Ok, so my 4 year old C250CDI Estate (W204) at 32,000 miles is coming to the end of the approved used warranty. Merc have quoted £549 with £100 excess for Tier 1 warranty for a year. £445 with £25@ excess. Worth it or not? I am currently leaning to not worth it. Interested hearing people’s opinions.
Tier 1 Warranty worth it or not?
- Thread starter pembssurf
- Start date
Not worth it, IMHO. Assuming your car has been OK for the last 12 months it's old enough to have flushed out any manufacturing defects but not so old (or leggy) that mechanical wear & tear should be significant yet.
Tier 1 definitely gives peace of mind when you first buy a used car, but I've never renewed it. You should know by then whether it's a lemon or not!
Tier 1 definitely gives peace of mind when you first buy a used car, but I've never renewed it. You should know by then whether it's a lemon or not!
Yea was thinking exactly the same to be fair, it’s been spot on apart from a failed Thermostat that was covered under warranty!
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- 2008 CLK 350 Sport Cab and 2021 BMW 520i M Sport Saloon
I had it for first year on my MB approved CLK. But never renewed it. I appreciated the peace of mind for first 12 months of ownership. I now self warranty it (ie always make sure I have sufficient available for any big bills).
DaveTheDrummer
Member
Mine is also up for renewal shortly.
It's about £679 for Tier 1 for the CLS and honestly I think it's probably worth it for the peace of mind alone.
Having had years of >£2k per year bills on the old car I have no intention of forking out those sums again.
So for the price and the support it affords, and that the difference between the tiers with or without excess is pretty small, I'm very likely to take it up.
It's about £679 for Tier 1 for the CLS and honestly I think it's probably worth it for the peace of mind alone.
Having had years of >£2k per year bills on the old car I have no intention of forking out those sums again.
So for the price and the support it affords, and that the difference between the tiers with or without excess is pretty small, I'm very likely to take it up.
Personally I would renew it, that price seems quite reasonable to me and you don’t need much to go wrong before that amount is swallowed up.
Robin
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Robin
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It's a gamble of course, but the W204 isn't hugely complex (compared to other Mercs) and I wouldn't really be expecting stuff to fail on one at 4 yrs / 32k miles.
Gbrowncls55
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- CLS500 4.7TT 2012,, SL350 09, 996 cab, all current. Gone :CLS 55 E500 W211, 2x M5s and too many 911s
On my previous E500 I had tier 1 for about 6 years up to 100,000k Approx £1k per year so overall about £6000. I think I may have had £1000 of work done over that time for two reasons. Firstly you would be amazed how many things are NOT covered even on Tier1 and secondly every job is subject to the excess. So I had 3 keyless go door handles go over time about £250 fitted but a £100 excess each time. So I would say no and I don't have it on the CLS55. Like all insurance it depends how much you are willing to pay for some (not full) peace of mind.
I think if it was closer to £300 and £100 excess that would be my biting point £549 is a couple of hundred to much. I know you can never predict the future but thus far the car has never missed a beat so I am more willing to risk it. Just did some more research using that car reliability index. W204 has above average reliability and below average repair cost. Think the average repair worked out at £360, that’s taken from a 3 year period. I love stats! All in all the W204 seems a pretty bullet proof motor on the whole, just worked out in 5 years of W204 ownership of both petrol and diesel versions my only issue was the coolant thermostat on the current one a few months ago. Il take that any day of the week!
We had Tier 1 on our S203 C Class after buying it as an Approved Used. In the first year we had a door mirror with an intermittent error that was replaced under warranty, but nothing else that would have been covered has come up since. Car is nearly 11 years old / 90k miles now.
D
Deletedmember130310
Guest
Stick the £550 in a savings account.
ptruman
Active Member
On my Jag, it was worth having and saved me £2K (I still had to pay £2K, but still...)
This E350 I have, was the thick end of £800 for Tier 1 (12 months ago on a 2010 car) with a £250 excess - however I've just had the renewal letter and it's now £549.
As mentioned above, you'd know if you have a lemon, and my excess covered a few sins:
1) Loose turbo hose (whooshing under power, but no loss of power) - a trip to the indie (free)
2) Oil leak x 1 - suspected oil cooler - actually another loose hose (about £50)
3) Oil leak x 2 - again, suspected oil cooler - actually the OTHER end of the same sodding hose (another £50)
4) Engine warning light - MAF sensor - new airbox (MAF contained within) - £400, but I paid the excess on that and let Merc do it
5) Glow plug light - failed relay - £150 + VAT - and I paid direct (had that on my 70K CLS too)
Other than that, it's all wear and tear - my car was 50K miles when I had it, and I've done pads/discs/sensors, engine services and an ATF service since I had it.
