TTopJohn

I'd like to know what you think about the real value of a Starmark'd E-Class. I'm thinking it's not all it's cracked up to be. If you feel differently I'd love to hear your reasoning to see if I'm overlooking anything here.

My initial thought was that the MB backed Starmark extended warranty would be worth a premium over a cheaper, non Starmarked car from a non-MB dealer.

But, it doesn't look like the Starmark warranty gives you much coverage at all - correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like it just adds one additional year of Starmark warranty beyond the expiration of the original factory warranty. This paltry time period at a price premium that, in the Dallas market, seems to be $4000-$6000 over what a non starmaked car goes for at a non-MB dealer.

I understand that additional time and mileage can be purchased through the Starmark program, but dealerships I've spoken to treat this as another profit center in the deal, making it tough to get a straight answer on what it would cost to make the Starmark program a meaningful extended warranty, of say 5 years 75K miles from the date you buy the car.

Given this, it seems like if you have a dealer service department or independent shop that will take a 3rd party extended warranty (and can report to you that they have a good relationship with that 3rd party warranty company) the better deal would be to buy a cheaper, non starmarked E. With the 4-6K savings over a starmarked car, you could either self insure against future repairs, or buy a 3rd party extended warranty and have several thousand dollars left over - I've seen 3rd party warranties for 5yr 75K miles in the neighborhood of $2400.

What are your thoughts?

LRM1

To be honest, I'm not sure this answers your question because specifically I don't know much about the Starmark warranty. What I can say is this. I work with companies who deal in "extended warranties" all the time-all they are IS a profit center. When you buy electronics for example you can't go anywhere, not even best buy and not get badgered about them -- because they are virtually 100% profit since most don't add much over the existing warranty (reduced potential loss) and most never have claims (as you described above) so from a purely warranty basis, I would say no, it's not worth it. I've always looked at used cars as "you buy it used, you take your chances" and that's why I would buy used (to save the money over a new car). If I wanted something I knew would be covered, I bought new. I don't mean this negatively but paying a $6000 premium for a "warranty to me is not something I would do. The car would have to drop it's engine twice for it to pay for itself.

Kar don

typically the vehicles at MB dealers are in better condition than the other lots. Im not saying this is always the case, I'm just saying the MB's that end up on the used car lots are usually auction cars from MB dealers and other people that don't want them on their lots.

Also when starmarking often times the car will have new tires installed along with new brakes, etc. This is something to consider as well.

Whether it is worth a 6k premium or not? Thats your choice. Personally if I found a clean vehicle with lower miles and under factory warranty at a non-MB dealer I would probably get it.

starbrite

Starmark is a term that MB hasn't used in a few years. It's now called CPO (Certified Pre Owned).
Dealers here in NY put approximately $2k premium for it, so 4-6k does sound excessive IMO.
When I bought my '04 in '06 I passed on the CPO warranty and took the 2k discount. (althought they don't like to do that)

spclagent7

A few months ago I bought a 2004 E320 from a dealer -- And I shopped around. I think the $4-6k number is pretty high. In the L.A. area I found that the average premium CPO added was about $3k to car price.

The dealer I finally bought from told me that they inspect all their used MB cars to CPO standards, then leave it up to the buyer whether they want to purchase the CPO warranty. This dealer that I bought from actually only charged $1,200 for the additional year coverage, which also extended mileage coverage from 50k to 100k. However, like Starbrite I passed as well.