Extended Warranty?

ACE

ACE

What's that smell?
I just purchased a 98 Mercedes ML320 and I was considering an extended warranty. For about $2500, I can purchase a pretty extensive 4-yr. warranty covering engine, transmission and most electrical stuff. Anyone have any experience either positive or negative with any of the providers? I was considering going with www.accesswarranty.com The coverage seems good and they've been around for a while. The administrator is www.royaladmin.com, who is pretty big in this type of business. Any opinions? PS - the car has 73K on it now and I drive about 3500 miles per year, so mileage won't be a problem.
 
I will follow this one closely, as I am in the same postion of looking at an Extended Warranty on a 2002 GMC Sierra Z71. They quoted me around 2200. I'm still under manufacture warranty, and thats probably why it is cheaper.
 
You might want to check with the mechanic that does your work and see what his experience has been with various warranty companies. Not all of them pay up quite as well as they lead you to believe. Some will try to use used parts instead of new. Others argue aout what should be done so the repair can be done for the cheapest price rather than doing the job right.

Charles
 
Agree with Charles. Stay away from Warranty Gold. They recently declared bankruptcy on a portion of their business. They left quite a few folks holding repair bills.
 
My brother works for a dealership... (Lincoln Mercury... not Benz but i think its the same idea) He has said countless times that after-market Warranty's are not good. If your going to do it just make sure you do all your research... and try and talk to people who have the warranty and find out weather or not they have found it to be benificial.

Most of the time from what I have heard .... they cover everything execpt what broke on your care.
 
One thing to keep in mind is ... what are the chances that you will need to spend $2500 over the next 4 years on repairs. My take on extended warrantees is that, " If I need to spend the amount of the warrantee over the next number of years, I bought the wrong product." Have I made wrong choices before ... yes ... but I am still money ahead than had I bought extended warrantees on every major purchase.
 
I agree with KimWallace. With you driving only 3500 miles a year I doubt that you'll ever use the extended warranty. If you do spend more than 2500 dollars over the next four years then you bought the wrong car. When I bought my last new car a year ago right before the sale was final they offered an extended warranty. I told the salesman you just spent two hours telling me what a great car this was and how dependable it is. Now you want to sell me extra insurance. Maybe I'm buying the wrong car.That shut him up. Needless to say I didn't buy the warranty. Hope this helps. Rick
 
if i had twenty-five hundred dollars to spend on a warranty i would put it in the bank or a no load mutaul fund and make money with it. pay for the repairs as they come. they do not sell extended warranties to fix a car. they sell them to make money with it.
 
I bought the MaxCare package and added Emission System Coverage from http://www.warrantydirect.com and I've been very satisfied.

So far I've had a transmission replaced, all motor mounts, and both rear wheel bearings. If I never make another claim (unlikely) I'll still be ahead 'cause these repairs cost more than my total one-time premium.

I used to be a mechanic & I could have handled a couple of these but I don't have any of the specialized tools required and my passion for laying under the car for hours vanished years ago.

Every claim that's been made has been covered with no hassles and/or delays.

They're worth taking a look at 'cause you can get a no obligation on-line quote.
 
I know everybody says it is a rip off. I just towed the van in yesterday and found out I got a nice 400 dollar Christmas Present. I guess it's like gambling in vegas how much risk can you afford?
 
The extended warranty is also an item that is negotiable in price if you purchase it from the dealer where the car was purchased.

If you have already purchased the vehicle you have lost a little leverage. It still won't hurt to ask if they can take a little less for it. This is generally where the F&I person makes their money but if approached correctly who wouldn't want to get a little piece of the pie instead of no pie.

I recently purchased an 01 Tahoe with 49k for my wife. I paid approximately $1200 for a bumper to bumper warranty with 0 deductible that provided coverage to 100,000.

I didn't used to think much of the extended warranties. In this day in age where the parts are higher, labor is more expensive, and there are more computers in the vehicles it is looking more appealing. It is like life insurance though. You are betting you are going to die and the insurance company is gambling you will live.

