cc16177

That's the one. The CPO warranty is one of the primary reasons i'm shopping MB instead of BMW/Lexus/Audi.

I'll be doing this drive for at least 1-2 years so it's basically 30k/year minimum miles. Also I figure a MB could theoretically last me into the upper 100s as far as miles are concerned if I take care of it.

When you say 60k / 80k is pricey what are we talking here? As I said I was shopping Porsche so those services were probably around $5,000-10,000 depending. Is that the case with MB?

thefisch

Yeah, those unlimited miles are a big advantage over the competition if you drive a lot. I only put on 8k a year so it wasn't an incentive for me. But you also get your first two payments covered and first two services. So that means they should cover your 50k and 60k services for you. That's a big help.

Nothing as high as Porsche on those services. Geez is it really that much?

I bought my 11 E550 with 50k miles so the next service was at 60k. In the Tampa area, it would have run me about $1,100 plus tax at the local dealer. That service includes the B service, brake fluid change and new spark plugs. The 80k would run me $900 plus taxes for the same B and brake fluid but add the ATF change. Local indy shop would have cut the cost down to $1,200 for both of those. So I bought the prepaid 3 pack for $1,050 from MB Austin and saved quite a bit. Regular pricing may be better on the east cost of FL since there are more dealers and indy shops.

cc16177

Oh wow. That's nothing! The Porsche services are not ALWAYS that high but I like to estimate on the conservative side (so I figure it's higher than it may be) and I can tell you they are minimum $2,000-3,000 for the most part.

Most Porsche enthusiasts do a lot of their own work to try and reduce this... I had a car fall of a jack when I was changing the brake pads at 16 years old and I was fortunate enough to "feel something move" slightly and I rolled out literally as the rotor fell an inch into the ground where my chest was. Ever since then, I refuse to do any kind of work on a car myself.

It sounds silly but I feel like that happened for a reason so you'll never catch me under a car again... I don't do anything more than put on a spare tire...

Live Oak

In spite of the advice you are getting, a 2011 E550 with "997 Driver Assistance Package: DISTRONIC PLUS" has Lane Keeping Assist which, when you drift over the lane marker, 'bumps' you back into the lane by tapping the opposite rear brake. (Assuming the lanes are properly painted and your speed is above the cutoff speed for the feature.)

cc16177

I see you have this car. Do you mind if I ask a couple questions? When I test drove it the sales guy wasn't all that helpful. I was asking how to use the features and he said "use the lever on the left of the steering wheel".

I kinda felt like getting on a sailboat for the first time and asking "how do I sail this boat?" and the person saying "raise the sails".

He claimed that as soon as I activate the cruise control, this "lane keeping assist" feature is turned on. Is this correct? How do I turn it on?

thefisch

I've had a few 'incidents' that let me know I was not suited for car repair myself. So I am glad to hire it out and do basic DIY stuff like air filters or fiddle with electronics. Not interested in working under the car or with fluids.

Another plus for those long trips will be the seat massage function. And I find living in FL that the ventilated seats are a must. This car has them both.

cc16177

Yeah I wear a suit so ventilated seats are high on my list of priorities...

I just moved to FL about 2 weeks ago and haven't even been approved for my condo yet so i'm trying to get a better idea of what my expenses will be before forking out $35k for a car. I currently have an 09 Tiguan which gets me from A to B just fine but it's not exactly the most comfortable drive at 80-90mph on the turnpike.

I'm normally not an impulsive person with stuff like this but from the shopping i've done (in the last two weeks) this E550 seems to be a great deal... they wanted me to come in yesterday claiming they'd give me some "very aggressive end of the month pricing" but I stayed away because i'm pretty sure I would have bought it... lol

thefisch

I run mine all the time for comfort especially with suits. While they only ventilate not cool, it makes a difference compared to nothing at all and keeps your back dry.

I'd take their money at 1% and get the benefit of the two payments. Then payoff or whatever when you get your expenses figured out.

cc16177

Do they make the two payments on any CPO car? This is the first i've heard of it but i'm not surprised... they probably save that as a "closing technique" or something like that.

