Best Warranty - Air suspension / high mileage

K21W219

New Member
Joined
Nov 18, 2020
Messages
8
Reaction score
1
Your Mercedes
CLS CDI 350 2009 - W219
I’m looking to get warranty on purchasing

2009 CLS 350 CDI - 130,000 miles


My concerns are


Complete air suspension system to be covered

Turbo Issues

Any experience repairs over £300 to be mostly covered


Has anyone have had good experience with warranty company used for there cars


I would like something on the car for peace of mind


Currently looking at

Warranty Assist - Gold Package


How are AA and the others companies compared?
 

robin.large

Senior Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2019
Messages
394
Reaction score
343
Your Mercedes
CLS C63 AMG 2013
My experience of warranty companies is that they really aren't keen on paying out - ever.
With a high mileage older car you will find the get out clause of 'wear and tear' will apply to most parts and only if you can prove unexpected and unusual component failure will you have any chance of claiming.
So for turbo moving parts or seals, waste gates, etc will likely not be covered. Same for suspension and pumps.
After 6 years old you would also probably have difficulty claiming electronic modules.

If in doubt call the warranty company and discuss a 'typical' failure with them?

If it's a dealer purchase then see what they can offer?

Considering you will also have to pay the initial excess AND prove regular, garage receipted servicing - probably not worth it.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
 

Blobcat

Moderator
Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Messages
38,787
Reaction score
27,424
Location
Grange Moor
Your Mercedes
R171 SLK280, Smart R451, Land Rover 110 County SW, 997 C2S, R1250 GSA TE 40th, CBR600FP
Warranty companies are in the business of making money, therefore they have to "win" on products they offer to stay in business. To that end they'll promise the earth and deliver delays and excuses...
I'd get a price from the company then set that amount aside in Premium Bonds or any other savings type account. That way you've a slush fund if anything goes awry and if it doesn't you've a tidy pot of money to enjoy. :)
 

DSK

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Messages
2,188
Reaction score
2,259
Your Mercedes
CLS 320 CDI, S350 Bluetec
As above, not worth it in my experience. I bought a used car 20 years ago from a used car lot with a warranty. Problem arose I was was puny pinged between the dealer and warranty company. Got fed up and paid out of my own pocket at a local garage for repairs.

Bought an approved used 30,000 mile M5 from BMW with their bells and whistles cover. Basically they were not interested when they diagnosed a replacement top end requirement. This time I took legal action after being nice did not work. I won but it was painful as even with loosing legally they were a pita!

So used warranties not worth the paper they are written on. Dealers even screw new car owners who have problems or want up reject a car!

I did have a colleague who bought a 75.000 mile 2007 Saab aero and out a warranty from warranty wise on it. They paid out for an engine mgmt sensor which surprised me!). However the car, previous history and current owners servicing had to meet specific criteria.

Just easier to inspect a car as best you can, if your not confident pay an independent specialist or trusted mechanic to do an inspection.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

sonic

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2009
Messages
3,578
Reaction score
2,382
Location
Staffordshire
Your Mercedes
E350CDI, SLC250d, FJR 1300
I have a policy not to buy any warranty other than what comes with the item. I cant really think of any item where I would have claimed had I had extended warranty.
My E class is almost 10 years old I have had it 9 years, just one fault cost £100. My wife's previous SLK200K was 10 years old when we sold it we had it for 8 years. Nothing went wrong.
 

rf065

Senior Member
Joined
May 30, 2007
Messages
3,520
Reaction score
998
Location
Grossbritannien
Your Mercedes
SLC300 - C250d Estate 4 Matic & Z900rs
Had a warranty many years ago when the car had a cracked cylinder head. The warranty company made the garage do all sorts, including saw the radiator in half to check for blockages to try and prove it was not their responsibility and weasel their way out of paying for a repair.
The car was in the garage for weeks as they were in no mood to pay out, I had to contact the garage I bought the car from to tell them their provided warranty company was useless and they put pressure on them to fix the car.
Without that pressure, I don't believe they would ever have fixed it.
 

malcolm E53 AMG

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 21, 2005
Messages
6,993
Reaction score
4,597
The vehicle warranty industry really is a force for making profit and some traders appear to be using it as a protective shield to offset their responsibility which is most concerning. With older vehicles it’s much better to keep money in the bank as warranty companies will wriggle out of any claim on a high mileage car citing wear and tear.
 

