KEY08

I just think it's every ten. When it blasts, you know it. It's a fricken mess.
The whole warranty thing is out of hand with CPO and extended warranties,etc.
No one here remembers, but all cars used to come with a 12 month factory warranty. Now it's 3-4 YEARS!

The G Man

$2700 is hardly a catastrophic failure in a E550, a catastrophic failure will be in the 5 digits. I would have taken that extra three years of warranty for $2700, that price is a bargain, especially for the Mercedes factory extended warranty for a E550.

Yidney

I disagree with the "hope for the best" part - as if I'm taking a big risk. If you can afford the $3k for the warranty to begin with, then you already have a nice deposit for any repairs if you don't buy the warranty. And if you never buy warranties on anything, then even if the repairs on a particular car happen to exceed what you would have paid, then so be it. I'm still way ahead in the big picture. It's like any long-term investment strategy - sometimes it goes down, but in the long run it usually goes up. Looked at that way, not buying warranties ever is probably one of the best investment decisions I have ever made. I'm probably up $25k or so on an investment of almost nothing. Also, if a $5k car repair is a life-altering experience for someone, then driving a late model MB might be a bit beyond their means.

aquinob

A merc and a subie are two entirely different animals. If you want the reliability and cost savings as well as the better handling in snow, go with the subie. My brother now has a fleet of them and he lives in north NJ, where they get lots of snow in the winter on fairly treacherous roads.

If you want the luxury of the merc, then buy the merc. In the past, mb didnt do so well in rust belt states, they had a rep for rusting out. Not sure if that has been corrected as of late, but I know I wouldnt buy a used car from up north or anywhere they put salt on the roads.

As for the warranty stuff, I'm another malcontent that did not buy a warranty with my 2010 when I got it a year ago. It would have run me about 3600 to 4k for 3 years and I figure if I spend any less than that in the 3 years then I am ahead of the game. I'm also one of those people who will fix the car myself if its within my skill level. 700 bucks to fix a backup camera? Sheesh.

So far nothing has gone south, though the backup camera occasionally does not display for whatever reason. Most likely its a bad connection somewhere, I guess Ill wait till it goes out completely or is really problematic. No car is perfect, not a honda, toyota or merc, they all need repairs. But you dont see folks with hondas or toyotas with a high pucker factor if the car has no warranty anymore.

cetialpha5

The tow hook cover on the front and rear are just for towing, they don't come out of the tow hook. If you have them, you have separate headlamp washers cutouts in the bumper just below the headlights on both sides. In the previous generation, they had a separate button for the washers, but then got rid of them in 2008 and they came on after 5 uses of the windshield washer fluid. I guess they changed it in the latest generation to 10 times. Basically if you're using the windshield washer fluid that much it's probably snowing and the bixenon tends to scatter the light if the lense is dirty. I guess it's not really an issue with halogen or LEDs. But yeah, otherwise they can be considered a pretty useless feature, but it's an MB and it's a luxury car so it's just another luxury feature. I think the rear sunshade is pretty useless too, but it seems to be pretty standard on most of them out there.

As for the warranty discussion, probably true if you're talking about independent warranties, however with MB, you don't know how much of a loss or profit they're actually making on selling them. Independent ones seem to cost more and they can do things like deny claims or just go out of business and take your premiums. Maybe that's because there's no discounting like some other dealers do with MB warranties. For the dealers that sell in other threads, some have mentioned that they just tend to price it about $100 over their costs.

So I think if you can get an MB warranty, that's probably the best, they're not going to go out of business and they don't have a history of denying claims that should be covered, and there are dealers discounting them. Other third party ones could be hit or miss.

jahquan3

I think I worded it wrong but I consider the two slots below the headlights that you mentioned as tow hook ups as well. One of the two slots has a silver rod from the trunk that goes into it when getting towed. I know since I had my car towed due to a double blow out. It's not required but the rod can be screwed into one of the slots that the washer fluid shoots out of. That's what I meant by tow hook up since it technically can become a part of the towing process.

You have to pop out the black piece (on my car) to screw the additional towing rod in. When you pop it back in that flaps down when it shoots the fluid out. I confirmed this by having my son press the fluid button as I stood out and watch it. I was like I didn't know it came from the towing rod insertion area. We are talking about the same thing I just didn't explain it properly the first time.

jahquan3

To me, I only truly look at warranties as saving you in case your tranny, engine, or a major part goes. So, I definitely think hoping for the best in those cases makes sense. If those go especially on our cars it'll be 5 figures quite easily. That's where I do understand the value of getting a warranty, although it's not the end of the world if you don't.

