W212 - extend warranty?

[derektrotter]

Hi All

Was just wondering if anyone had any experiences with Listers used car extended warranties, its administered by car care plan ltd who seem to have ok reviews.

What puts me off is it states all services have to be carried out at MB franchised dealers as manafacture recommends, I know sometimes you can end up with big bills at some services so was only going to do basic servicing (oil/filter) at MB then get an indy to do any additonal work if lots of extras are needed.

Not sure this is possible if I go for the warranty as MB will probably not tick the box "service in accordance with Daimler AG spec" for a basic service if they feel it needs more work, this may be an issue if I need to claim under extended warranty..

Car is a 2011 W212, was not originally considering a warranty however it has stop/start which seems like complex tech, e.g. the transmission has a pump that keeps running when car is stopped, sounds like something that will eventually go wrong knowing my luck! plan to keep car for 5 years or so, currently have the 1 year MB warranty as part of approved used.

Warranty cost is pretty reasonable for a 4 year term, but adding the cost of 3-4 full MB services which will be required as a pre-req may not be worth it, can also go for service plan makes the cost £444 per service which again is on the pricey side, ATF has already been done so will not need doing again for 75k miles which I will not do, not sure what other major pieces would be needed, I'm guessing just cycle between A/B services.

I guess an alternative would be another decent warranty company that do not have the above stipulations.

Thoughts appreciated

 

[Rory]

I've had Warranty Direct cover on mine since the old ServicePlus scheme, which ran until the car was 6yrs ols, stopped.

I have dealer rate cover but not only does that cost more (no idea how much) the car has to be dealer serviced too, so I can't chop and change from one to the other.

I've only claimed a couple of times - bit of a faff as they do want to see service book, MOT and last service invoice but easy enough for me to scan and email in. Would be a pain if you didn't have access to a scanner / photocopier. The dealer gets authorisation online and that works OK but takes a couple of hours - once it was OK same day, the other time I had to go back another day. WD paid up quickly both times, both were suspension / steering claims. Overall I'd say I was happy with them.


If you have an indie in mind then check he's happy with dealing with the warranty company - some won't have anything to do with them. Even though you pay the bill and reclaim it, the claim still needs to be authorised and the garage has to say the right things.

 

[st13phil]

OK, you asked for thoughts...

Only you know your own attitude to financial risk, so you need to factor that into the equation, but the W212 has a reputation for being pretty reliable - that doesn't mean nothing expensive ever goes wrong, but it does mean that they are better than many other models.

It's not unusual for warranties sold by MB dealers to specify that all servicing must be carried out by an MB franchised dealer to the manufacturer's service schedule. Other warranties are generally less prescriptive, but still require that that all servicing be carried out to the manufacturer's service schedule and use manufacturer-approved parts, by a VAT-registered garage. From the service organisation's point of view some of the warranty companies can be a royal PITA to deal with so it's quite feasible that your favoured Indie won't have anything to do with certain providers - talk with them and find out before you decide anything.

Regarding servicing, you're right that the pattern alternates between A and B services, but there are also mandatory "additional items", such as Fuel Filter, Air Filter, Combination Filter, Brake Fluid Change and so-forth that occur on an elapsed time basis. This means it's rare that the car will ever have "just" an A or B service. As you're buying from an MB-franchised dealer, get them to tell you what the mandatory additional items are for each of the next three or four services so you can compare the cost of service within the franchised network both with and without a service plan. You'll probably find that the service plan looks more attractive than you perhaps thought, but remember that a good Indie will likely be cheaper still. You can also choose to take out a service plan at any time, so don't feel pressured into signing up for one now.

As you have a 12-month Approved Used warranty, you have a year to make up your mind whether you want to continue down the "insured" route, or to put the money you would have spent on a warranty into a pot that you draw on if something breaks or fails. Personally, I'd kick that can down the road and use the time to do the maths and decide later rather than improving the salesman's commission by signing up now.

 

[Rory]

Only you know your own attitude to financial risk....

As well as that, people's circumstances will vary but one thing that was in my mind is that although I'm based at home I do use the car for business so it has to be available. It could also break down a long way from home.

In either case I can't really be messing around trying to find a cheap fix and, while there are a bunch of indie's around me, there's no stand-out one as with some of the forum contributors who run garages on here, so I'm pretty stuck with using the dealer.

OTOH if you have a spare car and/or don't rely on your car for any particualr reason, then you might make a different decision.

 

[derektrotter]

Thank you for the replies all, lots of good points, I'll research more into the likely future costs of the next 4/5 services and factor that in, I've read some members on the forum with £1k plus bills with MB hence was a bit wary to commiting to dealer only.

Have also seen driveline only warranty by MB/Mondial which also might do the job (and less likely to reject my claim), not sure if I can buy it after the MB warranty lapses though, I've got 1 year approved used warranty and then another years Listers cover so the MB will lapse in a year and listers will kick in, need to read fine print of all these different options as theres a lot of exclusions, i'm just concerned about the expensive stuff which I guess is engine and transmission.

Thanks again for the responses