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
I sell a warranty at work that works very well - HOWEVER cars have to be under 8 years old and 80,000 miles to go on it. No warranty you buy on a car that is 11 years old and has 130,000 miles on it at inception will be worth anything - as above, save your money or put 2k in premium bonds as insurance.
 

alexanderfoti

MBO Forum Supporter
Authorised Forum Supporter
Joined
Mar 25, 2010
Messages
15,091
Reaction score
6,247
Location
Tonbridge
Your Mercedes
W221 S65 AMG - W204 C63 AMG + Various other MB's
The vehicle warranty industry really is a force for making profit and some traders appear to be using it as a protective shield to offset their responsibility which is most concerning. With older vehicles it’s much better to keep money in the bank as warranty companies will wriggle out of any claim on a high mileage car citing wear and tear.
I agree. I see this more and more.

Traders sell a car for £2000. It has a pre existing fault that either was missed by the trader, or ignored. The customer brings it back within a couple of weeks and the trader says call the warranty company for the 3 month warranty that is provided with the car.

The car gets its claim rejected for various reasons and the customer is stuck fighting with the trader. They still have a legal responsibility to fix or repair the car within the 3 month period but hide behind the warranty company.

NB this is not a blanket statement that covers all traders and is purely anecdotal.
 

mioba

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2006
Messages
7,898
Reaction score
4,657
Location
Nottingham and Köln
Your Mercedes
W124/E200, W220/S320CDI, W205/C200, W251/R350CDI 4Matic
Having a good Indy at hand circumvents the need for such warranty cover.
 

DSK

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Messages
2,188
Reaction score
2,259
Your Mercedes
CLS 320 CDI, S350 Bluetec
I agree. I see this more and more.

Traders sell a car for £2000. It has a pre existing fault that either was missed by the trader, or ignored. The customer brings it back within a couple of weeks and the trader says call the warranty company for the 3 month warranty that is provided with the car.

The car gets its claim rejected for various reasons and the customer is stuck fighting with the trader. They still have a legal responsibility to fix or repair the car within the 3 month period but hide behind the warranty company.

NB this is not a blanket statement that covers all traders and is purely anecdotal.

Thanks for this. This was me about 20 years ago.

I think at times, with a car being a key item for many, the stress of being fobbed off between dealers/warranty companies fogs our minds about consumer rights. I hate to think how many people get screwed like this. I only ever bought one car since from a used car place (after the first instance) and I asked how much the warranty they put on costs... then insisted they deduct that as I do not want it plus, more off as I'm not paying sticker price.

Recently outside the car world, I have found, if you seem to have a legitimate issue, contacting trading standards does help. I contacted trading standard standards over set of bicycle wheels I purchased and sent back due to fault. Trading standards also involved someone else (I forget who) but, after 4 weeks of silence and ignoring me, as soon as these guys contacted them, Wiggle (biggest bike parts etailer) promptly dealt with me like I was royalty.
 
Last edited:

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
I think you guys need to try and see there is a difference between a decent warranty and an "aftermarket, for-profit" Warranty.

I work in a main UK franchised dealer (not Merc) and I include a 1 year warranty with EVERY car. So if I have to top up a car that has say 4 months manufacturers warranty on it, I can put a further 8 months on it to give the customer a year. On cars over 3 years old we put a 12 month on.

DSK, Had you asked me to do what you asked above I would have politely declined. That's not to say I wouldn't have had some sort of a deal with yourself, and I might have knocked a little bit off the car depending on what it was but I would not have sold you a car with less than 12 months warranty - it's company policy, and non-negotiable from my bosses.

A good warranty will help in the event of the unexpected failure of a mechanical or electrical component. They are NOT (as some people believe) there to replace anything and everything that needs doing to a car - even a brand new car warranty doesn't do that.

