I have pretty much decided to purchase an EL, now I just need to find the right one. I need to know how I can tell (besides looking on the sticker) if the truck has the heavy duty tow package. There are a couple of limiteds that I like, that have everything I want, except for the tow package. My salesman said that some of them probably have it on there, but it might not be on the sticker. I was born at night, but I wasn't born last night. I want to know if there is any way to tell them apart easily.

One more question I had is how much I should expect to pay for an extended warranty? This is my first new car purchase, and I don't want to pay too much. I guess the best is a warranty good at any ford dealer?

 

If it's new it will be on the sticker. Simple.

 

That is what I figured

 

Agreed... if the vehicle is new, it'll be on the sticker. The "some of them probably have it, it just isn't on the sticker" is a way of saying, "we don't have exactly what you want, but hopefully you will be ignorant enough to not know that. No different than the Dodge dealer that told me the Durango "could be equipped by the dealer to tow as much as a 3/4 ton. (2500 HD)" Yeah....

One other thing - have you checked with the dealer to see if you can still order one? My dealer gave me the same price to order as one on the lot I was interested in. Granted, that was 2 months ago and they weren't in as much of a hurry to get rid of them, I'm sure...

With regards to the warranty, I personally prefer going with a manufacturer's warranty. My dealer tried talking me into a third party warranty, probably because they get a higher kickback than on an ESP. I ended up shopping around online, then when I sat down with the F&I person to finalize the contract, I stated that I had xxxx price for the Ford ESP, and they could either match it, or I would go through the vendor. At first they declined to match it and said, "if you can get that price, go for it." When I simply said OK to that, they "re-ran" the numbers and decided they could do it for that price. I would highly recommend you try factorydiscountwarranty.com... they were able to beat the best price I found by about $100. Unfortunatly they took about 2 weeks to get back to me, and in the interim I had taken delivery from my dealer and gone with the higher priced plan. I also think that Troy Dietrich may be a member here at FTE. TDietrich@FactoryDiscountWarranty.com

-Mike
2000 Mercury Mountaineer V6
2008 Ford Expedition EL XLT
2001 Keystone Bobcat 280BH

 

Go with the Ford Warranty. You can negotiate the price. Tell them you want it thrown in at cost as a condition of the sale. The problem is what is cost? All depends on the length and what is covered, Ford has several levels, powertrain only, etc..

 

A quick visual sign that the truck has the HD Tow package is the round, seven pole "Bargman" RV trailer connector to the right of the receiver. This wiring is part of the package. A relay and fuse for the trailer battery charge line should be in a sealed package inside the vehicle.

-- Chuck

 

Thank you very much, Chuck that is exactly what I wanted to know.