DaveW68

I know that Mike5215 and some others have been huge proponents of the Benz CPO warranties (if you buy a car where that coverage is available), but I thought I'd share my current experience with my after market warranty through The Warranty Group purchased through my credit union.


Last Friday, my wife was driving my car running kids around (big mistake on my part ) while I had her van in to replace the dead battery. She was backing out of a driveway on a fairly busy street and tried to put the car into drive before it was fully stopped. This confused the car and it wouldn't go into drive. Thinking that she hadn't pulled hard enough on the shifter, she ended up breaking off the shifter lever...which left her in a very vulnerable spot on a fairly busy street. I rushed over there after getting the call...and by then a nice mechanic had stopped, used a screw driver to get the car into neutral, and got the car pushed to the side of the road. I contacted my warranty company and they agreed to pay for the tow to my house.


I contact my closest dealer the next day (Sat) and they ordered the shifter. It comes on a ring with the cruise stalk. The part came in Wed night, so I got it in for service this morning. The service advisor was adamant that the warranty company likely wouldn't cover the repair since it was a broken part, not a defective part. He said he's seen this happen before and MB has never agreed to pay for this kind of repair.


I got the call from him this afternoon with the great news that my warranty had agreed to pay for the claim. They also told him that I need to contact them to make arrangements to pay for a rental car. My policy states that they will pay up to $35 days for a max of 5 days. I picked up my rental vehicle last Sat. My repairs will be done tomorrow, and my warranty company agreed to pay for the full amount for the 7 days.


So after all of this, it is only costing me the $100 deductible for the service, tow, and rental. This was the Platinum exclusionary warranty that I paid $3300 that covers me for 7 yr/75k miles on my V12 TT S600. My car has just 25k miles now and I'm covered up to 99k.


So for all of the naysayers of aftermarket warranties, they may not be as bad as you think...especially if you get the right company. Shop your local credit unions or banks to see if they offer coverage. If they do, you can save a bundle.

Mike5215

Yeah, I had a wife like that once.

I am counting that one in the "win" column for your warranty. So far so good...

snovvman

At least you now realize where your real problem was. Glad that nothing happened to her.

Before I bought the two additional years from Benz, I called my CU and asked for a quote. Since the car is still under warranty and will be for some time, the agent told me that she cannot provide me with a quote. I would need to provide her with an actual mileage.

In order to get an idea, I called back and gave an estimated, rolled-back scenario. Instead of 2013, I told her 2010 with 75K miles. She paused and said that she had to check on something. She came back and said that the numbers are right--$40,000 for an exclusionary warranty contract. A lower coverage was around $25,000. That just didn't sound right. I figure when my factory warranty and CPO expires, I'll call and get a real quote. The Benz 2-year extended is fully refundable until the time of actual warranty period, so I'm covered.

platt-deutsch

$40,000.00 ? what?

alx

It is a sacrificial part. It actually has a hole where it is supposed to break. The stalk that is- not the wife. Although your mileage might vary lol

Mandingo

I might look for a warranty after my MB Extended expires in September assuming I keep my car.

I looked at Warranty Group and found this ...

http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-warranty-group-chicago

DaveW68

I read through those reviews (there were only 4). Two of the cases appeared to be misrepresentations by Penske BMW dealers about the quality of cars being sold, and also what the policy being sold actually covered. In all 4 cases, it appears that all of them were named component policies, not exclusionary coverage. In every case, it appears that the salesmen sold them a bill of goods with maximum profit in mind. It is the responsibility of the consumer to read the full policy that is being sold to them, not just trust the word of some car salesman or someone in the F&I office.


When purchasing a complicated and expensive car like a BMW, Mercedes, Audi, or any slew of high end cars, it is imperative to purchase an exclusionary policy....where only the named excluded items in the policy are not covered....which are usually normal wear items (belts, hoses, brake pads & rotors, batteries, tires, etc) & body items. And be sure to read it fully so you're not shocked if something you think might be covered actually isn't. These are not the same bumper-to-bumper warranties that cover virtually everything on a brand new car. Not even the CPO warranties cover everything that the new car warranties do, and in many cases cover less than what some after-market policies do.

DaveW68

My transmission was acting very strange a couple of weeks ago. It was slow to downshift, and occasionally was shifting very hard. It also was occasionally slipping. It was very disconcerting since the car only has 28k miles. A day before that, there was a whining sound that began and increased with revs. I thought somehow the 2 items were related. Trouble was that the check engine light wasn't coming on and there were no codes showing through my Torque app.


I took it to my local Benz dealer for diagnosis and repair. They were able to pull codes through STAR, but the codes were pretty vague. They tried all kinds of different things to get the codes to go away, including changing the trans fluid and some other items. More codes began appearing.


They spent around 10 hours of diagnosis time and came to the conclusion that the trans needed to be replaced. Now it was time to get the warranty company involved to see if they would agree...or possibly have them pull the trans and take it apart. They sent out their rep yesterday who went over what had been done so far, went for a drive with the mechanic, and thankfully were able to duplicate the drivability issues.


The good news? The warranty company has agreed to pay for a remanufactured transmission (which comes with 2 yr/24k warranty), installation, replacing an engine pulley (that was making the whining noise), plus all of the diagnostic work. The bill will be well over $10k. Considering that I've had the car just over 6 months, am already on my 2nd claim, and only paid around $3300 for the warranty, I would consider this a big win. Plus, the dealer gave me a new ML350 that I've been driving for the last week and a half at no charge. Nice little truck.


Now what does Mike think about this company?

Mike5215

I think you should use that warranty as often as possible before that company declares bankruptcy ��.

Seriously so far so good. A CPO warranty would have also handled everything the 3rd party did, with zero deductible and no field inspection. CPO may have used a reman'd unit if one was available internally but otherwise it would have been new. The CPO would run you $4500 if you took it out for the max 3 years, so you're ahead on cost depending on the deductible, and your term was longer. Let's see where it stands at 36 months.

DaveW68

Hopefully the warranty will still be good and paying claims for the next 6.5 years and 71k miles.


CPO wasn't available on my 2007, so I feel I'm way ahead of the curve with this company.,

Mike5215

Yeah they've passed the big test as far as I'm concerned. Crazy good value for a warranty on an older S600. I'm thinking the mileage made the numbers work for them. Or so they thought.

wilassasin

Most credit union warranties are great only downside is that you have to purchase *most* of them at the time of loan with no grace period. I've had a few over the years and never had an issue.

Mike5215

Dave make sure they replace the torque convertor at the same time. Generally not included with a reman but it can get contaminated with shavings.

WHPH28

That is good news! I have used mine once for a new radiator and they just called the dealer, verified the amount, gave them their credit card number and that was it.

DaveW68

Great point! I called them and they said the original TC is going back in because they didn't see any evidence of shavings in the trans fluid.

jiceoo

Maybe I over looked it, but did you ever tell us the name of the warranty company or the number to your rep?

DaveW68

IIRC, it's called CUNA Mutual and only sold through credit unions. After researching for another member of this board, I found out that it's difficult to find credit unions who sell that policy....much less credit unions who will sell a comprehensive plan on a V12 or AMG model....which this one does. If you're in the Chicago area, I can hook you up with my guy at my credit union. Otherwise you're gonna have to let your fingers do the walking calling around to all of the credit unions in your area to see if they offer that plan.

jiceoo

Thanks I appreciate the response