Warranty Plan for the Mustang GT

[Ron Jeremy]

Warranty WORRIES for the Mustang GT

I own a 2001 Mustang GT which I purchased brand new in August 2001. Since I bought this car I have not been driving it much at all. This vehicle currently has only 1,279 miles on it. I also own another Mustang which is a 2002 V6 Mustang that I am driving as my daily driver. This is why my 2001 GT has such low miles on it.

I currently have almost 19,000 miles on my daily driver 2002 V6 Mustang. The warranty on my 2002 V6 Mustang will expire in 1 year in January 2005.

AND the warranty on my 2001 GT will EXPIRE in August 2004.

What I want to do is to hold on to the 2001 GT for a longer period of time (for about 4 to 5 years longer from right now) than I do the V6 Mustang. I want to start driving my GT more than I am now. I want to drive it at least 50%-60% of the time and to drive my V6 Mustang much less than I do right now. In 4 years from now I want to buy a brand new Cobra Mustang. I would want to trade-in and sell my 2002 V6 Mustang for a brand new Cobra and keep my 2001 GT for a few more years.

Now this is what I need to know:

I am looking to purchase the Ford Extended Service Plan. The particular plan which I want to buy is the 7 year and 100,000 mile "New Premium Plan" which is the top of the line extended warranty plan that Ford currently has. I figure that I will have 4 1/2 years (7 year of extended warranty plan minus 2 1/2 years of current ownership which has already passed = 4 1/2 years balance left on extended warranty) plus 98,721 miles (100,000 miles total coverage minus 1,279 current miles on my car = 98,721 miles balance left on the extended warranty) left on my warranty if I buy this Ford Extended Warranty Service plan. So, this will allow me to put more miles on my GT and keep it longer and also not have to worry about transmission, engine and other problems which could arise which will cost a fortune to fix.

This is where I am not sure and don't know what to do: I have 2 alternatives here.
The 1st choice is:

Buy the warranty directly from Ford corporate. This Ford extended warranty plan costs a total of $2,930 with a $50 deductible per repair and I will pay 0% interest for up to 17 months maximum with a monthly premium as low as $155.12 per month for 17 months. There is NO INTEREST for the life of the 17 months of the loan payments. If I decide to get this plan I will have to get it directly thru Ford corporate offices from the www.ford.com website. With this particular plan, when I divided the $2,930 by 17 months, I got a total monthly payment of $172.35. I got MORE per month payments than what the Ford corporate website quoted online. Could this mean that I would need to put down around $292.96 in order for the monthly balance to be $155.12 each month for 17 months? The Ford corporate website does NOT say anything about a lumpsum downpayment on their website. I want to keep the monthly payment no more than $155.12 per month.

The 2nd choice is:

Buy the warranty from a Ford website which is a Ford dealer down in Connecticut which is the "ONLY" Ford dealer authorized by Ford Corporate offices to sell this SAME EXACT warranty online. Their website address is: www.fordwarrantys.com. This online Ford dealer has a cheaper price on the same 7 year/100,000 mile Ford extended warranty. Their price is $2350 with a $50 deductible per repair with their discount price. BUT there's a catch here. This warranty is interest free for only 3 months. After the 3 months are over, the interest is 20% per year and you have to sign up for a Ford Credit card. The monthly payments are put on the Ford credit card and there will be monthly interest charged on each payment. With this plan the dealer was unable to tell me what the length of time the loan will be up to the time it will be paid off. I beleive that this means that the monthly payments with this plan can extend for many years like a balance from a regular credit card. I am weary about this 2nd choice because I don't exactly know what my monthly payments will be with the 20% annual interest rate if I extend the payments to no more than 18 months. I want to have the balance paid off in exactly 18 months if I choose this 2nd choice.

I would like to know from the people in here which of these 2 choices will be CHEAPER and also save me some money. I don't know which one to get here. Please keep in mind that I don't want more than 17 - 18 months in payments and that I don't want my monthly payments to be NO MORE than $155.00. If I can have monthly payments LESS than $155 for 17 - 18 months that will even be better. Please tell me which choice is the BEST one and most affordable one which I should make. I wouldn't be asking this if I wasn't afraid that my 2001 very low mileage GT will start having problems. I know that the Mustang GT's have transmission, front end, rear end, and other problems as time goes on. I want to be sure that if something breaks within the next 4 1/2 years on my GT that it will be covered 100% by Ford with their extended warranty. Please keep in mind that I don't care about buying a warranty for my V6 Mustang. I will be driving it less and I want to trade it in within the next 4 years for the new Cobra.

I only want to keep my GT for a long time and to also be able to rack up the miles on it (up to 22,000 miles per year in heavy driving) without worrying about things costing a fortune to fix when they break. Please don't change the subject or steer in a different direction to try and convince me to get a warranty with less years on it and less miles. I ONLY want to purchase the 7 Year/100,000 Mile Premium Care Extended Ford Warranty and NOTHING LESS than that.

