DaveW68

Your car is quite old, so you'll likely have a difficult time finding reasonably priced coverage for your car. And if you do find coverage, you should only consider exclusionary coverage. Before purchasing coverage, be sure to Google the crap out of them and see what experiences are with them through many different car forums. Often, companies will manufacture their own ratings and pay to move those ratings up to the top of search pages. Endurance might be a good company, but you won't know until you've done the proper research. Also make sure that they are not self-insured, but instead backed by a major insurance company.

In almost every case, coverage won't begin until at least 30 days and 1000 miles after you purchase coverage. They may even send somebody out to inspect your car for preexisting conditions....such as your transmission problem. Don't expect to purchase coverage just so you can get your trans fixed as the warranty company will likely sniff that out.

If your mechanic is telling you that a valve body replacement will get your tranny working again, then that is no guarantee that your trans won't have future problems. The 7 speed auto in the W221 is well known for its problems, especially the pre-facelift cars. These cars can get extremely expensive to keep on the road as they age and accumulate miles. You've got the right idea about having a warranty, especially if you plan on keeping the car. But you are probably looking into it too late.

Mike5215

There's a ton of stuff that can go bad. In my 06 a clutch pack failed and sent shrapnel throughout.

My Indie found me a remand unit including a new torque converter for $6k installed with a 2 year/unlimited miles warranty.

That tranny had every recommended service, plus an extra service right before it hit 100k and the CPO warranty expired. Zero indication anything was wrong and then one day the car wouldn't move.

MB 1991 300SE

Thanks very much for your suggestions and recommendations, I am asking these questions for a 2008 S550 with 5700 miles. Of all the companies I investigated Endurance seems the best, but again they have a long list of negative comments, so I dont fully trust them, there are other companies like Warranty Direct but again the reviews are very discouraging. Fortunately for now I dont have any issues or transmission problems because the previous owner meticulously maintained the car by the dealer and the maintenance is up to date, there was some work done on the transmission twice in the past, so I am assuming that they have already replaced the Valve Body. I have not actually purchased the car yet but I do plan to. I wanted to find out from anyone who have replaced the Valve Body in the past, if that prevented any further problems

Mike5215

I've never heard of replacing the valve body as a cure for future tranny woes. I've heard of replacing a valve body when it fails and is stuck open or closed, but there's much bigger stuff enduring much more punishment in an AT than the valve body. Is the car you're looking at equipped with ABC?

MB 1991 300SE

I am sorry but what is a ABC?

Mike5215

Automatic Body Control. It's a hydraulic system of dampers on the struts that keep the car flat in corners. The alternate system was AirMatic. Of the two, ABC tends to be the more problematic and expensive. I believe ABC relies on a valve body in the tranny to move fluid around.

An ABC car will have a button labeled as such on the dash where an AirMatic car will not. Virtually all S550's were AirMatic. All AMG variants (S63,S65) were exclusively ABC. S600 could go either way I think.

MB 1991 300SE

I honestly dont know about this item , first time I have heard of it. But from all I have read about these W221 series with the 722.9 transmission is that the transmission is not reliable which seems to be the most common complaint with all models. What model MB do you own and have you had any transmission issues

DaveW68

ALL W221 S600's have ABC.

DaveW68

Be sure to read through those negative comments. Often people complain about repairs not being paid out because they were never covered in their contract in the first place. That's why an exclusionary policy is an absolute must with these cars. I assume you meant 57,000 miles, not 5700. 57k is still low mileage and it's possible that you'll be able to find a reputable company to cover you for 2-3 years. Just don't expect the coverage to be cheap. Call around to banks and credit unions in your area to see if they offer coverage. That is likely your best bet since banks and credit unions usually won't work with companies that have reputation problems.

There is plenty of info to be found here regarding problems with the 7 speed auto in the S550. You might get lucky and have no problems with it at all during your ownership of the car. But you should plan for the worst as these cars are very expensive to maintain and repair as they age.

alx

abc is self- contained system. it has a tandem pressure pump (steering and abc in one) driven by the accessory belt on the engine, two valve blocks (one on the front and one at the rear of the car) to control flow to individual shocks and shocks... and many sensors.

