Critic Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 That's what I was thinking Dean. in talking with friends as to why you bought the cheapest car on the road, why wouldn't you try to help justify it by adding, well it has a 15 year warranty too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 That's what I was thinking Dean. in talking with friends as to why you bought the cheapest car on the road, why wouldn't you try to help justify it by adding, well it has a 15 year warranty too. ZACKLY....forget bout Five Stars, Fuel economy, styling, conveinience, ride, drive, handling....ITS ALL ABOUT THE WARRANTY.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmm55 Posted December 19, 2008 Share Posted December 19, 2008 Certainly, at least sometimes, extending the warranty is a huge RED flag to problem areas.....ie the Vega. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/chevrolet-vega5.htm More significant, sales of the 1975 Chevrolet Vega sunk badly as potential customers became aware of quality and reliability woes. Other small cars were selling strongly in the wake of the fuel crisis, but not Vegas. Announcement of a five-year/60,000-mile engine warranty at midyear helped, but not enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpd80 Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 always love comparison shoppers asking what the warraties are....followed usually but "But Dodge has....." followed by my "and thats why youre BUYING a Ford ?.....".....it is NOT an issue in the SLIGHTEST.... The only reason a manufacturer should ever offer an extended warranty is to lock the buyer into dealer servicing agreements. Without that, everything else is secondary and a cost burden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matthewq4b Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) Wanna attract buyers to hell with the extended warranties that have the potential creating pissed off customers when reg mait is not performed. Instead offer Reg maintenance services free of charge for labour or parts (one or the other), for 4 or 5 years (mileage limited). Oil changes trans flushes and what ever else falls under scheduled mait etc are parts or labour cost only. Plus make the first year of ownership(mileage limited) scheduled service oil changes etc just plain free. These additional costs can easily added in the initial purchase price with out adversely affecting purchase price This will be a big selling feature for potential buyers . As it lowers the over all cost of ownership. Will allow dealers to catch potential problems before they become an actual issue. Keeping the customer happy with the product. Keeps the customer familiar with the Ford dealer and new product. The customer will feel like they are being taken care of. It should increase resale value as most vehicles will be nothing but dealer serviced (a selling point for used cars) And best of all the customer will have some thing to brag about to family and friends, when the Yota and Honda owner is complaining about the cost of scheduled mait Lets face it the majority of the public are challenged enough just to put gas in their vehicle. This kind of customer care would go along way to restoring faith in the brand and to build good will and make the over experience of ownership more pleasant and a lot less stressfully. Also Ford could play the owning a new vehicle is expensive enough and we are making it easier in these tough times card. The dealer base will have to be included and educated in better customer care. Like it or not they are the face of the Ford Motor Company. As they are who the customer deals with from initial purchase through service and mait and trade in (if is traded in to them). I think that this would go a lot further in boosting sales than increasing warranties. And should generate more future repeat sales. Matthew Edited December 20, 2008 by matthewq4b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Reynolds Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Matt, that's the best idea I've heard in a very long time. In fact VW recently trimmed down their warranty and added scheduled maint. to all of their vehicles sold stateside. On a side note unrelated to your comments, what does the fact that a car is 'safe' have to do with extending a warranty. Also Fusion/Milan sales are biting into someone's market share, as all of these folks can not be strictly Ford customers. For the record, Ford and GM increased their warranties in a few key areas and from what I can tell the flood gates didn't open. As far as Hyundai/Kia is concerned, I'm sure the warranties have helped those brand's images but I think you some of you are placing entirely too much emphasis on that. A lot of what those brands have achieved can be attributed more so to a product that is a lot more desirable, because slapping an extra long warranty to marginal product isn't going to do much at all to move it. If you want a great example check out the Sonata, or even better the Entourage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patate Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 The warranty is a great argument for car dealers. A friend of mine used to sell Toyotas (yeah...) here in Montreal, and he wished Toyota gave a better drivetrain warranty because it always gives the " well. it comes with a X year X miles warranty in case something goes wrong" argument. He often lost sales because customers were afraid something would eventually break. GM's warranty probably hasn't hurt them. Of course, everything we say here is pure speculation, because we do not have the numbers of sale due to the warranty, and we don't have the cost of the warranty works. Now of course, in order to have your guarantee, you have to do your maintenance checkup at the dealer, which is somewhat a good way of giving them money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noah Harbinger Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Also, many parts will fail in 10 years like heater core, electric motors, and such. That gets mighty expensive for manufacturer to fix and Domestics don't need that expense right now. The Koreans are carpetbaggers anyway and if they want to cut off their nose to make it here, let them. It costs them extra money and they end up pissing off a lot of customers who don't maintain their vehicles and ruin their powertrains with no reimbursement. It probably results in more lawsuits also as unhappy customers take them to court. You know the 10/100 warranty is only powertrain, right? Also it is not transferred to the second owner - and how many people keep their cars 10 years? The bumper-to-bumper warranty is 6/60... Still good, but with milage being the limiting factor, less than twice as good as the domestics/Japanese. They know what they're doing... Mostly PR. