wizkid

We purchased an extra year extended warranty on our car when we purchased it back in July 2001. We have a 2002 C240.

We thought we had purchased a 4 year/50k mile warranty with a 1 year 100k mile (maximum) extended warranty. Whichever came first would expire the warranty.

We put 50k miles on the car in about two years.

We made an appointment to get our feul level sensor repaired on the car, after a few phone calls to ask why this wasn't covered under the warranty, they told us we were out of warranty by 5 days and they could not make a good will repair because our mileage was too high. We currently have ~86k miles on the car.

We did call to make the appointment before the warranty period had expired but that seems to not make a difference with them.

Once the car went over the 50k miles, they started the extended warranty which was 1 extra year and/or a top out of 100k miles. This ended up cutting our warranty time off a full year and 14k miles, which we thought we had.

How many people on the board did not realize at the time of purchase this is how it worked? My wife and I are not stupid, but neither one of us understood this at the time of purchase.

I just wanted to heads up everyone before they get caught like we did.

Eric Barger
www.installuniversity.com - The MB installtion how to place.

wingless

Does the warranty contract text define the coverage limits that is described in this post?

wizkid

Excellent question. I have no idea. My wife is going to go over the contract tonight when she gets home.

Eric

electromethod

you starmarked your car when you bought it right? or was it an aftermarket warranty?

wizkid

We purchased our car Brand New with a 1 year extended warranty.

Eric

jan ken po

If I understand you correctly. In '02 you bought this car with a factory 4/50k, basically you had till '06 or 50k, whichever comes 1st. You also purchase an extended warranty for 1yr/100k. Which actually is 1yr/50k from the end of factory warranty...so in essence you have 5yr/100k warranty. I'm not saying you didn't know this..but I have come across some who think its 100k PLUS the factory when it is not.

How they tell you are out by "5 days" is odd...considering you have 4 years and it isn't 2006. I can understand if you came at 50,005K miles on the car, them saying that you are out by "5 miles", then they are being d*ckheads by doing that...but "5 days", odd.

The catch with extended warranty is finding out exactly what is covered and/or the deductible. Either case, if you have only 86k on your car and since it is not 2007 yet...you are still in your extended warrnaty time frame. If they are telling something different from that, you need to check the wording on that warranty contract because that is seriously effed up deal if it is not working that way.

Talos

As for the situation, it makes perfect sense. Your basic warranty expires at four years or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first. Your extended warranty begins when the basic warranty expires and lasts for one year from that date or until you hit the 100,000 mile mark, whichever comes first. If you had hit the 50,000 mark one month after purchasing the vehicle, your extended warranty would have expired on August 2002, unless you hit 100,000 miles before that time. You had exceeded your extended warranty by five days, which means that you hit 50,000 miles 370 days ago which expired your basic warranty and began the extended warranty, which expired one year later (or five days ago).

wizkid

First, I corrected two tiny mistakes in the original post.

We actually purchased the car in July 2001. I called my wife just now, I thought it was 2002.

We put 50k miles on the car in ~ 2 years. Maybe a month or two shy of 2 years.

To start over.

July 2001: Purchased car brand new from Mercedes of Knoxville.

July 2001: Purchased a 12 month extended warranty from Mercedes of Knoxville.

~July 2003: The car passed the 50,000 mile mark.

August 30, 2004: Car has approximately ~85,800 miles on car. Warranty is out by "5 days" so repair to fuel sensor is not covered.

Eric Barger

wizkid

This is my point. How many people realized this is how the warranty works?????????? We got busted because we put a lot of miles on the car.

People should realize if they drive a lot, they could be giving themselves the screw by waiting around to that next service visit to have a problem looked at.

Also, we called and made the appointment before the warranty had expired. But they won't recognize that fact and base it on the time of visit.

Eric

wingless

This is a clear example of a bad side of the "free" MB service included up to the '05 model year. The dealership has a documented record of mileage, which they would not otherwise have, if the owner maintained the vehicle himself.

Talos

While I understand your plight, it was in the contract...

Yeah, i'm going to take your side on this one. You should definately take this up with management and not accept this... They were too busy to handle your service within a reasonable time frame, so you have to pay? Bull****.

Talos

Ahh... but then you would be defrauding the dealership by not informing them as to when your basic warranty expired, etc.

wizkid

I am not really pissed at anything. I am just giving heads up to those who drive a lot like we do not realizing they have x year according to their warranty from when the turned 50k miles.

I agree calling before the warranty was but showing up on time after the warranty expired and dening our claim was crap.

