supernsx

I just picked up my pampered 2006 R500 with 54K miles after the dealer fixed the front passenger airmatic suspension and driver side mirror.

Here is the breakdown of the invoice:
Airmatic:
Passenger front Hyprophneumat (Airmatic Strut): $1144
Valve Block: $246
Labor: 770

Side Mirror:
Side Mirror assembly: $466
Labor: $126

Total: $3000

Luckily, I have an extended warranty and my our of pocket is only my deductible of $200.

Anyway, I am sure the other 3 Airmatic Struts are all going to fail soon and they will probably cost somewhere about $7000. My advice, GET A GOOD EXTENDED WARRANTY if you want to keep the car for a while after factory warranty ends. I was in total price shock on those items especially my car is very well maintained.

lkchris

Warranties are insurance policies.

Insurance companies don't lose money.

Statistics say most people will pay more for the warranty than they recover.

supernsx

Not in my case (or probably R-class user case). I paid less than $3K for the 5 years/70K extended warranty about 1 year and 5000 miles ago. I have already submitted claims over $3800.

On the other hand of my 08' C-class, I may opt to not buy the extended warranty since it is more reliable.

smokersteve

good job on getting your $$ worth!!!

sheepdog

Which warranty company do you have? -- Most of the 3rd party warranty companies do not cover the mirrors.

BallJack

I was going to say you're lucky. But then again, ..... you didn't get lucky with the car because you had major problems with it at a relatively early age.

A friend of mine has an 07 R350 with over 100K miles on the odometer and the car is still going smooth and strong. No major problems - no airmatic though. He recently replaced the driver's side mirror because his son thought it was fun to move the thing back and forth. He bought the mirror online for a fraction of what MB shows on your receipt and he did the work himself.

He is on the other side of the fence like I am as far as extended warranty goes. I don't bet against my car.

Good thing it works out good for you.

Cheers!

i_am_amused

statistics also say that air travel is the safest form of transportation, but I still don't want to be in a plane when it crashes. Similarly, I don't want to own a Mercedes when its Airmatic or ABC or COMAND or transmission or <name your favorite $$$ fail point here> decides to barf. Thanks for your post, but I'll take the warranty every time.

bzliteyear

ditto on warranty, esp for new cars w/ LOTS of electronics. i may pass on warranty if if buying an older W124 car. also, statistics are deceiving. yes, insurance co's are supposed to make money, but often their underwriting is screwed up and they lose money on a BUNCH of their policies(for sure anything w/ ABC, airmatics, or s/c, or V12's). that said, keep in mind MB doesn't always make money on their CPO warranties - but they make PLENTY in selling the original car and this is just their cost of business (cost accounting 101).
PL

chilledbenz

I myself haven't kept a MB for longer than 4 years/50k miles for the simple fact that these things are expensive to fix! Yeah the old saying, if you can't afford it don't buy it applies, but I just say trade it in before the warranty runs out lol. I've notice with every MB I've owned at about the 40k mile mark little gremlins will start to show up. Nothing major, just little inconveniences that require a service visit. Then I look at the service invoice and think, what the? That little inconvenience would have set me back how much? Then I start looking for a new Benz lol.

bzliteyear

I've had very good luck buying a 3-5 yr old MB and getting extended warranty on it.
the best part is that by my calculation, for a $100k car, my cost/mile and the depreciation/year, it's about the same as a new Toyota Camry
PL

supernsx

They do lose money. That is why Chrysler is now picking what cars they will insured and many MB's are now on the excluded list.


Chrysler. They refused it first but after the head tech from the dealer described the problem with them again, they approve it.

I do exactly the same. My target is 2.5-3 years old European Luxury car with extended warranty. After I drive it for 4 years and sell it, the TCO will cost less than a Honda Accord.

avlis

1st & 2nd year depreciation on MBs is ridiculous. You're spending much more trading-in good cars than you would if you kept them and had to do some major repairs. We looked at an R500 for my wife that had depreciated something like $30k-$40k from MSRP in 2 or 3 years. You can buy a lot of repairs (even airmatics) with $35,000.

i_am_amused

my S55 depreciated approximately $84,000 in the 6 years between first purchase and ending up in my hands. I can get an E63 for $84K...

I will never buy a new car, it's just foolish to throw away that depreciation.

Now, if I had the kind of scratch one must have to be able to throw $200,000 at a new car, then maybe I will no longer give a crap about several tens of thousands of dollars lost to the wind, but I sure hope I never get that cavalier with money. I hope I think to give it to someone hungry or cold rather than some fat-cat car dealer.

chilledbenz

You can't use the R class as an example for anything remotely relating to depreciation. The R is sort of MB's sore eye, in that many of the vehicles had such a huge discount when new (MB had an official factory $10k rebate on them for awhile) that resale value is just plain awful.

