Mechanical Breakdown Insurance vs Extended Warranty

[Flgator]

My insurance company (geico) offers mechanical breakdown insurance with a $250 deductible which appears to overlap the ford extended warranty coverage. Was thinking about purchasing an extended warranty for the new truck on order but this has me considering another direction. Has anyone here had an experience to forgo the extended warranty and opt for mechanical breakdown insurance instead? Any strong opinions on way vs the other?

 

[JohnC12]

I have GEICO MBI and won’t be purchasing the Ford extended warranty as a result. You just can’t beat the cost of the add-on compared to the Ford extended warranty. While I haven’t personally had to use it, I know several people who have and they all had great experiences.

 

[patire19]

i have geico as well, how does this work? im currently on the fence about purchasing an extended warranty.

 

[JohnC12]

i have geico as well, how does this work? im currently on the fence about purchasing an extended warranty.

GEICO sells Mechanical Breakdown Insurance (MBI) for vehicles that are less than 15 months old and less than 15,000 miles. If you’re over either of these, Fords ESP is your best option.

GEICO’s MBI covers your entire vehicle - all parts and systems for up to 7 years or 100,000 miles - whichever occurs first. You can take your vehicle anywhere, including a Ford dealership, for service. A GEICO representative will provide a credit card for payment if they don’t already have an established relationship with the repair shop.

The biggest difference for me is the price. After looking at Flood and Zeigler, who hands down offer the best prices, a 5 year 100,000 PremiumCARE plan with a $200 deductible would cost me $930. (I purchase on mileage rather than years due to driving 20k per year.)

I'm paying $118.20 per year for GEICO's MBI - this comes out to $591 for 5 years, or 100,000 miles. I'm saving $339 vs purchasing Fords extended warranty.

 

[Flgator]

Thank you and that’s what I suspected. Going the MBI route now.

 

[MDJAK]

I'm a tired old man, but in order to help out a fellow forum member, I'll repeat some of my experience with MBI.

First and foremost, I have zero relation to Geico aside from being a satisfied customer for over 35 years. Now that I got that out of the way:

I've had MBI on every vehicle since its inception, and that goes back over 20 years.

A brief, incomplete list, to my memory, of things that they've paid to have repaired, without fuss or muss.

1. AC compressor on Dodge van. $1500

2. GPS unit (actually a simple dvd unit) broke in Acura MDX. $1200

3. Adjustable shock leaked in MDX. Dealer said had to be replaced in pairs. $700 each.

4. Manual transmission on Mazda 3. $3500.

Those hit the highlights. Never had a premium increase for using it.

Oh, in its infancy, it covered the life of the vehicle. When they changed it to 7 year or 100k miles, they failed to notify me of that. At 112k miles the driveshaft went on my then beloved VW Touareg. I called and they said it's over 100k, no coverage, I said I thought it was life of the vehicle. They said that changed. I said prove you notified me of that. They couldn't and paid for it.

Now, because when I read reviews that cover pros and cons I love to read the cons to be sure the review is balanced, I will state that Geico premiums are higher than most other companies so take that into consideration.

 

[smurfslayer]

MBI, aftermarket warranty vs. factory ESP.

Disclaimer: I don’t like and will never be a geico customer.
I’ve had both factory and aftermarket extended warranties, not specifically MBI. They’re underwritten by different companies but typically use the same support model.

After a certain cost threshold, they require an “inspection”. At this inspection, your vehicle is gone over with a fine toothed comb and any excuse they can use to either not pay out, or not fully cover a repair, they take. Sounds familiar right? Like you’re taking your SVT or Ford Performance vehicle in for a major repair and Ford is looking for mods. However, just like in an insurance claim, the aftermarket providers can wait you out or attempt to wait you out. This is used as an incentive to convince you to either pay for the repair and not wait for the ‘approval’ - in this case, you pay, but the company hasn’t “approved” the repair, check your contract, you may forfeit coverage.

Sometimes your repair is cut and dry - the part just broke but you keep calling and finding your claim is ‘still under review’ or some other lame excuse. This will happen with a costly, or labor intensive repair. The carrier doesn’t want to pay out everything if they can avoid it or pay out anything. So, they may offer you a parts only coverage or 80% coverage or something similar. Whatever the offer, it’s likely to be profitable for them and expensive for your to navigate your way through arbitration or court.

They can work ok for inexpensive and routine type failures - auxiliary components like an AC compressor, P/S pump, etc. but if you throw a rod through the block or something, good luck.

As for Geico; and yes I realize times have changed but Mom was hauling us kids to/fro one day and she was rear ended by a knucklehead drunk who then took off. he was found, cited. both drivers insured by geico. They refused to pay out, actually told her they would not pay, and that she would have to take them to court. So she did. it was the better part of a year and she got a court date at court hearing their rep offered car repair, and some medical expenses as settlement. Mom was injured pretty good, the other car didn’t even slow and it was a 50mph hit. Although personal injury lawyers get a bad rap, this guy went off on the geico legal rep., and made it clear if they set foot in the court room it would be a lot more expensive. They called his non-bluff, case was heard and mom got paid, lawyer got paid, expenses paid, company ordered to notify all 3 credit agencies with an explanation, admonished by the judge, reported to the state (MD) insurance regulatory board with a recommendation for a fine, and we never got an explanation why they denied coverage. I realize all companies have horror stories and that this is not the most egregious, but I just can’t bring myself to reward companies exhibiting scumbag behavior I witness.

