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Mandatory BAP Terminated- Myth Buster

9K views 84 replies 17 participants last post by  jzchen 
I purchased a used 2014 ED last month from my local MB dealer. I'll keep you posted on whether they contact me about BAP. I was very wary of the program going into the purchase, so I was very careful to look out for any paperwork that mentioned it. Nothing in the purchase paperwork about it, and I already got my first MB finance bill for the first car payment and nothing about BAP or an extra $80 was on it anywhere.
 
Oh I know it. Unless I sign something there is no way they could legally force me into the program. If they did I would sue the dealership I bought the car from. They can't sell you a car with a lien on it without you knowing about. BAP is a lien, I don't know any judge in the state of California that wouldn't see it my way.
 
I purchased mine used from a Mercedes Benz dealer. They knew nothing about BAP. There is no legal way for them to repossess the car without a lien in place. If MB sold me a car with a pre-existing lien against it, they could very well lose their dealer license. I don't think an MB dealership is going to do that.
 
The way I look at it (and ultimately made this decision) I bought a 2014 with 16k on the odo for $6200. I have one year of the original 4 year factory warranty left, so I have one year peace of mind. I had the dealer throw in the 2 year maintenance, which included a battery test. The battery has only degraded 4% in 3 years. The odds that something happens to that battery in the next few years is slim to none. And if something does happen, I could just spend another $6200 and buy another 3 yo used car. But the odds of that happening are slim to none. I would also point out that BAP only covers the battery. There are tons of other things that could go wrong with your car over the next 10 years. It's only insurance one 1 of many parts of the car. To each his own, I just thought I'd throw out my method of thinking into my purchase. If you want to double the cost of your car for an insurance policy on the battery, that's your choice.
 
I think you will be pleasntly surprised if you successfully measure your cars degree
of degradation.
There is ample evidence to suggest that these "Traction Batteries" from all manufacturers
are degrading less than 10% in 10 years.
All except the Nissan Leaf. Seriously, get on a leaf forum a lookup losing bars. They seem to degrade about 5-10% per year. Seriously terrible. But yeah, in all my research before buying the smart I found that battery degredation on all other cars is very minimal.
 
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