Would You

[LifeinSerenity 11]

Would you buy a low km lease return from a Benz dealer. 

How about buying with no warranty and is 2 yrs/120000km warranty worth $2400?  

Thanks. 

[Blaine 24]

Are you asking 453 or 451 body style?

 

The warranty on our 2014 ED (451) was worth it while we had it.  Two significant repairs were covered.  Although the cost of the required services is kinda nasty for what they do.

 

You could ask the dealer to show you the maintenance logs.   Was it regularly maintained?, any significant problems etc.

 

We bought ours out at the end of the lease because its been saving us about $2100 in gas savings and that means in a few years it will pay for itself.    Definitely the cheapest car we've ever owned when you factor in all the other cost savings.  

[Blaine 24]

1 hour ago, LifeinSerenity said:

Would you buy a low km lease return from a Benz dealer. 

How about buying with no warranty and is 2 yrs/120000km warranty worth $2400?  

Thanks. 

 

Yes if the car is in good condition, passes a battery test etc.  I'd pass on the 2yr warranty and put the $2400 towards some bank stocks.

[LifeinSerenity 11]

1 hour ago, Blaine said:

 

Yes if the car is in good condition, passes a battery test etc.  I'd pass on the 2yr warranty and put the $2400 towards some bank stocks.

Thank You Blaine. 

I was just informed that the $2400 doesn’t cover the battery. So it is a waste of money in my opinion. 

[smart142 605]

My lease is coming up in Aug. I believe the buy out is $10,500...

It will have less than 30,000 kms - have had NO issues!!

[LifeinSerenity 11]

25 minutes ago, smart142 said:

My lease is coming up in Aug. I believe the buy out is $10,500...

It will have less than 30,000 kms - have had NO issues!!

Would you consider buying it after your lease is up? 

The 1 I was looking at has 36000 km. Started at $9500but by the end of the test drive was $9100 without me trying to haggle on price. It is loaded with nav, cruise ......  But I’m thinking a 2014/15 451 will be a much better option. Besides that I need to get rid of a few cars instead of adding one that has limited range. 

[smart142 605]

I'm still debating, but like you I have too many cars and at this point I would probably let it go.

Mind you I could change my mind because I do love driving the ED!!

[darren 192]

I only had two issues with mine in the 3 years/approximately 38,000 km I had my ED: The gearbox/differential was grinding and had to be replaced (they never disclosed to me exactly what the issue was), and the included EVSE/charger unit died. Both covered under warranty, no questions asked.

[LifeinSerenity 11]

1 hour ago, darren said:

I only had two issues with mine in the 3 years/approximately 38,000 km I had my ED: The gearbox/differential was grinding and had to be replaced (they never disclosed to me exactly what the issue was), and the included EVSE/charger unit died. Both covered under warranty, no questions asked.

Thank You. 

The idea isn’t dead for me getting one. But a;so need a daily driver. As I’m sure if we got an electric smart it would become the wife’s. 

[SmartElectric 31]

For reference.

Bought 2013 Smart ED new for $19200 all-in (taxes, rebate - $8500 at the time).

Traded for $8500 for new 2018 Smart ED in November 2017.

Therefore, my 4 year cost was $220/mo.

 

New 2018 Smart ED with $13000 Ontario rebate is about $20K all-in with 8 year battery + drive system warranty.

If you get $9000 on trade in over 4 years, it's still in the low $220/mo over 4 years.

 

Versus purchase of $10K all-in for used.

Drive out of warranty for 4 years, trade for $4000, cost is $125/mo.

If battery dies at year 4, car is worth $1000 for parts and sale of battery modules.

Let's say risk is 1/1000 risk of loss of car function at end of 4 year period.

In this case you end up paying same as new cost.

 

So, used is half the cost if you have no issues, or about the same cost as new over 4 year period if you have rare catastrophic battery issue.

My 2013 Smart ED was PERFECT, only $3 in unscheduled maintenance (tail light bulb).

 

The only reason I bought new was I could afford to and I wanted the new model.

[LifeinSerenity 11]

On 2018-03-06 at 0:52 PM, SmartElectric said:

For reference.

Bought 2013 Smart ED new for $19200 all-in (taxes, rebate - $8500 at the time).

Traded for $8500 for new 2018 Smart ED in November 2017.

Therefore, my 4 year cost was $220/mo.

 

New 2018 Smart ED with $13000 Ontario rebate is about $20K all-in with 8 year battery + drive system warranty.

If you get $9000 on trade in over 4 years, it's still in the low $220/mo over 4 years.

 

Versus purchase of $10K all-in for used.

Drive out of warranty for 4 years, trade for $4000, cost is $125/mo.

If battery dies at year 4, car is worth $1000 for parts and sale of battery modules.

Let's say risk is 1/1000 risk of loss of car function at end of 4 year period.

In this case you end up paying same as new cost.

 

So, used is half the cost if you have no issues, or about the same cost as new over 4 year period if you have rare catastrophic battery issue.

My 2013 Smart ED was PERFECT, only $3 in unscheduled maintenance (tail light bulb).

 

The only reason I bought new was I could afford to and I wanted the new model.

Thank You for such a detailed replied. 😀

[LifeinSerenity 11]

On 2018-02-27 at 6:50 PM, Blaine said:

 

Yes if the car is in good condition, passes a battery test etc.  I'd pass on the 2yr warranty and put the $2400 towards some bank stocks.

Anyone have information on the battery test. I can’t anything online. Is this something the dealer performs? 

[smart142 605]

Dealer performs this test and can give a printout of the results.

[Blaine 24]

There's an DIY project where you can build your own tester.    https://github.com/MyLab-odyssey/ED_BMSdiag

 

Pretty simple project, works well.