MB Extended Limited Warranty - Cost

JFloFoto

Active member
Friends,

I'll be working out the financing on a 2016 4x4 with my dealer next week. I've reviewed the pros and cons of the ELW, and decided that it's right for me given all the potential issues with the turbo, diesel exhaust system, etc. I am looking for your collective experience on the cost of the ELW - any term. What did you pay?

Also, is the price negotiable? Is it worth shopping around to other dealers?
 

avanti

2022 Ford Transit 3500
We decided to wait until near the end of the basic warranty to decide whether or not to buy the extended warranty, figuring that we would have more information then. Our decision point will not be until next summer. The tradeoff is the risk of rising prices, but this is balanced against a more informed decision and having 3 years of money in the bank.
 

kendall69

New member
I negotiate that in for "free" when I buy my vehicle. Two times they gave me the insurance "for free" after I negotiated the FINAL PRICE ( I know nothing is free, and I know they got me somewhere ) - but all negotiation was finished I beat them up as low as I can go, my final words were, if you want the sale throw in the insurance. Two did, one Toyota dealer gave me 100K insurance at 50% off.
 

avanti

2022 Ford Transit 3500
I negotiate that in for "free" when I buy my vehicle. Two times they gave me the insurance "for free" after I negotiated the FINAL PRICE ( I know nothing is free, and I know they got me somewhere ) - but all negotiation was finished I beat them up as low as I can go, my final words were, if you want the sale throw in the insurance. Two did, one Toyota dealer gave me 100K insurance at 50% off.
Yes, I have successfully used exactly this gambit (although not with a Sprinter, since we have an RV and did not buy directly from a dealer). My only modification is to ask for it "at cost", which is almost as good as "free" (warranties tend to be very high-margin items). The advantage of this is that such a proposal costs the dealer nothing, and so may still work even if you have succeeded in already squeezing them to the bone in your prior negotiations.

As Kendall says, the key is that you should be walking out the door when you make the suggestion.
 

Gpaw68

2015 144 4cyl high roof
The price of the extended warranty is negotiable. You should be able to at least get a few hundred dollars off and as the last part of making the deal it will feel good. Just make sure it is the Mercedes warranty and not some other one that they push. You want the genuine thing here. I got the one that extends it to 150k.
 
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sprinterPaul

Well-known member
The price of the extended warranty is negotiable. You should be able to at least get a few hundred dollars off and as the last part of making the deal it will feel good. Just make sure it is the Mercedes warranty and not some other one that they push. You want the genuine thing here. I got the one that extends it to 150k.
I thought none went past 7Year / 100K. Seems like you could extend time but never get past the 100K for Mercedes.

got a link or brochure? That's a nice find.

thanks!
 

Thump_rrr

Active member
Friends,

I'll be working out the financing on a 2016 4x4 with my dealer next week. I've reviewed the pros and cons of the ELW, and decided that it's right for me given all the potential issues with the turbo, diesel exhaust system, etc. I am looking for your collective experience on the cost of the ELW - any term. What did you pay?

Also, is the price negotiable? Is it worth shopping around to other dealers?
As others have said you have until 3 years/36000 miles to decide if you want it.
I wanted it and put it in my lease since it is a business expense.

I would look into the prepaid maintenance plan.
Prices of Service A and Service B vary greatly dealer to dealer.

On my 4 cylinder the standard service interval is 30,000 km or 20,000 miles
With my frequent city driving I'm on a projected 20,000 km interval.
 

camillo

New member
I was told the 2 yr ELW is 3200; the 3yr - 4200; and the 4 yr/175,000 is 5200. I went with the 4 yr/175000 and negotiated down to 4800 plus tax. I couldn't believe there was tax on an extended warranty. Don't recall that in the past. I always get a warranty, ever since i had a vehicle engine blow up 3000 miles after the factory warranty expired. Hell, if the power windows crapped out, it'd probably cost a grand.
 

Inertiaman

Well-known member
Some questions/comments on the ELW:

1) in the linked brochure above, the emissions system is notably absent in the short list of systems covered by the ELW. Does anyone know if emissions *is* covered in the fine print, but just not in the short list of the marketing brochure? Seems like the emissions system is one of the highest potential areas for expensive repairs over 100k miles, so the ELW has much less value if it is excluded.

