Thoughts on the extended warranty
 

Hi all,

I was just curious if many of you bought an extended warranty. If so which one and how much?

Thanks

Bought e.w. for my ML 350 Bluetec. after the 50k miles factory warranty expired. Paid $6,000 for 5 more years up to 150k miles.

Now at 59,000 miles I've already had 2 repairs with bills summing approx. $6,000...so you do the math, I broke even in less than 6 months and I still have 4.5 years and 90,000 miles to go.

NOTE: Is true that the dealership bills are "a little bit" over-inflated...but still, I believe that extended warranty was a smart move.

Oh wow, 6k of repairs at 59k... Oh boy. Good to know I can extend it afterwards I guess.

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$6,000 in less than 1 month on 2 repairs only...God knows what will be in the next 4.5 years,

BTW for the first repair the dealer kept my car for 2 (TWO!) weeks and for the second for 8 days...the negotiations with the warranty company take long and the process is slow.
...but I got a free loaner from the dealer and it was OK.

First repair was an oil leak which was caused by a turbo seal and eventually they figured that is still leaking and replaced the oil cooler too, all together $4,000 job.
Second repair was a check engine light, a strong smell of ammonia from the exhaust pipe (usually diesel bluetec doesn't smell at all, NOTHING, way much better than even gas cars!) and they said it was the DEF temperature sensor...another $2,000 job.
But once again, their charges are "a bit" higher than normal mechanics charge, at $174/hr labor is ridiculously high...for the first repair from the $4,000 total, parts were around $100-$200 and the remaining $3,800 was...LABOR!

That sounds like you bought an aftermarket warranty, not an MB warranty. The MB one mentioned earlier is better, you probably wouldn't have had the fight with the warranty company. At a certain point, sometimes those warranty companies will deny the repair or have some sort of limit where they just cash you out or go out of business. Most dealers like to push the aftermarket ones because their profit margin is much higher than the MB one. But the MB one only goes up to 100k for an extended warranty and you can only buy it as long as it's still under factory warranty. The CPO warranty is unlimited miles, but you're limited to 3 years after the factory warranty expires.

Jeff just helped me with a 2 year extended for $2008 OTD. Was super easy.

I originally paid $3700 for the same MB warranty, not knowing what it would cost when I was buying the car (CPO). Jeff told me what to do and I saved $1,700 for the exact same MB warranty.

This is my first Merc, so I wanted the longest possible warranty as I will probably keep it for 5+ years. I ended up with 2.x years left on original factory warranty, 1 year and unlimited mileage CPO, and 2 years extended. I'm good until 2024.

I signed up for the extended warranty in the dealership office, looking to the contract now it says "Red Shield Protection Plans", I paid $5,923.00 for next 100,000 miles (up to 150,000) or 5 years, whichever comes first, zero deductibles. Red Shield will honor repairs made at dealership AND/OR any ASE certified mechanic. Usually they send an inspector to check the repair claim before give the OK for the job.

There is a limit of $12,500 per claim but I hope is no job (even engine or transmission) over that limit.

I believe this is a better option than MB warranty because you have the flexibility to go to any mechanic shop you want not only to the dealer...given that mechanic shop is ASE certified.

I keep most of my cars for periods longer than the warranty. The last car I sold, a BMW, was 10 years old and my total maintenance expenses excluding tires amounted to about $2,500. Most of that was spent on brakes and oil seals. IMO extended warranties are prepaid maintenance agreements that are not worth the money.

Just my $.02:

I agree with you that with a 10 year old BMW it did not pay to get an extended warranty in that they are prepaid maintenance agreements.

However, as we all know, so much has changed in 10 years: today's cars are almost computers on wheels. They are so much more complex and when things break they are extremely expensive to fix, again one of the reasons I lease.

As to getting an extended warranty for more or even the same cost as a MB warranty so that you can go to an ASE certified mechanic: Why would you ever want to do that - unless the closet Mercedes dealer is several hours away? As the cost of repairs are covered, why would you not want to go to a Mercedes dealer? The only reason I see going to someone else other than a Mercedes dealer is to save money: as the maintenance is covered there are no savings.