However there are companies out there who's warranties are purely a money making thing - these warranties will pay out less and cost more - in order to make a profit for the warranty company and the dealer. Our Warranty company makes a very small profit (and I do mean small) - all it really does is balance out (like any insurance) a large number of people paying in a small amount, vs a small number taking out a larger amount.

With the cost of replacing some of the major electronics on modern cars, I think a GOOD (and I stress GOOD) warranty is essential - perhaps someone can tell me what a new Airbag module would cost for a Merc these days, or an engine or gearbox (and yes, these things still do go wrong - rarely but they do).

I have personally looked after customers where their warranty has paid bills over £10,000

These warranties are not there to replace a bulb or do something minor - they are there to protect the customer in the case of a serious and very expensive unforeseeable failure, and when looked at in that context, a GOOD warranty is worth every penny.

I agree, a bad warranty is worthless.

On another point:-

The other thing that is changing these days guys is pricing. Part of my job is to check our prices at least once a day - please don't always assume all "advertised" prices are negotiable - the internet means prices have become very keen and aggressive over the last 2-3 years - I would say over 90% of the cars we sell are sold at the advertised screen price. We aren't alone - many many companies are moving towards this, so don't assume cos you can't get a "discount" the deal isn't so good - would you rather buy a £5k car advertised at £7k but get £1000 off and pay £6k - or would you rather see an advertised price of £5500 and just pay that? And believe it or not, there are still people out there who would think the first one was a better deal because "I've had £1000 off!". DSK's comment - "plus, more off as I'm not paying sticker price." is an odd one. If the sticker price is fair, why wouldn't you pay it? Your statement basically says, "I will not, on principle, pay the sticker price even if the car is £100 cheaper than any other similar car (age / miles / condition) anywhere..... How determindly you stick to that I don't know - perhaps you are clever enough to know when a car is well priced, and then you would pay sticker price? However to simply say "I won't pay sticker price" means you are probably often going to pay too much for your cars...... How on earth do I make that out? Well here's a prime example.......

Mr (we'll call him Jones) is a regular customer of ours.... He wanted to buy a very very unusual car - he wanted a manual of a car that is almost always sold as an auto, so when one came up he came to see it.... the car was advertised at £7984 and was the ONLY manual in the whole country. It was £1000 cheaper than the equivalent auto because the manuals are way less popular. He wanted to pay £6000 for it. Given the largest discount we usually do is about £100 - £200, we weren't knocking £2000 off what was already a very well priced car. Much angry (on his part) "haggling" later he didn't buy the car..... Another came up later in the year and much the same happened - we priced the car fairly, he wanted silly money off it, and we didn't sell it to him. Then earlier this year another came up, The conversation went....

"It's a great car" we told him, "But it's a lot more than the others we've had" - in fairness it was newer - "it's £10995".

"I'll give you £9000 for it" he said

"Ok; and how would you like to pay the balance of £1995?" we said.

Anyhow.... after much haggling (I think a week of multiple phone calls) we sold him that car for £10,250.

Thing is, we would have priced it at £9995 on the forecourt, but because we knew he would want over £2k off - we started the price £1000 too high...... And remember - he missed out on one at £7984 (so about £2250 less) because he refused to pay a fair price purely because we wouldn't "Knock off" £2k

Similarly to DSK - if you only believe you've had a good deal when you've had lots of money off, you are probably buying cars that are over-age, overpriced to start with or in un-desirable colours or spec's. If I have a car in dog p00 brown missing every vital optional extra, that has sat on my forecourt for 90 days + and someone offers me money for it, I'm gonna have their arm off - however when they come to sell it again, they won't get much for it. If I have a lovely bit of stock, right colour, the nicest choice of extras, good mileage etc etc, I'm going to price it strongly and won't knock money off it - BUT it's a way better buy as a car!!

Discount does NOT equal good deal.

Paying the RIGHT price, for a really good clean, up together car in the colour YOU like with the extras YOU want is a good deal.

I am not saying don't haggle, I am saying understand that a car can be overpriced or well priced, and well priced means don't expect much if any discount.... still could be a good deal!

