Warranty or not?

[steve333]

So after just over 2 trouble free years of v8 cls ownership i've decided mine is a keeper for the next few(possibly 5)years(cars coming upto 5 years old),i only do about 7k miles annually & the cars at 33k now & if i keep it another 5 years would have only done around 68k,with that in mind i've done a lot of forum searching on here(and the other site) & the only potential money pits on the w219 is the airmatic & valve body on the autobox so question is do i get a good warranty annualy now or keep my fingers crossed that nothing goes?

 

[@MARK]

My view on warranties is that they are a good thing to have but you have to balance that against the cost of the warranty itself

After all, if Mercedes offered a full warranty for £100 per year I think almost everybody on this site would have one. If however the cost is £1000 per year, you have to question the odds of something going wrong that costs more than £1000.

I suppose the answer is can you afford the warranty and more importantly can you afford to fix the car yourself if something big and expensive failed.

 

[jaymanek]

very personal choice as above.. just depends on how risk averse you are..

Also you must read the fine print as the valve body could be a "known manufacturers defect" and the airmatic could be put down to "wear and tear" if it leaks, so the two things you are worried about may not be covered by many warranties any way...

my view is that over the long term, you have to be very unlucky for a policy to pay for itself..

The gearbox issue can be sorted for around £500-600 + vat nowadays.. the struts are £1K each but im sure someone will design cheaper options in time to come.

 

[steve333]

My view on warranties is that they are a good thing to have but you have to balance that against the cost of the warranty itself

After all, if Mercedes offered a full warranty for £100 per year I think almost everybody on this site would have one. If however the cost is £1000 per year, you have to question the odds of something going wrong that costs more than £1000.

I suppose the answer is can you afford the warranty and more importantly can you afford to fix the car yourself if something big and expensive failed.

Good point Mark-in relation to an mb tier 1 warranty i would only consider one if i had a cl/s/AMG,simple maths tells me 5 years mb warranty=£5k & i would consider myself very unlucky if i had a bill equaling that much for that much in the same time,i was thinking more of a specialist warranty company but struggle to find whether airmatic issues are covered?

 

[steve333]

very personal choice as above.. just depends on how risk averse you are..

Also you must read the fine print as the valve body could be a "known manufacturers defect" and the airmatic could be put down to "wear and tear" if it leaks, so the two things you are worried about may not be covered by many warranties any way...

my view is that over the long term, you have to be very unlucky for a policy to pay for itself..

The gearbox issue can be sorted for around £500-600 + vat nowadays.. the struts are £1K each but im sure someone will design cheaper options in time to come.

Very valid points Jay & if only one of the 2 potential problems i could encounter actually materialise in the next 5 years then i would be better off budgetting accordingly rather than shelling out for warrantys for the next 5 years!

 

[WOODYTHEWISE]

I renewed my tier one warranty in July this year (2005 CL600 Biturbo with 37K miles) at a cost of £1308.60 (I think) last month the power steering pump (also powers the ABC) went. Would have cost £1420 to replace.
But as above, if nothing had gone wrong I would have been £1308 out of pocket. I look on it as most insurance, Hope I never need it, but I would not be without it.

 

[The _Don]

Save your hard earned and keep a little aside just in case i would not bother with any warranty.

 

[steve333]

Save your hard earned and keep a little aside just in case i would not bother with any warranty.

Appears to be the most popular opinion,thanks!

 

[steve333]

I renewed my tier one warranty in July this year (2005 CL600 Biturbo with 37K miles) at a cost of £1308.60 (I think) last month the power steering pump (also powers the ABC) went. Would have cost £1420 to replace.
But as above, if nothing had gone wrong I would have been £1308 out of pocket. I look on it as most insurance, Hope I never need it, but I would not be without it.

Not suprised you took out a tier 1 on your cl Woody-it's a complex car & if anything goes it's gonna cost£££@s to fix!

 

[pos.k]

In truth, if you diligently save even half of the money you would pay on warranties for your car, TV, phone, fridge, dishwasher, dog, income protection etc etc insurances then you would have a decent stash to cover one offs, and be very very unlucky to be out of pocket in the medium to long term.

 

[steve333]

In truth, if you diligently save even half of the money you would pay on warranties for your car, TV, phone, fridge, dishwasher, dog, income protection etc etc insurances then you would have a decent stash to cover one offs, and be very very unlucky to be out of pocket in the medium to long term.

Stopped buyingextended warrantys on electrical items etc long ago(as you rightly say,save a packet by not doing so),cheaper to replace when faulty but on cars that cost £67k plus when knew it's a little more of a gamble.........

 

[C240Sport97]

I don't buy warranties for cars or anything else ..

for example, my CLS55 .. no warranty for 2.5 years now, only warranty item in that time was a single parktronic sensor (fixed at £150, and paid for by 3 month warranty provided by the selling dealer).

Cost of warranty for 2.5 years would have been at least £3000. that's a high price for peace of mind.

Of course, this is on the basis that I have a well maintained, and not a built on Friday car .. after 2 years, you should know whether your car meets these criteria.

in addition, a large bill to deal with gearbox or airmatic shocks is affordable for me; this makes the risk of not having a warranty acceptable.

it's all about how much risk you are willing to take.

 

[steve333]

I don't buy warranties for cars or anything else ..

for example, my CLS55 .. no warranty for 2.5 years now, only warranty item in that time was a single parktronic sensor (fixed at £150, and paid for by 3 month warranty provided by the selling dealer).

Cost of warranty for 2.5 years would have been at least £3000. that's a high price for peace of mind.

Of course, this is on the basis that I have a well maintained, and not a built on Friday car .. after 2 years, you should know whether your car meets these criteria.

in addition, a large bill to deal with gearbox or airmatic shocks is affordable for me; this makes the risk of not having a warranty acceptable.

it's all about how much risk you are willing to take.

Agree-don't normally keep cars for more than 2 years but had the cls just over that now & it's very reliable & hasn't cost me anything over & above scheduled servicing/tyres/aircon re-charge so am willing to take the risk if the airmatic/autobox valve body problems materialise in the next 5 years!

 

[NISFAN]

Personally, I would never go for an extended warranty. Why?

1. They are a gamble on will/won't they actually pay out
2. Often force you to have a car fixed by X at full price even before you know what will and won't be paid for

Upshot is, quite often knowing that you will be footing the bill, you could negotiate a deal with an indie you trust.

Case in point is the thread that a B Class clutch was replaced with a bill for £3000. There is no way an Indi would charge that kind of money, and even if the warranty said they would go 50/50 with you it is still a £1500 bill that could have been a £1000 bill for the whole job at the indi.

 

[steve333]

Personally, I would never go for an extended warranty. Why?

1. They are a gamble on will/won't they actually pay out
2. Often force you to have a car fixed by X at full price even before you know what will and won't be paid for

Upshot is, quite often knowing that you will be footing the bill, you could negotiate a deal with an indie you trust.

Case in point is the thread that a B Class clutch was replaced with a bill for £3000. There is no way an Indi would charge that kind of money, and even if the warranty said they would go 50/50 with you it is still a £1500 bill that could have been a £1000 bill for the whole job at the indi.

Very valid points,thanks for your thoughts!