This is correct. For some folks, like myself, the factory warranty is gone in a matter of weeks. My truck has 99,300 on it now and I've had it approx 18 months. ESP is part of our operating costs and usually pays for itself.

All depends on the owner and how they use the truck.

 

$3500 plan is the deluxe plan which covers most things (1000+) which can break or malfunction other than the standard wear items and other plans for less cover fewer and fewer items. Maintenance plans are different and cover routine service and filter/oil servicing. I am not promoting that these plans are for everyone. I service my own brakes plus all maintenance, alternators, waterpumps batteries and practically anything else that breaks down. Drive line, rear ends and suspension not excluded from work performed in my shop. I believe the Super Duty to be an extremely reliable vehicle. But this being said I recognize that with computerized electronic technology comes an inability for the average mechanic to perform repairs. And the cost of the components is rising with each generation of vehicle. Our last Lincoln broke a $2.00 pin in the transmission. $1700 to repair. 6 months later the performance of the transmission had degraded (after the initial repair) and the only solution was to replace the transmission. $4,800 bill. Plus 8 days time. The extended warranty covered it all including a rental car for the entire period. That $2500 warranty was well worth it. In total the repairs on that car over 100K were just under $9000... I doubt my SuperDuty will require this kind of work, but then again one never knows. On the road 2500 miles from home it will surely be a security blanket.

 

I had my old Durango`s tranny completely rebuild for around $2500 with lifetime warranty on it nationwide. The Durango was 13yrs old, which is well over the extended warranty, so that wouldn`t have helped me anyway.

And we are talking about SD trucks here... Ford Tough or what!

 

I'm concerned about your statement that the ESP on your trucks usually pays for itself. Is this the case for your trucks that hit 100,000 miles in 18 months? I hope $3500 in repairs in 18 months isn't usual. What failures do you normally have?

 

In the case stated it was on our Lincoln LS which was 1/3 Lincoln 1/3 Thunderbird and 1/3 Jaguar. Outstanding car with somewhat sketchy reliability. Would have cost lots to maintain without the ESP. Car B-4 was a 95 Thunderbird. ESP was $1800. A/C went out and that repair was over $1200 and with a couple of other items cost of the ESP was covered. I realize that repairs by independent shops can be substantially less than Dealership. But I also recognize that modern vehicles are so complex that many independent shops completely bungle some of the repairs they take on which wind up with long repair times and several returns to get the job right. I am anticipating that my new F350 will either break under initial warranty or last a long time. My 2001 F250 had only a few repairs which would have been covered within the 125K warranty: I did not purchase ESP. The total was less than $2100 and that truck is now over 240K miles with only a couple of small items since. (A/C compressor, ball joints, door locks and window motor b-4 125K miles). The plethora of electronic systems presents risk. The water in the fuel issue I believe is related to only a few but the $10,000 repair is worrisome, especially to those who have experienced it. (Never buy fuel if the tanker is unloading. Stirs up any crud on the bottom of the tank). And now in my mid '60s, I am less willing to start tearing something apart I know nothing about. As much as I like to do all my own work there comes a time to enjoy the rest of life without a fix-it list. I am even tired of the routine of brakes every other year, due not to wear but rust on the rotors from the damned salt. (Just got done with front axle pads and rotors, did rear axle a couple of months ago...rust in both cases. Pads and outer rotor surface like new, inner rotors pocked and pitted). So all of these factors lead to my extending warranty. $3000 or so against a $65,000 truck isn't really that much for a lot of security.

 

In addition: The philosophy my wife and I subscribe to re: ESP is based on our propensity to drive the wheels off vehicles. Cars over 125K miles and trucks over 250K miles. Those who trade every 2 or 3 years would rarely have need for the security of the ESP. But for those of us who look for reasonable service from their vehicles much longer than average the addition of a major portion of that time with warranty security is a much larger issue. It only takes 1 major repair to pay for 2 or 3 ESP's.

 

Water in fuel is covered by my auto insurance. I was concerned about ruschejj's comment - 100,000 miles in 18 months sounds like he goes through a lot of trucks, thus having more data points.

 

Wow, Rasalas, you certainly have lots to say about warranty, repair and maintenance. Sounds like your current Super Duty has been good to you. One reason I love the Super Duty is for simplicity. Body on frame, solid axles, cart suspension on the back, and overbuilt components. The current truck is easy to take the dash apart. Depending on what trim level you buy of the next gen truck, some of that is changing. But the core systems are still pretty basic, Diesel engine aside.

 

I would never buy anything but Ford SD: this last one has been excellent. You are right, troverman, about the simplicity and durability of the product. A good friend used to manage a driveline repair and HD truck parts facility. He also will only drive Ford. The company line, in the back room was thanks for GM for for keeping their doors open. They did lose some business as GM graduated to dealer only items: lots of people brought their GM shafts and axles in wanting parts or repairs only the dealer could make. I have routinely had grease under my fingernails up until the invention of nitrile gloves. Still can and do lots of work but I think it is time to enlist someone else more often. The creeper on the floor is a lot farther away than it used to be, and return to vertical even further. I may be overly verbose on these subjects as I enjoy my independence from outside garages and recognize a changing of the seasons as it were. ESP for the truck is still not ordered. Maybe just trade every 3 years!!

 

The ford ESP "diesel care plus" used to cover the drivetrain until 200,000 miles.

The 2008 truck went through 5 radiators and a water pump and thermostats. They used to cover radiators.

2011 truck blew it's engine at 122,000. 2 radiators, the new engine had a bad turbo on it. We estimate the total warranty coverage on this truck was well over $30k. The engine replacement included a complete new exhaust system too. I lost an injector at some point too. We sold it with 240,000 miles on it and the last 50k were uneventful.

The 2015 we have just started a radiator leak, I'm not sure if we will get any coverage on it.

We had a second 2008 truck that blew the egr cooler which hydro locked the engine, so it was a new long block.

The money ford spent on our 2011 truck I had is enough to pay for 10 ESP policies, so we are ahead permanently.

We have a 2014 truck in service now that has had several sensors go out, a couple modules replaced (tcm and bcm I think).

 

For me it is like insurance, I don't like doing much more then basic maintenance and even then I will take it to have the oil done.

I do like the Ford ESP and on my 2011 it paid for itself twice over now. I just like the piece of mind, and I keep my cars for about 100K miles or 10 years and it is nice to know we are covered!

 

Sounds a tad high to me, but then again, some states require everyone to pay the same price, aka MSRP. As for the merits of buying it, we've beat it to death on this forum. My only new car being financed is a Fiesta S, cheapest car Ford makes. I still bought the extended (and 3rd party) warranty for the term of the loan. I simply don't want to be without a radio or something. 3rd party warranties do take a bit more research. The one our dealership uses I've talked with our service department extensively about. They've had them fix things Ford denied. There are some lemons out there. Ask your service department if they know of any good 3rd party jobs if you wanna do extra homework, or just buy the Ford one and rest assured it's at least OEM quality protection.

Of course it's a losing gamble, but that doesn't make it a bad choice. If you have to cash to repair, good on ya! If you don't, it will suck to be making payments on a car or truck you can't drive because a non warranty part broke and you can't fix it till next paycheck which you not won't earn because you can't get to work. As for adding the cost to MSRP, that would tick me off. I hate having ANY warranty added to the cost. I'd much rather it be as is and then consumers can add whatever they want and know the cost. I know that's a minority feeling, and it might sound silly coming from someone who buys the extended warranty, but I hate the notion of "free" when we know it isn't.