Mine was expiring soon so I took it to the local MB dealer and had a lookover. They found my cyl head gaskets were leaking oil? That's what I thought but they said MB's will usually leak oil out instead of antifreeze. They ripped her apart and did the job and also resealed my front seal on tranny and adjusted everything. Personally I never had a drip anywhere and I call Bull**** on the cyl gaskets but I paid $100 for a tranny reseal and an upper end job that was billed about $3400. She's good for another 100K now. The best or worse part depending on how you look at it is when they power washed my car they blasted some clear off my hood. They are stripping and repainting that too. Better them than the local car wash. Just wanted to share the benefit of paying $2500 for a 1 year warranty on a 12 year old car. I figure They did over $7000 in repairs this year, not bad!

IME the dealer will do whatever they perceive to be the right thing. The warranty company pays the dealer, and you get a better value for your car. On my former 'TE they did a $fortune$ in warranty fixes. It was an excellent trade for about what you paid.

...Tracy

We bought GE extended warranty coverage on our 92 300E, and our 94 wagon is Starmark'd, and all I can say is that the money spent on these warranties was some of the best money we have ever spent. On the 300E the warranty paid for itself at least 3 times over (had the dreaded air conditioning rebuild, head gasket replacement, valve guide replacement, etc.), and on the wagon it has paid for itself at least once already, with another year and a half yet to go.

We love our Benz's but they can be very expensive to maintain....

Bill

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Bill
92 300E (Black/Grey interior: wife's car)
94 E320 Wagon (White/Saddle interior, Eibach springs, '96 E420 16 x 7.5 wheels)

Years ago, I bought an '85 Audi 5000 (before 60 minutes made it a periah). Anyhow, those cars came with a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty. The dealer offered me a 5 year UNLIMITED MILEAGE zero deductable warranty for $900.00.

Back then, I drove 40K a year, so I jumped on it. I ended up owning that car for seven years,(thanks 60 minutes). The warranty company put over $13,000.00 into that car!

Right before the warranty expired, the tranny went out (2nd time), which they replaced with a rebuild. I called the warranty company to thank them about a week later. Guess what? They had gone out of business. I think they must have insured too many Audis.

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Mr. BILL

91 300E 120K
90 300SE 275K (sold)
92 BMW 525iM 120K
90 BMW 525iA 175K
85 300D 175K (sold)
84 300SD 245K (sold)

But, '92 Ford Aerostar, 53K miles, $1100.00 for "Platinum Plus" bumper-to-bumper warranty, $6,000.00 in repairs covered over 3 yrs./36K miles!

Wouldn't do it any other way...

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Scott Longston
Northern California Wine Country...
"Turbos whistle, grapes wine..."

I bought one extended warranty. Blew a head gasket. It wasn't an "internally lubricated part" so warranty paid zip! That was a real bite!!

IMNSHO, new car warranties are like Health Insurance. Doctors, sorry I mean Dealers, will to everything under the sun, send outrageous bills to the insurance company, and you'll be happy because YOU aren't paying. Never mind if there is a less-expensive procedure, there's no incentive to spend the time looking because it's "free" money and the patient, I mean customer won't object.

I no longer buy warranties. I'll put the money into an interest-bearing account and keep up the required maintenance. Then, I can pay for a normal level of repairs. If I need too many repairs I'll jettison the troublesome beast and buy something that doesn't break as often. Yes, sometimes I've come up the "loser" on such a deal, but not by much.

My wife says I'm cynical. I'm an engineer, so I tell her I get paid to be cynical. If I didn't I'd still be cynical because it's fun. She insisted that we add electrical coverage to the StarMark on her 96 E300D, so I don't _always_ do as I rant...

My $0.02

BCingU, Jim

Depending on what type of car it is I think determines if I would buy an extended warranty....if I bought a Camry maybe I wouldn't buy.....but I have a 1992 300SD(140)....$22,000 worth of repairs in a 24 month period...
its $1500 for the MB tech to open the hood
I could not have afforded the car without the warranty...
I think with any of the newer MB's I would buy the warranty
The dealer told me that the new 5-speed automatic is a $5500.00 fix if it goes....
my .002