sphillips

My dealership is offering, until the end of Oct., an Easycare warranty. It is the most comprehensive they offer. I can buy a 12/12 for 2200 or a 48/48 for 4400. The r350 has 86,000 miles on it. I do have 1000miles/1 month right now. I have always heard that extended warranties are a waist of money. Can ya'll offer any guidance? Thanks, Susie

aggst1

All it is, is an insurance policy. For $2,200 you are worry-free (providing the third party company is a good one) for 12 months. (or $4400 for 48). The question is, will you need at least $2,200 worth of repairs in 12 months? Nobody can answer this since nobody can predict the future, however IMHO you are better off taking that cash and putting it away in your own "auto insurance policy" and if and when your car breaks down you get to dip into that fund. Another reason I say this is that the above mentioned insurance policy will not cover everything, and on top of that you still have to pay for maintenance, brakes, tires, etc...

Now, if your transmission goes in a few months and you need $7-8,000 for a new one then this warranty would have come in handy... What is the likelihood of that? The transmission and major components should be fine for another 100k miles at least, with proper maintenance, so it is possible but not highly probable.

bzliteyear

Pay the $4,400 and sleep better...besides, it is probably more a pre-pay than insurance, imho.
PL

Ted Flynn

I'll side with "Aggst1" and say to hold onto the money.

Overall, how has the car been? Has the maintenance been done regularly? Cars can have "black clouds" hanging over them and nothing you do will prevent the car from needing repairs.

I have an 08 R320 and took a pass on the extended warranty at 50,000. I have 77,000 now and I needed some glowplug work and a parktronic sensor. I'm still way under my $3800 fee and feeling okay with the decision so far.

I still lean towards the company not offering them because they hope it works to our advantage.

BallJack

I never buy a car and bet against it. If I think my car will set me back 3 to 4 grand withinin 2 years after the factory warranty expires then I don't think that's the car that I want. I've had BMWs, Audi, MBs and never bought any extended warranty. Sure, over the course of my ownership there are times that I had to spend a fortune to fix a problem - but not 4 grand. And in those times the extended warranty would not have helped me when because it woulld have been expired already by then when I needed those repairs.

Of course this is all relative to individual experiences. Am I the only one that got lucky for not using the extended warranty? I think not. What I do is keep the money that I would have paid for the warranty intact. That's my insurance in case I need to dig down my pocket.

Just my .02 cents.

bzliteyear

It sounds like the R320CDI and the latter 2007+ R's have been better built than the first year 2006. From my experience, MB has historically had the most issues with first year of a model - and w/ the R, you have to add that it was a new plant/process.
I typically agree with you guys on warranties, but when it comes to cars(w/ LOTS of moving parts), even when I "lost" a little money buying warranty for my prior S55, the peace of mind was well worth it. Similar to auto insurance, when I weigh the upside/dnside, it makes total sense for me.
Btw, for my S600, I've had it for less than a month and I think I might have recouped 25% of the warranty cost already
PL
Patrick