Just bought a 05 C240 4Matic..Any pros and cons for getting the extended warrantee.
Any thoughts/comments would be appreciated both on the car and warrantee..[8D]

 

When I bought my C280 it was Starmarked and still had 25K miles of the original factory warranty left. I also bought an extra year of Starmark, power train warranty for around $700 plus, the additional coverage ends this July. I have owned the car since 02 and it is a 99. Since I bought the car I've had 3 warranty claims, all very expensive if I had to pay for them. I had a bad MAS, over $300 plus labor, an electrical problem, which was labor intense 4 hours of labor at $90 and the parts. Also, had a O2 sensor replace, another pricey and labor intense repair, that bill would have cost me another $300 plus. Other then these repairs the car has been and still is very reliable. If the dealer is trying to sell you anything then a starmark warranty, IMHO I would pass on it. They are very expensive, usually starting around $1000 and up. Also, the companies that sell these, have the advantage, especially with a new car, as the odds are in your favor if there is a failure it will be before the factory warranty expires. Also, a lot of these warranties run concurrently with the factory and you might pickup a few extra months at the end of the factory. When my factory warranty ran out the Starmark which came with the car started and when it expires last July the additional coverage kicked in for a year, or 100K miles whichever comes first. I don't think Mercedes Starmark coverage on new cars. But as I said you have the new car warranty and a reliable car. Also, I got a letter from Mercedes a few weeks ago, offering to renew my Starmark for another year, if my car has less then 50K miles, which it does. Now the price is close to $1K, so I am going to pass on it.

 

Our '05 C240 4Matic wagon was a hardly used service pool loaner, so we bought it as "pre-owned" which comes with a 4-year, 100K warranty--a nice deal, but I would never have payed for the extra year/50K.

With an extended warranty, it's simply a question of what they charge for it and how long you think you will keep the car. Obviously it won't prevent the car from failing, it's really just an insurance policy. Like all insurance, it's a statistical question--the car company balances the cost of the warranty against the statistical cost of repairs. Also, like all insurance companies, they make big money on extended warranty programs as *most* vehicles covered by the warranties don't fail expensively.

On the other hand, if you have the statistical "problem vehicle", the insurance could be worth it and the longer you plan on keeping it past the end of the standard warranty, the more valuable the extended warranty might be. If you're planning on keeping the car for a while past the standard warranty and don't foresee being able to pay for expensive repairs down the road if needed, you may want to consider the extended warranty. Remember, though, the same money you spend on the extended warranty could be put aside for future repairs and if you don't use it, it's available for other things.

Also keep in mind that all AWD vehicles are less reliable than 2WD and repairs can get very expensive. It's not uncommon for AWD systems to be damaged if your tires are too mismatched (like if you replace one tire with a new one when the other tires have significantly less tread on them). This happened to me on one previous AWD vehicle and was a known problem with the one I traded in on the C240.

P.S. As far as the car, we love it. The AWD system with ESP is *by far* the best of my seven previous 4WD/AWD vehicles (including Jeep Grand Cherokee, Audi Quattro and Volvo V70XC). The C240 has a few annoying quirks, but so did the other cars

 

i do not think that you need extended warranty right now as the car is new. Wait until some times passes, if it comes out to be a "problem car" buy it when the factory warranty is expiring if it is possible to buy the extended warranty in that time.

 

The best bet is from the dealer although third party can be very good too. Just do you homework and buy early...

A good site to start your research at is http://www.warrantiesgonewild.com

There are articles on everything to look for and look out for when purchasing an extended warranty...