Yes, this is the bad side to the warranty and I clearly would still have the warranty if they did not offer the free service we fell for. Which I would guess at this point you would have to use for your basic warranty to be honored.

I can argue with them or do this myself and help a lot of people out. So, I am going to do the install myself and hopefully show thousands of MB owners, it can be done by us peons. Either that or show them how to screw your car up.

ERic
www.installuniversity.com

jan ken po

Well now that you edited your post, lol. It does make more sense now.

jan ken po

But, also with the owner maintaining it himself, there is the risk of MB not covering would be normal factory warranty repair due to improper service record keeping.

wingless

There is nothing preventing an owner from properly performing normal maintenance and creating appropriate documentation, so that the warranty remains in effect.

jan ken po

Never said there was...hence the word "risk". If one feels confident to do all the work themselves to MB specs & properly document it, more power to them...
They are many however who wouldn't dream of taking that chance.

nicedeboy

Use the search feature, I started a thread about this subject a few months ago about my old car.

jsr

The starmark warranty actually says if you go over 50,000 miles in the first four years then the starmark kicks in the first time you have WARRANTY work done. That means a simple oil change should not affect it. I know what we are talking about here is not starmark, but I’m sure they are probably worded similarly since they are both from Mercedes.

I am in a similar position right now. My 2002 has almost 41,000 miles on it and it will hit the 4 year mark in Jan 2006. I’ll probably put more then 9,000 miles on it in the next 15 months, so when I am about 500 miles away from 50,000 I am going to take it in and fix all of the broken stuff. After that, I just have to hope that nothing major breaks and live with the small stuff for a few months until the 4 year mark hits.

C230 Sport Coup

? I thought when I bought it was billed as 5 6 or 7 year warranty?
I bought the 6 year, or rather the extra 2 years, and am about to pass the 50K mark after only 2.5 years.
So, that would mean I would be out of warranty in 2006 instead of 2008. That sux!!!
I gotta look into this...
but yeh, now that I think about it...
"whichever comes first".
Damn, if I had understood that I would have
bought the 7 year...er 3 year extention...

As far as your particular situation, I would call and write
MBZ USA and bich about getting dinged for 5 days over warranty, when your dealer was too busy to help
while it under warranty, and appt made in advance.
Gawd, I never seased to be amazed by the **** these dealers will pull.
Whatever shred of a reputation MBZ once had a the builder of the worlds best engineered most reliable cars, appears to be gone.

I would also ask MB USA the opportunity to get an inspection done, and any needed repairs done under warranty...I mean, you were planning on doing that anyway, right?

C230 Sport Coup

DON'T WAIT TILL THEN!!
You'll get bent over....
go sooner!
How likely will they get everything right the first time...
better start thinking about getting in it now, and
leave time to sort out things they break or mess up while fixing it, or things they just kinda blow off and don't do..
I'm saying this from my own recent experience.
Now that all the obvious stuff is fixed, I'm going to get a full inspection of the car, and make sure they didn't miss anything. I see a lot of posts where people were hit up with repair right after the warranty expired, and
not long after being serviced when MBZ said nothing till after expiring.

CitronC230K_03

next time i go in ill ask! but from my understanding its 7yr/100k miles. thats the warranty i purchased. but the 3yr/100k doesnt start until the first warranty has expired because there are limiations on the extended warranty.

UStifosi

I bought an '02 C230 (1/31/02 in service date) Starmark car with 47k miles on it in Jan '04. I bought an extended warranty from the dealer as I knew I would run out of miles way before the 4 years expired. I was told and have confirmed that once over 50k, the next visit to the dealer will trigger the extended warranty. The dealer has no idea when you pass 50k until you bring it in. In my case, it will make sense to bring it in at 49,990 and get maint done and then don't bring it in ultimately until 1/31/06, if possible.

With that system in mind, yes, the MB Extended Warranty is essentially a two-step warranty that could be used up very quickly.

CitronC230K_03

ill have to keep that in mind. though i have more the 20k miles before my original warranty is expired i will keep that in mind.

so the extended warranty time frame wont start until your next MB visit correct. obviously once you've exceded 100k miles, you done!

mctwin2kman

How do they know the date you hit 50,000 miles? Did you get it serviced after the 50,000 mile mark and they just start it then as a year from that date? I would think extended means just that, so 4 years becomes 5 thus making the 4 year mark a moot point in my mind, but alas they screw you anyhow! Hence why I did not get the extended warranty, since it is horse**** anyhow and by the time you need it you are a year out of the time frame and it does not work! Anyhow, sorry to hear that, just curious how they know what the date was that you passed 50,000 miles!