Please tell me which choice is BETTER and CHEAPER. Thank you.

 

[ADRENLN]

im not sure which choice would be cheaper for you. im also starting to consider the extended warrenty( 02 gt 7,300miles that i plan on keeping). i know the mustangs have some problems, but ford don't ever want to fix crap. all they do is make up excuses for the problem and blam it on any modifications to the car. its alot of money to put out for them to tell you they are not going to fix the car anyway. if the motoe blows up or if the tranny goes then i guess it would be worth it. i depends on what you are going to do with the car. if you are going to keep it like me, then when somthing breaks just replace it with high performance parts, like a tko tranny. this still costs a crapload and you might not be ready to shell out the money at the time out it breaking. a very hard choice

good luck choosing i don't know what im going to do yet either.

 

[n0v8or]

I looked at the Ford.com com quotes and you are correct, they make no mention of where the missing $292.96 comes from. I think it is prudent to assume it will be a down payment. There is no way they will sell you the policy in installments for less than the quoted $2930. The use of "as low as" in a quote makes it worthless, in my opinion.

If you can buy the $2350 policy with a single cash payment, it will be a better deal and meet your objectives. I checked a few big bank websites, and they quote a 10% annual interest rate for an unsecured loan. $2350 can be amortized over 17 months at 10%/yr (0.8333%/month) with a monthy payment of $148.83.

If you take a bank loan to buy policy #2, it would seem you could meet your $155/month objective. If you own a home any borrow the money against equity, interest rates are even lower, plus the interest paid will be tax-deductable.

 

[Fast Eddie 2k1]

Go with the plan at your Ford dealer/corporate. Much safer trust me. I bought from a Web site (Warranty Gold) and they went bankrupt before I ever had an opportunity to use it. Stay with Ford corporate. Don't deal with any one else, no matter what they say about being related to Ford. There that's my opinion.

 

[jms281gt]

Personally I would go with the plan also. I have used Fords service dept twice and both times they have been courteous and fixed the problem without hassle with a next day turn over. Maybe a different dealership may be the answer to some saying they don't want to honor their warranty. I have a few mods. and this was never an issue. The first time my throw-out bearing in my t-45 went bad and the second my drivers side wheel bearing.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

I decided to go with the Ford Corporate 7 Year/100,000 Mile ESP New Premium Care Extended Warranty with a $50 deductible. This is the TOP OF THE LINE extended warranty which Ford corporate offers.

I called BOTH Ford Corporate and the online Lombard Ford Dealership in Connecticut which lists themselves as www.fordwarrantys.com on the internet.

As for the Ford dealership (www.fordwarrantys.com), they told me that if I buy thru them they would be financing the Extended Warranty thru Ford GE Capital Credit Card. The Ford dealership's discounted price is $2,350 for a 7 Year/100,000 mile Premium Care Extended Warranty thru Ford. The catch here is that you have to pay this whole $2,350 amount off within 90 days to not get charged any interest on it. If you don't pay it off within the 90 days, it automatically goes on the Ford GE Capital Credit Card and they will start charging you accrued interest on the first 90 days. PLUS, they also charge ongoing interest after this time period for as long as you have a balance. The annual interest rate for this Ford Credit Card is 21% which is HIGHWAY ROBBERY. This means that the quoted price of $2,350 will BALLOON to over $3,000+ if you only send in minimum payments of $30-$40 each month and if you don't pay off the balance within 18 months. Also, the Ford GE Capital Credit Card does not have a set time limit for paying off the warranty's balance. This means that one can continue to make monthly payments and take a much longer time (like 3 to 5 years) paying off the balance amount. This means that you will eventually pay over $3,000+ for this warranty with the high 21% interest rate.

On the other hand, the Premium Care Extended Warranty which is sold thru Ford corporate is more reasonable. Ford NEVER charges any interest (0% interest) on this plan. Their plan costs $2,930 and they give you a choice of paying off the $2,930 thru a 5 month, 11 month or a 17 month monthly payment plan schedule. Ford corporate requires you to put down AT LEAST 10% of the cost of the warranty (which is $293). I chose the 17 month payment plan which comes out to $155.12 per month for 17 months. If I put down more than $293 then it will be lower. There are no penalties if you want to pay off the balance before the 17 month period. Another good thing about this Ford corporate warranty is that you can cancel it anytime that you want to if you feel like you cannot afford it or if you don't want to pay for the extended warranty anymore or if you don't want to have the extended warranty for your car anymore if you sell your car. Ford will not tell you that you still owe an outstanding balance for the warranty if you want to cancel the warranty anytime. This extended warranty is also transferrable if you sell your car.

