M8: Warranty Comparison

[nestacio]

I've been looking everywhere for an opinion toward buying a new M8 with the Leica 2-year warranty vs. a 'used' (or grey market) M8 with a warranty provided by the seller/vendor.

So far, I've come to the conclusion that buying a 'used' M8 with a vendor warranty saves enough money to offset the cost of a certain amount of potential repairs, compared to paying a significant amount more for the genuine Leica warranty.

Seeing as US buyers do not get the benefit of Passport protection (I may be mistaken) then we aren't saved from our own carelessness anyway and a new warranty offers limited benefit for the cost. In comparison, a 'used' M8 from a reliable dealer (eg. Popflash) will at least be replaced in the event of certain problems not under the buyer's control.

Am I missing something here? How many choose to buy completely 100% new - fyi I am that kind of buyer in general, I like my gear new. But I can't see the benefit of paying $1000 USD more for a warranty that does not provide significantly better protection. I'm aware that some used M8s have come with the software already registered, or prefilled filter requests, but I think honest vendors will bend over backward to make sure this type of setback is taken care of... so 'used' warranties still seem to work out better cost-wise (at least in the US).

 

[Ben Z]

I have no way of estimating the potential cost of repairs on the M8 but I can easily see where $1000 could be exceeded if any of the major components burned out or broke down. Leica official demos come with a 1-year factory warranty. That I could see, perhaps. Also, maybe if I bought from a dealer who would send the camera in under the original purchaser's name (yeah it's cheating but it was done all the time during the film Leica era). From a private party, unless it was someone I knew and trusted would take his time and go to bat for me (in terms of calling and bugging Leica) if it needed repairs, I'd have to get that kind of a used M8 really, really cheap. As in, maybe 2 grand. Also, nobody can convince me the more recent M8s aren't more reliable, if only because the Solms Gnomes have more experience by now, and nobody can convince me that high serial numbers aren't more recent. If I'm wrong, it won't hurt me. I insisted on a really high number when I bought mine (new), and I was lucky to get one just before the price went up from $4795. If I were in the market now, with prices at $5600, an official demo at $4000 would be mighty tempting.

 

[Digital Dude]

...I insisted on a really high number when I bought mine (new), and I was lucky to get one just before the price went up from $4795. If I were in the market now, with prices at $5600, an official demo at $4000 would be mighty tempting.

Well, I just received a "new" production M8 and the serial number starts with "3330...". Actually, I have no idea where this falls in the production chain but the new price I paid was 5400.
Regards,😱

 

[Ben Z]

I got mine in the beginning of August, it was a new shipment just received by the dealer, the serial # starts with 332. They had some earlier numbers but I opted for the later one. It was the only thing I could do proactively towards not getting a lemon so I did it--made me feel empowered 😀 But I remember Sherry Krauter telling me the saga of how the M6 was cheapened throughout its production, so for all I know the early M8's may turn out to be the best ones. So far mine works, that's all I know.

 

[jaapv]

Hmmm...... My first 100 M8 from November 2006 never had any problems, apart from "the upgrade" There is no evidence that there is any difference in reliability, except for one batch that needed a transistor replaced. (the socalled T2 update, which rhe factory will do automatically whenever such a camera comes in (as my second body did, to be engraved)

 

[Ben Z]

Buying anything is always a gamble. Insisting on a high serial# M8 was kind of like specifying a Lotto number instead of letting the machine pick one 😀