I shall probably get the warranty this year, and if it goes down again, maybe the following year - but after that I think it's probably just "whatever comes"
(esp if I find the unicorn Brabus box...)
This E350 I have, was the thick end of £800 for Tier 1 (12 months ago on a 2010 car) with a £250 excess - however I've just had the renewal letter and it's now £549.
As mentioned above, you'd know if you have a lemon, and my excess covered a few sins:
1) Loose turbo hose (whooshing under power, but no loss of power) - a trip to the indie (free)
2) Oil leak x 1 - suspected oil cooler - actually another loose hose (about £50)
3) Oil leak x 2 - again, suspected oil cooler - actually the OTHER end of the same sodding hose (another £50)
4) Engine warning light - MAF sensor - new airbox (MAF contained within) - £400, but I paid the excess on that and let Merc do it
5) Glow plug light - failed relay - £150 + VAT - and I paid direct (had that on my 70K CLS too)
Other than that, it's all wear and tear - my car was 50K miles when I had it, and I've done pads/discs/sensors, engine services and an ATF service since I had it.
I shall probably get the warranty this year, and if it goes down again, maybe the following year - but after that I think it's probably just "whatever comes"
(esp if I find the unicorn Brabus box...)
DaveTheDrummer
Member
I did the thing and took out Tier 1 with no excess.
The price saving wasn't worth the cost of the excess.
The price saving wasn't worth the cost of the excess.
ptruman
Active Member
I found a Brabus box, which is due shortly, but I won't get to fit it for a week... :/
Just ended up taking out despite being 2 weeks over the renewal deadline and the website quote giving £840 premium for tier 1. Called them up to see if they could do it for the original price of £540 and they could so went for it. Was having too many sleepless nights with it being the only car in the household the risk of it being off the road for any period of time is more than our jobs are worth
Gbrowncls55
MB Enthusiast
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- CLS500 4.7TT 2012,, SL350 09, 996 cab, all current. Gone :CLS 55 E500 W211, 2x M5s and too many 911s
I had tier 1 on my w211 E500 for 5 years after the used car warranty finished. It was about £1000 pa (big V8) and over the 5 years I suppose I had about £1500 of work paid for (a lot of things get excluded by any sign of "Corrosion"). so overall a poor deal in my case but its hard to complain about a car NOT breaking down and I did sleep well!. The current CLS55 has no warranty and so far (18months) so good and anyway the quote was £2.7k plus as I don't really think they want these older AMGs. I've spent about £1600 so far in the 18 months (air strut and keyless go door handles) so even at the E500 quote I am better off once you take into account the excess on each repair.
Clearly on average it will be cheaper without the warranty as the insurance company has to make a profit too. The question is will your car be above or below average repairs. I am not against warranties and indeed in spite of my E500 experience I would robably have taken out the warranty on the CLS55 had it been the same quote as the E. But so far it has not stopped me sleeping.....
Clearly on average it will be cheaper without the warranty as the insurance company has to make a profit too. The question is will your car be above or below average repairs. I am not against warranties and indeed in spite of my E500 experience I would robably have taken out the warranty on the CLS55 had it been the same quote as the E. But so far it has not stopped me sleeping.....
Yea fair one. Our problem is we have slightly over spent this year already with a few unforeseen bills and a new patio. It would only take 1 big car bill for a few K in the next 12 months to put us in trouble. If we were still a 2 car family I definitely wouldn’t bother. Also Iv had some pretty weird grumblings from the power steering lately so it may be called into action at some point but seems to be working ok for now.
I bought the extended warranty on my S204 and it paid for itself every year, but I guess it just depends on whether you feel lucky or not. Personally I think it's a fair price to pay for peace of mind. The last job that was needed was replacement of the GPS antenna on the roof. They had to take all the headlining down and it took them most part of a day so I reckon I was quids in.
It’s a bit of a lottery where you win or lose depending on using the warranty.
Once my car is out of warranty then I would probably take out the warranty for peace of mind.
I guess it would be around £1000 for an E350 which will not break the bank but repairs on these cars can be very high you don’t need much done to eat through a grand.
It maybe once out of warranty I may use a specialist repairer for the car where the labour rates would be a bit less but the genuine parts are still costly.
Robin
Once my car is out of warranty then I would probably take out the warranty for peace of mind.
I guess it would be around £1000 for an E350 which will not break the bank but repairs on these cars can be very high you don’t need much done to eat through a grand.
It maybe once out of warranty I may use a specialist repairer for the car where the labour rates would be a bit less but the genuine parts are still costly.
Robin
Rich H
Active Member
It's just another type of insurance.
Most people will lose because the warranty company is in it to make money.
It depends upon how unlucky you feel and how much money you have in savings.
I don't bother
Most people will lose because the warranty company is in it to make money.
It depends upon how unlucky you feel and how much money you have in savings.
I don't bother
