Which warranty?

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Mike2018

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2018
Messages
40
Location
England
Car
2010 S212 E350 CGI
Looking for recommendations for (or warnings to avoid) an aftermarket warranty provider for my car - 2010 S212 E350 CGI, FSH, 83K miles.

The dealer I bought it from put a 6-month warranty on it from these people Car Warranty - The Auto Group so I could just renew that, or switch to another provider.
 
Personally I would set aside a sum of money and add the same to it each year instead of buying a warranty.
If you don't have a problem you are in credit and hopefully you'll have enough money set aside to cover any breakdown.

The problem with warranties that I see are that unless you get the Mercedes Tier 1 which is pretty costly, the aftermarket warranty companies have too many clauses built in whereby sods law says your particular fault isn't covered.

If however you do decide to go down the warranty route I have read that Warranty Direct are one of the best. Not so Warranty Wise, championed by ex TG presenter Quenten Wilson.
Don't accept the first quote for your car and there is a very good chance you will be offered a lower price to secure your business.
 
Tier 1 Mercedes warranty is a cut above all others but you do pay for it. Will only cover up to 100k miles on a lot of items though. They cover everything apart from interior trim, mods and brake pads and discs. Literally everything else is covered inc MOT failure inc wear and tear items. Iv currently claimed £5k worth of work for different things over 6 months on a 2013 C class with zero quibbles, questions asked or paperwork to be filled out. Cost me £545 for the year!
 
I had the MB Tier 1 for about about 5 years and was very good i was paying monthly and had a £100 excess. I had mine still when the car had over 120K on the clock and even got a letter from MB saying that i may find a better deal elsewhere. So i cancelled it and put the money away but only kept it till last month and sold it. When my current one runs out of the free years warranty i will be buying the same warranty again with out fail. Yes it is expensive but i was paying at the start i think around £56 a month one year had an injector replaced they forgot i had the warranty they tried to give me a bill for just over £750. Did i claim all the money i paid into it no, but you buy one for peace of mind. However tier 1 is great for cars under 100K as you have 83K you will only get the full benefits for 17K its just something your have to weigh up.
 
And on top of the £1,431-£1,944pa for MB T1 I add the extra cost of having servicing done by MB vs an indy...

At those prices I can see the sense in what AMGeed says, advice which I've read before, but it's an uncomfortable risk...
 
I feel the same way as AMGeed.

I have a slush fund.

My tier 1 renewal was something like £1500/£1600 last year although it is the best but I declined all the same.

The way I look at it, there are a few factors which can cause failures, some of which would be covered by a warranty and some not of course.

Timely maintenance and servicing
Age
Mileage
Mechanical sympathy
Luck

Only the last one I have no control over. The rest I can do something about in terms of how many miles I use the car for, how old the car I buy is etc.).

So whilst pembssurf's situation below makes me think about warranties, in the end I don't bother. Although if a warranty cost me £545 for mine, I would strongly consider it!

Iv currently claimed £5k worth of work for different things over 6 months on a 2013 C class with zero quibbles, questions asked or paperwork to be filled out. Cost me £545 for the year!

1) Because I always buy petrols which usually have less problems. I can see this from this forum and also my inde shares the same view. Obviously there are situations where you have no choice but I don't do a huge mileage so would rather pay steadily for a bit more fuel...

2) I buy the right car to suit my journey - which is long enough to ensure everything is warmed up. No point in having a 4.7 V8 when you drive 10 minutes in it.

3) The £5k headline figure mentioned is scary, but then again, these are Mercedes prices and often they just replace when things could be repaired - so the bills aren't necessarily that expensive to start with.

4) I've been running two expensive Mercs respectively over the last 7 years and so far, I've yet to have anything cripplingly expensive touch wood! So I reckon they aren't that unreliable to start with.

5) The factors I mention above which I have control over, I ensure timely maintenance and servicing is done, I don't thrash the rse off the car, I didn't buy it new to avoid new car niggles, but also I didn't buy it old enough to start having big failures (one reason I sold my previous car).

As for luck, well I was born on the 13th and so far this has served me well! :D

Beyond all that, you have to decide how much slush fund you can have and whether you can afford to self-insure or not.
 

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