2) I am exactly 2 years into ownership on my 2014 and have 35k miles, so am considering an ELW purchase soon. My first inclination was to get the "cheap" 1 year / 100k extension, since that would give me 4 total years and 100k miles, as opposed to losing my warranty in about 2 weeks when I head south again and pass 36k miles. But after realizing that the engine *and* emission system are covered to 5 year / 100k even without the ELW, it seems like I'm spending ~$1200 just to cover my transmission and general body/electrical stuff for about 2 more years (the latter seems low probability to fail and/or not obscenely expensive to fix). Am I missing something? Does this imply that its probably not worthwhile to do the lowest rung ELW?

3) Anyone else find it odd that MB "counts" the mileage and years differently in their ELW categories? ie, the time (1 year, 2 year, etc) is *added* to your original 3 year warranty, but the mileage (100k, 125k, etc) is the new total, not added to the original 36k. One dealer I talked to answered me differently every time I tried to clarify this.
 

Inertiaman

Well-known member
A further explanation of point #3 above:

The fine print on the ELW says it "begins immediately when the original warranty expires." So lets say you buy the 1 year / 100k extension. And lets say you hit 36k miles after only one year of ownership. Then one school of thought concludes your warranty is extended by one more year from that date (2 year total, since your original warranty "expired" only one year in) and by 64k miles (100k total). That's how I interpret their language. One dealer agreed with me. Another dealer insisted that the 1 year extension adds to the 3 year original, so you effectively have a 4 year / 100k warranty. Yet another dealer claimed that the 1 year extension adds to the 1 year at expiration and the 100k adds to the 36k at expiration, giving you effectively a 2 year / 136k warranty.

The language in the brochure is very ambiguous, which is frustrating. It would not be difficult to state the coverage period in an unambiguous way, which makes me fear that their ambiguity is intentional. It would be much easier if they just said "your 3/36k becomes 4/100k" if that's what they really mean.

EDIT: statement above now in BOLD is apparently the real answer, per the document attached 3 posts lower in the thread.
 
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JFloFoto

Active member
Some questions/comments on the ELW: 1) in the linked brochure above, the emissions system is notably absent in the short list of systems covered by the ELW. Does anyone know if emissions *is* covered in the fine print, but just not in the short list of the marketing brochure? Seems like the emissions system is one of the highest potential areas for expensive repairs over 100k miles, so the ELW has much less value if it is excluded.


I just read through my MB Commercial Van Extended Limited Warranty Agreement. The closest language I found representing the emissions system is under para 1 "ENGINE: ... intake and exhaust manifolds...."

I have a call in to my dealer to confirm emissions system is included. I was specifically told that it was when I purchased the contract, but as you know if it isn't in writing in ain't so.

P.S. I can't figure out how to upload a PDF to this site. If someone can instruct me I'll post my contract.
 

Inertiaman

Well-known member
In further investigating this, I got a PDF of the agreement, attached here.

Two MAJOR concerns after reviewing the document:
1) there is absolutely no mention of any emissions components. None. And given the examples we've seen of emissions components being some of the most notorious high-cost failures, their apparent non-coverage is a HUGE issue.
2) the very first paragraph makes it very clear that the ELW coverage begins on the Effective Date, defined as either the 3 year anniversary of original warranty origination (= van purchase date) OR cumulative 36k miles. So anyone who was told "a 3 year ELW gives you a 6 year / 150k mile warranty" was being lied to . . . unless they reached their 3 year anniversary *before* their 36k miles.

These observations are making the ELW far less attractive in my eyes. If I buy the 1 year / 100k ELW this week, all it will really do is give me an effective 3 year / 46k mile warranty (because I'm at 35.5k now after 24 months ownership, and expect to put 10k miles on my van this year, at which point the ELW will expire).

I have the impression that MANY Sprinter owners had these terms misrepresented to them when they purchased the van/ELW. For some people's driving patterns, like those driving 12k every year consistently, the way the miles/time count up may not be so disadvantageous. But for ALL of us, the non-coverage of emissions is glaring.
 

Attachments

Inertiaman

Well-known member
Non-coverage of emissions may be a potential explanation for why MB dealers in several states (CA, WA among them) cannot offer these ELW because they don't meet some of the state legal requirements.
 

chromisdesigns

New member
In further investigating this, I got a PDF of the agreement, attached here.

