Mercedes-Benz the first premium German brand to move to five-year warranty

Mercedes-Benz has become the first premium German marque in Australia to offer a five-year/ unlimited kilometre warranty on all its new vehicles, which comes into effect on April 1 this year.

The new assurance period is up from three years/unlimited kilometre and places Mercedes-Benz on par with mainstream carmakers including Ford, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Nissan, Toyota and Mazda, as well as the newly introduced Genesis brand’s warranty – who was the first luxury brand to offer a five-year warranty.

For reference, Kia still offers the most comprehensive assurance period at seven years/unlimited kilometres.

The new warranty is applicable to all passenger cars, SUVs, electric, plug-in and AMG-tuned models.

Mercedes’ German compatriots – BMW, Audi and Porsche – only offer a three-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, but rival luxury brand Lexus serves up a four-year/100,000km assurance period on new vehicles.

However, the catch is that the unlimited kilometre distance only applies to Mercedes-Benz vehicles bought for private use, with commercial applications being capped at 200,000km.

The five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty also applies to the V-Class, Marco Polo and soon-to-be-discontinued X-Class ute for private use, and is limited to five-years/250,000km for commercial applications.

For the Vito, Valente and Sprinter vans though, the warranty period is five years/250,000km.

Roadside assistance is also extended to five years for both private and commercial customers.

Though the new warranty officially kicks in from April 1, Mercedes-Benz Australia has also implemented a grace period for vehicles purchased from March 1, 2020 onwards.