Hi everybody and RAC Warranties

[Shotoman]

Hi there, folks! New person here and a new Mercedes owner

Car is great but one question I have is with regards to setting up a good warranty.

The RAC appear to be offering the best plan, that does include wear and tear up to 60K miles or six year in age, so I am wondering if anybody has had any bad (or good) experiences with RAC's super-duper gold plan?

Thank you

 

[Blobcat]

I personally do not like aftermarket warranties. You are gambling with the warranty company and they are setting the odds. They are expecting to make money from you otherwise they would not be offering the warranty.
I have never come across an altruistic insurance company .
Do you have any warranty from the seller?
Your car will have been >£35,000 when new so you should not expect Ford servicing costs. However find yourself a good independant garage for services and repairs and you may well find that works out cheaper in the long run than the warranty.
On another thread my servicing are repair costs worked out ~£1,100 cheaper over 3 years and 88,000 miles compared to the Mercedes Service Plus package.

 

[Shotoman]

Warranty

Hi Bobcat. I know what you mean as I have been stung in the past with dodgy warranties.

The RAC warranty does appear better in that they offer wear and tear claims up to 60K miles or 6 years in age, hence I am thinking of having my car appraised at a Mercedes garage and anything that is looking suspicious, get it replaced under the warranty.

I just need to confirm what they discount under "wear and tear..." The warranty is about £550 for a year but then I would downgrade it as the wear and tear won't be applicable with my car by January of 4000 mils time, hence any work needed would have to be "worth it" in terms of total costs.

Very curious.

 

[jberks]

Have a word with your dealer. I bought an extended warranty with mine and the cost wasn't much different to what you've quoted. It doesn't kick in until the MB warranty expires in 18 months time but the benefit of getting it ahead of time is that there is no examination fee (plus you lose the cost in the HP!). I actually wanted to extend the MB warranty but the dealer said they don't do this anymore, but after reading all the small print I have to say that the cover I have is equally comprehensive. It simply states they cover absolutely everything except a small list of wear and tear items like brake disks, tyres, exhaust (cat is covered) etc. Also, as it was bought from the dealer, if there is an issue, it's their problem!

Most after market warranties specifically list what they do cover (not what they don't) and I guarantee that whatever goes, won't be listed. Been there twice to the tune of over £800 of repairs. Its always daft things like dash clusters or plug leads that you hadn't even considered.

The good warranties tend to require an inspection first and the dealer quoted me £200 for the privelige last time. (hence why I bought an after market one last time). If you take out cover whilst its still under manufacturer's warranty, it avoids the possibility of you trying to cover a known fault so no inspection is required.

If its just the wear and tear issue, then Warranty Direct as far as I know are the only one that do cover this as standard on all their warranties, though as you say, some RAC warranties may also do this, but both only cover listed items which is always the catch.

 

[davebox]

So the MB warranty covers more items then? I'll be contacting them soon to find out if they will extend my warranty or if they have a different warranty to replace the MB one from new. I have not owned the car from new and with other manufacturers they do not extend warranties unless you have owned the car from new. Yet another thing on my list of things to do. LOL

 

[Eposman]

Hi there, folks! New person here and a new Mercedes owner

Car is great but one question I have is with regards to setting up a good warranty.

The RAC appear to be offering the best plan, that does include wear and tear up to 60K miles or six year in age, so I am wondering if anybody has had any bad (or good) experiences with RAC's super-duper gold plan?

Thank you

I was interested to get a quote for car warranty from RAC. Do you know the URL of the RAC website that related to warranty. Ive scanned www.rac.co.uk but couldnt see anything.

 

[Blobcat]

Try this http://www.rac.co.uk/business/warranties/

 

[jberks]

So the MB warranty covers more items then? I'll be contacting them soon to find out if they will extend my warranty or if they have a different warranty to replace the MB one from new. I have not owned the car from new and with other manufacturers they do not extend warranties unless you have owned the car from new. Yet another thing on my list of things to do. LOL

That was my experience. However, when I bought my C220 in '98 I extended the signature warranty by 2 years to take it back to 3. This covered everything aside from the normal wear and tear items and I had the water pump, various seals, a key and the wiper mechanism all replaced without a murmur over those 3 years.

I then bought the E240 which had 2 years MB warranty remaining. It expired and I popped in to get a quote to extend it. As it had already expired, I would have to pay £200 for an inspection, pay for anything they find, then another £600, so I bought a warranty direct gold policy instead. The only things that went were plug leads and the dash cluster and neither were covered so £300 wasted.

So not to be bitten again, when I bought this one (again with 2 years MB remaining) I requested an extended warranty to take it back to 3 years like a new one. It was around £600 but no inspection required for obvious reasons. When I got the policy doc, I was angered to see that it was an insurance policy arranged by the dealer and not through MB but when I took it in and they showed me the small print, all it says is "everything except..." and "must be maintained in accordance ..." . I also confirmed taht they would deal with any claim and I would not be expected to lay anything out, so its basically the same as what I have now. They told me that MB don't do them any more (which I find odd) but as I have no complaints with this one I'm happy enough.

 

[Blobcat]

I then bought the E240 which had 2 years MB warranty remaining. It expired and I popped in to get a quote to extend it. As it had already expired, I would have to pay £200 for an inspection, pay for anything they find, then another £600, so I bought a warranty direct gold policy instead. The only things that went were plug leads and the dash cluster and neither were covered so £300 wasted.

What was their excuse as to why the instrument cluster was not covered - wear & tear - you started the engine and drove the car making the needles move and the lights come on, so wearing it out .
This is the precise reason I dislike aftermarket warranties, the MB one in my experience was comprehensive and I even had my AC repaired out of warranty by MB.

 

[jberks]

What was their excuse as to why the instrument cluster was not covered - wear & tear - you started the engine and drove the car making the needles move and the lights come on, so wearing it out .

They don't need an excuse - if its not on the list its not covered, and who would have thought to look for 'instrument cluster'. I did check the obvious stuff like wiper motor and ECU but hadn't considered plug leads and clusters. They even list the items within the gearbox so I guarantee whatever goes, it won't be one of them. Thats why I like the "everything except" version that I have now.

 

[Scissorwoman]

I got an 5* RAC warranty free when I bought my SLK and thought I would be fully protected......guess what.....I wasn't. The warranty didn't provide cover for anything that could be construed as wear and tear. This I found out when my car started pulling violently to the left and it turned out my steering was shot and I needed some bush things replacing and an Idler arm (not got a clue what one of those is..!). Cost me £525.00......the warranty only paid for labour upto £36.00 an hour and the claim limit was £500.00 per claim. Make of that what you will but be very very careful before parting with your hard(ly) earned cash.....!!!!