Two MAJOR concerns after reviewing the document:
1) there is absolutely no mention of any emissions components. None. And given the examples we've seen of emissions components being some of the most notorious high-cost failures, their apparent non-coverage is a HUGE issue.
2) the very first paragraph makes it very clear that the ELW coverage begins on the Effective Date, defined as either the 3 year anniversary of original warranty origination (= van purchase date) OR cumulative 36k miles. So anyone who was told "a 3 year ELW gives you a 6 year / 150k mile warranty" was being lied to . . . unless they reached their 3 year anniversary *before* their 36k miles.

These observations are making the ELW far less attractive in my eyes. If I buy the 1 year / 100k ELW this week, all it will really do is give me an effective 3 year / 46k mile warranty (because I'm at 35.5k now after 24 months ownership, and expect to put 10k miles on my van this year, at which point the ELW will expire).

I have the impression that MANY Sprinter owners had these terms misrepresented to them when they purchased the van/ELW. For some people's driving patterns, like those driving 12k every year consistently, the way the miles/time count up may not be so disadvantageous. But for ALL of us, the non-coverage of emissions is glaring.

Why would you but the one year version in the first place? Why not get the longest coverage you can???
 

Inertiaman

Well-known member
Why would you but the one year version in the first place? Why not get the longest coverage you can???
To your point, the longer versions of the ELW likely have less "exposure" to some of these mileage/time artifacts. So maybe my observations imply the short durations have less value than the long ones.

But to directly answer: one reason is longer terms cost more. For another, I expect to sell my vehicle before 150k. And lastly, the lack of emissions coverage is an issue regardless of the term length, since it is apparently not covered by any of them.

Lets say you buy the 2 year / 125k ELW. Then say you drive 36k miles per year. Your effective coverage is going to be 3 years and 108k miles (original warranty ended at 1 year, and the ELW ended 2 years after that). In this case, your engine and emissions were covered for 5 years and 100k anyway.

So your $2200 ELW really only bought you:
- 8k extra miles on engine/drivetrain
- no extra miles on emissions
- 72k extra miles on a/c, audio, etc (things that I would generally expect to last 3 years).

That last "general" category are things I tend to see having problems with age more so than mileage, so the likelihood of using the ELW on them in this example seems limited. Admittedly, just a generalization.

My real "rant" here is that dealers appear to be consistently misrepresenting both the term length and emissions coverage when selling these LEWs.
 

chromisdesigns

New member
To your point, the longer versions of the ELW likely have less "exposure" to some of these mileage/time artifacts. So maybe my observations imply the short durations have less value than the long ones.

But to directly answer: one reason is longer terms cost more. For another, I expect to sell my vehicle before 150k. And lastly, the lack of emissions coverage is an issue regardless of the term length, since it is apparently not covered by any of them.

Lets say you buy the 2 year / 125k ELW. Then say you drive 36k miles per year. Your effective coverage is going to be 3 years and 108k miles (original warranty ended at 1 year, and the ELW ended 2 years after that). In this case, your engine and emissions were covered for 5 years and 100k anyway.

So your $2200 ELW really only bought you:
- 8k extra miles on engine/drivetrain
- no extra miles on emissions
- 72k extra miles on a/c, audio, etc (things that I would generally expect to last 3 years).

That last "general" category are things I tend to see having problems with age more so than mileage, so the likelihood of using the ELW on them in this example seems limited. Admittedly, just a generalization.

My real "rant" here is that dealers appear to be consistently misrepresenting both the term length and emissions coverage when selling these LEWs.[/QUOTE
My Mercedes extended warranty covers all emissions parts not otherwise covered under state or federal original warranty provisions
 

Inertiaman

Well-known member
My Mercedes extended warranty covers all emissions parts not otherwise covered under state or federal original warranty provisions
Are you sure? I expected the same thing, but on deeper investigation of the contract language, there is no evidence that emissions are covered in any capacity. Perhaps you have a much earlier/older version, and are covered. Or perhaps a salesperson said as much (likely in good faith, albeit misinformed) but may not actually be the case?

I sincerely hope you're covered, and wish I could be. Getting emissions coverage past 100k was one of my primary draws to the ELW. But I don't see it in the current contract, the salespeople I talk to defer to the finance dept, the finance guy says "we don't write these contracts, MB does, it is what it is."

So I called MB directly. Supposedly someone from warranty services will call me back tomorrow.
 

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