E500wanabe

Ok,so our 07 E350 will be out of warranty next month so its time to shop my warranty options. The dealer quoted me 7/75k for 3650 which seems way high as I only have ~25k miles to reach that mileage.The other option was Fidelity platinum for 3yrs 36000 for ~5000+.I don't know, 4-5k up front seems pretty steep to me. The car has been great but I have heard from many sources not to have one of these cars out of warranty.

What do you guys suggest? Have you gotten any better deals than this? I remember someone mentioning Chrysler warranty? Any leads/suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,Chris

WEBSRFR

I thought you can get the MB ELW for 7 years 100K miles for around 4K.

LOVEMYBS

I think there is toooo much hype and BS regarding the need for an extended warranty; especially for an 07 and later car. Note I have an 07 E550 4Matic with 48K miles that is out of warranty and I've had 0, nada, no problems with it and don't expect to. If you're concerned I would set $XXX.00 aside every month in a maintenance reserve savings account. And, I wouldn't pay the horrendous $4-5K for what will probably turn out to be a very bad return on investment.

The horror stories you read about on this board are posted by owners with earlier cars who probably 1) bought a used car that wasn't well maintained, 2) don't maintain their cars very well and then expect someone else to fix their neglect, 3) got ripped off and want to vent and etc. I bought into this BS for a while and thought I couldn't safely leave my driveway without an extended warranty. I was wrong. Given all the high performance cars I've owned I have never filed an extended warranty claim. When your car's OEM warranty does expire you also have the much better option of using a reputable and often times a lot cheaper independent repair shop to do your work. Also, extended warranties only cover major components and often require you to pay a deductible. So, in the long run you lose and they win. If these cars weren't reliable MB would soon go out of business.

E500wanabe

You are right it seems all of the guys that are really concerned are the ones with v12tt's and ABC suspension.Our car is Pretty basic no nav and not even P1.3700 up front for 2 years is worse than if I had a $3700 repair.Our car has had all maint. done at the recommended intervals and is in the shop right now having an inspection.

If anyone knows any better I would still consider some form of warranty.

Thanks!

E500wanabe

What is ELW? Could warranties differ between dealers?

Thanks

pcasciola

$3650 seems way high for just 25K more miles. The odds of a problem of that expense in the next 25K miles are slim to none if you do those miles in the next 1-2 years. I'd stay away from the 3rd party warranties. I hear horror stories about them denying claims, only covering a portion of the hourly rate because Mercedes technicians are above their limit, etc.

While the warranty cost seems high, another thing to consider with Mercedes extended warranties is resale value. A Mercedes that has been dealer maintained under full warranty for 75K miles is worth a lot more than a 75K mile car that has been out of warranty for 25K miles and maintained by god knows who. Probably not $3650 more, but maybe around half of that I would guess.

For some reason the extended warranties are cheaper and longer on CPO cars. I just picked up an 07 CPO E550 and added an additional 2 years to the 1yr/100K CPO warranty for just $1900. That's a total of 7yr/100K from the in service date and will take me through 12/2013. The car I got only has 19K miles on it, so that's 3 years and 81K miles of worry free driving which was a no brainer for me at only $1900. If they had offered me 75K total miles for $3650 I might have turned them down. It's 75-100K that I'm more concerned with. I had a Porsche 928 S4 years back, and that's exactly when mine started to tank.

WEBSRFR

I was referring to the MB Extended limited warranty. It has a 0 deductible but unfortunately not the same as bumper to bumper coverage and I'm getting more and more educated on this aspect all the time. Seems it covers most components in your car.

My biggest gripe so far is that it does not cover rattles and I am hearing a steering column/instrumental cluster rattle when going over road imperfections that is driving me nuts. I need to get this fixed somehow...

E500wanabe

Thanks guys! Any more input? TTT

thegamemodo9

I have an early generation E500 (2004) with an extended warranty through Warranty America. Have a $100 deductible. Assuming nothing happens in the next 10 months, I'm gonna come out on the losing end of this. Spent about $2200 on the warranty and all I've had to use it for was ball joints (about $200 each side). The only thing that would scare me is the airmatic system failing, which I believe is ridiculously expensive to repair. I dunno what I'll be doing when this warranty expires, but I consider it a wonderful thing that I haven't had to use it much. I guess for you it'll depend on how much you wanna pay for peace of mind, unless you just wanna save some money in case you do have a big repair like LOVEMYBS suggested.

bzliteyear

If I had your car, I'd probably pass on it also. From everything I've read, the newer MBs are very reliable and for only 25k more coverage, you're better off self-insuring and finding a good indy mechanic. If you had a V12TT or anything w/ ABC, the story would be totally different. Good luck.
Patrick

JoeVal

Hi, E500Wanabe,

I bet that though you chose the E500 handle, you realize by now that the 350 V6 is everything you can ask from an engine, and more...
I think LovemyBS spelled out very well the considerations that pass through my mind. Nevertheless, here are my two cents:

Up front you should know that I do my own maintenance and repairs, except the software hickups of the ECU that required dealer loading of the updated data. So, they honored the New Car Warranty whenever it was required. To this I tacked maintenance adhering to the schedule religiously and with the best MB recommended materials (not even used by the dealer). The result is a car that has, with the exception of the crappy Conti OEM tires, been performing to keep a smile on my face.

So I do not recommend Warranties, but I would take a Guarantee (which nobody offers). You have 50,000 trouble free miles on your car and if you set the $4,000 for repairs (not maintenance items) apart, with whatever deductible, miscellaneous expense charges, and crooked charges that would infiltrate, you would cover yourself to go way beyond 100,000 miles.

Find yourself a well appointed shop (if they know Porsche, they would know how to deal with the tranny best), establish a good rapport and keep maintaining the car the way you have so far. Whenever possible use parts from MB vendors (OEM), or MB parts, leaving substitutes for when there is no choice and can be selected knowingly.

Hope this did not sound paternalistic, it's just my way of expressing.
Enjoy your ride. JV

E500wanabe

Thanks Guys! I'm going to check on a few more things but I may just allocate some funds for unexpected repairs.

Chris

SZMB

If you have airmatic, I would consider warranty. If not, I would forget about the warranty and put aside $2k at the beginning of the year for unexpected repairs. This is a 3-4 yr old car, I think most of the electrical problems have been fixed under warranty by now. Also, if you're somewhat handy, you can find most of the common problems and DIY procedures here in this forum. Just keep up w/ the recommended maintenance (e.g. changing trans and differential fluids, brake fluid, etc) and the car should last a long time w/o major problems. Other common problems at high mileage include ball joints, A/C leak, A/C exchangeover valve, and blower motor regulator, but none of these repairs are expensive.