EasyPhil

Keep in mind that warranty companies interest is mainly about not paying money out. They're business model isn't about helping you but relying on your fear of the unknown to bolster their bottom line. These companies don't make money when they pay out claims and they know it's a good bet which is why they are providing the "service". You can't make money giving away money.

MB 1991 300SE

Yes I meant 57,000 miles with a 100% up to date Maintenance record from the MB dealer. 2008 S550 4MATIC. So far these are the companies that I found
ENDURANCE
EASY CARE
FIDELITY
WARRANTY DIRECT
I would probably eliminate Warranty Direct and focus on the other 3 companies.
If anyone reading this thread that have had issues with your transmission or have already replaced the Valve Body, I would love to hear about your experience, . Primarily I would like to find out if after replacing the Valve Body if thats the end of problems with the transmission

DaveW68

In most cases, I would agree with this logic. But in the case of owning one of these W221's used, the odds seem to be stacked in favor of the consumer. I've never heard of even one incident of an aftermarket warranty not paying for itself and more with one of these cars. I purchased my exclusionary warranty at 24k miles for $3300 for 7 yrs/75k miles of coverage. So far in just over 2.5 years, it has already paid out over $12k in claims. I'm currently at 45k miles and am covered for the next 4.5 years and up to 99k miles. So it's highly likely that it's going to pay out a lot more in the future. The beauty of these policies is that they are transferable to the next private owner for a small $50 fee....which adds tremendous resale value for anybody who knows anything about these cars.

https://mbworld.org/forums/s-class-w...-thread-2.html

Go to post 37 in this thread. I haven't updated it recently, but I have had at least one more claim to add once I feel like getting around to it,.

MB 1991 300SE

DaveW68, I am happy to hear that your exclusionary warranty already paid for itself, that was a wise investment, if you dont mind me asking , can you tell me the name of the company that you purchased your warranty from, do they cover used cars as well

DaveW68

All of that info is in the 1st post of the thread I mentioned.

If you live in the Chicago area, or you have a family member who works for any of the Baxter Healthcare companies, I can hook you up with my guy at Baxter Credit Union. I believe the car has to have been in service for less than 10 years to be eligible for coverage.

MB 1991 300SE

Thanks for your help, unfortunately I dont reside in Chicago, neither do I know of anyone that is a member of Baxter Healthcare companies,

EasyPhil

I hear what you're saying but it sounds like the warranty companies are giving money away. Why is that? How do you stay in business doing that?

Mike5215

It's essentially the same way insurance companies make money. They take the incoming premium dollars and invest that money in the markets. That's where the profit comes from (ideally).

Most insurers (and a 3rd party warranty isn't actually a warranty) make either a very thin margin on underwriting (premium less claims costs and overhead) or actually lose a little depending on what they get hit with in big settlements in any given quarter.

State Farm for example typically takes a 3-4% loss on its underwriting. Progressive on the other hand runs a tighter claims organization and often makes a small profit on underwriting, or at least they did when I worked there.

EasyPhil

You mean like Bernie Madoff?

Mike5215

Exactly the opposite. A Ponzi scheme is how most people think insurance actually works. They believe insurance companies take in new money (premiums) but rather than investing it, they use it to satisfy their older customers when those customers ask for a redemption (claims). They believe whatever remains the insurance company gets to keep as a profit. A Ponzi scheme collapses when redemptions exceed the amount of new money coming in.

Insurance companies take the pool of incoming premium dollars and invest it for growth, so that when claims arise they can pay them. That's why you can for example pay relatively little in premium and then have an insurer pay out $300,000 on your behalf to protect you from a crippling judgment because you accidentally ran a light and killed someone (or seriously injured them).

That's really what insurance is for. Not the fender benders or broken windshields. It's to protect you from financial ruin on the off chance you have a momentary lapse in attention and cause an accident that leaves you seriously exposed.

Of course, we're all very confident in our abilities as safe drivers, just like pretty much anyone who has ever caused a major or fatal accident that I handled was right up to the millisecond they weren't any more.