I will soon purchase a new E350 with plans to keep it for at least 5 years. I am considering an extended warranty but the MB cost ($4600 for a 6 year/100K mi) is prohibitive. Are there other options or providers that I should consider?

I have never been a big believer in extended warranties. I thought that the factory warranty on new Mercedes-Benz products was still pretty decent. Since the W212 is a new chassis, you may want to do some research with someone who has seen how they are holding up so far. If I'm not mistaken, both the transmission and engine were carried over from the W211.

__________________
1989 300CE

Seems like $4,600 for what is essentially a 2 year warranty is pretty high. When I picked up my E350 MY2010 the cost of a warranty was about $1,750 (100K / 7 years). Due to the fact I do not drive that kind of miles (7K is usually tops in annual millage for me) it would not have paid to do so (Time would have negated the warranty long before the millage did). I understand they can also be purchased from MB at any time before expiration of the OEM warranty.

No.

That said, if you had to spend $4600 on parts and labor costs to get it to 100K miles out of your own pocket, I'd be surprised...

That's pretty steep-

Lots of mark-up on extended factory warrentees. If you like the insurance, I'd get them down to $32-3,500 or no deal.


M

What we know is that the W212, W204 and W221 have been proven to be vastly more reliable than their predecessor models. So much so that warranty shop work orders are way down and techs are leaving to find work elsewhere.

My 2008 C300 at 2.5 years has been so trouble free that I still can't get used to it. Having suffered through two 201s, a 202 and a 203, I know what reliability means. Or not.

I have decided to skip an extended warranty for my C300 even though my 202 and 203's extended warranties paid off big time. What MB has done is jacked up the extended warranty cost while building cars they know will cost them less later.

A friend's 2007 E320 Bluetec has also been nearly trouble free and because of the cost of an extended warranty, he says he will just trade the thing in if it starts acting up and save the nearly five grand cost.

So, if you are going to drive your car only one year after the original warranty expires, do you think you would spend $4600 in repairs in the fifth year?

BTW, there is a huge markup in the MB warranty so it's negotiable.

__________________
Roger E.