 

[MDJAK]

MBI, aftermarket warranty vs. factory ESP.

Disclaimer: I don’t like and will never be a geico customer.
I’ve had both factory and aftermarket extended warranties, not specifically MBI. They’re underwritten by different companies but typically use the same support model.

After a certain cost threshold, they require an “inspection”. At this inspection, your vehicle is gone over with a fine toothed comb and any excuse they can use to either not pay out, or not fully cover a repair, they take. Sounds familiar right? Like you’re taking your SVT or Ford Performance vehicle in for a major repair and Ford is looking for mods. However, just like in an insurance claim, the aftermarket providers can wait you out or attempt to wait you out. This is used as an incentive to convince you to either pay for the repair and not wait for the ‘approval’ - in this case, you pay, but the company hasn’t “approved” the repair, check your contract, you may forfeit coverage.

Sometimes your repair is cut and dry - the part just broke but you keep calling and finding your claim is ‘still under review’ or some other lame excuse. This will happen with a costly, or labor intensive repair. The carrier doesn’t want to pay out everything if they can avoid it or pay out anything. So, they may offer you a parts only coverage or 80% coverage or something similar. Whatever the offer, it’s likely to be profitable for them and expensive for your to navigate your way through arbitration or court.

They can work ok for inexpensive and routine type failures - auxiliary components like an AC compressor, P/S pump, etc. but if you throw a rod through the block or something, good luck.

As for Geico; and yes I realize times have changed but Mom was hauling us kids to/fro one day and she was rear ended by a knucklehead drunk who then took off. he was found, cited. both drivers insured by geico. They refused to pay out, actually told her they would not pay, and that she would have to take them to court. So she did. it was the better part of a year and she got a court date at court hearing their rep offered car repair, and some medical expenses as settlement. Mom was injured pretty good, the other car didn’t even slow and it was a 50mph hit. Although personal injury lawyers get a bad rap, this guy went off on the geico legal rep., and made it clear if they set foot in the court room it would be a lot more expensive. They called his non-bluff, case was heard and mom got paid, lawyer got paid, expenses paid, company ordered to notify all 3 credit agencies with an explanation, admonished by the judge, reported to the state (MD) insurance regulatory board with a recommendation for a fine, and we never got an explanation why they denied coverage. I realize all companies have horror stories and that this is not the most egregious, but I just can’t bring myself to reward companies exhibiting scumbag behavior I witness.

I certainly can’t blame you for the way you feel. That is a terrible situation, one very hard to understand. The only reason I can think of is back then, and possibly pursuant to state law, a drunk driver was deemed to be ineligible for coverage. Just a guess. I’ve seen many times a lawyer in trial attempt to prove something other than a crime was committed and that it was actual negligence that caused whatever occurred, or no pay.

still doesn’t excuse that conduct. That said, as you know, you can’t decide or prove an argument based on an exception.

I recently dealt with a supplier of ATV parts, helmets, etc. their sale was awesome. Bought helmet. 2 weeks later the price dropped $125 further. I was unaware until email from them saying I had a $125 credit. I just used it to buy a GoPro Hero8. I get a call from them, somehow 24 cents was not paid on the transaction. She said what’s easiest, PayPal or credit card. I said what’s easiest is you eat the 24 ******’ cents.

 

[JohnC12]

Sometimes your repair is cut and dry - the part just broke but you keep calling and finding your claim is ‘still under review’ or some other lame excuse. This will happen with a costly, or labor intensive repair. The carrier doesn’t want to pay out everything if they can avoid it or pay out anything. So, they may offer you a parts only coverage or 80% coverage or something similar. Whatever the offer, it’s likely to be profitable for them and expensive for your to navigate your way through arbitration or court.

I agree with many things you say, Smurf, but this part sounds like countless posts on here when trying to deal directly with Ford warranty issues. Maybe they're all the same in the end? LOL

 

[smurfslayer]

Yeah, they can kind of all come off as the same. With an ESP, you go to a Ford repair facility - AKA, a stealership. Aftermarket typically has either network mechanics/shops OR they reimburse and you use your mechanic. Given the choice, I like an ESP / manufacturer warranty style.

We do see a bunch of negative stories on here about coverage and just like you get the impression that cam phasers affects every F150 ever made here, you’re only getting posts about when the problem happens or happens again, not the 100’s of thousands of updates from users who went out and started their F150’s today and there were no bad sounds.

I say this with the dread of an upcoming visit to the stealership for another round of moon roof work, that will likely not be the last.