:)
 
Last edited:

LostKiwi

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Messages
31,328
Reaction score
21,575
Location
Midlands / Charente-Maritime
Your Mercedes
'93 500SL-32, '01 W210 Estate E240 (RIP), 02 R230 SL500, 04 Smart Roadster Coupe, 11 R350CDi
I think you guys need to try and see there is a difference between a decent warranty and an "aftermarket, for-profit" Warranty.

I work in a main UK franchised dealer (not Merc) and I include a 1 year warranty with EVERY car. So if I have to top up a car that has say 4 months manufacturers warranty on it, I can put a further 8 months on it to give the customer a year. On cars over 3 years old we put a 12 month on.

DSK, Had you asked me to do what you asked above I would have politely declined. That's not to say I wouldn't have had some sort of a deal with yourself, and I might have knocked a little bit off the car depending on what it was but I would not have sold you a car with less than 12 months warranty - it's company policy, and non-negotiable from my bosses.

A good warranty will help in the event of the unexpected failure of a mechanical or electrical component. They are NOT (as some people believe) there to replace anything and everything that needs doing to a car - even a brand new car warranty doesn't do that.

However there are companies out there who's warranties are purely a money making thing - these warranties will pay out less and cost more - in order to make a profit for the warranty company and the dealer. Our Warranty company makes a very small profit (and I do mean small) - all it really does is balance out (like any insurance) a large number of people paying in a small amount, vs a small number taking out a larger amount.

With the cost of replacing some of the major electronics on modern cars, I think a GOOD (and I stress GOOD) warranty is essential - perhaps someone can tell me what a new Airbag module would cost for a Merc these days, or an engine or gearbox (and yes, these things still do go wrong - rarely but they do).

I have personally looked after customers where their warranty has paid bills over £10,000

These warranties are not there to replace a bulb or do something minor - they are there to protect the customer in the case of a serious and very expensive unforeseeable failure, and when looked at in that context, a GOOD warranty is worth every penny.

I agree, a bad warranty is worthless.

On another point:-

The other thing that is changing these days guys is pricing. Part of my job is to check our prices at least once a day - please don't always assume all "advertised" prices are negotiable - the internet means prices have become very keen and aggressive over the last 2-3 years - I would say over 90% of the cars we sell are sold at the advertised screen price. We aren't alone - many many companies are moving towards this, so don't assume cos you can't get a "discount" the deal isn't so good - would you rather buy a £5k car advertised at £7k but get £1000 off and pay £6k - or would you rather see an advertised price of £5500 and just pay that? And believe it or not, there are still people out there who would think the first one was a better deal because "I've had £1000 off!". DSK's comment - "plus, more off as I'm not paying sticker price." is an odd one. If the sticker price is fair, why wouldn't you pay it? Your statement basically says, "I will not, on principle, pay the sticker price even if the car is £100 cheaper than any other similar car (age / miles / condition) anywhere..... How determindly you stick to that I don't know - perhaps you are clever enough to know when a car is well priced, and then you would pay sticker price? However to simply say "I won't pay sticker price" means you are probably often going to pay too much for your cars...... How on earth do I make that out? Well here's a prime example.......

Mr (we'll call him Jones) is a regular customer of ours.... He wanted to buy a very very unusual car - he wanted a manual of a car that is almost always sold as an auto, so when one came up he came to see it.... the car was advertised at £7984 and was the ONLY manual in the whole country. It was £1000 cheaper than the equivalent auto because the manuals are way less popular. He wanted to pay £6000 for it. Given the largest discount we usually do is about £100 - £200, we weren't knocking £2000 off what was already a very well priced car. Much angry (on his part) "haggling" later he didn't buy the car..... Another came up later in the year and much the same happened - we priced the car fairly, he wanted silly money off it, and we didn't sell it to him. Then earlier this year another came up, The conversation went....

"It's a great car" we told him, "But it's a lot more than the others we've had" - in fairness it was newer - "it's £10995".

"I'll give you £9000 for it" he said

"Ok; and how would you like to pay the balance of £1995?" we said.

Anyhow.... after much haggling (I think a week of multiple phone calls) we sold him that car for £10,250.

