Anything scarier than running out of warranty... which extended warranty to get (if any)?

[Kevin Scarbel]

Our Bronco is the first vehicle we have owned that actually had a warranty.

Never owned a vehicle as new as it either.

We did have a couple issues that were resolved under warranty and the ongoing window rattle has been ongoing long enough it has survive beyond the warranty because Ford has yet to figure out a fix for it.

For meat and tater major powertrain/electronic stuff it has been very solid so far though (knocking on wood)

Have you pulled the 2 rubber plugs (covers) at the bottom of the door with the rattle and confirmed that both window regulator mounting studs (you'll immediately see them) have nuts on them?
My passenger door window rattle was......the front stud lacking a nut. I ordered a nut from Ford (special flange nut) and problem was immediately solved.

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[BobN - USAF]

I had a 2020 Colorado ZR2 Bison Diesel that I loved. Until it let me down a couple of times. Failure to start and then failure to continue to run under load. The first one might have been user error, living a small light on and not driving it daily. The other was some sensor fault. Anyway since my warranty was about to expire I went with Carshield. I asked my dealer about it and they said they wouldn't work with them because they would insist on sending in "refurbished" parts, etc. So I canceled it and just paid my self what I was paying Cardshield to prepare. But then I decided it was time for the Bronco. Bought without an extended warranty. Received an offer from Ford after the fact and then I went for the extended warranty, paid monthly. It was the cheapest option but apparently, here in Florida, I can't purchase from out of state dealers that sell at a discount. Your mileage may vary.

 

[AttackGuy64]

My 88 ranger 4-cyl, my 02 4-cyl, my 06 v-6 mustang and my 16 fusion hybrid. All american made. My 69 4-cyl Cortina, my 73 4-cyl Capri and my 76 v-6 Capri never had the issue. Any other snarky remarks?

Yes, an Audi or BMW running out of warranty.

Fords are relatively simple and the parts and dealership costs are comparatively low.

Extended warranties make money for the warranty companies - like most "insurance policies", they'll reassuring when you need them, but trust the actuaries have done research to assure them that the majority of customers will collectively spend more on the warranties than the amounts they ultimately pay out.

Preach. If you own an Audi and the warranty expires, drive to the nearest dealership and trade it in. You are playing with impending Doom.

 

[Fordified1]

Preach. If you own an Audi and the warranty expires, drive to the nearest dealership and trade it in. You are playing with impending Doom.

Or don’t buy an Audi. My sis and bro in law are always trying to pose like they are well to do and bought one. It was so unreliable that they would borrow the other sis inlaw’s Explorer when they had to travel out of state.
I’m guilty of buying some BMW’s, but they were already depreciated when I bought them and were actually good cars, except for the last one which had cooling issues and lost a ZF transmission. Previously they had GM auto trannys. Almost screwed up and bought an X5 until I read about their ZF trans problems.

 

[AttackGuy64]

Or don’t buy an Audi. My sis and bro in law are always trying to pose like they are well to do and bought one. It was so unreliable that they would borrow the other sis inlaw’s Explorer when they had to travel out of state.
I’m guilty of buying some BMW’s, but they were already depreciated when I bought them and were actually good cars, except for the last one which had cooling issues and lost a ZF transmission. Previously they had GM auto trannys. Almost screwed up and bought an X5 until I read about their ZF trans problems.

I had several BMWs, a Mercedes, and a Jag while living in Europe. The Mercedes was the most reliable of all of them. The Jag died a horrible death on the side of the road when the wiring under the hood caught fire. The Audi was an impulse buy because I thought I needed an RS5. Taking that car to the dealer was stupid expensive for routine maintenance. Luckily, nothing broke while it was in my name.

 

[AreUgettingEnufCaffeine]

First, Had to ask urban dictionary if I'm a Homer..Nope, did a chuckle.
Not afraid of warranty expirations.
I say drive it til you hate it, then move on to the next, Don't be skerred of sh*t lol

 

[broncobase1]

Is there anything scarier than a Ford running out of warranty? I'm reaching that point and I really don't know what to do. Keep the Bronco and get extended warranty or just sell it?

What would you do and if you get an extended warranty which one would you go for?

Edit: If you're a homer please exclude yourself. Thanks!

If you're scared of it why did you get it? Sounds like a troll to me!

 

[wjtinfwb]

Is there anything scarier than a Ford running out of warranty? I'm reaching that point and I really don't know what to do. Keep the Bronco and get extended warranty or just sell it?

What would you do and if you get an extended warranty which one would you go for?

Edit: If you're a homer please exclude yourself. Thanks!

4 Ford's in the household, the Bronco is new and no issues in the first 12 mo. The Excursion in an '02 4x4 V10 and has cost me almost nothing in 22 years and 200k miles. The Body Security Module just died, a few non-essential accessories don't work. I'll get it fixed eventually. '04 Navigator just sold, one air spring cylinder replacement was less than $200, otherwise nothing in 19 years and 150k. '16 Focus ST has 75k on it and has required one new battery and front brake pads. It's my son's car and has been otherwise bulletproof despite being flogged daily. I am concerned the insane amount of electronics in the Bronco will be troublesome as they age and that would be true of all makes. And I'm positive Electronic issues will be expensive to fix. Since most practical extended warranty's are expired after 7 years, I'm betting the electronics hold up for that long and I'm rolling the dice on year 8 and beyond.

