faddii

I'm new to this forum...need your experience and advice...tomorrow i will be putting pen to paper on a used 2004 c230 coupe with 61,000 miles. car is off lease, lady driven. A phone call from the MB dealer proposed to me a 2y or 37000 m warranty at a price of $2,200, whichever comes 1st. Is it worth it or not? need your input.

samaritrey

well that depends. have you checked out the common problems with the motor?

faddii

yes i have. only biggest thing i came across is the leaking cam seals..from reading around the net, the 04 models are reliable and been fixed up from previous models.

samaritrey

ok good i would also find out more about the warranty and what it covers. my car had the extended warranty through mercedes which was really nice. covered me until 100k or 2011 i think. don't know how much it cost i bought the car with 86k and found out later it had extended warranty. the car is at 142k with really no issues that were ever covered under warranty. the dealer i used broke more then actually broke on the car. i would say about $500 in various repairs were done under the warranty. My car has been extremely reliable so i am not the best guy to ask about warranties. i would not have bought a 2k warranty for my car. The only money i have really put into my car are wear parts (brakes, bushings, Tires...), gas, oil changes (engine, trans, rear diff), air filters, and then mods ($600 for my BIX, $50 for clear side mirror lights, $200 for oem nav unit)

sorry for the big list just thought i would give you a list of what my car has needed since i got it in 2007. I love my c320 and plan on never selling it. there are some members or former members that have had really bad luck with there cars with half the miles of mine. My car was purchased on May 26 2001 (my b day LOL) in Mississippi. from what i can tell was driven mostly HWY millage (has rock chips like no other on hood and pitted windscreen) i bought it with less than 86K in mint condition except for the rock chips on front of car and windscreen and on little stain on b pillar that came off easily. I paid 13k on 3-27-2007 for the car which i think was a really good deal. Have fun tomorrow it is a lot of fun getting a new car just make sure to take a friend that will tell you the truth about the car have him or her look over the car fully and bring up any thing they see wrong even minor then complain about it to the sales guy to get a better price. also please put you locatoin in your profile so in the future we can help you better.

acr2001

Get the warranty (I assume this is the MB extended warranty and not some BS warranty).

faddii

thank you for replying...i appreciate your explanation....im just worried about the leaking problem and weather or not to purchase the extended warranty...it is just im not sure if it has been fixed by the recall or like many have mentioned that MB wont fix it until oil leaks in there...i will have them check it out and make sure it is fixed...the dealer put in new all-season Michelin tires. plus they r changing the breaks and transmission fluid as i demanded that...so im just debating weather to take the warranty or put the $2000 in my pocket and spend it on regular maintenance etc...other members input that know about the warranty would greatly appreciate it, am i missing anything beside what i have mentioned?

also does anyone know what the extended warranty covers and not covers??? googling this did not find good results

LILBENZ230

What does the added $2200 make the total price out to be on the 2004?

samaritrey

ask the dealer you spoke with to give you the paperwork it will tell you.

+1 on the final price

faddii

the price i negotiated is 12,450 Canadian + 2,200 + tax = 16,554 with warranty....without warranty is 14,068

danev6972

I would get it!!! You'll probably not see much difference in your monthly payment i would think.
Can you ask them to bring up the service history of the vehicle?...that way you'll know what work they have done.

my 03 c240 is falling apart already 76000 mi

faddii

i inquired about that at the 1st visit and told me they will get it ready for me...i just phoned them ahead to have the documents ready to look at it and they said that their service department is closed so they wont bring it up until Monday...but i dont understand how the dealer can be open but not have these kind of services available to their customers...im thinking of going monday

samaritrey

+1 you want to see what has been done to the car.

LILBENZ230

Nope, I fought this battle myself. None of the dealers in my area (and there are several) will give a VMI out for my car. They say it is a privacy concern and one even showed me a VMI report on another car so I could see that it had (in big, bold print) "INTERNAL USE ONLY".

It makes no sense but I inevitably had to accept it.

TemjinX2

If its MB warranty, I would get it. 2k financed over 5yrs is around a extra $40 a month. So it doesn't cost much per month for piece of mind.

LILBENZ230

Of course, that's $40 per month that continues for three years after the warranty has ended.

Damn early W203s.. I have 75,900 on mine and aside from a few quirks (no actual problems) its as good as new. Looks new inside (spare the armrest, which has some wear) and looks great outside. Has never given me any grief.

TemjinX2

1-2 warranty repairs will pay for itself. I'd rather pay $40 a month over 5yrs then pay 1-2k in repair costs per yr. Thats also assuming you keep the car for 5yrs. Most people on average only keep their cars for 3yrs.

LILBENZ230

Touche.

TemjinX2

It was not a attack on your statement. But more of a cost analysis on my previous statement. I diy most of my maintence and i still ended up spending around 2k a yr in repairs.

Granted my car is older then most w203's, but I beat the crap out of my 14yr integra and i still spend less then 1k in repair for a car thats 14ys old.

The problem with the mercedes, is the fact the that the parts themselves are expensive and the used mercedes part market is small so even used parts are relatively expensive.

I will never own another european car without warranty again. I would say $2k over 5yrs is a bargain given dealership labor and part rates.

I agree paying over 10% the value of the car for warranty is expensive and paying interest on top of it, but in this case from a ROI and risk stand point, its worth the cost.

If the car was a honda, Toyota or other reliable japanese brand i would say it was a waste and not opt for the warranty.

LILBENZ230

Oh I understand, no offense was taken. Your point was very valid and I hadn't considered it from that angle. Paying $40 a month through the term of the loan is likely much cheaper than putting a huge repair bill (or three) on a credit card with high interest.

TemjinX2

well in hindsight, I should've bought a CPO 335i...

Thats, the next car on the list.

LILBENZ230

The N54 engine is fantastic, you will love it. If it's your thing, get the 6MT. In terms of smile-per-mile, I've never had anything quite like it. Though I have no intention of ever modding, I hear adding huge horsepower is quite easy with this car.

TemjinX2

yeah i'm on e90post a lot doing my research. I'm attracted to the 335i since it has the same or more hp potential as my c32 and the 51/49 weight distribution seems to really help on the twisties.

My friend beat me in the twisties with his e46 330ci, of course he's also 400lbs lighter but the 50/50 weight split seems to really help on the corner entry.

I think i'm going to wait until the 335is get's cheaper and just buy that CPO. I hear a lot of good things about the BMW DCT.

SteveAustin

NOT. Don't bother with extended warranties...I've posted on the subject before. Consumer Reports even indicates they rarely if ever pay for themselves (that includes Mercedes). Why shell out money for repairs you haven't incurred? $2000 worth of repairs in two years? Unlikely.

BayAreaC32

Get the Ext Warranty, My cars at the dealer getting $1500 worth of work all covered under the warranty!
It will pay for itself trust me..Just my 2 cents.

TemjinX2

I agree with bayarea, for euro car I would definately get the warranty. In hindsight i would've got it. Last 2yrs this is what has went wrong with the car.

battery drain seat controller modules = $500 each fix using relay fix

intecooler pump = $150

Leaky intercooler = $800

bad throttle body = $800

Leaky valeo radiator = $160 = changed a preventative maintence

bad idler pullies = $60 each

Bad acclerator pedal = $150

These are just the price of parts based on internet prices. If it was dealership prices, double it, and does not include the price of labor. I was able to save money by doing the installs myself.

If you add the cost of labor, you can easily go through $2k in 2yrs.

If it was a japanese car, I would agree, but for Mb and BMW's i would definately get MB warranty.