Hey guys! I'm looking at two e63 wagons. Both are higher miles, 44K and 59K. The lower mileage car is CPO (but more expensive) and has a few better options. My question is, is CPO worth the premium price? Or should I save the money and use it for needed repairs if necessary on the non-CPO? How reliable are these engines? I don't put a ton of miles on my cars, maybe 5,000 per year max.

 

i bought my wagon with CPO and it easily paid for itself when the car had an issue that was fully covered by CPO warranty. this is all insurance in the end, so its a gamble

 

I’m not a CPO believer.

The newer, lower miles and better optioned vehicle would be my choice, ignoring the CPO.

 

I highly suggest the CPO as well as extending the warranty on it. God forbid, an engine letting go on an E63 is at least $20k out of your pocket.

 

I've never purchased a CPO but if I did it would not be an AMG. Especially with higher mileage.

 

You wouldn't buy it on the higher mileage car? I'm confused. Why?

 

First of all AMG's can be more temperamental and are more apt to be driven hard. There is no way to verify what has been done to the car.

As for the CPO process, this really is a subjective process. Although there is a standard that needs to be adhered to, there is no way to verify the inspection was properly conducted and standards met. MBworld has several threads on poor CPO inspections performed by dealers. If AMG's go bad, they can go bad in a big way. That being said, if you are hell bent on a preowned AMG, definitely CPO. One significant repair and you are all of a sudden thinking what is the cars worth.

 

Steve Lehto, a lemon law attorney who has a lot of experience in this area says pass on the CPO and have your own mechanic inspect the car.

In his words, CPO just means that the dealer certifies you are buying a used car.

If your mechanic's inspection goes OK, I'd be more inclined to put the extra money toward the factory extended warranty.

 

If you have driven both, and they have good service history, and feel like solid cars, I do not think the CPO really makes a difference. I saw in another thread, which I agree that CPO's in this current market vehicles are passing as CPO that otherwise should not be compared to a year and a half ago. I'd suggest an extended warranty on either, You're looking at around $4,500 for an additional 5 years, up to 100k miles, manufactures extension through Freedom Warranty, covered for $275 an hour in labor, repairs accepted at all Mercedes-Benz dealers in North America. You can contract me at (602) 909-9216 or tgibson@highline-autos.com if you'd like to see an example contract or have any questions.

Compared to the dealer warranty, you'd be looking at almost $7,000 for two years additional warranty from your dealer.

 

Not quite. A two year CPO extension with unlimited miles on an E63 would be $5,145.

 

I'm sorry I meant 3 years, here is a screenshot from where I got my information, as well as a link to the thread. Still, $4,500 for 5 years, OP mentioned he does not drive his vehicles that much, while unlimited miles is nice on the piece of paper, most contract decisions are based on time, not milage when you have options like up to 100k standard, 125k optional.

https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...-purchase.html

 

Some people consider CPO as a good investment that will cover for expensive repairs. Not necessarily true.

There are examples of owners being denied expensive warranty repairs because the car was tuned!

CPO is just a certificate it’s pre-owned (used) car….

 

Some odd replies in here. I've had a CPO'd AMG and it did pay for itself. Biggest benefit is extending the factory warranty up to 7 years and unlimited miles at zero deductible and full coverage. Assume this is still the case. The biggest mistake people make it to trust the dealer and take for granted that being CPO is cleaner than another non CPO car. You always have to do your own diligence and get a PPI. Also ask the dealer to check if it was modified. It's a no brainer if the price is reasonable but you have to still be careful.

 

So am I mistaken to assume that a CPO'ed AMG (or any car for that matter) has not been modified? It seems almost like a dirty trick by the dealer if a modified AMG (e.g. tuned) was CPO'ed, and then you have a problem that needs fixing and the dealer says 'no can do' since the car has been modified.

 

There have been a couple stories about cars that were purchased as CPO the subsequently denied warranty because they were modified.

 

That's right and no recourse for buyer. IMO preowned AMG's carry risk.