I was gonna see if they'd throw the 2 years CPO in... I know they "charge" $2,500 but i've been in sales a long time and warranty is obviously free until someone uses it... so I figured I might have some wiggle room there.

thefisch

Not a closing technique unless your dealer is a jerk. It's right on the MB website: http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/cpo. Other cars are included but the dollar amount changes based on the model. Check on the details online first and don't let the salesperson jerk you around.

I would get the best price on the car first out the door. They will tell you the CPO extension price later normally in the finance department. You can find threads on here with pricing that other dealers are selling over the phone for from other states (like how I bought my prepaid maintenance). If they don't come close to that price (remember they will charge sales tax but out of state dealers won't), then don't worry you can buy the extension after the fact before the 1 year CPO expires (although pricing is subject to change).

thefisch

I think this is a good price for this car, even better since it is a CPO with good records. I bought my 11 E550 with 50k miles a year ago for $32k and it didn’t have distronic or pano. I was interested in distronic but the only other E550 I could find in FL at the time was a CPO with 32k miles for $38k and it didn’t have distronic or pano either. I continued to shop online after I bought my car to see if I could have done better and I didn’t see anything that I thought I should have waited for.

Getting a used car with the color and options you want normally takes a long time. There seems to be 1 E550 for every 10 E350 for sale. Distronic is more rare and appears on about 10-20% of the E550 and less than 2% of the E350 from what I have seen. Once you find what you want, you should jump on it as it doesn’t happen often, especially on a loaded car like this one at a good price. The only feature you are missing is night vision which is very rare and overrated by others on here.

If this car would have been available a year ago at this price, I would have jumped on it myself. Normally I don’t like white cars but I think the W212 looks great in white with the pano roof. While I prefer a darker interior, this one looks good with the contrast. Just remember to get them to address the faded wood – you will like it even more when that is done.

cc16177

Very good input, thank you. I believe everything happens for a reason so i'm gonna stop by the dealer tomorrow and get their "best price" and sit on it for a week. If it's still there i'll probably take it home.

Thank you again for your help, i'm new to the MB scene so I appreciate everything!!

thefisch

The CPO sales event on the website says it ends tomorrow, but they've had this promo for some time so they must keep extending it. Of course, there is no way to know when these extensions will stop. You should be able to get ~$1k off the price easy - most dealers bake in some concession like that to offset the ripoff dealer fee. Maybe more if they've had it for a while.

The only time sensitive thing with this car is when does the 4 year warranty time out which appears to be 6/6/15 based on the carfax report. But the only known issue that you need the B2B warranty for is the wood replacement. They will likely have to order that so the work won't get done for some time.

If you want to survey what else it out there (I know I did a lot of comparison shopping myself), MB has all the CPO listings on mbusa.com and you can filter by model, color, etc. to narrow it down. Unfortunately, they don't have additional filters to select features like distronic so you have to sift through a lot to find those. Carmax has a pretty good search tool on their website and you can filter by features like 'auto cruise control' that will show you the other models out there with this feature. Even if you don't buy from Carmax, it is a good search tool for price comparisons. Just keep in mind that CPO will cost you more due to one year warranty baked in.

cc16177

When you say the 4 year warranty is expiring, that's just the factory warranty? If I don't add the 2 years would the warranty still expire on that date? Or is there an "extra warranty" included just because it's CPO?

Sorry to ask to many questions but as long as you keep replying I'm going to test my luck 😊

thefisch

Yes, just the factory warranty. The CPO starts when the 4 year factory warranty expires but there are differences in what each covers. So if the car 'in service' date is 6/6/11 (basing that off the Carfax but MB has the real date in their system), then the 4 years times out on 6/6/15. The factory warranty covers more than the CPO. Factory covers most anything except wear items. CPO is an inclusive warranty which means it lists the components that are covered. The list is pretty extensive, but it doesn't include batteries (there are two - one main and one auxiliary for tranny), glass, cosmetic things (like the wood trim in this case), etc. So if you buy a car with any factory warranty remaining you will want to get any item addressed before that ends.