Just my 2cents :jump
 
fatboy2: that's approx. the same deal I arrived at when buying my car used. There's not a lot of room for the shadetree mechanic under the hood 'cause everything is dependent on sensors, solenoids, switches, and numerous on-board computers. It's just too tough to diagnose the problem & it's expensive to start replacing by guesswork but it's easy to R 'n R the part after the diagnosis is complete.

Used to be if your car was running like crap, the average guy with some adequate knowledge & a decent set of tools could get it running right but those days are a long time ago.

Now you need some device to read codes, some books to interpret the codes, and then determine if that particular component is really bad or is there something else upstream that's making it appear to be bad.
 
Like many, I am skeptical of the value of an extended warranty. It's like paying for one major $2k and one minor $500 repair up front for certain. And that doesn't count wear and maintenance items they'll never cover.

But if you really decide to get it, you should investigate it further because it's 3rd party.

You might consider speaking to the dealer or shop you are most likely to work with in case of repairs. Ask them about the company you're buying the warranty from. Have they dealt with them before and have they had problems with reimbursement or authorization for repairs? I would think that is must have info for a non-manufacturer warranty.

Good luck.
 
take a look at Warranty Direct, the list of stuff they cover is pretty incredible. They don't cover consumables like tires, mufflers, brake pads, and rotors but I thought the coverage was really complete, including expen$ive emission$ control device$ and damage caused by overheating which many warranty companies do not cover.

I don't remember exactly how much I paid to Warranty Direct (I bought the policy from them directly, not through a dealer) but I don't recall the total out-of-pocket cost being more than $1200 for a 3 yr old 2000 Accord EX V6 with 42K miles.
 
Let's see if I am looking at this right....

-You ONLY drive 3,500 miles a year. That is great! Most drive 12,000+ per year. Look at it this way; 3,500 miles times 4 years is 14,000 miles. $2,500 divided by 14,000 miles means your paying $.18 per mile for that warranty.

You have 73k miles on it now. HOW LONG DO YOU PLAN TO KEEP THE CAR?

--I am a big fan of extended warranties if you can justify the value of them. If I, and I stress the I, were in your situation driving ONLY 3,500 miles per year, I would take the risk of not dropping the initial $2500 and paying as you go.

--Four years for $2500 ($625) is quite a bit. Find a local German Auto Mechanic "should" you need work done to it. Mercedes will charge you and arm and a leg for little stuff.

That is just my opinion though. Good luck, and you picked a fine vehicle!
 
my g/f bought her car new back in 02' as an 03' model since then but 44k miles on it and since nov. of 04'has been in the shop a total of 5 times 3 times same problem! 1- window motor and 1-engine shut off in the middle of the road (bad fuel pump/ fuel filter ) anyways total repairs $2.3k thats just a short time. i hope this helps.
 
Consider this do you have to pay the warranty in full at time of sign up?
Or are you paying through financing the vehicle if you are financing?
Or are you going to be making payments on just the warranty with a down payment?? :headbang
 
The end of the story is - It turned out that the $2500 was for a lesser policy and the top-line policy was about $2750. Not a big deal in itself, but I could just see myself hassling with these guys if I needed a repair. If Mercedes offered me a full warranty at that price with no questions asked I would go for it, but I just got too spooked at the thought of paying close to three grand and then not being covered. In any case, I truly hope I don't run up 3 grand in covered repairs over 4 years. Covered repairs do not include maintenance, brakes, exhaust. I figure i'll just chance it.
 
I have an extended warranty on both the wife's '04 Mailbu and my '03 Silverado. Bought both new and got the warranty through GMAC. I had a warranty through GMAC on my '90 Beretta and it more than paid for itself - including the interest as it went into the loan.

There policy is different now from what it was then. If I never use it, I get all the money back, which I know from experience to be true. I end up paying something anyway because as it went into the loan, I'm paying interest on that money, but at 1.9% I figure it is very inexpensive insurance. We all buy insurance, and that's how I see this working out, especially so since I get it all back when it's up - provided I don't use it.

For me, it works.My truck is 18 months old now and has just a hair under 30,000 miles. I'l have 36,000 when it turns two years old. So the extended warranty covers it through six years or 100,000 miles.
 
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