Thing is, we would have priced it at £9995 on the forecourt, but because we knew he would want over £2k off - we started the price £1000 too high...... And remember - he missed out on one at £7984 (so about £2250 less) because he refused to pay a fair price purely because we wouldn't "Knock off" £2k

Similarly to DSK - if you only believe you've had a good deal when you've had lots of money off, you are probably buying cars that are over-age, overpriced to start with or in un-desirable colours or spec's. If I have a car in dog p00 brown missing every vital optional extra, that has sat on my forecourt for 90 days + and someone offers me money for it, I'm gonna have their arm off - however when they come to sell it again, they won't get much for it. If I have a lovely bit of stock, right colour, the nicest choice of extras, good mileage etc etc, I'm going to price it strongly and won't knock money off it - BUT it's a way better buy as a car!!

Discount does NOT equal good deal.

Paying the RIGHT price, for a really good clean, up together car in the colour YOU like with the extras YOU want is a good deal.

I am not saying don't haggle, I am saying understand that a car can be overpriced or well priced, and well priced means don't expect much if any discount.... still could be a good deal!

:)
And there exactly is why people haggle for 4 figures off the sticker.
Mr Jones didn't know you'd inflated the price of the car because you knew he'd want £2k off. As a buyer we also don't know if the price has been inflated in the expectation of a discount being asked for.
By inflating the price then dropping it by a large amount you not only got the sale but also reinforced the behaviour.

If you don't ask you don't get.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: DSK

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
You DO know if the car's priced well....

Autotrader has a complete wealth of cars - certainly common cars like Fords, Audi's BMW's etc etc.... I agree it's harder with something super rare.

You know what other similar cars are priced at, you can look at similar years with higher and lower prices, you can look at a year older and younger with same sort of mileages and so on. Do some basic research, understand what a car is truly worth, and then look at what the dealer is asking for it - and then by all means haggle - but do so in a sensible and reasonable way - if a car is £100 cheaper than ANY other car in the country for same age / miles / condition (assuming that you are buying from a decent dealer and condition will be good on most of the cars you are looking at) do NOT expect to get £2000 off it "because I never pay sticker price" or "Because that is the kind of margin you guys make".


Just so you know - the average chassis profit on most used cars sold from main dealer groups in the UK is around £550 - yes many have a bit more than that, many have less, but that's the average. Dealers do NOT make the kind of profits most people think they do!!

Asking for £'000 off is just crazy in many cases. Now that's not to say if there are 300 fiestas on Autotrader at £5995 for an age and miles and a dealer is asking £7995 then you shouldn't ask for loads off - provided you are comparing like for like.... but don't do it if they are asking £5998..... a few hundred quid is more sensible.

And never forget, it's way better to get more "stuff" thrown in than to ask for money off.
 

DSK

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Messages
2,188
Reaction score
2,259
Your Mercedes
CLS 320 CDI, S350 Bluetec
I'll read and reply a little later and I appreciate its been some time but, as some examples below you can get money off;

2011 - Got a 2010 E350 CDI for my uncle from MB dealer. Haggled and paid what they paid for the, they even showed the screen and paperwork backing up the numbers. This resulted in £3,700 off the sticker price and 2 new rear tyres.

2017 - 2017 Porsche 911 C4S. Porsche dealers do not 'discount' on new so got extra servicing, warranty extension, interior tat thrown in. Again outright cash purchase for my uncle.

2017 - Got £2,300 ish off a 2016 Porsche Cayman for my little cousin from a used car dealership that had it in as p/ex. Keeping the warranty, arranging his next service at Porsche dealer, plus window tint. Again purchased outright.

2019 - 2013 Porsche Cayenne Turbo £2,900 off. Purchased from private seller for a family member.

2017 - My motorbike, I purchased privately, it was slight higher than the very top end of the price bracket. Upon viewing and test, I didn't haggle and paid the asking price as it was genuinely mint! Almost new tyres, not a mark on it, all original parts came with sale, all services backed up with stamped book & invoices for each as well as every consumable and modified part its had.

My Supra TT I paid the asking price for. It was an honest and realistic price to start, the car was genuinely strong and in perfect shape all around so no need to haggle. Purchased privately and the owner/seller kindly paid for a fresh MOT and service at his local Toyota dealer for me on the day of collection as well as reimburse my plane ticket as his own gesture for a trouble free sale to an enthusiast.

