i found a 20k mile used E63 amg thru a private party at a really good price-has been meticulously maintained
factory warr expires dec 2012
dont know if i should just pull the trigger (assuming the inspection is perfect) or spend another 6-7k now and go thru a MB dealership and get similar car thats a CPO and will hae warr up to 100k miles

if i go thru the private where is best place to get it inspected-local MB dealer??

help and thanks

 

If your state has no sales tax on private purchases, purchase the car privately and then extend the factory warranty through MBZ.
MBZ is fine for inspection, if you can't find a trusted independent shop to do a pre purchase inspection.

 

Excellant advice above.

 

Just what I was thinking. Stay far away from a stealership as possible as the word rape, always comes to mind when I think of them.

 

+1 on what's been said already. Just do a full ppi on the car first. A good tech doing a ppi is usually better anyway then the cursory and not always consistent CPO "inspections" the dealers do.

Use whatever you find needs attention as part of your purchase price leverage.

Then take that $6-7k extra that the dealer charges for a CPO'd car and buy the factory MBUSA extended 7/100k warranty (you can buy extended factory warranties on a private car sale with a car that is still under the original factory warranty, provided it was never for resale previously within the dealership network.) And with a discount from a motivated dealer, you won't be paying $6-7k for the warranty (more like $5k.) In the end you'll be out ahead.

 

Pm me with your vin and ill get you a quote on the lowest Mercedes-Benz Extended Limited Warranty you will find.

 

I would just buy it from private party since you have warranty until Dec 2012. You will be able to drive it until then and become familiar with it and then decide if you want/need extended warranty.

I have trouble forking out 5-7k for warranty as I see it like a bet that your car is going to fail. I know there is a lot of people who will not agree and will say "wait until you get a major repair." But seriously 5-7k for a 1 or 2 year extension, you probably will not exceed the miles before exceeded the coverage period.

It sounds like you found a good vehicle but things can happen. I found a 2007 with 48k miles, got a good deal. I fully expect to put some money into it, I found upper ball joint on drivers side, sway bar joints, and a fuel sending unit issue. My dealer is going to cover the sending unit and fuel pump, i paid $550 for the rest. It worked out to my liking.

Airmatic can fail but even so, $1000 to get it fixed is a far cry from 5-7k. Another costly maintenance item are brakes which is not covered by extended warranty. You cant turn the rotors so they have to be replaced, dealer quotes $2700 but there are other options that are less costly.

 

Great thing about a Mercedes-Benz warranty is that they are refundable at any time! And they are usually way less than 5-7k. Think more along the lines of 2.5-4.5. Also its not betting that your car will break, your car WILL break at some point, and as you guys know these cars are crazy expensive to fix.

 

Great! How about PM me with a quote
2007 50k miles
1 year
2 year

 

You people need to know which specific ELW product is available for your car (if it's used and has been in the dealership network, then it's available for a CPO extended warranty and not the basic ELW.)

The MBUSA ELW is not "5-7k for a 1-2 year extension." It is a three year extension from the in-service date. There are 3 year with variable mileage based MBUSA ELW products. CPO coverage has different plans (they announced a 7/135k mile max plan in February but for CPO cars only.) There is a MSRP determined by MBUSA and many dealers (the only people who can sell a MBUSA ELW) will discount them (do a search here and you'll find the name of the MB dealer who has the best prices.)

The MBUSA ELW is 100% refundable only before the factory warranty is up. Then it is pro-rated. It is also transferable but only to a private party and not a MB dealer franchise.

Whether or not an ELW is "worth it" monetarily is up to the individual. It's a profitable product for MBUSA, so clearly the odds are in their favor that you may never need it. But in the context of the OP's question, who was considering a CPO'd car for the peace of mind, it makes more sense to buy the private sale car than to spend $6-7k more on a CPO when the ELW is available for less than that.

And to tpick23: if the car has leaking fuel sending units already, I'd think twice. The dealer "fix" will not remedy the problem. You will need a full tank replacement and new units. Even then it's not guaranteed to be a permanent fix. You can do the research here.

EDIT: tpick23, I see you have dealt with this now and posted in the thread on failed units. The units have not been redesigned for the E63. They are still the same. You should insist on a new tank; as you said the dealer claimed you "may not need it" but you will. This problem will return.

 

220S

Thanks for the intel. I am very interested in any thing else you can add to ?your experience? on the sending unit issue. I am dropping the car off on Wednesday. I'm not sure what else that I could say to them to go back now and do the tank as well.

The tech said there was some kind of adapter that is used on the new units. I took that to mean that the whole unit was not updated but just the seal on the top of the unit.