Anyone else have the Ford pre-paid maintenance plan and can share their experiences with their dealers? I was told by my selling dealer that it included the DEF refills. I just got the 800 miles to DEF empty warning message today, so I need to make an appointment to go in. Just wondering if anyone has experienced issues with the dealer not wanting to perform services under the plan if they haven't hit the service interval according to the maintenance plan schedule. I know the scheduled services are supposed to be at 10K mile intervals. So, essentially since I have the 100K mile service plan, I get 10 oil changes etc. Thanks for any feedback.

 

I purchased the 7 year/100,000 mile plan. It includes ten 10,000 mile service intervals in 7 years or assumes about 14,000 miles per year. I'm looking at 18,000 to 20,000 miles my first year.
My truck popped it's first "Change Oil Soon" message at 7,500 miles.
I took it to a dealer and said "Truck wants an oil change, I have the Premium Maintenance Plan."
They took the truck in, and a few minutes later the service writer came out to the waiting room.
"Your maintenance plan is for 10,000 mile intervals. So You have two choices - (1) We can do the 10,000 mile service 2,500 miles early under the plan, or (2) You can pay out of pocket for an oil change and save the 10,000 mile service for next time."
I paid for the service out of pocket that time.
I figured if the normal interval for my truck will be 7,500 miles, then the following schedule should be close:
7,500 miles - Pay out of pocket.
15,000 miles - Use 10,000 mile interval
22,500 miles - Use 20,000 mile interval
30,000 miles - Use 30,000 mile interval
37,500 miles - Pay out of pocket
45,000 miles - Use 40,000 mile interval
and so on.

The owner's manual explains that they SHOULD do any maintenance that will be required before the next 10,000 mile (on the odometer) interval, so when I paid for the 10,000 mile service, it include a fuel filter change (recommended at 15,000, but before the next service at 20,000).

I had my first DEF refill free at 4,000 miles - that was a Ford offer at the time I purchased the truck.
I paid for DEF at 7,500 miles when I paid for the oil change.
I paid for a 2.5 gallon jug at around 10,000 miles (truck popped the half full DEF message and I had the jug anyways.)
DEF was free when the service plan paid for the 10,000 mile service at 15,000 miles.

I complained to my original dealer about the fact that they are selling a maintenance plan with 10,000 mile intervals for a vehicle that requires maintenance at 7,500 mile intervals. They offered to change me to a 7,500 mile plan, which I declined, explaining that the normal interval would be 10,000 miles but IT DEPENDS on how you use your truck - I tow heavy about 50% of the miles.

 

Double Post.

 

I'm not too worried about using up all my interval services too early. I doubt that I will keep this truck for 7 years / 100K miles, but I wanted to be protected while I do have it. (Not because I dislike it, I'm simply not good at keeping vehicles more than 3-4 years.) However, since I do not tow much, I may just put enough DEF in to hold me until the oil monitor says the oil needs to be changed. I just hit 5800 miles, so I figure I should have at least another 2K miles until that happens. Thanks for the info!

 

Did that message show up unsolicited and stay until you pressed OK or did you have to look it up in the INFORMATION menu?

Rob

 

It shows up unsolicited and stays until you press "OK". It will come up every time the vehicle is started until you refill the DEF to at least the half full mark. Each time it comes up, it will show miles remaining to empty, so there's no excuse to run out.

You have to dig into the info menu for the half empty warning because it only pops one time and doesn't stay - kind of like the cleaning filter message.

When I refilled mine with the 2.5 gallon jug, it had just popped the 800 mile warning. For the rest of the day, I got the 800 miles to empty warning, but the next morning, the warnings were gone. A few days later, I got the Half Empty message.

 

Thanks, that's what I was hoping. One day I just happen to be looking in the info menu when it indicated half empty. I found that it doesn't quite take 2.5 gallons at that point so I decided next time to wait for the 800 mile warning.

Rob

 

Yep, unsolicited. Actually quite aggravating. Pops up and dings everytime you crank it. Won't go away until you hit OK. Counts down the miles too. Time to go get some DEF. 760 miles to go...

 

Fortunately, you can't blame Ford for the aggrevation. The scheme was devised by your favorite government agency trying to protect you from yourself and forced on the automakers.

 

Yep, nothing against Ford. Just wish there was a way to take some of this stuff off without voiding the warranty. I was sitting next to a Prius at a light today and I said to my wife "I sure wish this thing had a smoke switch so I could smoke this Prius". I still just punched it and smiled when the light changed.

 

I have the 7yr/125K maintenance plan and 7500mi. intervals, so 17 visits.

Keep in mind once you buy the warranty, it takes 30 days before you can use it.