From what I can tell by reviewing older posts, the following assertions can be made:

• Ford ESP is the easiest to have honored by a dealer
• There is no reason I can't get as good or a better deal by waiting until my factory warranty is almost up.
• I can buy the Ford ESP from any dealer, but my normal dealer may or may not honor it, and I may have to pay up front for repairs and get reimbursed.

This is my first experience owning a diesel (when it arrives), and I have heard over and over again about the expense of repairs on them, anywhere from the DEF system to radiator happening around 55k miles. I go off-road quite a bit at my parents' land as well at my in-laws' land and hear that the radiator problem could be due to flex doing that sort of thing.

I had the transmission reworked on my 2003 f150 through the Ford ESP (purchased at the time of the truck's purchase), and major repairs on a Fiesta under a third party ESP sold by my dealer. They were going to give me a hard time and make me submit for reimbursement until I pointed out that I bought the warranty from them originally. So, based on all that, for me, it seems not a matter of IF I get one, but when and how to get the best deal.

It sounds like I can get quotes online and go into my dealer and try to get them to match it. Is the time of purchase of the vehicle the best time to negotiate?

I hear Ford offers an 8 year warranty, which sounds good to me. I keep vehicles until their wheels fall off (still have my 2003 f150 custom ordered, now with 200k miles, the 2011 Fiesta with 85k miles, and a 74 Move that was my Dad's originally).

Do my observations seen close to reality, especially about being able to but the ESP at any point?

Mark

 

The Ford ESP will be honored at any Ford Dealership whether you purchased the truck or the warranty from that dealership.

There is a cost difference in the warranty if you wait to purchase after the 12/12K warranty has expired, the price goes up by $100. It is my understanding that you can still purchase the warranty after the 36/36K has expired, but you will have to pay for an inspection of the truck and the price does go up, but I don't know by how much.

Best prices to purchase the ESP is from Flood Ford, you can Google them for a website and price it out yourself. You may get your selling dealer to match their price, but I wouldn't expect them to do so.

I will be purchasing an ESP for my 2013 before the 36/36 warranty expires which gives me at this time roughly 16 months or 14K miles to choose what warranty time frame is the better for me.

 

You can go to those dealer websites and just type in different mileage and see how much they go up by. Although prices go up, in some cases you can get a longer term ONLY if you wait for the 36/36 to expire. Not sure if that was a ploy to get people to pay more and wait for the 36/36 to be up or what but always thought it was interesting. May have also applied to the 5/60 on powertrain, it has been a year since I was looking. Troy Ford comes to mind as another who had very good deals on ESP's. Last time I check inspection was around $100, you had something like 30 days to get it done and paperwork sent back to the dealer to get the warranty approved.

I had it all ready to go on my '09 F150 with around 80K miles then decided not to.