Zax63

Those are not spec but I have had good luck with them on other vehicles, last a long time and are good in snow for an all season. I find the torque on these needs as much traction as you can find, and stickier tires work better for all out launches...depends how you are using the car and the weather conditions, but that is a fine overall tire. I'd like to know why they couldn't CPO...

xxGenericSNxx

I really like my aftermarket warranty that I have on the R (National Warranty Corp.) They covered a few items that a CPO Benz car would not normally cover such as motor mounts.

But as others have stated, having a warranty is definitely the way to go, especially on fancier cars where more can and will go wrong.

If you don't mind me asking, who's your warranty provider as I've heard that National no longer covers AMG cars (losing too much money?).

waltern

It turns out it was CPO for the owner that just traded it in. According to my local dealer, a car can only be CPO once in it's life.

waltern

Automotive Warranty Services 800-847-6856. Seems that it is a great warranty; we will find out.

Welwynnick

That's what we hear all the time on these forums, and consequently we always hear how somebody's car cost $10k/year to maintain (though we're sometimes left thinking that came out their own, deep, pockets, rather the warranty company's).

When its your own money, I think you're more likely to live with a problem, or find another way of resolving it, for example by using back-street mechanics, fitting used parts, and do-it-yourself. When repairs cost as much as the car itself, its no longer a viable proposition, and dealer parts and labour costs might drive many cars off the road.

More likely, those costs will simply drive those cars to a different part of the used car market, where owners take a different approach. Rather than looking for the benefits and assurance of a new car, but with (hopefully) lower cost, they accept that cars will go wrong, and deal with it. A warranty should be like an insurance policy that deals with unlikely and unpredictable events. The break-down of a ten-year old car is not an unlikely event though, and like a teenager driving a Corvette, its logical that the insurance will cost more than the car.

This is where forums like this come in. Every car has its foibles and challenges. We know what our are (and I think I've just found another) but we also know there are ways round them. I recently bought a 2004 S600TT with about 146,000 miles from a private seller and NO warranty. Exactly the sort of thing that sends the newcarwannahaves running for the hills. Breakdowns are no longer an uncertainty or a statistical risk, they're an inevitability, and I've definitely had problems. But the only major expense has been a new coil pack (and I wonder if I shouldn't have simply tried to repiar my old one). 146k miles, one new coil pack and one original one - hmmm, I wonder what might happen....?

Now, if I had a warranty, firstly that would have cost more than the repairs (same for all four W220's that I've owned). Secondly, the warranty wouldn't have covered it anyway. The only warranty I could get for my car covered the engine, transmission and final drive - just the things that I'm not worried about.

Warranties aren't about getting something for nothing, they're not magic pots of money: they have to be paid for. And for our cars they're expensive. If they weren't, the warranty companies would go out of business - hence the bold type in the quote above. Warranties have to make a profit for the warranty company, by underwriting the risk of the worst repairs, where the owner can't take that risk.

We've all heard stories of how people got double their money for repairs incurred, but for every one of those stories, there will be many more where the warranty was unused. We don't hear about them, but it can't be any other way.

Nick

Zax63

This is true 100%, it's the way insurance works. It is also statistically likely that if you play Russian roulette, you will live.

Welwynnick

Yes, but in the case of Russian roulette, you can't take the chance.

What I'm saying with cars is that it IS possible to take the chance.

Zax63

Agreed. Except in my case I actually needed a motor that being said, I kept it past warranty...

waltern

Car is on its way. 2008 S65 Iridium Silver, Black, 30,575 miles. The enclosed trailer should arrive on Wednesday. It will go straight to the dealer for the inspection and warranty. I will get the 4 year/48K miles from date of purchase.

xxGenericSNxx

I think these aftermarket warranties make their bread and butter money off of Honddas and Toyotas, cars that mostly don't break down. With Benzes they're so expensive to fix and so many little and big things go wrong, thousands thrown here and there to fix, that for an aftermarket warranty that covers the whole car for only a few grand seems like a no brainer for me. This is probably exactly the reason why my warranty company will no longer cover AMGs because they too have realized this. It's only a matter of time before it's realized. But as long as people will offer extended warranties for not too much, it seems like less risk on my (consumer's) part to just go for it.