Extended warranty - buy or avoid?

[ItalianTuneUp]

After getting an S320CDI last year and replacing all the obvious bits that needed replacing, the car is now in tip top condition, at least as far as I am aware.

Parts for this car are expensive, and I was wondering whether taking out an extended warranty would be a good idea or not.

A couple of months ago I was looking at two warranties from Warranty Direct.

The first warranty (and the cheapest one) was about £300-£400, but in the event of a claim, the driver had to pay about 50% of parts and labour, IIRC.

The second warranty was a comprehensive policy which supposedly pays everything (parts and labour) but cost about £900 per annum.

What do people here think - buy or avoid a warranty like this?
Any experiences of these warranties & especially trying to claim would be appreciated. Thanks a lot.

 

[Troon]

Warranty companies make a profit. Therefore, you're effectively fixing your repair expenditure at somewhere above the average level for your car, versus risking it being somewhere between zero and insane.

Whether this is good value or not, only you can tell based on your risk aversion, savings and priorities.

I had a 6-month warranty when I bought my car from an independent MB sales specialist, which was peace of mind against potential failings of an unknown car. Now I've had the car 2½ years and have done much of its servicing myself, the warranty-able repairs have been way below what a warranty would have cost.

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

There have been several threads on this subject. Some say get one ( depends on car) some say put the premium in the bank just in case. I am with the former. I renew my tier 1 warranty every year. Last year was a tad under 1k if I remember. In the first two years the cost of replacement parts far exceeded the cost of the premium.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using MBClub UK

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

Thanks for the replies so far.

I know that knowing if a warranty makes financial sense or not is almost impossible, but the cost of parts and labour is high, and for an older S-class the probability of needing to replace parts seems quite high. However, having already replaced some parts, these are now unlikely to need replacing again now so... but there are surely lots of other components that could fail instead...

Hmmm, perhaps I need to hear more views from people here before deciding, but so far I'm leaning towards considering getting one.

Btw, was having a read of this thread:
http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/general-discussion/142350-should-i-buy-warranty-not.html

Some good points made.

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

Also, one thing that having the warranty would provide is peace of mind, knowing that if something pricey goes wrong, you're covered...unless the warranty company can find a way of avoiding paying out.

 

[RWDpetrol]

I would buy.

A thought - would MB dealers behave differently knowing you have a warranty? Would they recommend replacing parts that are not quite in need of replacing because they know they will get paid, in which case another benefit?

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

Good point, MB dealership would probably replace loads of bits, like they recommend when you take it in...visual inspection points out loads of bits you didn't even know needed replacing.

Then again, I can imagine warranty companies also have controls in place to limit payouts from their end.

Any real life experiences from people here with having work done under an extended warranty? Did they try to limit the scope of the repairs, or were they pretty hands-off, letting the workshop get on with replacing any parts they deemed necessary?

I'm most interested in hearing experiences of people using Warranty Direct, as they seem the best out there, and I will probably use them if I decide on a warranty. I think Honest John recommends them, iirc.

 

[benzwink]

I have been quite pleased with Warranty Direct for the past few years. Worth it for peace of mind on a modest £25pm. Past claims have been dealt with quite promptly - choice of either using your own garage or one of their approved chaps. For the former, cough up first then reclaim.

As with such cover, there are exclusions...after all WD is a business and not a charity. Thus, for instance software issues are not covered - e.g. sbc reset - this was sorted out by Olly of PCS - the chappie with a multi-star rating on this site and with a host of fans in tow.

 

[wywywywy]

I'm in a very similar situation with OP.

Parts and labour on the S-Class are very expensive and I've been reading a lot of horror stories online and am getting a bit worried, so I've also started looking at extended warranties.

Warranty Direct is around £750
Click4Warranty is between £350-500 depending on coverage

Warranty Direct seems to be much more comprehensive and also has a better reputation.

However, neither of them seem to cover the air suspension? It is probably the most high risk item on an S Class...

 

[ItalianTuneUp]

I'm in a very similar situation with OP.

Parts and labour on the S-Class are very expensive and I've been reading a lot of horror stories online and am getting a bit worried, so I've also started looking at extended warranties.

Warranty Direct is around £750
Click4Warranty is between £350-500 depending on coverage

Warranty Direct seems to be much more comprehensive and also has a better reputation.

However, neither of them seem to cover the air suspension? It is probably the most high risk item on an S Class...

WD warranty doesn't cover airmatic suspension? Is that on their 50% payout policy, or their full price policy?

How many miles has your S-class done?

I'd be interested in what you decide to go for regarding warranty, as it's something on my todo list.

 

[ARTiSAN]

I've had extended warranty on a few cars ... some with the manufacturer but more recently with Warranty Direct for over 3 years. I spent a lot of time (lots!!!) looking at the various options beforehand.

My BMW M3 CSL was covered under an extended manufacturers warranty which was administered by Mondial (same as MB). This wasn't cheap as it covered just about everything and had a £0 excess. When things needed doing it was very easy as the dealer just obtained the ok from Mondial direct. I def had my money's worth with replacement rear springs, rear view mirror (!!!!) and rear trailing arm bushes plus peace of mind. The BMW warranty was great as you could pay monthly too.

For the next car, a Mini Cooper S, the quote from BMW was around £600 however I negotiated a deal with WD for £315 with a £50 excess. This covered the vast majority of things and again paid for itself over the three years I had the car.

For the latest car, an 08 C320 I contacted Mondial however as the car didn't have an up to date MB service history the premium was much higher and there wasn't a monthly payment option. However after some negotiation WD offered me a 16 month Luxury Care policy with a £50 excess for less than £800. It sounds a lot but it's very comprehensive cover and this is my first MB so it's unknown territory to me.

Modern cars are so complicated and labour rates are ridiculously expensive so any repairs quickly mount up. Plus it's hard to put a price on peace of mind.

Just to finish, a good friend of mine took out a warranty from a dealer on a used low mileage Maserati Gran Tourismo. The warranty was very expensive and didn't cover half the items covered on my WD policy. He cancelled the dealer warranty during the cooling off period and took out a policy with WD for around £1400 - have you seen the price of Maserati parts !!!!!!!