Ford Shield, Ford’s prolonged guarantee arm, has a brand new providing for the Bronco and Bronco Sport referred to as Ford Shield Off-Highway Protection. It extends the insurance coverage coverage supplied by the prevailing road-focused TireCare, TireCare Plus, TripleCare, and TripleCare Plus to these instances when both Bronco finds itself getting harm on the grime. TripleCare covers tire and wheel injury, dents, and windshield repairs. The pitch is that since a Bronco wheel can value as a lot as $500 and a tire as a lot as $400, and it may cost $900 to exchange a windshield, why not shield for the inevitable and save your self cash with a plan? We applaud Ford’s effort — Jeep does not supply something of the sort for its path warriors. We’re simply undecided who it is sensible for.
Let’s begin with what the three divisions cowl. The tire portion “Covers authorized prices related to the restore or substitute of a tire or wheel on account of off-roading injury (e.g., broken tire from rugged or uneven terrain).” The Plus plans add “beauty protection of alloy, aluminum and metal wheels (e.g., scratches from bushes, brush and rocks).” The dent portion handles dings and oopsies, however solely these that may be mounted with paintless dent restore. And the windshield protection is for coping with “minor chips and cracks.”
All proper up to now. Turning to the exclusions, although, makes us go, “Hmmm.” The TireCARE half does not cowl carbon fiber or chrome wheels, solely steelies and aluminum wheels, which is not so unhealthy. DentCARE, nevertheless, will not cowl dings bigger than 4 inches throughout. Having seen lately how far paintless dent elimination know-how has come, saving some Rivian R1T homeowners tens of hundreds of {dollars}, 4 inches appears, nicely, stingy.
It is a comparable case with WindshieldCARE, which does not cowl substitute of the windshield, solely the restore of “minor chips and cracks.” Worse, “minor” means lower than six inches; any crack longer than six inches by the point you attain the supplier is not coated. We lately chipped a windshield whereas driving a Porsche 911 on the Autobahn. Earlier than we reached our exit, the chip had grown longer than six inches — and that is in a small, stiff sports activities automotive on easy German highways. If a chip in a Bronco windshield turns right into a small crack whereas nonetheless on the path, we do not understand how anybody might wager towards that crack reaching six inches earlier than the top of the path. The plan does not pay for substitute of the windshield, both, solely that particular type of restore.
Anybody nonetheless fascinated by shopping for ought to know that the plan must be bought earlier than the Bronco or Bronco Sport is out of its preliminary three-year/36,000-mile guarantee. On high of that, the TripleCARE plans will not be accessible in Florida. We’re guessing it is as a result of state legislation mandates that anybody with complete insurance coverage protection will get their deductible waived for windshield replacements. If our guess is right, meaning there is a deductible concerned in Ford Shield Off-Highway Protection. We aren’t certain of those particulars as a result of the Ford Shield web site advises customers to contact their sellers about plan pricing. We have inquired with a supplier about pricing, we have been instructed the plan is a $1,350 one-time value, which could make sense if bought early on.