I gave much thought to this and I decided to buy and to go with the Ford Corporate New Premium Care 7 Year/100,000 Mile extended warranty with the $50 deductible. Ford processed my extended warranty over the telephone for me. They also gave me payment options for the extended warranty. I decided that I wanted Ford to bill me every month for the next 18 months. I will be giving them the 10% down (which is $293) that they require for the first month and then my monthly payments will be $155.12 per month for 17 months. Even though the price of the Ford Corporate Warranty is at the full price of $2,930, I will be saving money because I will not be paying any interest on the balance. I still think that this Ford extended warranty is rather expensive, BUT I know that I will be paying a lot more money for repairs if anything like the transmission, engine, computer, suspension, brake, A/C, electrical, steering, or brake components break down on my Mustang GT.

I figure that since my vehicle currently has only 1,279 original miles on it, I still have another 98,721 miles to go and/or another 4 1/2 years left over before the Ford extended warranty runs out (whichever comes first). I think that the Ford extended warranty will be beneficial to me ONLY because of the ultra-low mileage on my car. Also, I would never have bought the Ford extended warranty for $2930 if I had high miles on my car and if I didn't want to keep it for a longer period of time. It would NOT be worth it.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

What do you think about the Ford warranty plan which I bought?

 

[COramprat]

I have my doubts about some of these plans. I have never had a major problem with any of my cars inside of 100,000 miles. If you take care of them they take care of you. If you have a credit union they have some good deals also on extended warrenties. Another tip is when you buy a new or used car and they offer you a plan negotiate that too. The price they give you is not set in stone. I got them to come down 150 bucks on one only to turn it down at signing time just to see if I could get it cheaper.

 

[00gtconv]

shop

Shop the plan you want on the internet and in the phone book; go to super pages. Then go back to your local dealer and ask them to match the best price.

I found the lowest deal on an extended plan $1,250 wih a 0 deduct. 7yrs 100,000 from my current miles;ie... 117,000 7yrs from last year on my 2000 gt.

I did not purcase the ford plan because the dealership, 35 years old, did not care for the plan."SPEEK TO YOUR LOCAL SERVICE MANAGER." The ford plan pays them at a lower rate. If the my company goes broke (it is insured) I will be transfered to a new plan thru the dealership.

The ford plan is not like GMAC. All GM dealerships love selling GMAC because its a great plan at a good price . I had GMAC plan on my 1999 Surburban. I had a hard time finding a Ford dealership that wanted to sell me a Ford plan.

My current plan has paid 100% at different dealerships and the work gets done first because the dealership get paid at a higher rate.

I surfed the net and got the best brice. Then I went to the local (long standing)dealership and they matched the price. My car gets first service and i have had no problems; after all they sold me the warranty. There is a lot to be said for buying local.Again talk to your service manager.

I hope I havent messed up your thinking too much. i'm very happy with my plan.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

00gtConv,

I looked up on the internet and found that there are many extended warranty plans thru many other private companies other than Ford. I was going to purchase a 7 Year/100,000 mile plan from a private warranty company which I found for around $1,500, but after doing more research, I found that many of these private warranty companies can go out of business. Or they might not want to cover some things which can go wrong with the car. This is the ONLY reason why I ended up buying the Ford plan. Beleive me, I don't like paying $2930 for a 7 Year/100,000 mile Ford Extended warranty, but I am afraid that if I did otherwise with an unknown warranty company that I would run into problems if the company did not cover things that would break down on my car. And on top of that, I would be screwed they ever went bankrupt.

I am curious to find out WHICH WARRANTY COMPANY that you have for your 2000 GT? What's their name and how reputable are they? They might be cheaper, but lots of these other private warranty companies are not backed up by Ford and not only that, but the private warranty companies are the ones who will make the FINAL DECISION to whether or not they will cover your repairs if anything breaks on your car. I don't like it when a private warranty company is making a decision for whether or not they will pay for repairing my car when I have an extended warranty thru them. What can you say about this?

 

[DE-03GT]

be very leary of the private plans, especially warranty gold, they are just short of being criminals.

 

[Ron Jeremy]

That's why I bought directly from Ford Corporate. I have been hearing all sorts of bad things about many different types of Extended warranty plans. I am afraid that even though they are a lot cheaper (about $1,500 cheaper) than the Ford plan that they are not as good as the Ford plan. Lots of these private warranty companies do NOT meet their warranty promises and lots of them have gone bankrupt. So, I want to be safe than sorry. I'm paying more, but I have the BEST plan that's available thru Ford that's a bumper to bumper extended warranty. They cover over 500 items in the Premium Care Plan. Other plans like this thru private warranty companies cost $1,400-$1,600, but I don't think that they are as good as the Ford warranty.