Car prices are inflated to push people into buying things they can't afford on tick. Myself and family buy outright. If the items is genuinely good, the price is sensible and honest, then yep, no problem.

Additionally, I spend a lot of time looking for myself and others and see the same cars not selling for 6months to 3 years! So I'm in no way going to be bossed around by a car dealer.
 

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
In many ways you are right if a car hasn't sold for 3 months with us, it's sell it now, for whatever realistically we can get for it, sometimes for less than we paid for it!! We'd never have a car in stock more than 4 months!

Used prices are not inflated to push people into buying on credit - used prices are dictated by "the market" which now is predominantly Autotrader dictated. Our average "days to sell" is 43 - because we price our cars based on it. There are dealers who are greedy, over-price their cars, and sit on them - yes you may well get a fair bit off these once they are overage, but that doesn't mean they are better deals.

Your Supra is my point really - if the car is correctly priced to start with, and in the right condition, buy it - it's still a "good deal".

And actually buying cash is likely to get you a worse deal not a better one..... That doesn't mean you should take credit if you don't need it - but dealers don't want cash, there is certainly no incentive to take it!! Legally you cannot charge a different price between cash and finance, but in reality, a deal we might not accept if it was cash we might take if it's on finance.
 

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
In fairness as well Porsche dealers have a LOT more margin than I am talking about - I am talking in terms of "normal" or "run of the mill" cars. If you got £2700 off a car (used not new) then it was £2000 overpriced to start!!

Obviously privately is a totally different matter. There it's about what the seller is prepared / willing to accept - it has no relation to market value. Most sellers would want close to the market value, but if they can't afford the payments or they are desperate to get out of the car they will take less - Privately I rarely pay more than CAP average / clean if it's totally immaculate. if a private seller is asking dealer money, I'd want £2500 off as a bare minimum!!
 

DSK

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Messages
2,188
Reaction score
2,259
Your Mercedes
CLS 320 CDI, S350 Bluetec
In my opinion, the reasons why people buy from a dealer is one of the following;

- they can get the facilities they require (purchase options/financing)
- easily get rid of their current vehicle knowing a buyer won't come knocking on their door (p/ex)
- they feel more secure buying from a dealer (basic checks/comeback etc)

I appreciate dealer tend to have a hard no quibble pricing policy to realistically avoid other dealers undercutting and getting all the sales etc.

Now lets take a very ordinary example, priced up from readily available autotrader;

CAR : 2015 Mercedes E350 CDI AMG line, 50,000 miles, condition 'good'.
P/EX VALUE : £10,610
PRIVATE SALE VALUE : £12,650
DEALER SALE VALUE : £14,720 - £15,700

I would be happy to pay around the private sale price of the vehicle above provided it doesn't need anything expensive and immediate such as tyres on the legal limit. Again, appreciating dealers need to make a profit, will have spent a couple of quid on a HPI check, valeting, a couple of tyres perhaps, I would reluctantly pay around the lower end of the dealer valuation above, knowing what they have probably paid to obtain it and usually what little they have done.

Sadly, this includes many franchised dealers I've been to, will price a car at full whack, with things like tyres near enough on the legal limit, chip in windscreen (not in drivers line of view etc so they pass an MOT), dirty filters, brake pads that are very low, coolant/brake fluid not be changed etc and expect to roll it out of the door rubbing their hands just like that. With all due respect, a paper warranty, spit and polish, HPI check is not worth an extra £4-6K. This is what I take offence to.

Sorry to sound blunt but, every dealer I have experienced, used or franchised, does not give 2 hoots after they've taken your money. I had to take BMW to court over an approved used, fully warranted 30,000mile M5 that was running a bit low on power. 8 months I spent with solicitors fighting the dealer before they lost and were ordered to fix it..... 8 months of stress, anguish, anger, time, money, driving a sh!t box 520d, being forced to accept a faulty good etc... Seriously who wants to spend good money to go through sh!t like that? (Yes there will be the very odd exception to the rule but, this is the general reality!).

