My MB CPO Extended Warranty expires in Jan 2010 and I plan to keep my 2003 E500 (currently 75k miles) for many more years. I bought my vehicle in 10/2005 with 21k miles and I've been covered for 4 1/5 years between the MB factory and CPO extended warranties. I'd like to buy a good quality warranty from a reliable warranty company with a good reputation focused on high cost ($1000 or more) major components such as engine, transmission, air shocks......not the routine maintenance or low cost repairs. I'll cover the low cost repairs so that doesn't need to be included because that would increase the cost of the warranty and I can afford those repairs. I'm willing to pay $2k - $3k for a good product for just peace of mind if my transmission might go out........I had the coolant contamination in my transmission at the 42k mileage point which required replacement of the radiator and torque converter (but not the transmission) which was covered by my MB warranty. The other option is to just take the risk that the engine or transmission will not fail but a $2k - $3k investment seems the better approach. Does anyone have personal experience with buying and using a top quality 3rd party warranty for just expensive repairs that you've been happy with?

You would be better off to take the money you are going to spend on a warranty and put it into a savings account.

Then get a low interest credit card with a $5000-$10,000 limit. Keep the card aside for car repairs and use the savings account to pay off any repairs.

Most extended warranty companies are rip offs that will always find an excuse NOT to cover something. And when that happens, then the money you spent on the warranty will be a waste.

Okay, that's one approach that could work (don't need the credit card however) especially if nothing catastropic fails. But I can't believe there isn't 1-3 good 3rd party warranty companies available that would pay for the majority costs of a new engine or transmission replacement if I pay around $3,000 for 2-3 years' coverage. They're taking the risk that my vehicle's major components will not fail and I'm willing to pay for the policy for peace of mind. Anyone know of such a decent warranty company?

I got quoted around $3200 from the dealer... 2 year or 25,000 miles.. The only problem for me is that I put around 23,000 miles a year on the beast... I am going the credit card route.. And some prayers !!

I assume you're referring to a warranty from a MB Dealer. MB does not sell warranties other than the Extended Certified Pre-owned vehicle warranty I got from them when I bought my CPO vehicle which expires in Jan 2010. So, I need a 3rd party warranty. In fact, yesterday I received an email from AAA about a new auto warranty program they are now offering. Since I'm a AAA member and they are a reliable company, I decided to request a quote from their warranty carrier which offers five levels of coverage. I'll post the quote information here when I receive it in a few days.

others here have posted about chrysler warranty...did you try getting quote? i'm going to call them today, but i'm not sure they'll cover my 2002 S55 with 109k miles(i have 4 months left on current extended warranty).
PL

AAA Repair Warranty options for my 2003 E500 with 75300 miles. This is a very abbreviated list of items covered just to give you an idea of the coverage.
Mileage Plus Level 1: 3 Years/36000 miles $2507; Power Train (engine & transmission); power steering; alternator, voltage regulator, starter.
Mileage Plus Level 2: 3 Years/36000 miles $2752; All Level 1 items plus suspension; master brake cylinder; fuel pumps; other electrical such as wiper motors and various switches, power sunroof, etc; air conditioning.
A repair under the warranty requires $100 deductible if vehicle isn't taken to an area AAA approved repair garage. Local MB Dealers are not included on their listing so you'd have to pay the $100 deductibe which isn't that much. I need to talk with the warranty rep at the local AAA Office to find out the limits they will pay for parts and labor which is likely less than what the MB Dealer charges.

mcleantmw

I did the same with mine. Got the CPO warranty and additional for $1925 thru 2013.

I just hope if things break down, it happens during the warranty period. Only have 35k miles on mine

I did chat with my local MB Dealer and found out they can offer me an extended two year or 100,000 mileage warranty when my CPO extended warranty expires in Jan 2010 for $6000(current mileage 75,300 miles). They gave me the pamphlet describing their warranty and I can get their "Standard" warranty which includes the powertrain items (engine, turbocharger, transmission & torque converter, transfer and drive axle) plus steering components, brake system, electrical (alt, voltage reg, starter, wiring harness, etc), air conditioner and front/rear suspension, including variable dampening system (air supension system). Replacing one of the air shocks costs $1800 and I'm assuming they will need replacing in the next couple years, so that $3600 alone would recoup over half the warranty cost and I'd still have the protection if any other major component failed, such as transmission, air conditioning, starter, etc, during the next two years or the 24,000 mileage period. The other option, as someone has suggested, is to just take the risk something doesn't fail and bank the $6000. If only the front air shocks fail and cost me $3600, I'd still be saving the remaining $2400 from the original $6000 the warranty would cost. Any thoughts?

Here's the quote I got for my 2006 E350 with 37,500 miles from https://www.nissanextendedwarranty.com:

Nissan Quality Guard Supreme36 mo. 36,000 mi. 100 2839
Nissan Quality Guard Supreme36 mo. 48,000 mi. 100 2913
Nissan Quality Guard Supreme48 mo. 48,000 mi. 100 3250
Nissan Quality Guard Supreme48 mo. 60,000 mi. 100 3363
Nissan Quality Guard Supreme60 mo. 60,000 mi. 100 3537
Nissan QualityGuard+Plus Supreme60 mo. 70,000 mi. 100 4359

The last two columns are deductible and contract price. I was told all of these are for QualityGuard+Plus even though most lines didn't have the "+plus" in there.

This seems to be the extended warranty backed by Nissan for non-Nissan cars. The prices look reasonable but I'm not sure if there are any hidden tricks. The details of the program can be found at http://www.vadennissanwarranty.com/c...s-supreme.html.

Has anyone had any experience with this?

Stay with the MB warranty if you must have an extended warranty. I have never been a believer in these extended warranties which in effect are more of an insurance policy than a warranty. MB dealers do not accept many of the 3rd party policies. These companies view these as profit centers and the fleet numbers allow that profit. In my case I have never had an MB vehicle that I would have come out better with a warranty and in all cases I came out way ahead without one. And thats over 12 years and 7 MB's.

Yikes $6k for 2 year MB warranty. W/just 35k miles on mine, and warrnanty thru 2013 i just hope all the breakdowns occur or i'm in trouble! Once i reach that crossroad of whether to buy extended for $6k i will make that decision. But i might just put $$ into savings waiting for breakdowns instead of $6k....Tough financial decision either way!

Man, 6K is lot of money for 2 year warranty. Do you plan to keep the car for more than 2 years? If you do plan to keep it longer than 2 years, then I would suggest that you keep the money and pay any of the repair cost, if any, that comes along. Suppose you paid 6K and nothing happens to your car during the 2 years, what do you do after that? When we keep the car for a certain length of time, as in your case, repairs cost is part of the cost for keeping the car.
My car is a 2003 also and I already paid for a MB extended warranty during the first year of ownership, which expires this month. During the extended warranty, I did not experience any repair issues. All of the problems with my car, and there were plenty, were done during regular warranty. I don't plan to buy another warranty even though I plan to keep the car for another year or two.

I got one for about $3200, 30k Miles/24 months. I used it for over $3600 in repairs/maintenance and it was worth it. BUT: Many here are right, you have to fight for every Dollar that they have to pay. I'm in now the 5th time and everytime my car is in I'm trying to get this woofer speaker replaced with a new one b/c I have this popping noise. The warranty company's appraiser is a 78 year old guy perhaps DEAF and can't hear the popping and declines it.