NTP warranty - Good or Bad

Whatever you do, don't buy volvo engine. *shudder.

 

That warranty didn't cover the EGR on my engine when it went out either.

 

First thing first. Thank you for your service to our country. I appreciate it.

From my experience driving and now managing the maintenance department for our fleet, I have to agree with the others about not buying the warranty and putting it in a maintenance fund.

It's tough to make that blanket statement w/o knowing more about your rig. There are certain motors that I would buy as much warranty as possible (MBE 4000). We had about 25 of these in our fleet and had nothing but trouble with everyone of them.

Warranty has the most value only when you buy the truck new and have a relationship with your dealer. I've seen plenty of stuff covered under warranty that shouldn't have been because of my relationship w/ the dealer and regional rep.

In reference to your previous statement. Newer engines don't seem to have many injector issues. In 10 years and a fleet of 50 trucks I've seen 2 injector issues. (1) on a CAT C-12 and (1) on an EPA 07 CAT C-13. Turbos are a different story, but generally run $2400-$3000 to repair on the road. Basing my assumption off those numbers, you could replace 2 turbos before getting the value out of your warranty, not likely to happen in 2 years.

JP

 

I agree 100%. You might as well throw the money out the window, it will do just as much good. Or better yet, just send it to me! Don't ask me how I know...

 

Too many horror stories about aftermarket warranties. And besides that, like I posted in another thread, the salesman makes money off selling warranties. The company that alledgely "warranties" your truck is in it to make as much money as possible. They're not going to lose money on you. You're tossing good money away. That $5,000 you give them for a warranty that they can and will easily snake their way out of paying for anything by claiming driver abuse, that is money you can bank yourself for maintinence, above and beyond what you already plan on banking for maintinence. Why would you give them that money? It's like these guys who lease on with companies then let the company set up an escrow account for maintinence, come on, that's the most important part of owning a truck wth would you let someone else get their greedy hands on that money and attach strings when you're much better off managing it yourself?

 

Had a wrist pin bushing that was starting to come apart. I was changing oil on a Saturday and heard it hit the drain pan. Put the plug back in and fished the pieces out of the drain pan. Took the pieces to the dealer along with the truck to try to diagnose the problem. Ended up tearing it down to find the wrist pin issue. Had the NTP Platinum warranty. They wouldn't cover anything because it "hadn't done any damage yet"! Had I let the rod come out the side of the block, they said it would have been covered in full. Ended up inframing the engine, $14k later it was good as new again! No more NTP for me, bunch of crooks imo...

 

National Truck Protection

I learned the hard way that they do not cover seals, gaskets, anything to do with the wiring, EGR, electrical components, or hoses, radiator, intercooler, etc. I have thrown $54k in 18 months to a Volvo with an NTP warranty, it nearly put me out of business.

I traded my fancy Volvo for a Peterbilt 387 in July 2013. It came with an NTP warranty and I had an internal coolant leak. Turns out to be cylinder liner threading. It's been in the Peterbilt Shop in Greeley, CO and Rock Springs, WY since September 23, 2013. Today is November 18, 2013 and it is still not fixed. But because it is an internal issue, NTP has covered the repairs to the tune of $24k so far.

It takes Peterbilt two months to get the diagnostics done and do the in-frame on the Cummins ISX 450 ST.

I guess I have mixed feelings about NTP, they paid for an in-frame, new head and DPF, but it takes two months to get it fixed. You are FÜ©ĶëĐ if you do, you're FÜ©ĶëĐ if you don't.

There is no fix for the downtime caused by a covered repair. They can take their time and put you out of business that way.

The biggest MUST DO in the industry seems to have at least $6k available to spend on repairs, replacement of worn components and adjusting the head when you buy the truck, and then have $10k available for repairs in case something happens. For every mile you drive, you need to put 25 cents aside and add it to that $10k repair reserve. If you are lucky, you can save up enough for a complete in-frame, axle refurbishment, drive train refurbishment and spray job before you run into major mechanical problems.

Happy trails!