As far as other MB's go, it all depends on how you go about selling them. Because I trade what some people would call "early" or before the warranty has expired, my dealership gives me above average trade in value because of my repeat business. This repeat business also helps me get better than average deals on my new vehicles as well, cutting into that new car depreciation.

I also enjoy the peace of mind that I'm driving a new vehicle that "should be" problem free, but if something does arise it would be covered under warranty. For me, thats worth any sort of depreciation I may encounter up front. But, I do know plenty of people that have no worries about buying preowned, so to each their own.

bzliteyear

[/QUOTE]You can't use the R class as an example for anything remotely relating to depreciation. The R is sort of MB's sore eye, in that many of the vehicles had such a huge discount when new (MB had an official factory $10k rebate on them for awhile) that resale value is just plain awful.[/QUOTE]
If the R is a sore eye, then the entire MB line probably needs corrective vision also. I just bought 5 yr old S600 for 80% off MSRP, and 4 a yr old CLK55 Cab for 75% off MSRP. The entire MB line has been bad, so let's not single out the R. If anything, recent ads suggest that the 2006 R's have held up quite well(better than most MBs) the past 2 yrs. My guess is that I could probably sell my R for near what I paid 2 yrs ago, and that's w/ 30k add'l miles on it. With that kind of minimal depreciation(and CPO warranty), I don't mind driving a used (sore-eye) car

+1 to this...well said - and happy thanksgiving.
Patrick

chilledbenz

Ha ha I think somewhere between my previous post and the one above this, someone went back and deleted their message. From what I can gather from the previous posts quoted text, someone purchased an S600 and a CLK55 for a heavy discount used. Those two cars are "limited" production models and shouldn't be used when trying to determine an over all resale value of the brand.

A similar story just ran on Yahoo Autos a few months ago stating that the S class had the worst depreciation of any luxury automobile. For their story they used an S65....yeah not exactly in the same zip code as a S550. They probably sell under five hundred S65's in a full model year in the U.S. To do a proper comparison you need to use the most common version of a certain model.

The only reason I stated that the R class is MB's sore eye as far as resale is concerned is because its their most heavily discounted car when new. The original statement from another poster was that the R class has ridiculous 1st and 2nd year deprecations and that I would be losing a huge amount of money by trading it in "early" or before the 4 year 50k mile warranty expired. This is the case when referring to the R class, but on other Mercedes models I've owned I haven't experienced this and have made out quite nicely using the trade in before warranty expires method.

As far as the R class holding its resale value, it does...as long as your not the original owner. As a pre-owned vehicle its a great buy, someone will always say that they picked up a low mileage $60k R for half its original sticker. That is a great deal, but not for the original owner that paid $45k for it new and only got $27k for it on trade.

So, basically all these long winded paragraphs were just to say that I don't care if I'm losing on all this depreciation by trading "early". This will be the first MB model that I'll really be taking a hit on using this method (due to the above explanation on resale), but I can live with that knowing that the car I'm getting in return will be new and "hopefully" free of the nagging little gremlins or at least be fixed under warranty for free.

To keep with the original post...I'm not saying that MB's are problematic vehicles I'm just saying that in my experience I feel more comfortable trading them in before the warranty expires or if you can't do that I suggest at least get an extended warranty.

fstshrk

I have no idea where you are coming from.

According to the dealers in our area, they can't keep enough CPO R class in stock. Especially the diesel are in extremely high demand and fetching in the mid $30K range (or above depending on the market).

bigben320e

On point, I bought my R500 loaded with clear bra for $35K with 11K miles on it. The original sticker which was in the car said $62K, that is what the first owner paid for it.

Wise words. I don't care how much you have, I subscribe to Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, etc. advice on saving money. Never waste it, and try to get as much discount you can. Obviously, they are doing something right.

+100. All the Benz's have taken huge depreciation hits, a lot of them have had problems here and there. We need to call MB for what it is, and stop the river of denial. They have made mistakes, cut quality, had recalls, had bad bouts of customer service, and are trying to get back in good graces...but they have not done it yet. Getting there, I think.

Don't get me wrong, I love my MB's, but some issues are really premature in failure and very costly (if going to a dealer) on several cars in the lineup. One word to the wise, for any MB owner, is learn how to change your own lights, wipers, air and cabin filters (exception of oil unless you are inclined). These areas alone will save you thousands over the course of years of ownership.

supernsx

Except the C, SLK and ML classes, all MB's depreciate like crazy after three years. R class's depreciation is definitely not good but it may not as bad as the AMG's, CL and S class.

