JustJill

Hi. I'm brand new here.

Yesterday I drove off with my first Mercedes - a 2010 C300. When I went to sign the finance guy tried to sell me an excessive wear and tear protection plan. Essentially, it's $900 for $5000 worth of coverage when you turn in the car - (up to $1000 per incident. I understand this to mean you have $1000 towards 5 different dents or your tire tread or your busted headlight or whatever.)

The thing the guy kept mentioning was tire tread. I am on the Mercedes forums trying to figure out what is considered "normal" wear and tear.

He kept talking about having to replace the tires. When would I expect to have to replace the tires on a C300? And wouldn't they just charge me for excessive use? I am leasing for 30,000 miles/3 years.

I expect my bumper to get some scratches but am calling a body shop today to try to see if they can give me an estimate on what something like that might cost to recondition. Seems like it makes more sense to pay for it later rather than now.

Any input is greatly appreciated especially since I'm in a time crunch and only have until end of today to opt out.

Thanks!
Just Jill

Derspeed

Do you get the money back if nothing happens? Probably not. Did he try to sell you a $500 paint sealer (wax job) too. As far as tire cost, you can replace four 17" for less than $900.00 if you buy them from tirerack.com. Your tires will not likely last for 30,000 miles. Small dings can be removed by a paintless dent shop. For preventing scratches on the front, you could buy clear bra, but that will likely cost almost $900.00. Mine did. I am not afan of MB paint. It seems pretty fragile. I would take my chances and opt out. Any major damage should it it occur, should be covered by your insurance company. I think he is just trying to scare you.

AMGTTV8

I dont know if he is "just trying to scare" you...

The points that the sales rep raise are accurate - MBF does charge customers out the A$$ to fix the cars upon lease return..

If you think that you are one that can avoid these damages over the life of ownership, then simply opt out...

Just remember when you turn in the car to not ***** at the sales associate if and when charges are handed down from MBF

lingnoi

So, is one set of tires (4 tires) 1 incident or 4?

Read the fine print twice. My gut feeling says don't do it. They'll get you in the end either way.

Regards, LN

QC55

If you take good care of your car, you don't have to buy it. It is a product that let the business office to generate more income. The cost of that is around $600. Depending on how good of a relationship that you have with your salesman/sales manager, you can ask them to give you a discount. a set of tires will last you around 20,000miles (really depending on how hard you drive it). When you return your car, your tires are not supposed to have less than 4/32 of tread. If you are the kind of person who drives the sh*t out of a car, then you'd better buy it.

amdeutsch

Let see, a 10k miles/yr lease in CA. You bet you'd be replacing those tires. Especially since you most likely will put on more than 30k miles during those 3 years.

mat2hu

wat is everyone saying.... those tires will last WAY more than 30,000 miles.... I drive my car rough lots of times and with 16,800 miles on them i still have about 75-80% tread left on my tires.

davezaristo

i plan to track my c350 and hopefully return the car with the same set of tires..hehe..good luck to me..

DieselNY

Don't waste your money, if any major damage happens then that is what insurance is for. You are driving a Mercedes and not a Toyota so I think it should be an unwritten rule to take extra care of a Mercdes ie park FAR away from anyone when you go shopping.. don't you hate that habit? been doing that since I was 16 but it is needed in a world of morons who will ding your car all day long because they are just idiots.

Rim/Tire protection = total waste. I bent 2 rims and MB told me they were $990 each to replace and they told me the rim/tire plan that I paid $1,000 for only covers CRACKED rims so my insurance took care of it and only cost me like $200 out of pocket because my local MB dealer played with the numbers so I did not even have to pay my full $500 deductible, just $175 to be exact.

Yes $500 or so allowance when returning a lease is pretty pathetic (other cars give you up to $1,500) but again this is a Benz not a Pinto so they also expect you to keep the car looking good. I just returned a lease with 25,000 miles and tires were pretty bad, way under 50% tread and it has been almost a month and the only letter I got from MB was thanking me for keeping the car in such good condition. But if you drive and maintain your car like normal humans do (I consider myself a little too ****) then really that $900 is probably worth it for you, I hate to say it.

davidw1234

I have the wear and tear plan because my insurance company here in Vancouver is a pain in the a**. (monopoly)