Mercedes-Benz announces five-year warranty in Australia

Mercedes-Benz Australia has fired a fresh salvo in the luxury car race by announcing a new five-year warranty coverage across its passenger and commercial fleets.

From April 1, all Mercedes-Benz cars, vans and utes sold in Australia will be covered by a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty scheme, the manufacturer confirmed on Friday.

The extension trumps not only BMW and Audi’s three-year provisions but also Lexus’ four year coverage in Australia. Only luxury newcomer Genesis’ five-year schedule compares on the prestige front.

“The new warranty replaces the three-year warranty structure and covers the entire passenger car range including Mercedes-AMG models, the all-electric EQC and plug-in hybrid variants, all of which will receive a five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty when used solely for private purposes,” Mercedes-Benz Australia said in a statement.

“Passenger cars used for commercial applications – for example, a taxi or rideshare vehicle – will be covered by a five-year/200,000 km warranty.”

In addition, Mercedes-Benz confirmed its roadside assistance provisions would also be extended to five years for passenger vehicles, vans and utes irrespective of private or commercial use.

On the Mercedes-Benz Vans front, the V-Class, X-Class and Marco Polo variants will upgrade to five-year/unlimited kilometre provisions (private use), while Vito Valente and Sprinter vans will receive a five-year/250,000km warranty.

Mercedes-Benz says a grace period will apply for those who purchase before April 1, with the new warranty structure to be backdated to March 1, 2020.

Mercedes' warranty extension follows mass adoption of five-year provisions across mainstream marques in 2019, including quasi-luxury brands such as Volkswagen.

Recently, BMW vehemently defended its three-year provisions, arguing an extension to five years was merely a “marketing benefit” and that its customer based was “entirely content” with the status quo.

At the time, BMW Australia boss Vikram Pawah implied that only when “my customer starts telling me they’re not happy with the durability of my product – which they are, actually,” would he consider extending warranty provisions.

“What the customers are really looking for is that the product’s durable, it survives a long time and if something goes wrong the manufacturer’s there to support it, which we do,” he said.

“Warranty, whether it’s three years or five years, is simply a matter of whether the product is durable and it’s what the customer is asking for.”

Until now, all but a handful of luxury marques provide a three-year warranty (with unlimited kilometres for Audi, Bentley, BMW and Porsche, and a 100,000km maximum for Jaguar and Maserati).

The exceptions to this are Lexus and Rolls-Royce, which provide a four-year warranty (with unlimited kilometres for Rolls-Royce and a 100,000km limit for Infiniti and Lexus).

Then there’s Tesla, which in April extended its warranty in Australia to eight years or 160,000km in April before slashing it back to four years/80,000km in August, while Ferrari’s warranty stands at seven years.

Audi, BMW and Porsche also cover body corrosion for 12 years. Audi also covers the A3 e-tron battery for eight years/160,000km, while BMW covers the i3 and i8 batteries for eight years/100,000km.

Most of the prestige brands (and some mainstream brands) do provide extended factory-backed warranties but you have to pay extra for them.

Mercedes-Benz chief Horst von Sanden said introducing a standard five-year manufacturer’s warranty was about improving the customer experience.

“With a five-year manufacturer’s warranty across our entire cars and vans range supported by our existing capped price servicing and Service Plan portfolio, customers can have increased flexibility and certainty throughout their journey with Mercedes-Benz,” he said.