selpo

Hello everone,

New member here and learning a lot already about my potential new car!

Have never bought a used car before and had a couple of questions:

The car is a one owner just serviced 2013 S550 with clean carfax except a replaced windshield in February, currently has 17000 miles on it - Is there anything in particular I need to check because of the replaced windshield, the car has Driver assistance package, splitview, sport plus one 20 inch AMG wheels and designo jet black interior package with designo piano black lacquer wood trim.

They offer 10 yr/ 100,000 mile extended warranty and am going to find out what company underwrites their policy and the cost of it and will post it back- is there anything to look in particular other than the exclusions?

Any issues that you all know of with the 2013 S550?

Will this car qualify for a MB extended warranty?

Thanks in advance and super excited!!

Nuru

As far as I know if you are the second owner and it is still under the factory warranty, you can get a MB warranty. If this is not an MB dealer than you cannot get it MB certified. Will this be your everyday car or your weekend/fun car?

Nuru

There are a number of maintenance/repair threads on this forum, you can just do a search to find them. Or you can just review the pages of threads until you see one discussing an issue on the 2011 - 2013 W221s.

selpo

Thank you for the prompt response! This will be my everyday car- I do put about 20000 miles a yr on my car and do like to keep my cars a while but somehow I have managed to have issues on all my previous cars when I hit the 140000 mile mark

I have learnt a lot about the 221 from this forum and from what I gather, the early ones, 07-10 had some transmission and steering wheel vibration issues but have not found any widespread concern with the late ones so far.

Nuru

You are welcome, with the amount of driving you are going to experience, get as much warranty as you can afford and definitely get the car serviced at a MB dealer regularly.

selpo

Thanks again! Their 10 yr/ 100,000 mile warranty is an exclusionary warranty apparently does not cover just the wear and tear items- I need to review it in detail though. I am also wondering that since the nearest MB dealer is about 75 minutes away, how reliable this car is and whether I should buy something else as a daily driver

DaveW68

Check the wording on the warranty. You may be able to take it to your favorite indy for service. If not, then consider an after-market warranty that allows it. 75 miles is way too far to travel for service, especially if you have a break-down.

20k is a lot of miles to put on a Benz every year, especially if you plan on keeping it a long time. The S-class calls for maintenance every 10k miles, so you'll be in every 6 months for the A or B service plus others. And maintenance aint cheap on these cars. With your mileage, expect to spend around $4k or more per year on maintenance. And you can't skip out on it as your warranty coverage will hinge on proof that you've done all of the recommended maintenance. High mileage also depreciates the hell out of these cars....which might not matter to you if you plan on keeping it a long time.

With you putting on so many miles, my advice would be to look for a very low mileage 2010 face-lifted model....and also buy say a newer Honda Accord to split time with. Hell...you could probably buy a super low mileage 2010 S600 that has every possible amenity you can imagine and the Accord for the same money you'd be spending on the 2013. You'll cut down on your annual costs and keep more value in the S by keeping the mileage and maintenance costs lower. You'd also have reliable transportation available to you whenever the S is in the shop for maintenance or a break-down.

selpo

Thank you for your advice, all very valid points!! I was thinking along the same lines but was going to defer on the 2013 S550 but did not think of the 2010 S600 with low mileage. I might even wait a yr or 2 and see if I can pick up a W222 with low miles

Nuru

Actually, I would think more than twice about buying a 2010 S600 over a 2013 S550, as the repair costs are much higher on that car than the S550, and from what I have seen on this forum, the S600 seems to have more maintenance issues. Getting a second car is a good idea to split the miles on the car (whichever you get).

bha

I would agree with this statement.


Based on past S classes, repair costs, and 'value for money' you have to assume the S600 (also being 3 years older) will probably cost you +50% to +100% of the maintenance cost of the S550.


Everything from more spark plugs and coil packs to higher priced parts and more difficult/expensive maintenance that the S550 doesn't require. Fuel costs, too.


You have to balance two things:
Power of the S600 - but do you really need it? The S550 is an amazing car as it is up to 100mph. Do you really need lots of performance in the 60-120mph range or do you live in an area where hitting the gas to pass someone at 60+mph is a rare occurance? Sure it's nice to have but how often (realistically) will it happen.


Additional features - yes, more features and nicer headliner and other things you can't get on an S550. But remember the S550 was an expensive car new and has amazing 'standard' features as it is. Do you absolutely need some of those additional features?


vs.


Additional cost (let's assume ownership + maintenance + fuel will be double the cost of an S550)


For me it just wasn't worth it. Others will disagree and I totally understand their point of view.


Decide what you need/want then make the decision on which car. The only thing worse than paying to drive a 5yr old top-of-the-line used luxury car is paying 50-100% more!

DaveW68

^^^ LOL!!!!

Sounds like somebody who couldn't afford the S600, so he's justifying his purchase and reaching for ways to make his 550 sound better. However you need to justify it to yourself I guess.

In reality, the S600 is a completely different class of car compared to the S550. There's a reason that they cost over $50k more than the S550 when new. There's a lot more than Alcantara headliner to separate these cars. Distronic+, ABC, Night Vision, Reclining/massaging & ventilated rear seats, Pano roof, heated steering wheel, upgraded sound system, power closing doors, premium leather wrapped everything, among others... all standard equipment. You can't get all of these options on the S550, and the ones that you can you pay a hefty premium for.