KEY08

Wait, what? The headlamp washer doors and the tow hook insertion point are completely different. The tow hook is down low, so it can connect into the meat of the bumper, not up high near the headlamps. The W212 does not have a button to push for the headlamp washers like the old W211. Are you sure about your story or were you into the sauce a little last night? Lol

cetialpha5

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that there's any room behind the washer for a tow hook. Time to make a video for youtube, could only find this one for a W211, the nozzle seems to take up most of the space behind the cover.


As for his son pressing the fluid button, that could be the windshield washer fluid button and he just pressed it 10 times til fluid came out.

beejAMG

OP, warranty is a safety net. if youre financing the vehicle and you include the warranty cost in it, its like paying extra $50 a month for it, which others would say, is an awesome deal. if youre unlucky and you have to use if before it expires, yep it did pay for itself.

now for others who "luckily" never have to use it, money down the drain, or they can say, its alright whats the extra $50 a month, right?

indeed it is like gambling, you have to play (purchase the warranty) to know if you'll win or lose in the end. or dont play, and just wait and see. either way youre gambling and with gambling always remember, the house always wins.

a business is there to make money, (unless its a non profit organization) they will always try to sell you more than what you need. im not saying you dont need the warranty, im not saying you do. but for me, its not a deal breaker or sealer. goodluck mate!

jahquan3

LMAO...I'm sticking to my story. Nah, seriously, the rod in the trunk near the spare screws into the same spot where the washer fluid piece pops out to spray. There are four slots in total on the front. Two larger then the other two. Maybe the larger two shoot fluid and the smaller two are for the tow hook rod. I'll take a look again today to confirm, but this is just like when I told people my battery was in the trunk an no one believed me but it was ha ha.

cetialpha5

Shoot a little video for Youtube, there's none for the W212. There's 3 cutouts in the front bumper, one for the tow hook which all cars have, and then there's 2 more for the washers under the headlamps. And course there's one for the rear too. Just doesn't look like there's space for a tow hook in addition to the washer. The tow hook for the front is just a little bit below and to the right of the left washer though.

Also in terms of warranties and insurance, I think for health insurance they're mandated to spend 80% of premiums on coverage. So if you can get a warranty where there's minimal sales commission, in theory if their insurance is set up the same way, maybe 80% of the premium you're paying on average goes toward claims and the rest is profit/overhead. The question is whether or not you're going to experience above average or below average claims.

KEY08

Only 1 tow hook insertion point. You can see the headlamp washer doors and the tow hook door clearly here. Three doors. Two identical(headlamp) and one odd man out(tow hook).

http://www.dieselstation.com/Mercede...s02-i3408.html

beejAMG

lol, check again mate, im pretty sure theres only 3 square holes in there.

jonUF02

Maybe I would change my tune on the warranty if I was forced to have the Airmatic suspension, which could fail at any time and exceed this price for repairs, but fortunately I found that the 2012+ E550 does not have it, and neither do most E350 as considered in this thread. Other than that, I would find it hard to justify paying an extra 11% of purchase price up front for 3 years of "mechanical insurance" on a car that has very few reports of any mechanical defects outside of the Airmatic, and will likely see less than 20K additional miles in that time period.

jahquan3

I just went down to check since I had to grab something and you're right Sir

jahquan3

LOL.....I can def. admit I'm wrong on this one. Can I make an excuse and say washer fluid got in my eye on that night I thought I saw it come from tow hook spot?

KEY08

Haha! Too much of the old washer juice I say.

beejAMG

lol i was thinking...those are pretty damn strong headlight washers if they were able to tow youre car from there!

mnje350

In my case the gamble has paid off in two out of three cases. The jury is still out on the S550. That car does have the airmatic suspension, and countless other systems that are expensive to replace if there is a failure. Perhaps the E class does not have as much at risk as the S class. In my case, the gamble paid off. To think that you would spend less than 2400 dollars in repairs on the last three years of ownership after the factory warranty expired is foolish IMO.

sk2015

Thanks everyone for all the help. I ended up picking up the 2014 e350 this evening and thus far I am loving every second of it!

beejAMG

nice! congratulations! pics please!

rediesel

Congratulations! It's time for some pictures.

sk2015

Here are a couple quick pics!

KEY08

Beautiful. Nicely done!