Why not just go to the best as opposed to someone who at their best (the ASE mechanic) will only be as good as the Mercedes dealer?

My view is perhaps different in the sense that I do buy extended warranties from Mercedes. I don't buy mine in Florida, where the prices are regulated and can't be discounted. I have a guy at WISimonson Mercedes (Marc Rose) who has taken great care of me and offers tremendous discounts on Mercedes plans. A couple thoughts:

• If you sell or trade the car before the plan goes into effect, it's refundable at 100%
• If you sell or trade the car before the plan expires, but after the original new car warranty has expired, you get a prorated refund
• I think of it like insurance. We all pay huge sums of money on car and home insurance and often never make a claim, but man oh man, would we be in a tough position should a major system break and we don't have coverage
• With the complexity of these computers on 4 wheels, the cost of a major repair could dramatically pay for itself should something major go wrong
• There's comfort in knowing you'll be covered IF you plan to keep your car beyond the new car warranty

We bought the ELW's for our 2016's and when we traded them for the E's, we got 100% of the cost refunded. We just traded the E300 for the E450 and they just moved the plan from the E300 to the new E450. I also buy Wheel and Tire insurance as these wheels and tires are very expensive and yes, I know I may never make a claim. I also pay for pre-paid maintenance and have the comfort of knowing for the next 4 years, my cost of ownership is virtually nothing more than gas.

For me, when I purchase a car (vs. lease) I go for the OEM extended warranty (using members/vendors on this forum for discount is a good idea) as the cost of parts one these cars is insane. Go to the W222 section and see how many who had CPO/ELW had it pay for itself in just one or two repairs. I also like to gamble in Vegas, so there's that.

I believe the general consensus is that the best warranty is from the manufacturer. Those 3rd party ones have issues like having to approve the repair. You've already run into that. What do you do if you're in the middle of a trip and you have to wait a week or two? You wouldn't have that problem with a manufacturer warranty. Plus the manufacturer is less likely to go out of business. With AMG, the engines are 25k, but I can see a regular engine being 10k or more. Manufacturer warranties don't have a limit on coverage. And they're cheaper too, probably a little over 2k for coverage up to 100k. I'm not sure it's worth paying an extra 4k for coverage between 100-150k. At that point, you're probably better with an indy. I didn't get an extended warranty on my car, but haven't spent anywhere near 2k on repairs and one I've had for 4 years with no warranty.

It really should be viewed as insurance against the possibility that something could go wrong and accept that it's money lost if never used. I choose having the insurance and know it may not be utilized.

Extended warranty is not "prepaid maintenance" because in the first place it doesn't cover expenses with regular maintenance and it is only for break-downs which require repairs. It is like a form of insurance, you pay a premium and if you have an accident they cover it (if is not excluded ;)) if you are lucky to have a car with no accidents (repairs needed) then you paid "the insurance" and never use it.

So in Edmunds opinion extended warranties are both insurance and a service contract. IMO a service contract is prepaid maintenance because a repair is maintenance. A recent Consumer Reports survey found that 55 percent of owners who purchased an extended warranty hadn’t used it for repairs during the lifetime of the policy.

Extended Warranty is NOT a service contract...a service contract includes, for example, regular oil change: EW does NOT cover oil changes.

Service contracts include whatever the seller deems appropriate. Any contract that provides repairs is a service contract. Do you not consider repairs to your car a service such as MB's own warranty service? Anything that is done to my car by others is a service from parking to collision repair.

Let's not turn this into an "I'm Right, You're Not" discussion.

ELW's are good for some and maybe not for others. It's really up to the individual if they feel the expense is justified and will give them peace of mind should they plan to own their car longer than the new car warranty.

It's basically a gamble either way.

Service contracts include regular maintenance. Warranty (or Extended Warranty) DOES NOT include regular maintenance.

...and like cetialpha5 said, is a gamble: you can have thousands of $$$ in repairs paid by the EW or you can have ZERO $$$ service paid until the end of the warranty.

This. I feel this way about life in general. ;-)