dskmd

Just purchased an 08 GL 450 and was offered the usual extended warranties, tire warranties, and service warranties. Having just read through a bunch of threads on the costs of service for MB, is this worth getting and is it still available like the extended warranties after you drive off the lot?

The F&I guy said it would save ~15% off the out of pocket costs for service (he kept the sheet so I can't recall what the quote was unfortunately). I turned down everything at the time so I could look into it some more on the forums and then shop it around at various dealers. Any thoughts or experiences?

Also, does the MB extended warranty cover wear and tear or just major catastrophes. I didn't see coverage for the Rear Entertainment system in the brochure he gave me.

Thanks!

StevethePilot

I once read somewhere that the very best idea is to take whatever money you would put in to an extended warranty and put it in a long-term CD. If you don't pile on the mileage like I do, you've got five years of interest built up before you'll need to invade the principal.

The advantages of this are multiple; you don't have to go to the warranty people's shop, you don't have to argue that whatever it is, is actually covered by the warranty, you collect the interest instead of the warranty shop, and at the end of the day you're more than likely not going to go near the full value of the "warranty account," leaving you some nice down payment on your next car to add to your trade-in value ... or just roll it over to the next vehicle!

That said, I'm about to run out of warranty (running up against 50k miles), which means I didn't gather the two years' interest that I would've had I followed the advice I just gave.

Here's a link to an article on Consumer Reports (which will no doubt raise the ire of quite a few anti-CR members) about why you don't need an extended warranty: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/c...ded%20warranty

STP

dskmd

Thanks STP for the CR article!
Made me think I made the right choice for my situation by not getting the extended warranty.
Any thoughts on the service contracts that prepay the costs for those periodic oil changes and scheduled items? Are these things offered by MB or by the individual dealership. I get the feeling that one pays for the bare basics and then they'd find a way to hit you up for uncovered things anyway, but would like to know from people who had purchased this.

StevethePilot

Take it from your old Uncle Steve, there ain't no free lunch.

BMW offers all routine maintenance for "free" on new vehicles for, what, a year or the life of the warranty? Something like that. But believe me, there's nothing free. Kind of like the commercials that tell you if you sign up for this-or-that service, you get a "free gift." What other kind of gift is there?

So I don't know other than to tell you to do all the routine maintenance and keep records of it. That'll cut down on the possibility of something failing, at least.

STP

DBV

I am usually dead against warranties, but I think it might be worth it on a SUV like this, especially when reliability reports have been so-so. We just purchased our 08 GL320 and have not purchased the warranty yet, but will probably do so. We are being quoted around $3200 for 5 years, 100,000k Mercedes warranty.

scottybdiving

There are extensive topics about the MB warranty. Be careful. It is not necessarily a 5 year 50K warranty. It is a 50K + 1 year warranty. Read the fine print. Even the sales reps and managers don't seem to know this. They will argue with you that it is a 5yr/ 100K, but in fact it is not. I purchased one, only to find out that I was duped. If you are like me and will cross 50K in less than 4 years but not exceed 100K in 5 years, you will not get a full 5/100.

DBV

Thanks for the letting me know. I did research this, I am a research nut on this type of stuff

For us it is a perfect warranty, because we put about 22,000 miles a year on our cars, so if I am understanding it correctly we would hit 100k in the fifth year of owning the car right when the extended warranty will expire - right?

dskmd

I appreciate the talk on the extended warranties, but I should have clarified that I was offered a service contract as well for use during routine scheduled maintenance and oil changes. I was wondering if anyone has experience on the utility of these service contracts. Basically, I think we prepay the costs of these scheduled maintenance checks and this was about 15% less than paying out of pocket as you went along.

DBV, let us know how negotiations went. I'm in my 30 day period before I have to decide but like Steve the Pilot said, might start socking away funds for the post 4 yr/50K era instead. I've had an extended warranty years ago on a minivan that I wound up never using and traded the car in before ever needing it.

scottybdiving

That's the "gotcha" part of it. At 22K/yr, You will pass 50K (factory warranty) at just over 2Yr 3Mo. The way the warranty reads, you have an additional 1 yr up to 100K from that date. Believe me, this has been discussed to an almost painful extent. After talking with salesmen, sales managers, and one store manager, finally the service manager set the record straight. He was fully aware of it because he was the one that feels the angst of unhappy customers, when their repairs are rejected by MB's computer network.

You will have to pay more, but the only way you can get around this with a MB warranty, is to purchase the 6yr/100K or 7yr/100k. They add 2 & 3 yrs respectively to the date you surpass 50K.

DBV

Wow - thanks for explaining, because I did not know that, nor do I even understand that. Talk about confusing. Wonder what the point of calling it a 5 year 100,000 warranty is, since it really is not. Surprised someone has not challenged that in a court.

The price I was quoted for the 6 year warranty was $4,000. Maybe I should just pass on the warranty. Wish we had more information on how this SUV will be after 50,000 miles, but think we are too early in the model cycle to know.

On the prepaid maintenance, the dealer told me that it really was not worth doing that.

Thanks for the help.

scottybdiving

I agree, it is very deceitful. I'm glad I can save somebody the frustration myself and a few others have had.

Just remember, the Finance manager and sales managers seemingly do not know about this, whether by design or not, and will try to debunk this fact. If you really want to be sure, ask the service manager.

am_beagle

Thanks , Scotty .
We should put this warning in the "Potential MB buyers Forum".

StevethePilot

You know, unfortunately I didn't discover this forum until after I purchased my GL. Not that I would have definately done anything differently but the pile of information and friendship is really great here and I feel I missed out a bit by not knowing about this until later.

Well, one thing I might've done is purchased a certain 320 from Denver that a certain former-550 owner turned down purchase of because of a turbo hose issue arising, instead of the GL I got, but I'm still thrilled with my little truck. (Relatively little.) I'm just slightly concerned over it being out of warranty very soon.

BTW, if there's a TSB, is that covered after warranty? I know recalls are. Will I have to pay for a TSB if I'm out of warranty? Yikes.

STP

JimBarnhart

Read this thread:

https://mbworld.org/forums/gl-class-...-warranty.html

I was also taken on the extended warranty on my ML. It also doesn't cover the navigation, RSE or 'expensive' stuff at the time. It was a total rip off - I end up paying I think around $1800 and got one warranty repair valued at about $700.

I did buy an extended warranty on my GL - but it was from a different company that my dealership now sells because they have realized MB's was a joke as well and were giving away too much as 'good will'. I haven't had to use it yet, but I'm still on factory warranty.

dskmd

What company might I ask did they decide to go with and what are their terms: yrs/miles?

JimBarnhart

I went with the totalcare option from what's called EasyCare. I haven't used them yet, so can't really recommend them. My dealer is selling this one.

http://www.easycare.com/easycare/ben...acts/totalcare

dskmd

Thanks Jim, I hope they have this where I live.