Fidelity still selling to E55 clients? Who is the best to purchase it from and what prices paid?

Does anyone know about Hendricks?

 

I was looking into Fidelity when I purchased the car in February. Back then they were not covering the E55. Last week I got a phone call from them saying that they now will cover the E55 if you have under a certain mileage. The quote came out to 4yr - 48k miles for $7500

 

I just had my very first extended warranty claim. I have had the car for just a little over a month now. On sunday I was out with the family as it was Easter, the kids are in the back seat and the wife & I are up front. The kids kept complaining that the AC was blowing hot. I thought they must have pressed the wrong button, etc. Well as it turns out it was the
Expansion valve had gone bad. I found this out when i dropped the car off at MB. I have the NAC extended warranty that I purchased from Bruce M at Becks Imports. The service advisory was not familiar with NAC and was a bit skeptical of my warranty. Long story short, she calls me this morning to say the car was ready & that I can come pick it up. I go get the car & all I had to pay was $100 for the deductible, thats it. The service writter said that NAC was very easy to work with. They approved the claim over the phone with no problems at all.

So as of today my AC is fixed & I am very happy with the purchase of my extended warranty.

 

Wow...$7500 is a lot of money for a warranty. I can buy a very decent used car for that amount.

 

That valve costs $60 and can be changed out in under 1 hour with regular tools. You could have done it yourself for less than the deductible.

I have purchased extended warranties in the past, but I'm shocked at what these warranties cost for the E55 and cannot imagine paying so much for a warranty that has a deductible to boot. I would have to have my transmission, all 4 airmatic struts, and my supercharger go out just for that warranty to be worth it.

 

That may be the case. I did not know what the issue was, I am not a mechanic nor do I want to be. For me piece of mind is much more valuable. Hopefully, I will not have any isues with the trans or the airmatic suspension, but if I do my trusty warranty will be called upon once again & once again I will be thankful I have it.

 

Fair enough I guess.

 

Not at all. Depending on how many miles your car has, I can get you a full exclusionary warranty for 3-4 years for $4K or so (cost/term depends on year/mileage of car, so I am estimating here).

Now think about your E55. If the trans goes, you take it to the Benz dealer and I guarantee that claim is $6000 easy. ONE CLAIM. That's one problem and you are 'in the black' based on what you paid for the warranty.

If you lose one airmatic shock and the ABC pump starts growling in those 3-4 years you have the warranty, that's another $3000 at the Benz dealer. You're now at $9000 in claims and you paid $4K for the warranty. This is a slam-dunk.

If you lose all four airmatic struts, the ABC pump, the trans, and the supercharger, as you stated above, you're in for $17K+ at the Benz dealer my friend. What's shocking is not what the warranty costs...it's what the repairs cost at a Benz dealer!

But let's look at non-horrendous scenarios (of course you 'win' if all four struts go, or you blow the engine, but that's not too common) of typical claims for a 40K mile 2004 E55 over the course of 4 years and getting to 90K miles with warranty coverage:

1. ABC pump and one airmatic strut - $3K
2. One seat heater element - $900
3. Valve cover gaskets - $850
4. Rear window shade motor - $700
5. One window regulator - $450
6. Lower oil pan reseal - $800
7. Headrest motor - $550

This is a pretty conservative list of repairs needed from 40K to 90K miles on an E55. Realistically, I have nothing big on this list like internal engine repairs, trans, or serious ABC work. Even COMAND navigation failure can be $3K, but I left that off too. I am trying to use common examples, not make it worst-case.

So let's say you pay $4500 for a 4 year warranty that covers you to 90K miles. With the 7 repairs above, you also will pay $700 in deductibles (assuming none of the above failures are simultaneous). So you're in for $5200 total out-of-pocket.

The seven item list above will give you $7250 in claims paid.

BINGO. You win. Plus you have protection against major failures not on that list which could REALLY swing the needle in your favor should any occur.

Could your car be more reliable than the above list from 40K to 90K miles? Yes, it could. So maybe it only does $4100 in claims. In this scenario, you wound up paying $100 per year for protection against major failures. That's not too shabby either.......I don't complain about paying for homeowner's insurance because a tornado does not level my house and I don't get to 'cash out'.

But the odds of an E55 being super reliable are very very low. I speak as a guy that has over 4000 cars under various extended warranties, including at least 600 MB's, of which at least 150 of those are AMG or 600-series cars. I have people that paid $6000 for plans for S600/S65/CL600/CL65 with $15K+ in claims. And some with a $3K plan and $6K in claims. I don't think I have a single AMG or 600-series customer that won't break even by the end of their warranty term. I do have a lot of Honda and Lexus owners that won't, but no AMG people.

So for someone that is not a mechanic, does not do their own repairs, source their own parts, etc., this is a pretty solid investment. Not to mention the 'peace of mind sleep well at night' you get from knowing if something big like a trans or engine does let go, you're covered.

There are no guarantees, of course. And the key component in this whole thing is getting a good warranty from a good company at a reasonable price for a reasonable term. That's my job to provide.

Bruce
brucem105@comcast.net

 

Yeah, you're right. $4K isn't bad though for 4 years...saltydizzle stated $7.5K though. I do my own work and source my own parts so it wouldn't be worth it to me. An Airmatic strut would cost me $400, a pump only $250, a full tranny rebuild would be about $1K for me at most.

 

Not every one is as intelligent as you or have as much free time as you have. To some of us,time is money and is lot more important then getting the knuckles shaved while taking the pulleys off

 

I'll take 4 new OEM ABC pumps at $250 each please. And whenever you have time to do a trans rebuild for $1K, I'll send you 10 customers within 72 hours. No fooling around!

Bruce

 

I said airmatic not abc. I can also do the tranny rebuild myself. It's not to say that I'll do it for 1000 for everyone else.

 

Regular tools? I doubt many of us have the refrigerant recovery and evacuation equipment to properly discharge and recharge the air conditioning system - which would be necessary to do to replace the expansion valve.

 

While he did say expansion valve, the valve which he was referring to was the coolant valve for the heater which is what causes hot air to exit the rear vents. It's a VERY common issue. No need to mess with the A/C.

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...rol-valve.html

 

In that case I 100% agree with your earlier statement. :-)