Are Maintenance Plans Worth It?

[ridenred333]

Seems some guys are confusing the extended warranty and the premium maintenance plan. Here is the link for the Ford maintenance plan if any of you are curious.

http://owner.ford.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=Owner/Page/ESPPremMaintDetail

The guy i spoke to told me that it is a savings of at least 60% if you buy the maintenance plan now. There is no option to buy it after, this HAS to be purchased when i pick up the vehicle today at 4. He says that in 7 years 150000 i would have to change the brakes at least 3 times which is close to 1000$ each time, so i guess looking at it that way it seems worth while. Then again he is a saleman and maybe i am not seeing clearly because of his smooth sales pitch.

Has anybody else been offered this and or taken it? Need to make a decision by 3pm...all the input i get would be helpful!

I really think someone is feeding you a line. It doesnt cost 1000 bucks for a brake service..

 

[Torper7]

Oil Life - Anyone recommend when an oil change should be done? I am at 4600+ miles and 56% oil life. Thanks.

 

[MikeFreas]

My issue with plans like this is I need to sit at the dealer or at least drop the vehicle off and leave it. I like doing my own maintenance in my garage and it's a perfect time to teach my son how to work on cars.

1K for brakes sounds slightly high to me but the with cost of labor at the dealer I wouldn't put it past them to charge that.

A good filter and 6qts of oil will set you back about 40 bucks. The plugs are good for at least 100k. Air filters cost about 20 bucks but I go with a K&N right up front and keep care of it.

If your not a mechanic or don't have the space it may be worth the money. Honestly, If you have the extra 3300 bucks I'd rather keep that money and put it in a CD or something that give it to Ford to keep.

 

[MikeFreas]

Oil Life - Anyone recommend when an oil change should be done? I am at 4600+ miles and 56% oil life. Thanks.

Many manufactures have got to 5 or 7k oil change intervals. One would think the computer will take driving conditions into account to compute that number but I'm not sure. If you are towing, driving in stop and go traffic most of the time or live in a really dusty environment than you may want to change it now. Otherwise change it when it tells you. Remember, document all maintenance done even if you do it. Helps the resale.

 

[Torper7]

Oil Life

I drive roughly 400 miles a week. Some stop and go traffic. Mostly highway. I was changing the oil in my previous vehicle every 5k miles and that seemed to work. However that was a passenger car. I live in the Northeast. With as much driving as i do, should i change every 3-4k?

I bought the truck on 5/24, thats 100 days ago, avg of 46 miles a day if my math is correct.

Better to change it early, than late i presume?

 

[simplysql]

Oil Changes

We have about 20K miles on our Explorer - first oil change was at 12K miles when the sensor went off. I researched high and low, spoke to some engineers at Ford, and am convinced that the days of 3K oil changes are gone forever.

 

[ridenred333]

I drive roughly 400 miles a week. Some stop and go traffic. Mostly highway. I was changing the oil in my previous vehicle every 5k miles and that seemed to work. However that was a passenger car. I live in the Northeast. With as much driving as i do, should i change every 3-4k?

I bought the truck on 5/24, thats 100 days ago, avg of 46 miles a day if my math is correct.

Better to change it early, than late i presume?

It depends on what kind of oil you are running if you run synthetic 7 to 10k at about five 5k change oil filter and just add what you lost. If semi-synthetic change at 5k with new filter. If conventional which ford doesnt recommend anymore for the new trucks 3k. Just my opion..

 

[Mike127]

I bought my 2012 LTD 302A 4WD w/ tow pkg last night.
Paid $900 for 6yrs/75,000 "Ford ESP Premium MAINTENACE Plan"
Which includes has a maximum No. of 7 service visits
I bargained an additional two free oil changes on the car purchase which will not subtract from the 7 visits allowed by my ESP
They tried to sell it to me for $1200 @ first, so I got them lower by $300.
I don't drive the car but on sundays so I didn't think I needed the 6yr/100k with 20 visits. I'm hoping no car would need that much maintenance.

It covers or not:
Scheduled Maintenance = Yes
Major Component coverage = No
Limited Wear item coverage = Yes
Deductible per repair visit = $0
First day rental option = Yes
Roadside Assistance = No
Transferable to subsequent Owner = Yes
FULL synthetic Oil option = Yes

They tried to sell me the Premium Extended warranty 7yr/125,000 for $2100-$2300... I promptly said "NO." I know everyone is getting them online at 1/2 that price. Hope this helps someone, those finance guys are ruthless when it comes to getting you to purchase the "extras"

 

[sgparnes]

Dealers are always opffering specials. I just got one in the mail...ValPac. $39.95 Syn blend oil chg, filter, tire rotation etc. Local Ford dealer.

 

[calb]

Maintenance plans generally can sense in Canada (subject to price) as I usually switch to winter tires, so that is about $50 a time, or $100 per year. Over 6 years, that is $600 before taking into account wear items like brakes, wipers, etc (I'm not counting oil, since that is usually something dealer will provide).