Positive Experience: Third Party Warranty Repair

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KAH 24

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Greetings,

I purchased the extended CarMax MaxCare warranty (5yrs/150k miles with $200 deductible) for my ‘18 Raptor—as it covered a lot of items post factory bumper-to-bumper warranty. Mostly I did it because we’d had positive experiences with MaxCare when getting past family vehicles repaired (my wife’s past S550 and Range Rover both had pricey issues which were covered).

That said, at 55k miles the clock spring went out on my steering wheel (the menu and volume buttons stopped working). I picked a RepairPal authorized center (Christian Brothers) which knocked $50 off the deductible. I was out of pocket $150 for the repair.

NOTE1: I could have gone to my local Ford dealership who does good work, but they couldn’t work me in for 4 weeks). Christian Brothers ordered the clock spring and did the repair in 10 days—due to waiting on the part.

NOTE2: As a RepairPal facility, CB located my warranty by VIN and the authorization occurred while I was standing there.

NOTE3: I like that the warranty activated upon my purchase—which means I’m covered a very extensive list of items including panoramic roof, cam phasers, etc., until Aug 2025/150k mi (purchased in Aug 2020), which is nice as this is my daily driver and family “rented mule.”

Working for an OEM, I clearly have no professional bias in favor of MaxCare or any third party warranties—but I like to give credit where credit is due, as often folks only post when they are pissed about something.

Hope this is helpful for someone. Have a nice weekend all.
 
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KAH 24

KAH 24

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Thanks for the info. Interested in why you chose that over an ESP? Wider range of repair shops?
John, it was less expensive vs. OEM ESP, covers a ton of items, and CarMax is contracted with tons of independent shops (can go to dealership as well).

In fairness, the primary driver was that my wife’s previous luxury vehicles had some very expensive issues (over $7k total) that were painlessly dealt with by MaxCare at dealerships, and Christian Brothers.
 
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KAH 24

KAH 24

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That's good to hear. I hate hate hate taking mine in to the dealer.
@GordoJay

In my professional experience, I’d say OEM extended warranty if you only plan to take your vehicle to a Ford dealership for repairs—and have zero plans of modifying any component that could be impacted upstream or downstream. OEM warranties are the strictest and one of the departments I oversee is doing an excellent job of pushing back against dealerships if we suspect mods. Fortunately the majority of our consumers have zero interest in mods.

In my consumer experience, and as a fan of top tier independent franchises (Christian Brothers as an example)—the owners are thankful for the contract work they receive from being a RepairPal authorized center for CarMax/MaxCare, and advocate heavily to keep that business and keep the customer happy. I am not saying they will let mods slip by, but let’s just say—I’ve taken quite a few modified vehicles under extended third party warranty to preferred independents without a hitch for repairs. I unequivocally believe an OEM dealership would have “scrutinized” more closely—as they need parent OEM authorization.

There are pros/cons to everything as we all know.

That said, if you don’t have any decent dealerships in your area—I’d consider a good third party.

NOTE1: The caveat with CarMax/MaxCare is that you can only buy it at time of purchase from a CarMax dealer. This is why my family loves buying vehicles from CarMax.

NOTE2: I acknowledge my significant bias as I am hawkish and conservative in my role at an OEM. This of course influences my views and what/how I see things. Just my opinion as always.
 
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