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2005Explorer Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Personally I believe that the current 5/60 on Ford/Mercury and the 6/70 on Lincoln should be a bumper-to-bumper. That would be a class leading warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron W. Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 Personally I believe that the current 5/60 on Ford/Mercury and the 6/70 on Lincoln should be a bumper-to-bumper. That would be a class leading warranty. If F/L/M did that there would need to be an awfully long list of wear items that would not be included. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retropia Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 I tend to buy a new car and keep it for 8 or 10 years, and I don't put that many miles on it. A longer warranty may not be as important to someone who only keeps his car 3-5 years. If a car doesn't have a sterling quality reputation, I factor an extended warranty into the equation. When I was shopping Escape/Tribute in 2001, the only way I would have bought one was if I also bought an extended warranty. They had so many problems that first year. Likewise, when I was shopping Mazda 6 in 2005, although they were considerably better than first year Escapes, I figured I'd need to purchase an extended warranty if I decided to buy one. If all Fords came with at least a 10-year, 100,000-mile powertrain warranty, that would be a powerful incentive for me to consider buying a Ford product without buying an extended warranty. But I'm willing to admit I'm not the average car buyer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joihan777 Posted December 20, 2008 Share Posted December 20, 2008 (edited) STOP...warrantys do NOT sell the car........it did NOTHING for Hyundai, warranties rate LOW on peoples buying checklists......dealer down the road just went POOF!...besides Hyundai NEEDED that type of warranty to get over a well deserved prior reputation.... WHOA, I think you're dead wrong there Dean. I personally know people who gambled on Hyundai 'back in the day' when that warranty was ALL Hyundai had! Why else would they have bought one? There were other makes for just a little more $ on the dealer lot next door. The warranty was a deal maker. You're right about needing it because of the reputation of the first Excels that came here that made the Yugo's look good. But I'm sorry my friend, among your average, ignorant, American masses too many people think Ford is nearly as bad! SOOOO many people I ask think Ford has the worst reliability or are going to flip over and kill them. THAT is the reputation that Ford has among the ignorant masses. Maybe an extended warranty will help prove to people that Ford has improved their reliability. Maybe it won't. But Ford has to PROVE that they are reliable, and that warranty strategy did help Hyundai (at least in the beginning of their turnaround). How else can Ford prove their increasing reliability TODAY? They need to do it ASAP and re-educate the ignoarant hordes. Ford's fantastic ext. warranty on their CPO cars is what got me into my Mustang, otherwise I would have held out out in my munchkin Rabbit! Edit: Matts idea sounds pretty good. It offers to increase customer trust while keeping warranty repair costs down. It also benefits Ford by giving the customers, waiting in the lounge, a chance to peruse the newest offerings or just say "hi" to the salesman. It also gives the dealership a small but steady stream of work, increasing the mechanic/hours and providing a better buffer so mechanics don't need to be idled or layed off. Matt's idea seems very 'win-win'. Edited December 20, 2008 by joihan777 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT-Keith Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 Given Ford's claim to the world that their quality is "equal to Honda and Toyota", I think Ford should come out next year with a 10 yr 100k warranty across the fleet. Car buyers need a little more incentive to buy American. They have no brand loyalty...or if they do its certainly not to Detroit. It worked for Hyundai. I'm not sure if anyone has said this but, long warranties are not indicative of quality - There are certain stipulations that you must adhere to if you want a corporation to honor it in full. If you bring your brand new F-150 back to the dealer and the transmission is knocking after only 10,000 miles logged on the odometer, no surprise would it be if they don't cover the cost of getting it fixed. Ford sold 10mln vehicles worldwide last year, can you imagine how expensive it is to honor even a fraction of those cars for 3 years, much less a DECADE? Hyundai can offer full warranties because they don't sell in comparison. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theDuff Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 (edited) "If you bring your brand new F-150 back to the dealer and the transmission is knocking after only 10,000 miles logged on the odometer, no surprise would it be if they don't cover the cost of getting it fixed." Do you have experience with this? I am a mechanic at a Ford dealer and let me say this is not the case. Unless there is complete owner negligence bumper to bumper is honored. Sometimes the customer needs to be told it is a normal charactaristic of the vehicle though. If you are having problems getting a vehicle repaired under base warranty at no charge to you find another dealer. Obviously that dealer doesn't like warranty work. (I could possibly see why, it pays about half of what you have in it a lot of times.) Edited December 21, 2008 by theDuff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 We can use this Toyota like spin.... ahem... "Well, Ford doesn't need a longer warranty because they'll be reliable long after it expires".... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timmm55 Posted December 21, 2008 Share Posted December 21, 2008 If you bring your brand new F-150 back to the dealer and the transmission is knocking after only 10,000 miles logged on the odometer..... Transmission knock??