 

There are times that the ECU of E63s were modified and then returned to stock without tripping any flags on the ECU or be recorded, however if a dealership really wants to find out there is still supposed to be a way through the vehicle "blackbox" or something, or based on engine data from the past. I also remember a post on a CPO E63s being denied warranty because they found out the vehicle was tuned and then flagged status 8 AFTER the new owner took possession : https://mbworld.org/forums/w213-amg/...tuned-ecu.html

Hopefully you don't end up having to deal with this issue.

Edit: Late for my reply as always, please see the better responses just before my post.

 

Blimey! Thanks for link. Interesting read. I guess my naïveté knows no bounds. I just assumed (incorrectly) that the dealer checks for mods before actually CPO’ing a car. It just so happens I bought my e63 new, but I always felt (and still do) that cpo’s can be a very good deal, but with the caveat mentioned by everyone above.

 

You're welcome and I mean the average consumer would think the same, you are not alone.

Certified Pre-owned, to consumers pretty much means the manufacturer determines that the vehicle being sold as used meets the high standards of the brand that labeled themselves "The best or nothing" or in this case the vehicle is the best fit or it wouldn't be certified, hence nothing. The warranty slapped on is the manufacturer's way to show that they stand by the vehicle certified. Shame that it isn't always the case on vehicles like the CPO E 63s AMG and other 63 AMGs (basically vehicles that have a high potential of being tuned), dealerships are cutting corners because they want to get the vehicle ready for inventory as soon as possible so they can sell it as soon as possible. When they find a tune after the vehicle is sold to the new customer and was brought back for warranty repair, they can then deny the warranty and withdraw almost all liabilities and blame it on the customer. This wouldn't had happened if the dealership actually go through the whole CPO checklist for the E 63s AMG or other 63 AMGs for that matter.

The previous forum members recommended a PPI in addition to the CPO on high performance vehicles like 63 AMGs to help prevent stuff like this. PPI won't catch everything but there is still a much higher chance that an experienced shop will be able to tell if a vehicle is tuned by the condition of various mechanical components if they don't have access to the data of the vehicle's blackbox for example.

In short, it is really the dealerships' fault but the customer can't do anything about it (other than hiring an attorney to try to fight it). So much for The best or nothing...

Happy to hear that you got your E 63s AMG new and I hope you have many smiles per miles!

 

Tale of 2 CPO's
1. Mercedes CLK350 Cabriolet - CPO with 2-year extensions - Never used in 75,000 miles, MB dealer serviced
2. Mini Cooper Clubman - CPO again with year extension, Throttle body disintegrated, threw metal in engine, engine destroyed, was replaced under CPO -
Would have cost over $6,000 but cost me ZERO

It's a total crap shoot whether to get or not. Nothing on a Mercedes is inexpensive to fix, just depends on if you are willing to live with a huge repair bill and not worry about it or have the peace of mind that you are covered.

I recently bought a CPO 2017 Wagon and yes, I opted to get the 2-year extension - Paid asking price for the wagon but dealer split the cost of extension with me.

 

I understand that Renntech is an authorized tuner so as long as you’re using them is it not a dead issue?

 

I doubt it. I can't think of anything more annoying, trivial, timely, and expensive than to get into a dispute with a dealer over tune vs authorized tune on a claim. Also, I would NEVER buy a tuned car. I don't care who tuned it, it would be a stupid move.

 

I spoke to a GM of a dealership. If Renntech is authorized as it says on their website as well then it’s a non issue. The GM said they had never had any issues. So let’s be specific to saying CPO is a waste if it’s tuned.

 

There are multiple threads on mbworld from people that renntech tuned their cars. A few had warranty issues, some de-tuned their car before taking it in for service and others get into wrestling matches with the dealer, great use of one's time. It's subjective IMO. Calling a dealer means nothing. A CPO is a waste if it's tuned, look at the values of tuned cars, they are almost always less than originals.

 

Agree. There are too many things that can go wrong.
I would never buy used AMG. Period.