I have been chatting with people in the GTR owners group on FaceBook and learning all the time. My car doesn't have radiator covers at the front, they look really exposed and I am told Mercedes should fit these, FOC, on cars that do not have them as they started fitting them at some point in 2018. So will add that to the list of things.
I might have made this up but I’m sure there’s a similar story with the front brake ducts? I remember Tony of Gravelwood car sales had a mare with his when the ceramics completely died on track, turns out his brake ducts were missing or something? They became standard fit later on and on the Pro I think. Something to check out.
Rings a bell too. Need to try and find a GTR specialist I think as I am fairly sure the dealers will be useless with the car.
Some ownership updates.
The car still had a smidge of Mercedes new car warranty which runs to the end 27th April. I had been to the Mercedes Warranty renewal website and got quotes of £2760 for 1 year and £5600 for 2 years. That had surprised me as I expected it to be less and took to the FaceBook owners group who all told me that it was a toppy quote. So I picked up the phone and spoke to the warranty team who confirmed it was in fact £1360 for 1 year and £2660 for 2 years, with no excess. To me on a car like this that is epic value to just put 2 years extended warranty on the car from end of April.
The braking issue above can impact people who use cars hard on track. I tend to be hard on brakes not least as I left foot brake quite a bit on road and track when going quickly so going to look at getting the Pro cooling ducts fitted which resolves the issues and also the radiator protectors, which are fitted to the cars as standard from late 2018 it seems.
The car still had a smidge of Mercedes new car warranty which runs to the end 27th April. I had been to the Mercedes Warranty renewal website and got quotes of £2760 for 1 year and £5600 for 2 years. That had surprised me as I expected it to be less and took to the FaceBook owners group who all told me that it was a toppy quote. So I picked up the phone and spoke to the warranty team who confirmed it was in fact £1360 for 1 year and £2660 for 2 years, with no excess. To me on a car like this that is epic value to just put 2 years extended warranty on the car from end of April.
The braking issue above can impact people who use cars hard on track. I tend to be hard on brakes not least as I left foot brake quite a bit on road and track when going quickly so going to look at getting the Pro cooling ducts fitted which resolves the issues and also the radiator protectors, which are fitted to the cars as standard from late 2018 it seems.
Are you aware of the exclusions for the extended warranty? I did a quick Google yesterday and went to the extended warranty website. I was surprised by such an extensive list that leaves little to the imagination about what actually is covered.
Edit: Although it was a very quick look and I could be entirely wrong.
It is little different to most warranties. It is the big bills I wanted covered, mechanical and electrical items. My R8 was no different, but come new gearbox time Audi got the £23K bill, not me.
Makes sense, especially on your car. My main concern with the exclusions where it left a lot of wiggle room if there was a gearbox failure. For example, seals, gaskets, high pressure hoses, gearbox mountings etc... are excluded but could be argued as the root cause of a gearbox failure.
It does exclude track days, which is not uncommon but I tend to rent track cars for my track days these days. The biggest fun part of going on Euro track days is the travel there and back with groups of friends in interesting cars. Ring public days are a massive risk so last time I rented a track car and was going to do the same at Spa and Ring in May, now moved to June.
Just bought a full set of winter tyres from a friend for a more than reasonable price. He used them twice for trips to Austria and reckons the suit road use better than the Cup 2's due to the softer side walls making the ride more pliant. I will for the first time ever put them on come next winter and see. Based on how this car makes me want to drift it out of bends and islands I can see the Cup 2's not lasting long. Car into Mercedes tomorrow at 10am for diagnosis on suspension fault and to retro fit radiator guards.
Aventador warranty is £5.something K a year. Yes, thats right over 5k a year, mind you it is bumper to bumper warranty. Currently looking at a custom warranty to just cover gearbox and engine failure.
Ferrari is £2800 with VAT I think it was when I extended it last month, but it does not cover bumper to bumper, its just a power train warranty hence my mirror control switch (plastic knob) was like £270 and the catalyst mounts were £700, for items that should have been a few quid, I think next year I shall weigh up other options but at same time it is nice for peace of mind knowing the big ticket items are covered like Housey says.
Also no more free services for me, next year is a major which is like £1400 I think, but again I might look into specialist servicing and cover, as there is a specialist not too far from me who is an ex master tech from Ferrari who has setup his own independent business so an avenue worth exploring.
Still I am not complaining the Ferrari has cost me little in ownership the past two plus years.
Soldato
WTF!! My Mercedes E43 was just over £430 a year if I recall, no idea how much the E63S will cost though as its a 2019 car. Im guessing the price goes up as its past 60k miles as it cant be that price otherwise surely?
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The entire BMW warranty structure is frustrating and annoying and only really of value to people who buy the cars reasonably new and low mileage and then retain the warranty, which is presumably what BMW want as such people rarely claim.
BMW's warranty package seems to get more and more uncompetitive in terms of price as time goes on - the cover level is good but the way they price is it absolutely infuriating. it is considerably cheaper to purchase a warranty on a 435d M Sport Convertible than it is my 530d (Which is £900 a year!) even though there is no component I can think of that is fitted to my car but no the 4 Series, but various complex components fitted to the 435 but not mine.
Watching people paying 300 quid a year more than me for an AMG GT is infuriating to say the least. Especially when actually I've never claimed on the warranty for this particular car.
I am one major price hike away from just buying something else.
55k miles £1987 a year
60,001 miles £4783 a year, both with £100 excess. Powertrain only to max claim limit of £5k is £2643, ridiculous isn't it.
So then, Stoke Mercedes....
Yea, they won’t be touching my car. Spent 15 minutes trying to park. Cars everywhere, temper rising. Mechanics just staring at my car with that “I’m having first go” look. No greatest or signs (or ones that I could see). Little to no space and cars just dumped. I park and block in some people to be told “put your name on an envelope and post it trough the door”. Not happening.
Canned the whole idea and rebooked into Macclesfield Mercedes which looks proper. Just awful experience this morning. Come on Mercedes you must do better.
Yea, they won’t be touching my car. Spent 15 minutes trying to park. Cars everywhere, temper rising. Mechanics just staring at my car with that “I’m having first go” look. No greatest or signs (or ones that I could see). Little to no space and cars just dumped. I park and block in some people to be told “put your name on an envelope and post it trough the door”. Not happening.
Canned the whole idea and rebooked into Macclesfield Mercedes which looks proper. Just awful experience this morning. Come on Mercedes you must do better.
Soldato
That is crazy but oddly enough Mercedes extended warranty is pretty cheap compared with other cars I've had from Jaguar and as you say BMW, but they get you on the servicing which is on the expensive side
That is terrible, shame you did not mention you were coming to Stoke, I am in the office you could have stopped by and we could have had a socially distanced coffee.
I paid £1159 per year for my R8