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Transmission knock??? Must be low on bumper fluid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJensen Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 Surprised no one mentioned this: GM has a better warranty than Ford. Hasn't helped them, has it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GT-Keith Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 "If you bring your brand new F-150 back to the dealer and the transmission is knocking after only 10,000 miles logged on the odometer, no surprise would it be if they don't cover the cost of getting it fixed." Do you have experience with this? I am a mechanic at a Ford dealer and let me say this is not the case. Unless there is complete owner negligence bumper to bumper is honored. Sometimes the customer needs to be told it is a normal charactaristic of the vehicle though. If you are having problems getting a vehicle repaired under base warranty at no charge to you find another dealer. Obviously that dealer doesn't like warranty work. (I could possibly see why, it pays about half of what you have in it a lot of times.) I was just speaking in a hypothetical sense - There has to be signs for when the owner misused his/her vehicle for them not to cover it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
battyr Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 A warrenty is only as good as the company offering it. If a part fails in the first 3 month, it is likely because it was faulty and should be covered with no question. Any company should be able to design and test to eliminate most of these problems. If a part fails after 10 years, you really don't know if it was a design problem, or abuse by the owner. Does the manufacturer cover it under warrenty? Ford either needs to make the cars cheaper to cover the cost of warrenty, or only cover things that can be proven to be defective. If Ford does not cover any questionable warrenty claims, then the warrenty has no value to the consumer. A 10 year warrenty only has value to a company that has no other way to prove their quality to the consumer. I think JD Powers and Consumer Report are better ways to convince the customer that your cars have quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PREMiERdrum Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 "Because they know all they sold ya was a guaranteed piece of shit. That's all it is, isn't it? Hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it guaranteed, I will. I got spare time. But for now, for your customer's sake, for your daughter's sake, ya might wanna think about buying a quality product from me." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ANTAUS Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I do know someone with a Kia. And this is what their case was... "Well I got it because if the warranty is that long, then it must be good, and it's Japanese, so it must be good"... (They knew nothing about cars). Then a month later... "Well, I got it because if something goes wrong, like now, then they'll cover it"... Then a month after that... "Well I've had a few things go wrong and they have covered it"... Weeks later... 'Its a good long warranty, already they have fixed 8 things for me"... Weeks later... "Ok, why is it that every few weeks I gotta go fix something, I'm getting tired of seeing the dealership?!" Weeks later... "Oh my God, I'm so freaken tired of having to spend my weekends at the dealership, this is annoying, I dont care how long the warrranty is?!" Weeks later... "I'm never buying this crap again, I'm in the dealership a few times a month, this is NOT normal, what was I thinking? During this year my husbands Malibu has never seen the shop yet and I made fun of what he had, after I finish paying it off I'm getting something else!"... Thats usually what I hear from many... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fordmantpw Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 "I'm never buying this crap again, I'm in the dealership a few times a month, this is NOT normal, what was I thinking? During this year my husbands Malibu has never seen the shop yet and I made fun of what he had... Can't be true...imports are da bomb! :rolleyes: after I finish paying it off I'm getting something else!"... And what she has won't be worth a dime on trade-in...even with that super-duper-never-run-out-cause-you-can-never-get-it-out-of-the-shop-long-enough-to-put-miles-on-it warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
V8-X Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 I think the 3/36 Ford offers is good. Sure a nice 4/48 or 5/60 would be nice, but not a deal breaker with me either way. Got an ESP on my 06 F150 at purchase as a just in case. My experience with Ford products is I'll more than likely won't need it, but it's simply another form of insurance to me. Only problematic Ford I've owned was my '99 Explorer (can you say money pit), otherwise my Fords (all Rangers & F150s) have been flawless and why I keep coming back. I agree with Matt, entice me with the say the Works Package for a year or two rather than a longer warranty. Only a year of this service may not be worth it to me though, since the recommended oil changes are every 5K/5Mo, which I put 700-750 miles on the 150 per month. I'd only get 2 oil changes in the first year ($80-$100 value) and the 2 year coverage would at least be a little better for my needs. Like mentioned prior, I think Fords biggest hurdle is getting over the quality/reliability misconception. I'm sure there are many many people that have been burned by Ford products that will never drive one again, and rightfully so. But there are way too many people I've spoken to or met that dog Ford and every product they've ever produced, even though they have never owned or driven and most haven't even rode in a Ford before. They read up about these lemon Pintos and Tempos and think that's all Ford is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deanh Posted December 22, 2008 Share Posted December 22, 2008 (edited) bottom line...a better warranty does NOT mean better product....or happier ownership.... Edited December 22, 2008 by Deanh Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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