Not to mention that sweet and effortless V12 TT motor that allows you to dust almost all sports cars while riding in complete comfort. The S600 motoring experience is on a different level compared to the S550. Drive them both, then make your decision.

For the record, maintenance costs are almost exactly the same as the S550. They both follow the exact same service schedule. Yes, there are more systems that can go wrong because the level of technology on the car is so incredibly high. But that's why smart folks make sure they have an exclusionary service contract/warranty to cover them if something does go wrong. You'll probably spend about 30% more on gas, but that's about it. But if you're really worried about that, you probably shouldn't be considering an S-class any way.

selpo

I am sorry but do not know how to add more than one quote!!!

Dave's quote
^^^ LOL!!!!

Sounds like somebody who couldn't afford the S600, so he's justifying his purchase and reaching for ways to make his 550 sound better. However you need to justify it to yourself I guess.

In reality, the S600 is a completely different class of car compared to the S550. There's a reason that they cost over $50k more than the S550 when new. There's a lot more than Alcantara headliner to separate these cars. Distronic+, ABC, Night Vision, Reclining/massaging & ventilated rear seats, Pano roof, heated steering wheel, upgraded sound system, power closing doors, premium leather wrapped everything, among others... all standard equipment. You can't get all of these options on the S550, and the ones that you can you pay a hefty premium for.

Not to mention that sweet and effortless V12 TT motor that allows you to dust almost all sports cars while riding in complete comfort. The S600 motoring experience is on a different level compared to the S550. Drive them both, then make your decision.

For the record, maintenance costs are almost exactly the same as the S550. They both follow the exact same service schedule. Yes, there are more systems that can go wrong because the level of technology on the car is so incredibly high. But that's why smart folks make sure they have an exclusionary service contract/warranty to cover them if something does go wrong. You'll probably spend about 30% more on gas, but that's about it. But if you're really worried about that, you probably shouldn't be considering an S-class any way.
END QUOTE




Thank you both for taking the time to clearly explain your thoughts

The S550 I am looking at does have most of the options except the alcantara headliner, the massaging rear seats and of course, the V12TT. I think for myself, it comes down to the time spent on possible service needs as tne nearest AD is 75 min away- Like someone suggested, I could look for an Indy Garage which will work on these cars, which is where I am leaning towards. I do like newer technology and from that standpoint, I have to check out the differences between the 2013 S550 and the 2010 S600.

I really appreciate all of you for your time and invaluable advice

Nuru

Also consider the 5 speed vs a 7 speed newer transmission.

DaveW68

The 5 speed auto is pretty much bullet proof and can handle much more power and torque that the 7 speed. That's why they use it in the S65 and S600. The 7 speed is known to have many more issues than the 5 speed, and upgrading power is riskier in the S550 and S63 as that tranny is limited in the power it can handle.

selpo

Thank you, good to know. Will keep that in mind as well but I probably will not buy more than a 2 yr old car. I am also going to wait after the new year to see if price goes down some more on the 2013 that I have my eye on

Nuru

Dave stop picking on me

however for the money you save between the S550 and S600, you can upgrade the trans and chip the engine


Yeah and if a S350, a S550, and a S600, all had had a race at 80 mph, for 500 miles, with no gas fill-ups the S350 would win!, the S550 would come in second and the S600 would come in third

MBNUT1

I don't think that Mercedes offers 10 year warranties. Given the amount of miles that you drive you should get the latest model CPO car that you can afford from a Mercedes dealer as I believe they have unlimited mileage warranties.

Nuru

+1

selpo

You are correct, this car is not at an MB dealer and it is a third party warranty. I am going to check with the Indy garage in my town and find out his experience if any with this warranty and go from there. Don't the CPO cars have a yr limit on their warranty?

DaveW68

Yes, the CPO cars add 1 year with unlimited miles to the end of the existing MB warranty. You can add up to 2 more years at a hefty premium.


Call around to Credit Unions in your area and see if they offer the "Members Choice" warranty coverage. If so, you can save yourself a bunch of money over the cost of other after-market warranties and get yourself very good coverage (if you choose the exclusionary Platinum coverage) that both dealers and indys accept without any problems.

selpo

Thank you for the info, will check with the local credit unions and will make sure to ask for the platinum exclusionary coverage

lganski

What is the difference between "exclusionary platinum coverage" and other coverage?

DaveW68

Exclusionary coverage means that everything on the car is covered except for the items which are explicitly excluded. Excluded items are usually the items that would normally wear out over time, such as shocks, hoses, batteries, spark plugs, tires, etc. Other excluded items would be body panels and exterior & interior trim items.

A non-exclusionary policy would cover just the named components in the warranty. These can name such items as specific powertrain components in the engine & transmission or even get into specific covered electronics. This will seriously limit your coverage on a high tech machine such as the S-class.

For a car as complicated as the S-class, it's always best to go for the exclusionary policy.

dpayne7571

Do you have to be a member of credit union to get this warranty? What are the cost savings? Thanks

DaveW68

Yes, you will have to join a credit union in order to obtain warranty coverage. It should be no big deal since it's free to join. Also, CU's blow away banks as far as what they pay in interest on accounts and customer service is usually awesome, so you may want to consider moving your accounts too.

Regarding warranty cost, it depends on the policies that they offer (if they offer them) and the mileage on your car when you buy it. It's definitely worth calling some in your area to see if they offer the coverage as it will most certainly be cheaper than anything else you will find.