 

[Los]

Buying an extended warranty is a game of chance, either you will need it or you won't, just like buying auto insurance. Seeing all of the negative feedback on the forum about the bronco and also being a new vehicle on the market, I decided as many of you did on purchasing a warranty, 80k miles. I'm going on almost 20k miles on my WT, and so far it's all peaches, and yes I do go off road every so often. You know that the dealer knows when shit starts breaking down, so therefore they offer you a warranty that will expire before your bronco starts breaking down, but with TLC you can make your wheels drive a little longer, there will always be some type of repair required as time goes by, if you are concern about your warranty expiring, then you should lease instead, no worries then. Nothing last forever... peace

 

[Onestepmore]

Is there anything scarier than a Ford running out of warranty? I'm reaching that point and I really don't know what to do. Keep the Bronco and get extended warranty or just sell it?

What would you do and if you get an extended warranty which one would you go for?

Edit: If you're a homer please exclude yourself. Thanks!

I understand completely!!! I did buy the extended warranty for 2023 Bablands 2 door Sasquatch…there is just way too much electronics on them…in my opinion. 150k or ten years is comforting. My wife has a Volvo and we Got the extended warranty which is the first in my life at 69…her heater control board quit working…$2,500 to repair…was covered! Just a thought and I hope it helps…I love my Bronco…if you do your get it

 

[HOSSMAN]

Ford ESP's only, Premium Care.

I am sure the other Service Managers and Directors on here would say the same thing too, dealing with 3rd party ones is becoming a bigger joke.

 

[userdude]

Extended warranties make money for the warranty companies - like most "insurance policies", they'll reassuring when you need them, but trust the actuaries have done research to assure them that the majority of customers will collectively spend more on the warranties than the amounts they ultimately pay out.

Insurance isn't supposed to work that way, at least in a regulated market. Insurance should be an offset for reasonable future losses given the financials and the risk portfolio.

The issue is a warranty isn't really insurance for "us"; it's a claim against the manufacturer's insurance on behalf of the purchaser. So the manufacturer knows about how many are going to fail and need to be replaced, within a program that will (ostensibly) not have revenue associated with it. The SP/ESP warranty covers defects, in other words.

Ford's only willing to make 3-5 years available on warranty because either the parts won't last much longer, or there isn't a gain in sales associated with the bigger downside risk of missing badly on forecasts. Ford funds the warranty program as a captive insurer, I assume, but they still have to set that cash aside for claims until some date in time. Three years? Six years?

So when you're buying into a manufacturer's warranty, assume you're paying the additional equivalent missing premium that Ford opted not to pay; e.g., a 7yr extended warranty is really four years (and you can get a refund, even after it starts, up to a point). What Grainger is probably selling is likely closest to the premium cost; they may make volume discounts or see it as marketing to break even or lose a little.

What's interesting for me is looking at Grainger's cost table and see that at 7yr/100k miles, all the sudden the costs starts increasing faster. Wonder what they see happening here...

 

[userdude]

The Jag died a horrible death on the side of the road when the wiring under the hood caught fire.

So the ol' saw about British electrical wiring is true... lol

 

[Montana Bronco]

I got the Ford extended warranty from Granger.

 

[FJCruiser]

My thought on this has more to do with reliability “in general” and not a specific part. “Systems” (and a car is a system no different than a refrigerator or TV set), generally have a “bath tub” curve for failures. Lots of issues at the start, a long period of reliability with few issues and then critical failures at the end of the product’s life.

Usually the manufacturer warranty covers the early-life failures and under “normal” usage you should be OK after that for a good while, other than wear-out stuff.

you can see this in good brands like Honda and Toyota. Accords and Corollas last forever. It’s been awhile since I owned a Honda, but basically for them, change the oil every 3000 miles and change the rubber timing belt at 60k miles and you were good to go for a long time. Mine lasted almost 300k miles.

Then you have your not so good brands like Range Rover, Fiat, and Ford (sayings like Fix it again Tony and Found on Road Dead don’t just appear out of nowhere)

for these brands, in general, they suffer from a lot of “issues” that pop up up in what should be the long period of reliability and after the warranty expires and until the product reaches an eventual end of life (or major wear repair like a top end engine rebuild)

for a brand new model like the 6G Bronco and Ford’s less than stellar quality reputation, I opted for the 8 year extended warranty. I prefer to keep my cars a long time. The Bronco is only my 3rd car and the prior 2 went 18 years and 20 years respectively and I still have the 20 year car.

I am hoping there isn’t a really bad design flaw that will just be a money pit that will persist over time. I just want to be covered for things that fail prematurely.

One example of a bad design flaw in my E46 BMW is the cooling system. It just flat out becomes a time bomb around 90k miles and most if not all of it needs to be replaced at a cost of $2000. It sucks but that is just a horrible design decision by BMW and even the replacement parts suffer from the same fate. Any new owner who buys an E46 without detailed service records or doesn't immediately replace the whole cooling system is asking for trouble. That’s how bad this design flaw is.

Since I plan on keeping my bronco for a long time, the extended warranty was a reasonable insurance policy to cover me from new model issues and Ford’s (historical) poor record of quality. My hope is that the stuff that fails early will in fact fail early and get replaced for free and then I have some data to work off of to know what to watch for in the future and maybe even learn how to fix it myself instead of an overpriced dealer.

You bought a FORD. That says a lot. I also keep vehicles as long as possible. I have a 2011 FJ Cruiser at 45K miles! All maintenance done and recorded. Been coveting these Broncos as they stopped production of my truck years ago.

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