Are maintenance plans worth it?
Any thoughts?

 

I got one for free from Ford (not the dealer) due to issues during delivery of my truck (Ford lost it in transit and couldn't find it for a month).

Looking at prices of the plans and the number of visits you get, it looks like it works out to be about $100 per visit.

Ford has a $39.95 oil change plus a few other maintenance items so I think you'd be money ahead by not buying the maintenance plan.

 

I purchased one on my 2011, it was a little over $900 and was worth it at the price, in 50,000 miles I had 6 oil changes and tire rotations, never had to pay for wipers or filters and got a set of brakes put on as well. Did it save me a lot, nope but the few dollars a month it added to my payment was not noticed and driving in an out of the dealer and not paying a dime out of pocket was nice. Fast forward to my 2015 and the maintenance through the dealer was about $2000, I declined it, not worth it at all. My 2011 was 6 years 75,000 miles the 2015 would have been 6 years 100,000 miles so pretty similar, it was two extra oil changes. In my opinion the plans are too expensive now. The works oil change, inspection and tire rotation which is $39.99 and often time can be had for $29.99 through ford owner coupons should satisfy the required maintenance up to about 100,000 miles. If you change your oil according to the computer you'll be at about 10K for oil changes which is what the manual states. So over 100k miles that 10 changes for about $400, add in two sets of brakes your at your $2000 for maintenance. So if you keep your vehicle for over 100K may be worth it to you. I generally don't so not worth it.

Basically your just pre-buying all the maintenance for 100K miles at todays rates.

 

You definatley want to price around. I had one on my wife's last ford and there is alot of different prices from dealers out there. I just traded her car and got a refund by cashing it in for the remaining time left. The best price i found was at Flood Ford.

 

That's deal is called "The Works" and it includes a full oil (semi-synthetic) and filter change, quite a few visual checks of various systems, topping off various fluids, and a complete 4 tire rotation.

Also, they regularly give a $10 pre-paid Visa card (rebate) on "The Works", so keep you eyes open and ask (even if you don't have/see a coupon) EVERY time you get an oil change.

 

The dealer wants to maximize profits of course you'd be ahead not to buy it.

Otherwise they wouldn't push it.