A MB CPO comes with one year CPO built into the price. And that would expire on 6/6/16 (or one year from purchase if later). You can tack on up to two years from that. Since the CPO has unlimited miles, it kicks in after 4 years from the in service date, not when you hit 50k miles.

Don't worry about the questions - that's what the forum is for. If you are looking for pricing advice, keep posting what you find and folks will chime in. You could also start a new thread with a title asking for pricing advice as some may skip this thread thinking it is about distronic.

thefisch

You could have the service department pull the record for you. From the Carfax, it appears everything was done as scheduled but they can confirm that if you want. During the CPO process, the Carfax shows they replaced the battery, door trim panel (?), repaired a wheel (?), mounted four new tires, replaced left front window switch (?) and installed new front pads and rotors. The ones marked with questions would be worth asking service about - not biggies and could have just had some excess wear or damage.

Looks like they put it on the lot 10 days ago on 5/21 so it's kind of early in the process to expect them to make any significant concessions on price. Nowadays, it is usually about how long they've had the car and making month end numbers. I would be happy getting $500 to $1,000 off on this one. You can 'walk away' and see what they do. Maybe you'll do better.

cc16177

Hmm... it does seem like a good deal but if they've only had it for 10 days i'll take my chances and wait a bit. At this point I already have 2 cars (one for me and then the GF car) so I really have no "need" for a new car other than my personal comfort.

I'm all about finding a good deal, I can't stand the feeling of buying something and regretting it later... almost to the point where it ends up hurting me long term lol

I'm gonna stop in and see what they have to say tomorrow... i'll be away for work from Tuesday-Friday anyways so we'll see what happens in that time.

I know i'll find the right car eventually... and at the very least this thread has allowed me to decide that I will not buy anything without the distronic package.

SLpat

I would definitely get the E550 with the distronic. It is one of my favorite features on the car. I have used it driving between Houston and Atlanta and touched the brakes only a couple times the entire trip. I have also used once commuting in Houston rush hour traffic. It works, but since it keeps you at a safe distance it is far enough that people cut in front of you so it makes it nerve racking.

As for gas mileage, I am getting 21.7 since my last reset at my service 8,000 miles ago. I have about 60% highway 40% non highway driving. When I took my last trip to Atlanta the car's onboard computer said 26.9 mpg. When i did the manual calculation based on miles and actual fuel i came out at 25.8 mpg. That trip was taking with an average speed of 78 mph. That being said, the gas mileage is very good on the E550.

If the date is correct and you have a week left on the B2B warranty get the wood inspected an ordered ASAP. The wood on mine was faded and replaced under warranty. The replacement wood looks great. Overall i have had the car for 17 months and 18,000 miles and have has no problems with it other than the wood replacement.

Good luck with your purchase.

drsaab

Yes distronic is the best feature the car has. In 2011 it went to active lane assist but its a minimal effect. It will push you back in lane on the highway with solid lines, less with dashed.

Also a diesel on FL will get you 35 mpg highway and 600 mile range.
I have one for sale too.. with CPO unlimited mile warranty. P1, P2. Distronic, and 70 and 80k maint prepaid!

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/n...048021980.html

rediesel

^^^ I suggested a diesel S class to the OP in another thread because I figured these were rare. Diesel E class with distronic are hard to come by. GLWS

tresean1

This is a good idea---does this apply to original factory warranties too? Any suggestions?

Interesting, what exactly does the "prepaid 3 pack" consist of?

thefisch

Yes, you can buy an extension to the factory warranty directly from MB (not a 3rd party warranty). IIRC you have term/mileage options up to 3 years or 100k total miles. And you can shop around for those also. Very good coverage.
It covers your next 3 services. So it's best to time buying this before a series of costly services (i.e. 2 B services out of the next 3 along with ATF, plugs, etc.)

tresean1

Awesome, I'll have to shop around for those. Any delearships the top your head that are offering the lowest price extended warranties?

thefisch

When I was shopping a few years ago, folks recommended MB of Austin and MB of Santa Clara. However, I have seem others names pop of here and there, some who apparently are easier to reach by email. Best to check out the extended warranty forum for tips on who is playing ball now.