Ford Protect, the extended warranty arm of Ford, is offering a new offering for the Bronco and Bronco Sport called Ford Protect Off-Road Coverage. It expands the insurance policy offered by the existing on-road-focused TireCare, TireCare Plus, TripleCare and TripleCare Plus products to cover cases where one of the Broncos is injured on the dirt. TripleCare covers tire and wheel damage, dents and windshield repairs. Since a Bronco wheel can cost up to $500, a tire can cost up to $400, and replacing a windshield can cost $900, why not protect yourself for the inevitable and save yourself money with a plan ? We applaud Ford’s efforts – Jeep offers nothing like this to its trail warriors. We’re just not sure who it makes sense for.
Let’s start with what the three departments cover. The Tire portion “covers approved costs associated with repairing or replacing a tire or wheel due to off-road damage (e.g., damaged tire due to rough or uneven terrain).” The Plus plans add “cosmetic coverage for Light metal, aluminum and steel wheels (e.g. scratches from trees, bushes and stones)”. The Dent Section addresses dents and dents, but only those that can be fixed with paintless dent repair. And the windshield cover is designed to eliminate “minor chips and cracks.”
So far everything is fine. However, when we turn to the exclusions, we think, “Hmmm.” The TireCARE part doesn’t cover carbon fiber or chrome rims, only steel and aluminum rims, which isn’t that bad. However, DentCARE does not cover dents larger than 10 cm in diameter. Having recently seen how far paintless dent removal technology has advanced and saved some Rivian R1T owners tens of thousands of dollars, four inches seems, well, stingy.
The situation is similar with windshield care, which does not cover replacing the windshield, but only repairing “minor chips and cracks.” Worse, “marginal” means less than six inches; Any tear longer than 15cm at the time of your arrival at the dealer will not be covered. We recently had a windshield shattered while driving a Porsche 911 on the highway. Before we reached our exit, the chip had already grown longer than six inches – and that in a small, stiff sports car on smooth German highways. If a chip in a Bronco’s windshield turns into a small crack while still on the track, we don’t know how anyone can bet against that crack reaching six inches before the end of the track. The plan also does not cover windshield replacement, only that specific type of repair.
Anyone still considering purchasing should know that the plan must be purchased before the original three-year/36,000-mile warranty on the Bronco or Bronco Sport expires. Additionally, TripleCARE plans are not available in Florida. We suspect this is because state law requires anyone with comprehensive insurance to be exempt from the windshield replacement deductible. If our guess is correct, that means Ford Protect Off-Road coverage includes a deductible. We are unsure of these details as the Ford Protect website recommends interested buyers contact their dealer for plan pricing. We asked a dealer about prices; We will update the post if we receive a response.
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