ESP... Is it worth it? What if i have mods?

[-Matt-]

I went to my local Furd dealership and they quoted me with $1800 for 3yrs or 36k. My car has been ESP'd all its life. I would like to have it for the possible axles, trans, a/c, window regulator problems. (Im in Tx.... A/C is a must!) Now im planing on Vortech'in here soon. Anyone know how modifications affect ESP? I was told the only way they would deny me a claim is if i wasnt up to date on my fluid changes.


opinions please?


Thanks

Matt

[MERCMAN]

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=52601&highlight=ed+smith

[-Matt-]

I pulled that one up on search.... more looking at those that have mods?

[Vortex]

I never understood the logic of paying a couple of thousand dollars for the privilege of fighting with an insurance company, esp if its not legally required..

[Glenn]

Unless you have a really close relationship with a Ford dealer I would not purchase ESP if you are going to install a Vortec on your engine (i.e. know the manager). $1,800 is a lot of money. At a minimum the ESP with your Vortex will not cover any powertrain issues from the engine to the rear. Is it worth $1,800 to cover the remaining areas?

Glenn

[frdwrnch]

Generally, I am not a lucky person. I put an ESP premium care plan on my Marauder and never had a claim. I put an ESP Extracare policy on my 1999 F-250 Powerstroke and probably had about $5000 worth of claims so it paid for itself. As previously stated if you have a good relationship with your dealer, you should not have a problem with most claims. However, ESP has been seding out inspectors for more claims now than they used to. If a failure is attributable(?) to a modification they may not pay. So in my opinion if the car has several obvious major mods then I would shy away from ESP. If the car is mostly stock, I would recommend it.

[-Matt-]

So i have no real powertrain insurance options with Mods? How can they say one SC tears up a car more then a eaton mustang?

[frdwrnch]

Unfortunately you are right. It's really not the supercharger that creates the problems, it's the tune. Factory tune are generally very conservative. The excuse in "Fordspeak" would be "The modification falls outside of design intent".

[ckadiddle]

I have had no problems with ESP claims on my lightly modded blue. Recently bought new ESPs for both MMs. I have lousy car luck and always collect far more than I pay for the policy.

[NOMARQUIS]

If this were 4 months ago, I would have told you to keep your money. However, my ESP has paid for its self 2 x over at my last visit to the dealer. My problems were hassles to get covered, but if you find a good dealer, they can help you. I think the key to getting good coverage is building a good relationship with the dealer. My car will always go back to the selling dealer, even though it's a 2 hour drive. I will pay them for routine service, even though I could do this myself. You might be more likely to get good coverage if you just don't come in for the "free stuff." Just my 2 cents. My MM is stock, and my dealer will not touch it if it were modded. At least that's what the service manager told me.

[-Matt-]

Well i ended up buying it from Ed smith and its a good thing i did.... 3 days later my AC compressor ate its bearing. I paid 100 beans for a 1000 dollar job. So far im very happy with the ESP

[FordNut]

I had it on both of my Marauders, it worked out to my benefit in both cases. But I did have a "mod friendly" dealer. Even if you have one of those, if you have huge claims (engine or trans replacement) they will probably send a factory rep to inspect the car.

[bob6364]

When I bought my SUPERCHARGED!! Saleen Mustang from the dealer ship I bought the ESP.Started modding 2 month into it.The first major issue was the rear diff ate itself.Had to fight my dealership on that one,they said I had increased the HP beyond what the diff could handle.Then some clutch tranny issues...fighting all the way with dealership and ford warranty people....Finally I said if you guys arent going to warranty anything I want my money back...they couldn't write the check fast enough.