty cannot be purchased. A used car plan can, but the coverage is not as extensive.
I only recommended the ESP to those who purchased the 6.0L powerstroke trucks......
the rest is generally a waste(I don't forsee another 96-99 sho type fiasco that a design killed a 20k crate engine)
Run away. Waste of money. Wish I'd never bought it.
Datsun1500 wrote: I would put the bug in her ear that she should do a 5 year lease on the assumption that she will not drive past 5 years, and save the money. That way the BIL gets nothing. But I can be an shiny happy person when it comes to moochers....
Yes, I see and saw the point of a lease but her husband had instilled in her that leasing was bad. I was not going to try to swing the uphill battle that it may be good in this case.
Also a deciding factor was that, sure, see could just get something different in a couple years but at 80 yrs old, familiarity and consistency are good things. As it is, the radio in the Escape SEL with touch screen (no knobs) and controls on the steering wheel may be cause for some change.
The money is not the issue, she has it. The real goal was to get her in something she is comfortable in.
Thanks to all of you for the insights. I plan to suggest the delayed decision about the warranty. As with all of you, I am not a fan of warranties.
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