Are CA dealerships not honoring Granger warranties?

[Rolandus]

A California dealership (Fremont Ford) finance guy claims that extended service/warranty packages, sold by Granger, will no longer be honored by CA dealership service departments. Claims that underpriced policies cannot pay for California's high labor costs. True or BS?

Sponsored

 

[Clarkdonbran]

Could be. You can’t buy one from Granger if you live in FL of CA.

 

[paneubert]

A California dealership (Fremont Ford) finance guy claims that extended service/warranty packages, sold by Granger, will no longer be honored by CA dealership service departments. Claims that underpriced policies cannot pay for California's high labor costs. True or BS?

Total BS.

"Ford" is reimbursing the dealership for the warranty work at a set hourly labor rate for each repair (plus cost of materials/parts). Think of it this way. There is in theory a giant database of every conceivable/possible warranty repair and how many billable hours of labor+materials each repair qualifies for (according to Ford). That is what Ford will pay the dealership back for. This has ZERO connection to how much the customer paid for the warranty when they bought it.

Even if there was some connection or link to the price of the warranty versus the price of the repair, that would be an issue between Ford and Granger. But that will never happen, since Ford "sells" the warranties to the dealerships at a certain price. The dealerships then resell them to the customer at whatever markup they want. Ford is already being paid what they think they need to be paid in order to not lose money on future repair bill reimbursements to dealerships. Ford is never going to tell Granger "Hey, we are going to require you to charge more of a markup". They will never say that, since Ford sees zero percent of that additional markup. Ford already made their money when they "sold" the warranty to the dealership.

What that finance manager is actually saying is "Ford doesn't pay us enough for warranty repairs. We are super salty about it and cry at night into our pillow. Because we can't anger big daddy corporate, we will pass some of that pain and cost on to you by charging you an extra couple thousand so that we feel "better compensated" for our maybe never even going to be needed repair work. But.....this is all Grangers fault. Granger is evil."

 

[todd92]

Another lying finance snake. Grainger sells FORD extended warranties, same as the one the snake is trying to con you into buying at full price. Service department doesn't know or care where you bought your FORD extended warranty. It must be honored at ANY Ford dealer.

 

[paneubert]

Could be. You can’t buy one from Granger if you live in FL of CA.

This is due to state laws in those states that control who can and can't sell warranties and insurance. I think the reasoning in both the CA and FL case is that Granger is not operating out of either state, and the law says that to sell insurance or warranties, the company has to have a presence in the state.

 

[jsus]

A California dealership (Fremont Ford) finance guy claims that extended service/warranty packages, sold by Granger, will no longer be honored by CA dealership service departments. Claims that underpriced policies cannot pay for California's high labor costs. True or BS?

Many salesman will tell you literally any lie to get you to part with your money. Any valid Ford Protect ESP must be accepted at any Ford and Lincoln dealer in the US, Canada, and Mexico. California is no exception.

Under California and Florida state law, there are certain regulations a dealer must comply with to sell extended warranties in their state (which is extended to an out-of-state dealer selling in CA or FL). Many dealers who sell ESPs online at low markup do not jump through these hoops, and cannot sell to addresses in CA. Note that the Ford Protect ESP is registered to the vehicle by VIN, and that the sticking point is the mailing address you provide someone like Granger Ford. That address does not need to match the registration address for the vehicle. Imagine you took a trip to Iowa and paid Granger in person, that transaction does not occur in California.

If you have an address that is not in CA or FL to use for your ESP purchase, then this may be a way around that requirement. An example would be if you have relatives outside of CA or FL and could provide their address. Most dealers will email you the paperwork as a PDF anyway, there's nothing to mail. So long as the VIN and your name match, your ESP will automatically show up in the system at any Ford dealer's service department in the US, Canada, or Mexico when they run your VIN.

TLDR dealer finance department is another sales department, they often lie to make a sale. Any Ford ESP is valid anywhere in the US, Canada, and Mexico. CA and FL have laws that mean many out of state dealers cannot sell you an extended warranty, but many simply provide an out of state address to bypass this.

