TH22

I could not find much on this topic, perhaps I missed a thread. Anyhow, I'd like to poll the group on the mb extended warranty. What is the general consensus? Has anyone bought the warranty and benefitted from it? I'm looking at buying an additional 4 years up to 75k for my 2011 E350 I bought new. It's a little over 4 grand which seems steep. I think I could self insure (accrue) and be better off. Certainly a catastrophic event like transmission failure would put me under water but how likely is that to happen with this make and model?

El Cid

I weighed this issue up until the last week to purchase. Finally decided to do it and think of it same as getting insurance. Like you, my main concern is the huge cost of major component failures, both parts and labor. Have had over 20 cars from most manufacturers and never purchased extended warranties before and drove some cars over 120,000 miles/10 years.
Went with the MBUSA plan.
On an earlier thread, one person said to pay it and then forget you ever had that money. May be a good way to think about it.

Jeffy

I have never gone for an extended warranty for about 10 vehicles purchased through dealerships and never once needed it. So at this point I for sure can't buy one as I am so far ahead by saving all that money.

DerekACS

Obviously, the purchase of an Extended Warranty does not make sense unless you are planning on keeping your car for 6 or 7 years. Many dealers try to sell the EW at the time of new car delivery.

In my view this is the wrong time to buy EW for two reasons:

1. if your car is stolen before the EW kicks in, you would get no guarantee of a refund, and
2. if you car is written off during the first four years of ownership, again there would be no refund for the cost of the unused EW policy.

As MB states on their website, the EW can be purchased at any time prior to the expiration of the factory 4 year warranty.

TH22

My brother has a 2002 GS430 he bought years ago with 30k miles. He currently has 190k and has had zero issues. I feel like the E350 is just as reliable. If it was a lemon I'd definitely buy it. Does anyone know of any issues? I should search more threads.

ddeliber

You can get a pro-rated refund of the unused time left on the warranty for any reason (sold, totaled, stolen or whatever).

GregTR

While your arguments are perfectly valid and 100% the reason why I would never put any money down on a car for purchase or lease they are unfounded in terms of the Mercedes Extended Warranty.

The warranty is 100% fully refundable until it actually kicks in. From that point on it is refundable for the pro-rated amount less any repairs that were made using the warranty.

It carries a 10% premium to purchase it after the fact and I'm pretty sure the price of warranty won't go down so a minimum of 10% ROI for 4 years on a zero risk investment is something I'm willing to take.

DerekACS

Good to know that my arguments are not valid for the US MB Extended Warranty. I will check on the exact terms for the Canadian version of MB's EW.
I do know that my arguments are valid in the case of BMW's Extended Warranty in Canada: no refunds are offered in the event of theft or write-off.

GregTR

Oh, your argument is also valid for the pre-paid maintenance, another item I would not buy for the very reason.

DerekACS

It turns out that MB Canada does not offer a refund on the Extended Limited Warranty for any unused portion, in the event of theft or write-off.

Thus the only advantages for Canadian purchasers to buying ELW @ time of delivery are :
1. saving the cost of a re-inspection by MB Canada (approx.$250);
2. avoiding any future price increase for the ELW between the day of delivery and 4 years hence, and
3. potential to finance the cost of the ELW @ the same low rate (1.9%)

I am curious as to the cost of a 3 year Extended Warranty for either the E250BT 4Matic or the E350 4MAtic in the USA ? The Canadian version of EW costs $3650 for 36 months and 160,000 kms (=99,200 miles).

GregTR

If there was no refund I would never buy it up front. I paid ~$3,500 for 7y/125k miles. 7y/100k would have been around $2.8k. It is on a 4Matic wagon with $76K MSRP. I'm pretty sure the cost is the same on a $51K MSRP sedan though...

DerekACS

Yes, I agree with you about not buying up front when no refund is offered for unused EW.
Interesting that the pricing is very nearly the same for US and Canada, but US policy has important refund advantages !

Raymond Lee

No, I would not purchase extended warrantee for $4K. Hyundae has factory 100,000 miles warrantee. MB would last just as long as HD.

GregTR

As I posted in another thread I did not buy it for the engine or the transmission or any other part of the powertrain, the warranty Hyundai comes with. I bought it to cover the slew of electronics, stepping motors and air pumps and compressors a fully loaded E-class comes with. When a headlight assembly costs $2k+ and has several stepping motors in it constantly working, my car has 5 cameras and half a dozen ultrasonic sensors and radars or my driver seat has a fan, 8+ air bladders expanding and contracting every day to give me dynamic multicontour seating and butt cooling I'm hedging that something is going to give in 7 years.

I'd be far less inclined to buy the warranty on a base model car with no frills as there is less stuff to break plus the cost of the warranty is a lot larger portion of the purchase price of the vehicle. But a $3.5k warranty on a $75K car is a bargain.

El Cid

Hyundai's warranty only covers the powertrain.
I purchased the extended warranty primarily for all the electronics, computers, motors, etc. on the vehicle. But also thinking any powertrain work would be astronomical in cost.
However, I do find it interesting that MB does not back their cars for more than 50,000 miles when Hyundai and Kia back their powertrains for 100,000/10 years. The Best or Nothing?

DerekACS

It's worth remembering: WHY Hyundai felt it had to offer a longer term warranty than most other manufacturers ? It's reputation for building shoddy cars was well established, so they had to offer something that would give prospective purchasers some piece of mind. Hyundai has obviously progressed far beyond those dark days when they were better known as makers of poorly built cars.

samkimg

I did purchase the extended warranties for both my MB's for exactly the reasons stated above, all of the NEW technology integrated into the car.

