JosanK

I like my 2003 SL55. I will probably keep it a while. At the moment, it is trouble free (knock on wood) but the last year has seen a LOT of warranty work (mainly gas tank, rattles, blown window control computer). The local dealer, Smythe, offers an extended 7 year warranty for 4 large. That works out to be about 3% of the original vehicle price. Converage is underwritten by Western General. $100 deductible. Given that the warranty work I've already had would have pribably been well over that, and given some of the posts on this forum about problems, I'm considering it.

Is this a prudent buy or wasted money? Comments?

pmrogers

I think it's a good idea, but the price seems high. I got a 7 year Mercedes warranty with the 03 SL55 I bought last month for only $2500. I understand there would be some penalty for purchasing a warranty later, but a 60% bump? Have you shopped around?

Regards,

Paul

JosanK

Where did you get the warranty? From the dealer, or independent?

The dealers around here (Northern Cali) aren't that far apart on price.

If you buy throught Smythe, which is where I get the car serviced, they submit all paperwork. You pay them only the deductible.

I have yet to research what the warranty will not cover. What's the deductible on your warranty? What does it exclude?

Talos

How much would your warranty work have cost you had the vehicle not been under warranty? I'm having one hell of a time finding someone who has had wear & tear repairs done to their vehicle "out of pocket".

JosanK

Still have 2 years of factory warranty left so I had to cook some numbers.

I asked the service adviser for hourly rates and parts prices for all the warranty work I had done in the last year. Ran all this through a spreadsheet.

If I had been paying it would have been just over $10K!!!

My other car is a Lexus LS400 (1998). Supposedly this is a very reliable car. Last March, with only 30K miles on the car, I spent $3500 on repairs! Some of this was for normal stuff, like brakes, etc. Half of it was for not normal stuff, like gas filled shocks for the hood and the drivers side window track which had somehow warped. This is for a Lexus. God only knows what to expect on a Supercharged V8 AMG, with who knows how many computers, at the 6 year mark.

norb

Actually its only a 3 year warranty as your car comes with 4 years. I hate it when insurance companies try to dupe us into thinking its a real long warranty.

Also there was a major third party extended warranty company that just went out of business. Just be careful when selecting.

blueSL

Remember the bath-tub curve which plots the level of problems against age of a car? High initial defect rate which then settles into normal service life and after some years, an increasing defect rate again as the car ages. You've had a number of problems related to manufacturing and they are now fixed. You should now be able to enjoy a reasonable service life before the rot (in the form of electronic and electro-hydraulic problems) sets in. The challenge will be knowing when to move the car on after 4/5/6/7 years. I'd keep the money in your pocket.

pmrogers

The warranty is through Mercedes and is an extension of the factory warranty: no deductible and covers everything except the usual items like tires. I really only purchased 4 years-- there are 2 remaining on factory warranty, +1 year for Starmark, then the 4 year extension kicks in.

Cheers,

Paul

Neicey59

How many miles were on your car when you purchased the extended warranty? My E320 has 38,000.

pmrogers

4600 miles.

Paul