Are MB having a laugh???

[CycleSi]

I went to renew the Tier 1 Mercedes Benz warranty today and, despite having no claims in the past year, they want to charge me £2980, up from £1339 last year.

There is absolutely no sense in this as l obviously won't renew at that extortionate figure.

If they had upped it to say £1500 then I'd have paid it, but not the increase they're asking.

So, MB have now lost another customer as l won't use an official MB dealer in future for servicing & repairs (as l'll take it to an Indy) and I also won't be buying MB again.

In business it's easier to retain a current customer than get a new one.

They simply never learn do they.....

 

[Alex M Grieve]

In business it's easier to retain a current customer than get a new one.

They simply never learn do they.....

How true - and they have "previous" - doubling the frequency of routine servicing for cars registered from 2007 onwards was an equally artless move.

 

[Alps]

my renewal was the same price on my E55 this year, seems they dont want to insure the breakdown on the 55k models anymore hence the price hike!

 

[JEZ.S320L]

.......... seems they dont want to insure the breakdown on the 55k models anymore hence the price hike!

So what does THAT tell you.???

 

[dieselman]

There is absolutely no sense in this as l obviously won't renew at that extortionate figure.

I suspect there is a great deal of commercial sense in this figure, they expect to spend a fair portion of that on fixing the car.

 

[CycleSi]

Maybe a small degree of commercial sense, but to lose not only my money, my using of MB dealers and my future business on a car that hasn't had any warranty work done to it isn't clever.

Also, my engine is supposedly handbuilt by craftsman and not on a bog standard factory production line???

 

[d215yq]

Maybe a small degree of commercial sense, but to lose not only my money, my using of MB dealers and my future business on a car that hasn't had any warranty work done to it isn't clever.

Also, my engine is supposedly handbuilt by craftsman and not on a bog standard factory production line???

Perhaps their logic is if it has had no warranty work before there are loads of original parts just waiting to fail...perhaps if you have made a 10k claim on all the problem areas previosuly they reduce it as there's less stuff likely to go wrong.

Your model is notoriuously problematic and expensive to fix in standard guise, add to that AMG parts (higher standard and rare and therefore expensive) and it can quickly be spent, handbuilt or not.

On the £3k they have to pay tax, overheads, marketing costs, administartion, and then their dealers extortionate hourly rate on fixing any faults so when looking into it its probably not a huge rip off, even though on the face of it it does seem an extortionate amount of money for a warranty

 

[WDB124066]

It will be interesting to see how much is spent on it over the next 12 months. Could be a well worth an update, this thread.......

 

[CycleSi]

Thank you all for your comments and observations.

What l shall do is NOT renew the warranty and instead stick £50 a week into a separate account should any repairs crop up.

If they do l'll have some funds to cover it and if it's ok over the next 12 months l'll take another holiday or something equally satisfying.

 

[hawk20]

I wonder how many people on the forum would like to offer the OP a tier 1 warranty for the quoted figure?

I remember being horrified when I asked the Lexus dealer what it cost to extend the warranty on the RX models. Truth is anyone will chrge a lot to cover all that could go wrong on cars costing 50k plus.

 

[roadhog]

I wonder how many people on the forum would like to offer the OP a tier 1 warranty for the quoted figure?

I remember being horrified when I asked the Lexus dealer what it cost to extend the warranty on the RX models. Truth is anyone will chrge a lot to cover all that could go wrong on cars costing 50k plus.

Granted, I wouldn't be able to offer a warranty to the OP but then I don't have the dealer network, the backup or the resources that MB have access to so slightly irrelevant comparison. I also suspect they would reinsure rather than underwrite the policy themselves?

Also granted that it costs a lot to cover all that could go wrong, especially on a complex car like the one in question but even you must admit that a price hike of more than 100% is a little excessive? Was your horrifying Lexus quote anywhere near as greedy?

As I see it, MB have yet again priced themselves out of competition and lost the OP as a future customer. Wise move? :roll:

 

[Alex M Grieve]

I suspect there is a great deal of commercial sense in this figure, they expect to spend a fair portion of that on fixing the car.

Interesting point Will - but if it is true, then I think that is sad.

The received wisdom is that cars are at their most reliable (and from the warranty point of view least expensive) between the ages of 2 and 7 years.

If the OP is still on Tier 1 warranties, I infer his car is not that old.

Assuming that the Tier 1 warranty was going to eat up £3,000 on repairs, then reliability is hardly a given. Even more so, if that is the manufacturer's predicted cost of repairs during one year for a younger car, surely that knowledge would blight the resale value of such a car as it gets older?

 

[CycleSi]

FYI, the car is an April 2004 and has done 63k miles.

 

[television]

OK you have the 55 but my SL has been troublesome but I would be a long way out of pocket had I joined the MB scheme even at £1500 per year,, it has cost about £3.5k in the 6 years from 15k miles from new

 

[CycleSi]

That's the way l'm looking at it too.

Maybe it's time to get something newer like a 911 turbo

 

[television]

That's the way l'm looking at it too.

Maybe it's time to get something newer like a 911 turbo

No the 55 is better for you in old age

I think that Hawk20 happily pays 20% of his income to MB so rather biased

 

[hawk20]

No the 55 is better for you in old age

I think that Hawk20 happily pays 20% of his income to MB so rather biased

I pay £36 per month for a service plan on an ML350cdi. Good value IMO and I like paying monthly and having prices fixed for 3 years despite 5% plus inflation. Suits me -may not suit others.

 

[jberks]

I'm impressed with what you paid last year!
3 years ago I asked for a quote to extend the manufacturers warranty on my Freelander2. The quote came back at £1,100. For a 3 year old, £25k car!!!
I smiled and walked away. A year later, having spent not a penny on repairs I felt I may have made the right decision.
3 more years have since passed and I've just traded it in for another. I never spent a single penny on repairs in the entire time I owned it.
Warranties are just bets at the end of the day and most don't offer very good odds. They are probably thinking they could end up with a £15,000+ repair bill if something horrible happened and simply don't want that level of exposure so quote a silly price. Truth is though, you'll probably get through the next 12 months with minimal cost.

I suspect your £50 a month will buy you a nice break next year.

 

[Rory]

Another angle is if the manufacturer warranty gives almost total peace of mind then why would customers change their cars? I think this is why MB stopped ServicePlus.

If they bump up the warranty cost and you add in ongoing depreciation plus the extra cost of servicing (which has to be done at a dealership to maintain the warranty), MOT etc etc on an older car then your monthly cost is probably in the same ball park as buying a new one.

 

[d215yq]

If they bump up the warranty cost and you add in ongoing depreciation plus the extra cost of servicing (which has to be done at a dealership to maintain the warranty), MOT etc etc on an older car then your monthly cost is probably in the same ball park as buying a new one.

I'd imagine depreciation on a new one to be nearer £3k a month than £3k a year.

Having said that, MB (aided by customers wanting everything now at a low price) are now IMO making cars that do have built in sell by dates and will not last the 15+ years of older models...and perhaps the warranty cost on a 7 year old example bears this out.

From incidents on this forum it doesn't sound hard to spend £3k a year on a R230 if you can't fix it yourself...