My 2010 was re-purchased by MB at 54000 miles and I got a pro-rated refund on the unused portion of the EW. For my 2014 if I decide to replace it before 50k, I would again expect a full refund ...

I have no experience trying to refund a pre-paid maintenance agreement as I used it all up on the 2010, but I did again purchase it for the 2014 as labor rates always seem to go up, but never down. And while I'm covered under the MB warranty, I'm guaranteed NOT to have MB point to an oil change at an Indy shop as a potential reason NOT to provide a warranty repair. I see it as insurance against a bad dealership.

El Cid

That's why I purchased pre-paid maintenance and only use dealers for servicing my vehicles.

ttoE550

That's ($3500) about the same I was quoted for a loaded 2010 E550 sedan (distronic+, aromatic, etc.) with about a month to expiration on the original warranty, which included some sort of penalty as I understand. I just want to point out that I learned that dealer cost in my case was about $2K, and I was able to negotiate what I consider to be a much fairer price by pointing out that other dealers would sell at near cost over the phone. <$2400 for the benefit of doing it in person, which is good price considering it might cost that for an airshock or a headlight!

E Classy

i said no to extended warranty. i spec'd my factory order for high miles and longevity. maximum function, minimum gimmickry. i don't see a huge risk.

couple of things: you are supposedly paying for and performing preventive maintenance to ward off the kinds of issues that are intimidating you, and most issues that do arise can be solved without the need for an entire replacement of unit x at high cost y.

even if after 80k miles if one of the extraneous items fails it's not like you can't drive the car anymore, LOL.

MB necessarily makes good money on the EW's for a reason - majority of people don't use more than the initial cost. also, i don't like to buy things due to scare tactics. if you're worried the car is really a huge PoS, then maybe it shouldn't have been purchased.

there's no right answer for everyone. the max is around $3600. that's not a whole lot of cash over up to 3 years past the OW.

GregTR

I'm the exact opposite. I usually get a car that is fully loaded with the latest and greatest technology and gadgetry and I'm willing to pay to play.

It's hard to perform maintenance on servo motors of the adaptive headlights or the cameras. Changing oil and making sure my CV joint boots aren't ripped is the least of my worries.

True. Then again I bought the car to enjoy and use those features. I've heard people replacing the air bladders in their dynamic seats after the compressor fails because repair is simply cost prohibitive. I guess I could replace the air shock with spring ones too if that fails or give up on the adaptive headlights, I just hope they quit when they're aligned right.

They absolutely make money on the deal, that is how insurance works. A whole lot of people pay in, a select few will have huge payouts while others eat the cost and meanwhile MBUSA makes a profit. It is no different than homeowners insurance or any other type of insurance.

They say insure what you can't afford to lose/pay/repair. I guess I "could" afford to replace a $1,200 dynamic seat or a $2,000 headlamp so maybe I'm the sucker for buying the insurance. In the grand scheme of things I'm surely coming out behind by buying insurance or extended warranty. But given that the warranty costs the same no matter what your car base price costs somehow I think people buying fully loaded cars come out ahead compared to people buying base models.

Then again I don't know the profit margin or payout percentage that MBUSA operates these warranties with neither the distribution of MSRPs of vehicles that are covered in the program. If I knew these two variables we could say that statistically a warranty for someone who drives a loaded E-class is actually a net positive, even in the long run.

Yup, and that is precisely I chose to buy it. I also bought it on my Ducati Multistrada because I was worried about the electronic shocks, ABS brakes, keyless start, LCD dash and all other electronic gadgetry that is new and unique on the bike. And it's kind of hard to ride the bike if your electronically adjusting shocks give out on you. I did not buy it on any of my other vehicles but none of them had the level of technology and electronics that my E-class has.

ngerstman

I was faced with the making the same decision when I bought my 2011 e550. I tend to keep my cars for a long time so an extended warranty often appeals to me for the peace of mind. I ended up buying the coverage but what did annoy me about the warranty was how Mercedes seemed to match the years and the mileage. Four extra years is great, but only up to 75,000 is not so great if you drive your car even an average amount. So if you expect to blow through the 75,000 miles well before the additional four years are up, you end up paying a lot per year for the coverage. I actually manage the miles on my e550 to stay on path to not expire the warranty way before the time is up. Having an extra car to drive allows that to work for me. Something to consider, however. Thanks. Regards. Ned.

TH22

DerekACS is right. I bought a 1996 VW GTI VR6 new and it came with a 10/100K PT Warranty. I heard VW did it to bolster confidence in Quality since the product line was manufactured in Mexico. I drove that car for 10 years and 140K miles and never had a problem. So if I bought a factory EW I would have lost. Having said that, 50K for an MB warranty does seem short.

TH22

I was quoted $4300 for the additional 3 years (7 total) up to 100K miles. I should negotiate. If I could get it for $2800 I'd do it. I would not buy it if I had a base E350. I've already had problems with the dynamic seat. The lumbar support section could not maintain pressure and I believe the bladder, valve, and motor were replaced. It works OK now. Still at $2800, I'd have to have a few failures to break even.

GregTR

Contact Dan Boone at MB of Austin. He'll hook you up over the phone. Just make sure you get a hold of him, he's not very good at returning phone calls but if you get to talk to him he's pretty awesome and great to work with.