Standard disclaimer that this post does not constitute legal advice. California could find a loophole to come after you, if you think there's someone sitting around looking for technicalities.

Accepted at every Ford and Lincoln dealer in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

https://fordprotect.ford.com/extended-service-plan

 

[Snox801]

Ya ask him well what about if you bought yours at Fremont then had it serviced at granger? Wouldn’t that put them way ahead?
But as stated it’s a ford warranty they need to take care of it.
Wonder what he would say to my dealer giving me a 10/100k ford warranty and selling to me at msrp? They would really be losing money. Lol

 

[Rolandus]

Total BS.

"Ford" is reimbursing the dealership for the warranty work at a set hourly labor rate for each repair (plus cost of materials/parts). Think of it this way. There is in theory a giant database of every conceivable/possible warranty repair and how many billable hours of labor+materials each repair qualifies for (according to Ford). That is what Ford will pay the dealership back for. This has ZERO connection to how much the customer paid for the warranty when they bought it.

Even if there was some connection or link to the price of the warranty versus the price of the repair, that would be an issue between Ford and Granger. But that will never happen, since Ford "sells" the warranties to the dealerships at a certain price. The dealerships then resell them to the customer at whatever markup they want. Ford is already being paid what they think they need to be paid in order to not lose money on future repair bill reimbursements to dealerships. Ford is never going to tell Granger "Hey, we are going to require you to charge more of a markup". They will never say that, since Ford sees zero percent of that additional markup. Ford already made their money when they "sold" the warranty to the dealership.

What that finance manager is actually saying is "Ford doesn't pay us enough for warranty repairs. We are super salty about it and cry at night into our pillow. Because we can't anger big daddy corporate, we will pass some of that pain and cost on to you by charging you an extra couple thousand so that we feel "better compensated" for our maybe never even going to be needed repair work. But.....this is all Grangers fault. Granger is evil."

Went on-line to both Granger and Flood for an extended warranty. They are in not selling in CA anymore due to CA insurance laws. So, the Finance guy was partially correct, because I can no longer buy a policy in CA unless through a CA dealership. Glad I was able to buy a policy with Flood for my first '22 Maverick. Will have to pay more now in CA.

 

[1929]

A California dealership (Fremont Ford) finance guy claims that extended service/warranty packages, sold by Granger, will no longer be honored by CA dealership service departments. Claims that underpriced policies cannot pay for California's high labor costs. True or BS?

B.S.

 

[ilikebike]

It's a Ford manufacture warranty that applies to the vehicle, the dealer would have no idea where you bought it unless you told them for some reason.

 

[AutobahnSHO]

Will have to pay more now in CA.

Sounds about right.... Sorry y'all deal with all that junk from your legislature...

 

[G19Tony]

My truck is registered in NV. On a visit to Des Moines, I popped into Granger and bought an extended warranty, to include lights.

 

[Milous]

...the dealer would have no idea where you bought it unless you told them for some reason.

I bought an extended warranty for my '22 Maverick in February of 2023 from Granger for $890.00...
On the Ford App on my phone, under "Service Details" it shows the following with the exact date I bought the warranty:

2022 Ford Maverick
Mileage: 3,500
Date: Feb. 10, 2023
Location: Granger Motors Inc.
Services performed:
-Air Conditioning and Heating
- Unknown
Total Cost: $1,760.00.

Of course I have never been to Granger for service, I'm thousands of miles away. And I have never had any AC/Heating issues, nor did I pay any dealer $1,760.00.

Anyone else who has bought a warranty from Granger have a similar listing on their service history?

 

[johnny99]

Another lying finance snake.

This.

 

[Suzukiridr14]

A California dealership (Fremont Ford) finance guy claims that extended service/warranty packages, sold by Granger, will no longer be honored by CA dealership service departments. Claims that underpriced policies cannot pay for California's high labor costs. True or BS?

It's BS, If you have an extended plan, it's good at any Ford dealership in the USA!

Sponsored