Btw, I am currently driving a 2010 E class loaner and I just checked that an used one is in high $30's with P1 now. It cost over $55K about nine months back. Also, the E-class is so much sweeter than my R500 and C300..... tempting....

R KLASSE

I agree with the OP. I didn't buy an extended warranty for my '08 R350 as I plan to be out of it before the CPO warranty expires or short thereafter. Anyway we got our R350 last year with 25K miles CPO it has been in the shop 13 times over the last year, I feel like I have had more drive time behind the GLK & C300 MB loaner cars than my own vehicle.

We all assume our cars were pampered and ours looked the part, low miles, free of defects, clean carfax, service history etc... Soon after we took ownership we have had to fix under the CPO warranty.....

1) Bluetooth module not working.
2) Satellite radio quit working, required new Sat radio module
3) Rear hatch works & closes intermittently, we've had it in three times for this problem alone, almost all major components replaced for this but still not fixed right today.
4) My Transmission bucks or kicks when downshifting between the 1-2 shift points. ECM updated several times, then fluid changed problem still there, then the valve body replaced, problem was somewhat cured for about 4-5 days but returned shortly after.
5) Driver side window motor has died; part is currently on order and coming from Germany according to my SA.
6) Motor dropped and exhaust side valve requiring an entire new head.
7) My rear (3rd row) vents work intermittently, still trying to fix, dealer fixed them last time the car was in for repair and they worked the day I got it back but not since.

Anyway all of this happened within the last year and under 30K miles. Also when the tech pulled the head off the car he said the engine was exceptionally clean and showed no abuse. The problem was entirely random and happens here and there on the V6 (350) motors and the older V8 (500) motors.

As you can see I'm thankful to have the CPO warranty, it's worth every penny if you are buying an R Class. Some of you talk about R’s that have 100K+ miles with no problems etc… I believe you, but I also believe the techs at least ours that admitted to me the R-Class is the one MB that when they find out they have to work on one they try to call in sick because it is so problematic and a PITA to work on. I bet most people don’t even know they have a problem. When our valve when bad in the motor the car did not drive or feel any different. Only the tech caught it when he heard a faint ticking from the fender (I could not hear the sound or identify it) until he pointed it out as an example.

bigben320e

This almost sounds like a lemon, a 2008 with that many problems? I have not had nearly that amount on my 06 500. One thing though, why get a CPO on a 2008? The regular warranty has you covered for 50K/4 years, when the airmatic pump failed, it was replaced under the regular warranty. Usually, I would rather opt for an extended warranty rather than a CPO as a CPO only covers 100K/12 months. MB Extended covers for 7 years/100K. I guess it is preference.

On the CLS, I got an extended 7/100K so no worries there until 2012. On the R, I did not bother.

aggst1

On my R500 (bought on January 09) I got the CPO warranty and added two additional years of warranty. The CPO made a lot of sense to me since non-CPO cars that I looked all needed tires and brakes at that mileage. The car I ended up buying was a CPO and its service records included a new set of OEM tires and rotors and pads all around. With that said the CPO was a no-brainer! I have never had any problems with it since I purchased it except the transmission issue most 06 and 07 models experience. It was repaired under warranty by replacing the transmission valve body.

bigben320e

Oh...the CPO goes for two years now? I suppose that worked out best for you.

When I bought my R500 with only 11K miles on it, it came with 80% brakes, new tires, 20 inch rims (forged thanks to first owner), new battery, and a clear bra installed on day of pickup. No CPO. I suppose it varies...

aggst1

CPO is still one extra year of warranty. What I meant was that I opted to purchase additional warranty on top of that. In your case the previous owner or dealer was generous enough to change tires etc even though he didn't have to. For a CPO, the dealer is obligated to do so.

R KLASSE

Yeah I don't know what's the deal with my car, honestly when we bought the car last year I did not want to spend another dime on it as it was already expensive as a used car. As a rule I don't like to spend more than $30K on a used vehicle and it was just a hair over that. Just like the other poster when we got it the dealer was asking $42K in Dec, '09 as a CPO car. It had 25K miles + new conti's, new rotors & pads and drove like a new car. In fact we tested 4-5 R350's and one R500 and the one we picked felt the best. The nightmare started about a week after we took delivery. I've already replaced the car from daily driver duties with a Honda Hybrid for my wife to drive. Now I only use the car for short errands or a weekend family trip.