Got the Benz back

November 4th, 2009 by Kenric

I got my Benz back from the shop today. Good news is that the extended warranty that I bought was totally worth it. Mercedes covered the repair and I didn’t even have to pay a deductible. They replaced some module in the braking system and bled the brakes. I also got my tires aligned and a free detail so all is good in Mercedes land.

I guess this would be a good time to talk about Mercedes customer service. Last time I got an oil change at the dealer I got a call saying that my car was done. When I arrived to pick it up they told me it was still being washed. I went to the waiting room and waited about 20 minutes. Then I walked outside and saw my car parked there. I was upset because nobody came and told me my car was ready. So I told the guy that I had been waiting for 20 minutes inside. He apologized.

The next day I got one of those survey emails that asks how my service appointment went. I gave them a bad rating due to the waiting part. The day after the service manager called me and apologized and offered me a free detail the next time I came in.

About two weeks later, I got a call from Mercedes corporate headquarters asking me if my complaint had been resolved by the dealership and if there was anything else they could do. So I was pretty happy about all this customer service that they were affording me.

And of course after today I am even happier…

Now regarding this warranty that I bought. I am pretty leery of extended car warranties in general, but the SL500 NEEDS a warranty badly. If the retractable rook ever breaks its a $4,000 minimum repair. What I bought was an extended warranty that was sold by Mercedes dealers. The key is to find the dealer that will sell it to you for the cheapest. I called 5 dealers and all of them said that they would sell it to me at cost. I was quoted $4,000, $3,800, $3,600, $3,100 for 48k miles or 48 months. I almost bought the $3,100 warranty until someone on a Mercedes forum told me to call his dealer in Maryland. My mistake was that I called only dealers in my area. I would have never thought to call dealers on the east coast since I’m in Arizona. Anyway, I called and his price was $2,400 for 48k or 48 months and that is what I bought.

What was also nice is that I didn’t even have to tell the dealer that it was under warranty. As soon as they punched in the car their computer spit out my warranty policy number.

Now what makes this an even better deal and a no brainer to anyone reading this…

I can pay in monthly payments for 18 months and the warranty is transferrable or, I can cancel it and get a refund on any portion that I don’t use if I sell the car.

I am paying about $120 a month right now. I’ve had the warranty for 5 months. I’ve paid $600 so far. I’ve had a repair that probably cost about $1500. If I sell the car tomorrow and cancel the warranty, I can get back 43 months on my warranty. They would have to send money back to me!

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