You talk of big bills being covered and I appreciate there are some very rare cases I have read about, where a warranty company has forked out for a new engine etc (but it wasn't easy and straight forward or quick) but, you have to be realistic and appreciate very few will ever have a warranty work in their favour!
 

MBDevotee

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
Messages
2,242
Reaction score
623
Location
Bristol
Your Mercedes
Dreaming of a CL55k - one day maybe....
I actually agree with a lot of the above.

I work in the "Mainstream" market- we don't have £4000 across our cars (that would be nice!).

Don't forget that the dealer pays VAT on the difference between Buy price and sell price irrespective of money spent, so in your above example - they would have to pay £828 VAT if it sold at £14720. Assuming the one year warranty offered costs the dealer £350 then their prep costs were £350 (guess and different on every car, but that's a sensible figure. So the cost to the dealer is

Purchase - £ 10610
Refurb - £ 350
Warranty - £ 350
Full Valet - £ 30
VAT - £ 828

So in the above example the car owes the dealer £ 12168

Then there will be a "house charge" - this is to effectively "rent" it's forecourt space off the dealer - it's there for lights, heating, rates, rent, Salespersons basic salary (there is a commission on top as well), Fuel for test drives etc etc - I realise it's a paper charge as in it's not directly a cost as such, but the dealership needs to be open and run so it is valid - the dealer (if it's a big group) will have it set for them by head office - for us it's £425 but it will be different on every site.

Salesman will need to be paid. Average basic in the motor trade is £12k (We pay more) but they will need to be paid £35k per year - assuming they sell 230 cars a year, their commission needs to be 23k, so the average commission needs to be about £100 - £150 per car (so for our example lets say £125)

So add those two together and thats another £600

So our car now owes the dealer £12618 if it's sold for £14610 as we said so the profit is £1992.

Whether you think that's acceptable or not is up to you - but each dealer group will have a profit "target" per car - and a minimum profit for non-overage stock - so if their minimum profit per unit is £1000 then you could probably get that car a bit cheaper.....

As I say, I work in the mainstream, Our profits are around a third of the example above (although our costs aren't) - but we still make a profit and that's nothing to be ashamed of - We probably do sell more cars though in terms of volume although given how well Merc, BMW and the ilk are doing I am not ever sure that's the case these days!

As to cars unprepared on the forecourt - we work differently in that we prep the car BEFORE it goes on the forecourt - so things like tyres etc should all be done before they get on the front - but I accept sometimes in very rare cases something gets missed - but we'd always put that right before handover if spotted or shortly after if missed by the buyer. We have set limits we work to so for example

Tyres - min is 1.6mm so we have to have more than 3.2mm of tread on a tyre - less than that it's replaced
Brake Pads - more than 50% of life left - same with Discs
MOT - No advisories.
and so on and so forth......

I can list a load of cases where customers have had decent payouts under warranty - it's just they never say anything - it's only people who've had bad experiences that tend to come out and shout about it!

Overall, as I say, I don't disagree - there are some really bad dealers out there - if a car has a bald tyre or something on it out on the forecourt ask yourself what else have they missed? Has the car actually been prepped at all?
 

DSK

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 31, 2019
Messages
2,188
Reaction score
2,259
Your Mercedes
CLS 320 CDI, S350 Bluetec
MBDevotee - in your experience, for the benefit of others, what or whose used vehicle warranties would you say are good and which should be avoided? This could be of help to anyone looking for a warranty.

Just whilst having a random google a few days ago, I stumbled across the following whilst researching a Porsche 997 Turbo as a potential purchase. Now, just searched for it again. Basically sudden engine failure, some cover by Warranty Wise who without too much grief, paid up;

https://www.porscheclubgb.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1016704
 

AIB understand your special Mercedes deserves a special insurance policy. We have a refreshing attitude to insuring high performance, modified, imported or classic and vintage cars and deal with the UK’s leading insurers. We offer discounts for length of ownership, where the vehicle is kept overnight and limiting the mileage and can also cater for those clients who need higher mileage and business use. To obtain a quotation please call the team on 02380 268351 or visit us atAIB Insurance
Top Bottom