Extended Warranty
MBWorld Fanatic!
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 3,430
Likes: 187
From: USA
W140 Mercedes S350, W221 S550 sport
My MB dealer sold me back in Dec. "07, a 3rd party extended warranty through CNA National Warranty Corp., with coverage lasting 7 years/70,000 miles, with a $100 deductable. I bought it for a negotiated price of $2,350. I also bought for $300 each, wheel protection and body "ding" protection. These coverages last for 5 years.
And is anyong else using CNA?
Super Member
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 604
Likes: 16
From: Atlanta, GA
2001 S500 (W220) / 2007 GL450 (X164)
I have been dealing with 3rd party warranty companies for a long time as a shop owner and I can tell you countless stories of rage in dealing with them from a shop point of view. I urge you to really look at what they cover and how much they will pay for each repair. Unless you get a total coverage top of the line package you are going to have problems with high dollar repairs. We finally found one company that was great to deal with so we started sending all of our customers to them and then we just started selling them ourselves.
As a shop owner these warranty companys don't want to pay your full labor rate (they usually offer $45.00/hour and hour labor rate is $126/hour), they ask you to get parts rebuilt or ask you to find salvage yard parts, they regard each seperate repair on the car as a seperate job and charge a deductible for each one (i.e. transmission, engine, suspension), they don't pay sales tax, etc. I can go on and on.
We finally found a company that pays $126/hour, full retail price on new parts, one deducatible for the entire car, pay the sales tax, pays for rental car, pays for tow, they are awesome. DON'T be afraid to spend extra money on teh warranty because you get what you pay for. Some of these dealers (especially Mercedes) mark up even the cheap warranties to outrageous prices where you think you must be getting a good one, read it carefully.
The warranty company that we deal with charges $1000.00 surcharge to us when the car is an AMG, I don't know if they all do that. We just did a CL500 and changed the ABC pump, two front shocks, 4 coils, valve cover gaskets, thrust arms, gas gauge sending unit, brake caliper, and radiator. The job cost the customer $200.00 and they had a free rental car the whole time the car was in the shop.
If you buy the right warranty it will easily pay for itself, if you don't,....... good luck.
As a shop owner these warranty companys don't want to pay your full labor rate (they usually offer $45.00/hour and hour labor rate is $126/hour), they ask you to get parts rebuilt or ask you to find salvage yard parts, they regard each seperate repair on the car as a seperate job and charge a deductible for each one (i.e. transmission, engine, suspension), they don't pay sales tax, etc. I can go on and on.
We finally found a company that pays $126/hour, full retail price on new parts, one deducatible for the entire car, pay the sales tax, pays for rental car, pays for tow, they are awesome. DON'T be afraid to spend extra money on teh warranty because you get what you pay for. Some of these dealers (especially Mercedes) mark up even the cheap warranties to outrageous prices where you think you must be getting a good one, read it carefully.
The warranty company that we deal with charges $1000.00 surcharge to us when the car is an AMG, I don't know if they all do that. We just did a CL500 and changed the ABC pump, two front shocks, 4 coils, valve cover gaskets, thrust arms, gas gauge sending unit, brake caliper, and radiator. The job cost the customer $200.00 and they had a free rental car the whole time the car was in the shop.
If you buy the right warranty it will easily pay for itself, if you don't,....... good luck.
