Stoofpilot

Has anyone purchased a extended warranty from Royal? I have been quoted a 6 year/75000 mile extended warranty by a web dealer pitching this Royal warranty. It is called the OEM warranty. This guy is telling me it will cover my ABC system and top mechanism.

Any Royal users out there?

Benz-O-Rama

The first thing you want to do, is check the Better Business Bureau.

I just did and couldn't find anything on them. Pass.

Stoofpilot

You need to go to BBC ma, and put in Royal, Hanover, ma. It came up A+ with 104 complaints over three years with all resolved.

Benz-O-Rama

Honestly, the best thing you can do is call the dealership that will be performing the warranty work. Talk to the service advisers there and see who they recommend. They'll know which warranty companies are good at paying claims, and which ones are known for denying claims. In all my years on this forum, I've never heard of that warranty company. You're best served to stick with the larger, well-known companies that we forum members have had success with.

I wouldn't go with the cheapest company, when it comes to warranty services for the SL line.

HSESL500MB

Based on some recent articles that have appeared in the NY Times Magazine section on Sundays over the last few months, it doesn't sound like BBB is the most "independent" source for reliable opinions on vendors, etc.

gqa

The BBB sucks. search for complaints like on the ripoffreport.com

Asphaltman

I bought an extended warranty through CarChex, but the extended warranty is through Royal Admin. Services. When i was looking, i checked with several warranty consolidators. i found that Royal was behind all of their plans. Royal seem to be one of a few that will cover the SL series. Hope this helps. I paid $4,000 for a 6 year/100,000 mile OEM plan. My 07 SL 550 had 32,000 miles on it when i got the extended warranty.

Becks Imports

It's so hard to find out accurate info. A dealer recommends one, but turns out they sell it so the warranty company makes sure they have a good claims experience. If the dealer stops selling them, or you go elsewhere for service, your experience can change dramatically.

BBB is like carfax....a screening tool and nothing more. A terrible BBB rating should be enough to make you look elsewhere, but a good one does not necessarily mean the company is great. There is a lot of conflict of interest with BBB and companies that pay to subscribe to them and get ratings.

Checking web sites like ripoffreport, angryconsumer, mythreecents, etc is also good to do. But it's hard to get a feel for things. We all know that only angry people complain and post, not happy people. And sometimes people are angry a claim got denied because it was not covered in their contract, so that's not really a ding against a warranty company. And also the number of complaints, by itself, means nothing.

For example, you find 30 complaints on the web about warranty company X. But how do you know if that's bad or not? It's really bad if they sell 500 warranties a month. But it's not bad at all if they sell 8000 warranties a month. So it's really the complaint ratio you need, which is nearly impossible to get.

But looking at everything; forums, complaint websites, BBB, checking with shop(s), etc will hopefully give you a decent overall picture of a particular company.

One thing that Benz-O-Rama said is totally true; shopping by price is a huge mistake. Yes of course you want a fair price and don't want to overpay, but of these attributes, guess which is the most important:

1. Price of contract
2. Length of contract
3. Coverage provided by contract
4. Company adminstering contract

Certainly if you said #3, it would make sense. But the correct answer is #4.

Why? Because if the company adminstering the plan is not good, then 1-3 do not matter. They'll fight claims, deny claims, not allow you to go to a dealer, want to send in used/salvage yard parts, etc. It means nothing if you get a great plan, at a great price, that lasts a long time, and then the company does not want to ever pay a claim.

That's why in spite of all the offers I get from warranty companies, I only selected two, and that was after a LOT of research. Life is too short to have people hating me for a plan I sold them a year prior and then they can't get a repair covered without a court fight.

Could I sell cheaper plans? Yes, I could. Will they be the same claims experience for my clients as the ones I sell now? No, they can't be.

For some cars, domestics, asian cars, where 3rd party parts are plentiful, more shops are qualified to work on them, etc, some of the lesser plans and companies are OK. But I deal with MB, Audi, BMW, Porsche, Jag, etc and for most of those clients, they need the ability to go to franchised dealers for repairs and get paid for dealer labor/part prices. So for that, you need a Tier I company.

Bruce

cygnet

I currently have the OEM warranty through royal services, its the Integrity Automative Protection (IAP) OEM Plan. I have a 2002 S500 and purchased this warranty back in 2007 and it is good for 4 years or 100,000 miles. The warranty has already paid for itself because as we all know ABC problems seem to be never ending.

DocBH

I am looking at a 03 SL500 48k miles 1 owner clean carfax that has an active extended Premium plan until 1/14/14 or 100K. Is this a reputable company that pays claims or not worth my time? Thanks for any feedback..

waltg1

Fidelity is the only plan that my local stealer recommends and works with. Works great for me, I never see the any of the intermediate paperwork and just pay $100 deductible and take the car home. It's an exclusionary plan and cost me about $4800 for 3 years. In the first nine months it has almost paid for itself as I had a tandem pump and locking door handle function replaced. The only drawback is that there is usually a day or two of waiting till the stealer gets the OK from Fidelity to proceed with the repair. Part of the research should at least cover a conversation with the repair shop of your choice to see how he handles getting paid. I would not consider a condition where I would have to pay the bill and then collect the payment myself from the warranty provider.

DocBH

Thanks so much, I spoke with the local MB dealer and they only sell MB extended and Fidelity.

Becks Imports

Fidelity will not write a 2003 SL for Platinum to the best of my knowledge.

Bruce

DocBH

I would tend to agree, but the warranty is from the original owner. I would transfer it.

waltg1

I bought the Platinum policy on my 2003 SL500 in Dec. of last year. I think the only requirement was less than 50K miles that I met.

DocBH

Thanks all I am transferring the warranty.