Warranty Advice

I have an '05 Taurus (w/ Duratec) with 34K on it. The magical 36K is fast approaching and I am debating whether or not to cough up the +-$1,800.00 for one of Ford's extended warranties. I put on approx. 18K per year and plan to keep the car, but of course after 100k the warranty is worthless.

Anyone ever purchase that and have it pay off?

Regards,

Distance Guy 1

I bought it before but never kept the truck long enough for it to pay off. The engine and tranny are the big money repair items and the other maintenance items don't cost that much. Would I but it again? Definitely not.

When I purchased my 1997 back in '97 I purchased an extended warranty for about $700-750. I think that added about 2 years of coverage. My experience with the car was a ggod one and I think that the warranty costs just about covered any repair work needed. So in the end it was not necessary. Additionally, the car repairs are not that expensive, especially if you do some of the work yourself. I did a lot of the repair work myself. The car is common and can be repaired at your local garage.

I just bought myself a used 2003 Cadillac CTS. It has about 32K miles on it. The extended warranty (up to 85K miles) cost about $1550. The car is not really made to be maintained by the average Joe. A lot of normal work is made very time-consuming because the engine design did not include easy component access. I expect to do very little of the maintenance work on it. Considering the cost of simple things on this car, and the labor rates at the dealerships, I feel that this is probably a worthwhile purchase.

I've never paid more than $850 for a 6yr/75k mile extended warranty with a $50 ded on my Ford's. In one case I got premiumcare in another case I got extendedcare. The difference though is that I make it part of the original sale, when I have the most leverage. I either get the extended warranty for $850 or I go elsewhere. I typically buy program cars that are a year old for about half the original price (got to love the Taurus/Sable for how the value drops like a rock) and that makes the car with the extended warranty an even better deal.

It paid off big time on my 94 Sable. On my 2001 Windstar I probably broke even on it. I had two lock actuators replaced and the blend door. On my 2002 Taurus SES I've only had to replace the blower motor so that may be the first time I lose on the warranty. No doubt 2001+ Ford's are a lot more reliable than the Ford's of the 90's.