hawk20
MB Enthusiast
MobiloLife is in a mess. It does not do what it says on the tin. What many salesman tell customers about it is not true. It is not virtually the same as full breakdown cover for 30 years with the RAC or the AA. What you read on Mercedes own website about MobiloLife (in early September 2006 when this is written) is not accurate. And what is written in the sales brochures is often incomplete, inaccurate and misleading.
Please remember I’m an economist not a lawyer and am more used to studying the decisions of the European Central Bank or Britain’s unemployment problems than I am used to reading the small print of ‘Terms and Conditions’ for MobiloLife. However, having discovered that most threads are full of errors on this subject, and that the two Mercedes dealers I questioned gave incorrect answers to what is covered and not covered, and that the Mercedes website is misleading at best, I decided to try and find the truth. I even discovered that phoning the proper breakdown number 00800 1777 7777 got me incorrect answers to what they would and would not come out for.
So, first I prepared my own understanding of the T’s and C’s; then I worked my way up in the Mercedes hierarchy to get confirmation of what I say here. What I say below has been confirmed by Mercedes personnel at a very high level.
I am sorry this is a long posting but it needs to be.
MobiloLife
Just to confuse, there are two parts of MobiloLife: the Factory Programme, which is offered throughout Europe, and the UK ‘Top-Up’ Programme, which is offered in the UK only.
MobiloLife: Factory Programme
The most recent changes to the factory programme occurred in January 2004. The most significant changes were the requirement for a car to have a full Mercedes-Benz service history for cover to continue beyond 2 years and the removal of support for "minor mishaps" after 2 years.
Cover for technical breakdowns and starting issues continues, subject to service history, up to a maximum of 30 years.
MobiloLife Top-Up
The Mercedes UK wing recognised that the standard Factory product did not fully meet with the market requirements in the UK, so for UK vehicles registered after 1 September 2004, they introduced a 3 year top-up programme as part of the standard product offer. This provides assistance for items such as accidents, wrong fuel, single and multiple punctures etc., for a period of 3 years from the date of initial registration whilst the vehicle is being operated within the UK. This cover is not applicable while you travel in the rest of Europe, where cover reverts back to the standard factory MobiloLife product. Important to note that!
Mercedes are currently working on a process where the customer can purchase an extension to this product, beyond the 3 years, to enhance the standard MobiloLife product provided that the vehicle continues to be maintained within the Mercedes-Benz network.
MINOR MISHAPS
The Mercedes website says Minor Mishaps cover covers you for battery failure, insufficient oil or coolant and tyre damage. It doesn’t mention that:-
a). It also covers you if you lock keys in the car, fill up with the wrong fuel and so on.
b). Minor mishaps cover ceases under the Factory Programme of MobiloLife after 2 years - even if you service at Mercedes dealers.
c). I could find no mention on the Mercedes website, or in the sales brochures for my car, of the UK top-up scheme and the breakdown phone number 00800 1777 7777 were unaware of it.
d). Under the UK top-up scheme, minor mishaps cover continues for one more year, but only on UK cars and only while those cars are in the UK.
e). So after two years, if you can’t or don’t want to change the wheel for a puncture, and you travel in Europe, then you need to join the AA/Rac and get Euro cover costing up to and even beyond £100 per year depending on length of stay, how often you travel and so on.
f). Note that even with the UK top-up scheme, and even with full MBSH, cover for punctures and other minor mishaps ceases after three years, even if the puncture or whatever occurs in the UK.
g). So, if you won’t, can’t or don’t want to change a wheel for a puncture by the side of a motorway in pouring rain, then after the third year you need to join the AA/RAC or equivalent. To join the AA and to get full cover for a couple in the UK costs about £150 per year. European cover is extra.
h). The point I have made to Mercedes is that for those like me and my wife, who do not want to do wheel changes (she has no idea how and I have back injuries and no desire to do it anyway), there is now a real diminution in the incentive to keep up a full MB service history after the second year of ownership (or third if you don’t go abroad). Sad. But that is why they are working on an improved scheme. Let us hope it comes soon.
Next time a salesman tells you that MobiloLife is like 30 years free membership of the AA/RAC point him to this website!
As I understand it, cars registered before 2004 do not suffer these problems, but check your own T’s and C’s.
Administrators may like to consider whether this could be a sticky for a while. It has taken me weeks of phone calls and correspondence to put all this together and I just wish it had not been necessary and that the information had been stuck to a forum somewhere. Otherwise members will make inappropriate decisions due to inadequate information. Many now think they are covered for all their needs by MobiloLife when in fact they are not. I hope members find this posting helpful.
Please remember I’m an economist not a lawyer and am more used to studying the decisions of the European Central Bank or Britain’s unemployment problems than I am used to reading the small print of ‘Terms and Conditions’ for MobiloLife. However, having discovered that most threads are full of errors on this subject, and that the two Mercedes dealers I questioned gave incorrect answers to what is covered and not covered, and that the Mercedes website is misleading at best, I decided to try and find the truth. I even discovered that phoning the proper breakdown number 00800 1777 7777 got me incorrect answers to what they would and would not come out for.
So, first I prepared my own understanding of the T’s and C’s; then I worked my way up in the Mercedes hierarchy to get confirmation of what I say here. What I say below has been confirmed by Mercedes personnel at a very high level.
I am sorry this is a long posting but it needs to be.
MobiloLife
Just to confuse, there are two parts of MobiloLife: the Factory Programme, which is offered throughout Europe, and the UK ‘Top-Up’ Programme, which is offered in the UK only.
MobiloLife: Factory Programme
The most recent changes to the factory programme occurred in January 2004. The most significant changes were the requirement for a car to have a full Mercedes-Benz service history for cover to continue beyond 2 years and the removal of support for "minor mishaps" after 2 years.
Cover for technical breakdowns and starting issues continues, subject to service history, up to a maximum of 30 years.
MobiloLife Top-Up
The Mercedes UK wing recognised that the standard Factory product did not fully meet with the market requirements in the UK, so for UK vehicles registered after 1 September 2004, they introduced a 3 year top-up programme as part of the standard product offer. This provides assistance for items such as accidents, wrong fuel, single and multiple punctures etc., for a period of 3 years from the date of initial registration whilst the vehicle is being operated within the UK. This cover is not applicable while you travel in the rest of Europe, where cover reverts back to the standard factory MobiloLife product. Important to note that!
Mercedes are currently working on a process where the customer can purchase an extension to this product, beyond the 3 years, to enhance the standard MobiloLife product provided that the vehicle continues to be maintained within the Mercedes-Benz network.
MINOR MISHAPS
The Mercedes website says Minor Mishaps cover covers you for battery failure, insufficient oil or coolant and tyre damage. It doesn’t mention that:-
a). It also covers you if you lock keys in the car, fill up with the wrong fuel and so on.
b). Minor mishaps cover ceases under the Factory Programme of MobiloLife after 2 years - even if you service at Mercedes dealers.
c). I could find no mention on the Mercedes website, or in the sales brochures for my car, of the UK top-up scheme and the breakdown phone number 00800 1777 7777 were unaware of it.
d). