To warrant or not to warrant (or to sell) my C63

[Iggu]

There is a very similar thread to this on Pistonheads but it is years old now and I want some up to date views. My 2 year extended AMG warranty is up in Jan 2019 so I'm looking at my options this year. My Dec 2013 w204 C63 Saloon is on 23,000 miles and is virtually mint - never let me down or put a foot wrong and all services are up to date and have been done by MB as part of a 2 year service pack I bought (which has one more A service left on it).

There is no reason to suspect anything will go wrong but with these cars that uncertainty could be very expensive if something happens out of warranty so I'm weighing up my options.

1. Sell now while the car has 9 months warranty left on it - trade prices are rubbish though based on the other thread and selling privately appears to be a non-starter.

2. Keep it and buy another year's warranty from Jan 19 to Jan 20 (or even 2 years?) then sell it. I like the car and am not desperate to shift it on yet but £1k for a year's warranty is quite probably a waste of cash and I'm unsure how much cover you actually get anyway or what is covered (if the engine explodes I'm sure that is covered but to what extent would they dodge a lot of other stuff as 'wear and tear'?).

3. Keep it and run it without warranty. These cars seem pretty bullet-proof (both my MB dealer and my local indie say they never have them in for any repair work and experienced owners on this and other forums seem to back this up) but if something did go wrong ....gulp. How much does this worry owners on here?

Any general views on long term ownership of these cars, whether warranties are worth it, optimum times to sell these cars at the bottom of the depreciation curve? What are the plans of other C63 owners' who are in my position? Keep or sell soon? I'd love to hear. The other complication is that there are very few cars out there which are grabbing my attention - I can't remember a time in my life when my car wish-list was shorter.

Thanks in advance for any views.

 

[Deletedmember130310]

A warranty is insurance - do you feel more comfortable with fully comp (expensive) or TPF&F (cheaper)

my view, and I'm not an AMG owner, would to be extend the warranty and build it in to the price when you come to sell.

I wouldn't buy a AMG model without a warranty. Might be worth checking the warranty is transferable to any new owners thought - BMW were a bit awkward when I sold my bike last year but I showed them the error of their ways and transferred the wrty to the new owner

 

[st13phil]

Your decision wrt warranty will be informed by your attitude to risk and what funds you (could) have available if you needed to call on them. No one else can make that decision for you, but I will make the observation that baling out of cars like C63's or E63's after short periods of ownership is a very expensive thing to do due to the relatively high gross margins that these cars trade at.

How many miles a year do you do? So far the car has averaged under 6k miles a year which isn't much, frankly. I think everyone except the very wealthy harbour a fear about an astronomical repair bill for an AMG car, but the reality is that insurers offering warranty cover will, on average, make money out of the transaction so that gives an indication of the relative risk. If they're willing to cover your car for £1k for a year, they're pretty certain that it won't cost them anything like that amount in claims.

If you don't have a particular need or desire to sell and you still enjoy driving the car, then keeping it with or without a warranty is almost certainly the cheapest option.

 

[abar121]

Forget the warranty given how reliable these cars are and the low mileage. I've run my 2012 C63 without for three years now, no issue.

 

[Skd884]

If you enjoy the car keep it, I have never had a extended warranty and had 0 problems.

 

[adz87kc]

I'm in the same situation. Same mileage, same age, same car and I've not had a problem either.

If the warranty is less than £100 PCM and you won't miss the money then maybe it's worth the cash even only for selling it on at some point should you find a motor you fancy.

Alternative is having a slush fund for repairs should they occur but, in my view, you'll be fine short of running the thing dry of oil or other negligence.

 

[rOckyAMG]

I've run mine without warranty and it's bulletproof in my view especially the facelift cars. Although I just sold it now as I wanted a suv.

 

[Jame5]

I’ve got a much older c63. Pre-facelift. I’ve had a few things go wrong with my car over the last few years. However Mercedeses have been very good and carried out some of the work on goodwill. My total spend on my car to date is still little more than tyres, fuel, servicing and suspension bushes. Car is currently on 85k Miles.

I would absolutely not hisitate running a newer c63 without a warranty. However, selling it maybe easier with balance of warranty remaining. You could always try selling it for a higher price, if no takers then keep?

 

[Iggu]

Thanks for the replies. I work with hedge transactions every day and insurance is just another kind of financial hedge but I agree with the posters who suggest it is probably an unnecessary one on these cars. I think I'm going to put it up for sale in the sunny early summer and see if I can get a price which I'd be happy with. If it doesn't sell I'll keep it without a warranty until the depreciation has bottomed out a bit more. Thanks for sharing opinions.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

How much would you accept today if someone made a serious offer? I'm not by the way

 

[Iggu]

How much would you accept today if someone made a serious offer? I'm not by the way

Haha understood.
About 29k today.

 

[markjay]

Your decision wrt warranty will be informed by your attitude to risk and what funds you (could) have available if you needed to call on them. No one else can make that decision for you, but I will make the observation that baling out of cars like C63's or E63's after short periods of ownership is a very expensive thing to do due to the relatively high gross margins that these cars trade at.

How many miles a year do you do? So far the car has averaged under 6k miles a year which isn't much, frankly. I think everyone except the very wealthy harbour a fear about an astronomical repair bill for an AMG car, but the reality is that insurers offering warranty cover will, on average, make money out of the transaction so that gives an indication of the relative risk. If they're willing to cover your car for £1k for a year, they're pretty certain that it won't cost them anything like that amount in claims.

If you don't have a particular need or desire to sell and you still enjoy driving the car, then keeping it with or without a warranty is almost certainly the cheapest option.

Your 2013 car will still be worth quite a bit, but on a general note - as st13phil says, warranty is insurance.

And when it comes to mechanical insurance, the limit of your liability in a worst-case scenario is the trade-in value of the car at that point of time (on the premise that if the repair cost exceeds the value of the car you'll just flog it on eBay as 'spares or repair').

So the four variable in this equation are:

The cost of the premium

Your exposure (limit of liability)

The perceived risk (your estimate of the car's reliability)

Your personality (How risk-averse you are)

Hope this helps....