Decisions first A service

[kcsun]

My SL63 will be a year old in March and will need its first A service, at the moment it has 1600 miles on the clock. It is a UK car, but is at my holiday home in SW France, so I now have to make a decision

1. Have it serviced at my local French Mercedes dealer Slavi in Tarbes 65
2. drive it back to UK and
a, take it back to Milton Keynes MB where I purchased it
b, take it to my local MB dealer close to my Essex home - Colchester, Chelmsford or Ipswich
c, take it to Brooklands MB as I have heard they have a great reputation for AMG service

I will probably take out the service contract after I have had this service for 3 or 4 years

Any thoughts or views on this or any of the dealers, good or bad

kc

 

[Yex]

A friend takes his CLK63 Black, A45 AMG and ML320 to Lancasters in Colchester and he is very fussy and has never said a bad word about them.

 

[st13phil]

Were you intending to drive it back to the UK anyway? If not, driving it back just for a service seems a little excessive, especially as the first service is basically an oil and filter change.

My gut feel is to have it serviced in France, but the possible fly in the ointment is the UK warranty, so I'd be minded to give Mercedes Customer Service a call and enquire.

 

[wongl]

I believe servicing costs in by MB dealerships in France are substantially lower than in the uk!

 

[Petrol Pete]

Its a RHD UK car, at a guess the next owner might like to see UK 'stamps' on the cars service history.

 

[rf065]

My gut feel is to have it serviced in France, but the possible fly in the ointment is the UK warranty, so I'd be minded to give Mercedes Customer Service a call and enquire.

Why would that matter? The cars are sold for the European market and the warranty covers the market they are sold in. Same reason the breakdown cover works in the whole of Europe too. As long as it's a main dealer there are no problems, no matter which country.

 

[st13phil]

Why would that matter?

Third year of the UK warranty always used to be provided by MBUK, not Daimler. Not sure if that’s still the case.

 

[ShaunB]

My SL63 will be a year old in March and will need its first A service, at the moment it has 1600 miles on the clock. It is a UK car, but is at my holiday home in SW France, so I now have to make a decision

1. Have it serviced at my local French Mercedes dealer Slavi in Tarbes 65
2. drive it back to UK and
a, take it back to Milton Keynes MB where I purchased it
b, take it to my local MB dealer close to my Essex home - Colchester, Chelmsford or Ipswich
c, take it to Brooklands MB as I have heard they have a great reputation for AMG service

I will probably take out the service contract after I have had this service for 3 or 4 years

Any thoughts or views on this or any of the dealers, good or bad

kc

For my E63, I paid for its first service, then took out a service plan for 4 years.
As for where to get it serviced, I think I'd just take it to your French MB dealer, but check warranty will be ok still.
Like Phil said, its only oil & filter anyway.

Just for info, my dealer only charged £5.75 per litre for the Shell engine oil.

 

[rf065]

Third year of the UK warranty always used to be provided by MBUK, not Daimler. Not sure if that’s still the case.

I would expect if abroad in the third year and having to make a claim, the same procedure as the Mercedes Extended Warranty might apply. It states you would pay for the repair and submit the invoice to Mercedes UK when you returned to the UK for reimbursement. But remember, the OP's car is only a year old, driving back to the UK for an A service when French dealers are much cheaper doesn't make much sense.

 

[st13phil]

But remember, the OP's car is only a year old, driving back to the UK for an A service when French dealers are much cheaper doesn't make much sense.

Isn’t that what I said in my post?

For the sake of a pennies phone call the OP can clarify whether or not the UK warranty would be affected. Seems daft to me to just assume that all will be well.

 

[Peter103]

I once had a gearbox problem with an E Coupe diesel while in Spain, car was still under Warranty, took it to MB dealers there, they were excellent couldn't do enough for me, better than some in UK, didn't think twice about it,. Take it anywhere in Europe warranty or not, makes no difference. Often better than UK.

 

[tonysmb]

Under the circumstances, I'd be looking to have it serviced in France and it was something I seriously considered with mine. I agree that it might be worth checking with MB UK but I'd be surprised if MB (Germany) would take kindly to any suggestion (by MB UK) that one of their franchised French dealers wasn't capable of servicing the car properly, so I doubt that there would be an issue. I forget the exact price but my local French dealer was cheaper than my local UK one - I ended up having it done in the UK but only because I was returning in any event.

Unless you were intending to drive it to the UK, or you have to for the warranty, it seems daft to virtually double the car's mileage just for an oil change. First World problems, eh

eta: forgot to add, my TVR had it's first service (not by me) in Italy. I had no problems with that when I bought it not long afterwards; if anything it added to the sense of history, evidence of it being used for proper European cruising. The Italian stickers under the bonnet made an interesting change as well.

 

[kcsun]

Thanks for all your replies, been out of europe without internet for a few days. Will call MB customer care and then report back
If it is allowed to be serviced in France I will then do the same as ShaunB and then take out a UK 4 year service plan
watch this space
kc

 

[kcsun]

Has anyone got an email address for MB customer service UK. Every time I try to fill out the enquiry page it directs me to a local dealer???

Or is MB HQ UK imaginary???

kc

 

[PaulXC]

In the first three years of owning my E320 I had it serviced at MB in Barcelona Spain, then La Rochelle, France and then in Macclesfield, UK.

It was supplied new in Barcelona. It had work done under warranty in Spain and the UK.

As long as it’s in the European Mercedes network there is no problem.

 

[markjay]

In the first three years of owning my E320 I had it serviced at MB in Barcelona Spain, then La Rochelle, France and then in Macclesfield, UK.

It was supplied new in Barcelona. It had work done under warranty in Spain and the UK.

As long as it’s in the European Mercedes network there is no problem.

What the OP is asking is whether a Mercedes-Benz Service Care Plan taken-out in the UK will cover servicing in other European countries, i.e. will he still be able to get the first Service A done for free in France.

The potential issue here is that the Mercedes-Benz Service Care Plan is essentially a financial product so will have its T&Cs.

I don't know the answer to that, but in the OP's case I would start the service plan from the second service (Service B plus brake fluid change), and just pay for the first service outright (Service A with no additional items).

It would simply cost less to do it this way, regardless of the physical location of the vehicle at the time of the first service i.e. UK or EU.

 

[PaulXC]

I thought he wanted to pay for the first service then take out the service plan for service 2 onwards. I can't imagine the UK service plan would be accepted in outside of the UK though.