Extended Warranty

[kpruden]

This has probably come up multiple times already but here goes. My E350 Estate is three years old in September and having had very expensive warranty claims on earlier Mercedes cars there is no way I would run one of this without cover of some sort. My car has just under 62k miles on it and the warranty price was a shocker, approx £1800 for 12 months with a £100 excess (increasing it to £250 made little difference) for the best warranty option on offer. The only recent yardstick I have to compare is for a 2010 Z4 i35 which has the 3 litre twin turbo engine and from BMW the warranty for 12 months was £540 in May this year..and within ten weeks I made a claim which was approx £3k so money well spent. It raises the question in my mind about the confidence Mercedes has in their own product; to be charging this amount implies that they expect a high probability of a claim which reinforces my own view that some sort of protection is needed. I've taken a look at Warranty Direct and cover is much less but equally not as comprehensive and who knows how difficult they would be in paying out a claim..

 

[John Laidlaw]

A dilemma indeed.I am very surprised at the £1800 though- I was quoted £1223 with £100 excess for mine (£1330 with 0 excess) for Tier 1. At £1800 for yours I'd be tempted to put it in the bank and start using an independant Mercedes specialist . The 350 AFAIK isn't riddled with problems, and a peach of an engine.
That said, warranty does offer the comfort factor (I was stung with my previous SL so will be going the warranty route for sure).
I have reasearched the alternatives and you're right from what I've seen Warranty Direct and co, much cheaper but reviews are not good from real life claimants.
The only one I found which bucked the trend was Warranty Wise (as endorsed by Quentin Wilson), but their cover was more expensive than Mercedes (certainly for mine)
Was your Warranty quote direct from MB or through the dealer?

 

[John Laidlaw]

Recent thread on this might be worth reading...
http://forums.mercedesclub.org.uk/index.php?threads/warranties.160268/page-2

 

[JBell]

RAC do some combined breakdown and warranty deals where they pay the first £500 of a claim. Costs around £200 for a year.

They will have looked at your mileage and taken that into consideration for the price

Personally I would stick the £1800 in the bank, the E350 is a superb car and well sorted

 

[kpruden]

Thanks guys, if I selected the zero excess option the annual Tier1 policy if £1998...so thats not happening! Putting the excess up to £250 gets it down to ~£1400 (and with hourly rates what they are this is basically one hours labour). To answer the question above, my local dealer wont sell the warranty (which is what I did in the past) I get referred to the on-line system. The Merc warranty reminds me of BMW in that it seems to cover everything that matters and and like BMW when I have claimed in the past there have been no arguments which seems different to many peoples experiences with third parties. Interestingly the Merc system doesnt care what about the mileage above 60k (until you reach 100k) whats hitting me is that anything below 60k is significantly cheaper so if I had done this excercise before going on holiday in July...it would be about £1k/cheaper as my mileage would have been under 60k - which is a bummer! The alternative is for me to take a long term view and get shut of the car now and buy something with lower miles from another marque and say buy buy to Merc - Ive been offered just under £17k for the car as a cash buy probably a bit more if I traded it and thats what I may decide to do to save money long term...be a shame though.

 

[JBell]

What are you expecting to go wrong with it, the last of the W212 cars are pretty bomb proof, particularly with that engine in.

You have some good Merc specialists near you that could sort any problems considerably cheaper than the dealer while using Merc parts, most of it will be consumable parts like brakes and tyres, maybe the odd rubber bush, none of which would be covered under a warranty anyway.

Changing a car because a warranty is too dear seems a bit silly as you will then be stepping into the unknown and a car you don't know the history of.

For example I just checked the RAC warranty, it is £184 for my car (UK cover for a 2010 C350CDi with 62k) and pays the first £750 of any repairs, you just build a package based on what you need

https://www.rac.co.uk/breakdown-cover/european-breakdown-cover

 

[John Laidlaw]

^ I'm with JB on this, in your position with that car I'd just bank the money to cover any possibilities, use the local indy then if nothing happens after 2 or 3 years or whenever you're thinking of changing have a nice holiday- or put the money towards your next car....

 

[LostKiwi]

Are you sure your mileage is above 60k....?

 

[John Laidlaw]

Best to phone them with your 58k car details....

 

[kpruden]

No Im not sure yet but it will depend on the maths, if it works out cheaper to keep the car than to change then thats what I'll do, its not a question being "silly" - I have had way to many serious failures on high end cars, Mercedes has been one of the worst (admittedly W211's which arent a highlight in the marques history) and I'm not taking risks with this one. Funny enough the mileage at the last service in May was 59.1k miles..now there is food for thought!

 

[JBell]

It raises the question in my mind about the confidence Mercedes has in their own product; to be charging this amount implies that they expect a high probability of a claim which reinforces my own view that some sort of protection is needed.

It is Mercedes profiteering (all IMO of course) many people will just cough up and never claim

 

[Droverunner]

I'm new to this forum but have huge experience of running and maintaining cars with particular regard to likelihood of failure and liability to maintenance costs.

Over a lifetime of running cars I have worked out overall I am so far on the winning side from never taking out a warranty... self insuring if you like.

If I ever thought a particular car was likely to fail to a degree where the warranty was worthwhile I'd not buy it.

So very much with JB and JL on this.

 

[JonnyCJ]

Just had a rear suspension issue on my wife's 2013 E220 estate. It has 40,000 miles and a Warranty Direct Luxury Care policy (top one) . This was just over £1k for 3 years, with repairs at my local indy.

They diagnosed a rear strut leaking issue, phoned WD and got both rear struts authorised for replacement without a problem. WD then phoned me to advise that the repairs were authorised. I did very little indeed and have saved £1,400 ish and have another 2 years of the warranty for peace of mind.

Been with WD for quite a few years on various cars and never had an issue. The coverage and exclusions are pretty well written.

Just my pen'orth.

 

[John Laidlaw]

Good to hear a good warranty story!