Is it advisable to get extended warranty for my Ford Aspire

From March 2020, I've been doing weekly 500 km & I'll be continuing to drive 80-odd km daily for 5 days a week.

BHPian KING DYSP recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

I own a 2017 Ford Aspire Diesel which has run 51K km till now. The extended warranty is getting expired on October 30th, 2021. I've got a response from Ford to extend it further for another 2 years or 15,000 km for Rs 19,000.

From March 2020, I've been doing weekly 500 km & I'll be continuing to drive 80-odd km daily for 5 days a week.

Now, my queries are,

• After Ford's exit, is it advisable to purchase the extended warranty?
• Will Ford be able to honour my warranty in another 2 years?

I love my Aspire & intend to own it for another 10 years.

Your suggestion will be very helpful. Awaiting your valuable inputs...

Here's what BHPian condor had to say on the matter:

Yes. A manufacturer has to provide support for 7 years, as per rule. Your extended warranty would be for 2 years. So this will cover your car.

Here's what BHPian fazayal had to say on the matter:

Extended warranties are either given by the OEM or by a third party. There are many professional warranty companies that give warranties to OEM customers. In case of OEM extended warranty, it is end to end managed by OEM. In case of third party, they also get involved for approvals and payments.

If it's an OEM warranty it would make some sense as you would have to deal with Ford only and they should be in some obligation to give good service.

But if it's a third party extended warranty, both of these companies having no incentives to give good service to customer in terms of future business. They would reject claims on flimsiest of reasons and you would have nowhere to go.

However, if I was in your place, I would have avoided extended warranty even if it was from OEM.

Having worked in a dealership as a service advisor I can tell that warranties are given very liberally. Even if there is some doubt, warranties are given without much fuss. In fact dealer warranty in-charge has power to take a call for smaller value parts and only for high value parts they need approval from OEM which is also given most of the times without much fuss. Many a times as per terms and conditions in the warranty documents, parts should not be replaced but for customer satisfaction and bad word of mouth publicity, it's given. Even when there is no scope for giving warranty, OEM gives goodwill warranty to keep customer happy.

All this is done because if customer is unhappy, they would do bad publicity on social media and word of mouth which would affect future business of new car sales. No OEMs want it.

With no new car business, they would go strictly by the book and even find lame excuses to deny warranty.

Eg. Your car ran 1km more than recommended oil/filter change interval. No warranty for you.

Instead of 1 year you came to service your car after 367 days. No warranty for you.

You fitted an ICE from outside, no warranty for you for electrical parts.

You got scammed by petrol pump and changed coolant after they scared you that your coolant is bad, no warranty if anything happens to your engine or related system because that was not a company approved coolant.

You used additives or flush in an authorized dealership of Ford but that dealership is closed (many would close). Something happens to your engine, no warranty for you as you used unapproved additive. Not our problem if it was an ex Ford dealer.

Some issue with your steering or suspension, they find a small hit on the underbody somewhere. Warranty denied as it's caused due to physical damage.

Hope it's clear. Warranty policies would become very customer unfriendly once OEM leaves. More so for extended warranty as there might be another party involved.

Here's what GTO had to say on the matter:

Go for it. As I posted in the other thread, Ford cannot just abandon its lakhs of existing customers in India due to the power of social media and its global reputation. Plus, Ford India has time & again proven its corporate and social responsibilities. Ford will continue to have its engineering / R&D presence in India too.

Your running is high and 19k is a fair price to pay for peace-of-the-mind for the next 50,000 km you will drive in 2 years.

The dealership network might shrink, but there will be at least 1 - 2 workshops in the major cities. You won't have much of a problem, keeping your location in mind and proximity to Bangalore.

If the manufacturer completely exits India, you'll be left holding a piece of paper and no one to sue. Whether you get satisfactory support or not all depends on the philosophy, culture & commitment of the brand. Chevrolet handled it well (related thread), and so will Ford IMHO.

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