Mercedes-Benz extended warranty: cost, coverage and plans

Mercedes-Benz extended warranty coverage

Mercedes’ official extended warranty plans (aka vehicle service contracts) are called, quite simply, Mercedes-Benz Extended Limited Warranties.

These plans are designed to extend your remaining Mercedes-Benz New Vehicle Limited Warranty (aka your factory warranty), which provides bumper-to-bumper coverage for the first four years or 50,000 miles of your vehicle’s life, whichever comes first.

As you read on, keep in mind that auto warranties only cover repairs needed due to manufacturing defects, such as poor fitment or design. Practically no warranties cover repairs needed due to neglect, abuse, misuse or damage (like from weather or collisions). They also typically exclude preexisting conditions, wear-and-tear items (like wiper blades and brake pads), and cosmetics (like paint, interiors and body panels).

» LEARN: What does a car warranty cover?

Be sure to clarify when your warranty starts and ends before you buy.

Mercedes Extended Limited Warranties are available for most Mercedes vehicles still within their factory warranty periods. Term options are for one, two or three years beyond the New Vehicle Limited Warranty, and you have two mileage limits to choose from: 75,000 miles or 100,000 miles (measured from when your car was brand-new, not the mileage at the time of purchase).

To illustrate what that means, if you purchase a two-year/75,000-mile Extended Limited Warranty, you’re effectively extending your factory New Vehicle Limited Warranty limits from four years/50,000 miles to six years/75,000 miles.

These plans have a $0 deductible, and you can take your vehicle to any one of 350-plus authorized Mercedes-Benz dealers in the U.S. and Puerto Rico for warranty repair work.

» LEARN: What to know about manufacturers’ extended warranties

Mercedes-Benz extended warranty benefits

As part of your extended warranty purchase, Mercedes will also extend your Mercedes-Benz Roadside Assistance benefits through the end of your extended warranty term. That means you’ll get:

• 24/7 roadside assistance that includes jump-starting a dead battery, changing a flat tire using your vehicle-equipped spare, reinflating a flat tire using your vehicle-equipped Tirefit kit and delivering fuel when your tank runs empty.
• Complimentary towing to the nearest authorized Mercedes-Benz dealer if you’re involved in an accident or have a mechanical issue.
• Trip interruption benefits of up to $300 per night for up to three nights, covering meals and lodging as long as you meet three conditions:
  • Your Mercedes broke down over 100 miles from home.
  • It must stay overnight at the dealership.
  • The repairs are covered under warranty.

While $300 per night for trip interruption is well above average for a warranty like this, one notable omission is rental car coverage. If the dealer doesn’t have a loaner vehicle handy, you may have to pay out of pocket for alternative transportation.

Mercedes-Benz extended warranty plans

Mercedes-Benz Extended Limited Warranties come with just one plan option: an almost direct extension of the New Vehicle Limited Warranty — with a few additional exceptions.

Those coverage exceptions include but aren’t limited to:

• Vehicle batteries
• Tires
• Shock absorbers/suspension struts
• Phone and communication service infrastructure
• Soft tops
• Glass
• Paint
• Miscellaneous appearance items

On the other hand, that means practically any other part of your vehicle should be covered by your Mercedes extended warranty.

» READ: Where can you use an extended auto warranty?

Mercedes-Benz extended warranty cost

You have to speak with a finance manager at a Mercedes-Benz dealership if you want to know what they charge for a Mercedes-Benz Extended Limited Warranty. So, that’s what we did.

Here are some price quotes we received for coverage on various Mercedes-Benz models.

Mercedes-Benz Extended Service Contract costs

Note that all prices include a $0 deductible and do not include local tax.

Here are some of our key takeaways from these numbers:

• Mercedes-Benz Extended Limited Warranties are expensive even for a luxury brand, with plans ranging from $1,500 to $3,000 per year of added coverage. For context, the average extended auto warranty costs around $1,000 per year of coverage.
• Longer terms offer better values. Looking at our quotes for the S 580, a one-year plan costs $3,150, but a three-year plan costs just $1,430 more, making it by far the better relative value. If you’re only looking for one extra year of protection, you might consider a certified pre-owned (CPO) Mercedes or a third-party extended warranty (discussed below).

That said, an expensive warranty can still be worth it if it protects you from paying for even more expensive repairs. So, let’s look at the cost of repairing and maintaining these vehicles to see if paying such a high price is worth it.

