Extended Warranty

[machasm]

Hi All,
Just had a quote from Tony Purslows for an extended warranty on my CLK55.
Quote came in at £719 + £270 for the multipoint check.
This includes 1 year Tier 1 warranty which seems pretty comprehensive.
Although the premium is rather high. What would you guys do?
1). Take a chance and not take any warranty and hope that if something were to go wrong it would not exceed a single years premium?
2). Take out the warranty
3). Shop elsewhere for a cheaper warranty.

My concern with a 3rd party warranty is that unless you read all the small print when it comes to a claim you normally end up getting screwed one way or another.
I would rather use MB approved workshops for any remedial work if possible.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated.

oops. forgot to mention car has 42K on the clock and is a year 200 model.

Mac.

 

[Vips]

Ok, the way I see it is you are looking to spend 1000.00 if you go for the warranty. IMHO this is alot of money for 1 yr.

Ask your self, how many technical issues you have had with the car that needed rectifying by MB, either under warranty or outside it in any 1 year?

If it has been several times a year and more than 1000.00 than I would say its worth taking out the cover. But do shop around first.

Oh and stay well away from the 3rd party warranties.

 

[bobmedley]

Go for it - it seems a bit of a bargain for an AMG car and will not incur the inspection cost if renewed next year. My attitude (and remembering recent threads of blown gearboxes, turbo's etc just out of warranty and hoping for goodwill from MB) is that it's an insurance policy for the ECU, engine and gearbox all of which would cost thousands to replace/repair if something goes wrong.

My SL500 is just coming out of warranty & I have an agreed cost of £500 with the supplying dealer for another year of Tier 1 which I think is very reasonable.

At the same time, I received a letter from the RAC offering a year's warranty for £469 and claimed it was the same as the old 'Signature' policies they used to run for MB before they fell out. Deep in the small print was the expression 'our approved repairers' - obviously not a MB dealer then, so a no-no for me.

It also had the old red herring of 'wear and tear is excluded' - at least MB say that anything over 100k will not be covered for wear & tear, whereas with no such limit from the RAC (and all other 3rd Part Warranty Co's) no doubt they will say every expensive repair is due to 'wear & tear' no matter what the mileage is.

 

[Flash]

I personally would not bother with the warranty extension

If the car was problematic during the standard 3 year warranty then I would just off load it and sell it after the warranty expires.

 

[BTB 500]

Tough call. The Tier 1 warranty is excellent (had it on my R129), but a grand is a lot of money if the car is in good condition and running well (presumably the warranty wouldn't be approved otherwise!).

 

[jeremytaylor]

It's a gamble pure and simple.

 

[kensalriser]

I take the attitude that no discretionary insurance is worth it for the consumer (with one or two exceptions for very high cost risks like your house or medical cover in the US).

In your position I would pay an independent specialist to inpect the car - which should not be more than £200 at most - and if you get a good report the balance of odds is in your favour if you don't get the warranty.

 

[GrahamC230K]

What about the Service contract option that I think C43AMG (Peter) was talking about? I think that costs fractioanlly more and gives more benefit.

 

[Will]

I'd be tempted to:

-Make sure the car is in good order before the present warranty expires
-As long as it's been a reliable car, invest the £1000 into a savings account
-Keep the cash in case of any problems - relistically you are unlikely to need to use the warranty for £1000 of repairs.

Ok - some people like the 'peace of mind' of a warranty, but it's important to remember that most warranties are designed to make profit for the issuer, not to save the policyholder money

Gamble?

Will

 

[glojo]

I go along with GrahamC230K. Does your car qualify for this warranty as it also includes the servicing costs.

Is your car still under the mobilio blanket (I'm thinking here of the breakdown cover) which is at least some security.

A warranty is an insurance which buys you peace of mind and at the same time makes the issuing company an acceptable profit.

I would personally try to persue C43AMG's service contract thread.

Good luck with the decision,
John

 

[DieselE]

Have a look at Service Plus on Mercedes UK website. It covers everything except glass and tyres and includes servicing.

As you said yours was a 200 model, the missing last digit hides whether is five years old, brand new or just coming to the end of the three year warranty period. My guess is the latter, in which case Service Plus is well worth a look. Of course, I would say that as I've signed on the dotted line and my car is only 18 months old.

 

[SilverSaloon]

well my warrnaty extension for the beemer was £1800 + £250 excess everytime i claim.

NO THANKS.,

i thought that i would keep thre £2k and then use it for the repairs over the year....

but a week after the warranty ended, cruise went bag and its a £2.5k repair.... see other thread.

the risks depend on the car, buts a gamble.

but i would still put the money in the bank rather than extending the warranty because at the end of the day, the cruise going wrong was simple bad luck.

maybe there is software to call up faults randomly after 3 years.....

 

[machasm]

Thanks for the replies guys.
I made a typo at the beginning of the thread and meant to say that it was a year 2000 car.
I had already inquired about service plus but was told that a full year was needed left to run. My car will be six years old in Oct 2006.
I haven't had any thing wrong with it but I only aquired it in Oct 2005.
I was just beginning to get a bit nervous due to its age and being and AMG if something does go wrong no doubt it will cost over double what a non-AMG would cost.
Still, I think I will just save the money and hope for the best.
If I were to take out the warranty then I am sure that MB would find 'something wrong' in the multipoint check so that they could sting me for a few bob more up front.
I had it thoroughly checked over before I purchased and it got a clean bill of health then.
Thanks again everyone.
Mac.

 

[l5foye]

I had the same issue to address when the ML came out of warranty. After much research, I ended up with Warranty Direct gold level at £370 for 13 months- limit per claim is £5000 ,excess is £25 on parts only. labour at main dealers is paid in full. I found the policy to be quite extensive.
My senior MB technician friend had a look at it and gave it the thumbs up. He said that 1 injector for a ML is £300 ,ergo 1 claim could equal premium.
At the end of the day, you are insuring against something happening, rather than if it happens - if you follow my drift.

 

[machasm]

I had the same issue to address when the ML came out of warranty. After much research, I ended up with Warranty Direct gold level at £370 for 13 months- limit per claim is £5000 ,excess is £25 on parts only. labour at main dealers is paid in full. I found the policy to be quite extensive.
My senior MB technician friend had a look at it and gave it the thumbs up. He said that 1 injector for a ML is £300 ,ergo 1 claim could equal premium.
At the end of the day, you are insuring against something happening, rather than if it happens - if you follow my drift.

Already tried warranty direct. Engine size too big they said.
Thanks anyway.
Mac.

 

[666bxg]

My car too will be out of MB warranty by July. At present its at the dealers getting a new gearbox fitted! PHEW......

Dealer in Belfast offered their 'own' warranty for £400 per year, claims to be 'same as MB extended warranty'. Haven't had a look at the fine print yet though.

What do you guys feel about this? Warranty direct if offering around 300....

thx

BTW car is CLK240 cab