I recently ordered a new truck and paid 500.00 deposit. I thought they offered lifetime powertrain warranty but found out yesterday they do not. A nearby dealer does but I have to cancel current order and go thru them to get it. They would likely make allowances for my 500 loss with the other dealer. The other dealer claims it is a gimmick and not worth offering. SO IS IT WORTHWHILE? I do not mind dropping the 500 though I hate giving up my build date and VIN number. It is RIDICULOUS that you can't have the order transferred to another dealer but apparently you can't do that. Any opinions appreciated!

 

Generally those are their dealership only warranty with plenty of ways to escape paying out. Better off investing in more frequent than recommended powertrain fluid changes than those warranties, or get a real Ford extended warranty.

 

No, start saving cash now, for future repairs.

 

You really have to go over the fine print and see what is actually covered and what's not. What's required to maintain that coverage, what kind of use voids the warranty(such as towing) etc etc. The hoops you have to jump through are usually not worth the hassle.

 

The only Lifetime warranty that was worth anything was the Mopar MaxxCare Lifetime warranty, which was discontinued in 2019 and only covered Mopar vehicles. It covered EVERYTHING from a function standpoint. I had it on my Power Wagon, and is something I miss.

Anything else that claims to be Lifetime is, to my knowledge, either a gimmick or has a way out for the warranty company.

My inlaws bought a Cadillac some years back, with the Northstar, and were sold an extended warranty from the dealer (they could use it at any mechanic). At about 110k it sucked a headgasket. Diagnosis was that one of the threaded inserts in the block, that was there by GM design, pulled out of the aluminum. The warranty company considered that a fastener and denied coverage - it was in their fine print, that even factory-installed threaded inserts were considered fasteners, and fasteners weren't covered.

If you want an extended warranty, get a Ford ESP. For Ford vehicles, it's the only one worth the money. It's more of an insurance policy because there is a deductible and they can be pricey, you may never need it, but if you do it doesn't take a lot to make it pay for itself.

 

a local dealer here offered that on radio so looked into it, read the fine print, basically if they can tell it's been down muddy lease roads maybe even wet gravel roads they can void it....among other things, basically needs to be a pavement queen or best of luck, just read the whole thing when you get a chance, i promptly wrote off the idea and bought from my normal dealer...i do too much hunting and fishing in forestry stuff so i'd get screwed for sure, they have a lot of 'outs' built into the fine print