Having significant savings can ease concerns about facing a large repair bill, but for those without savings, it could lead to financial hardship. A ConsumerAffairs investigation revealed that most drivers surveyed couldn't afford to pay cash for a $1,000 repair bill, and 13% had no means to handle such a bill — even with credit.

Mercedes-Benz extended warranty alternatives

Can a third-party warranty offer similar protection to the Mercedes-Benz Extended Limited Warranty for less? To find out, we reached out to olive and Endurance, two top-rated extended car warranty companies, to see if they could offer us a better deal.

(Note: Although their advertised terms may be different, the third-party quotes above are for plans that offer similar coverage to Mercedes’ two-year/100,000-mile Extended Limited Warranties, albeit with $100 deductibles. As before, none of the figures include local tax.)

These quotes suggest that Mercedes-Benz Limited Extended Warranties might actually offer the better deal, especially considering the $0 deductible and attached benefits. However, it’s almost always worth getting a few more third-party quotes, just in case. At the very least, it’ll assure you that you’re getting the best possible deal.

» MORE: How to choose an extended car warranty

Is a Mercedes-Benz extended warranty worth it?

Is it worth paying $3,000-plus for a Mercedes-Benz Extended Limited Warranty? Probably not, and here’s why.

In general, an extended auto warranty is more likely to be worth it if:

• You drive an unreliable vehicle.
• You think your warranty will be cheaper than the repairs you’d otherwise have to pay for.
• Your financial situation couldn’t withstand a large, surprise repair bill.
• You don’t mind paying several thousand dollars for a few years of peace of mind.

Since the last two points are subjective and up to you, we’ll focus on the first two.

Mercedes-Benz tends to rank below average in terms of expected reliability. In its 2024 Vehicle Dependability Study, J.D. Power placed the German brand 21st out of 29 automakers overall, with 218 problems per 100 vehicles within the first three years. Consumer Reports, which draws from a wider range of model years, ranked the brand second to last out of 30 automakers in 2023.

As for the cost and frequency of repairs, RepairPal estimates that Mercedes vehicles make unplanned trips to the mechanic 0.7 times per year, while the industry average is just 0.4 times per year. Additionally, 13% of those repairs are considered “severe,” costing $2,000 or more, which is a tick higher than the 12% average. Finally, the site estimated in 2019 that the average cost of repairs and maintenance for all Mercedes-Benz models comes out to $908 per year — that’s roughly $1,263 per year when adjusted for inflation, about 39% higher than the $907-per-year industry average.

Sean Kim, an ASE-Certified mechanic with 13 years of experience, highlights the significant costs of Mercedes-Benz repairs. “The repair bills for a majority of Mercedes repairs will be well into the $1,000s minus a few maintenance-related repairs,” said Kim.

Consumer reviews of Mercedes-Benz suggest a mixed ownership experience.

On the one hand, there are people like this reviewer from Maryland who reported a happy ownership experience with their E-Class. “I've been driving MB for nearly 30 years. … My current and perhaps my last MB is the E450. It's a nice size and fits between the two cars I traded in for it. … As I age, too many models are either too high or too low for me. My sister-in-law said after driving it, ‘It drives like butter’. I thought it was an odd statement, but I understood she liked it better then her Audi,” they wrote.

On the flip side, other reviewers cited frustrations with poor build quality, high repair estimates and disappointing customer service.

“Engine cylinder head blew just past 50k miles on my 2019 A220 4matic. Repair cost was $6200 pre-tax and they refused to help in covering this repair,” wrote a ConsumerAffairs reviewer from Wisconsin. “I get it is past warranty, but if you built a faulty product for which you charge a premium I expect some level of brand integrity.”

What should you take away from all this data?

Circling back to the first two points above, we think most would agree that Mercedes-Benz vehicles exhibit below-average reliability, and the cost and frequency of repairs are higher than with your typical vehicle. However, the cost of the warranty ($1,500 to $3,000 per year of added coverage) is much higher than the anticipated cost of the repairs it would likely protect you from, which means you may actually save money by paying out of pocket for repairs.

That said, if you’re still looking for some kind of protection against pricey repairs, keep in mind that you have two alternatives to consider:

1. Purchasing a CPO Mercedes, which comes with a one-year/unlimited-mile warranty covering about 300 essential components
2. Purchasing a third-party extended warranty, which has the potential to get you the same coverage for less money

» MORE: Pros and cons of extended auto warranties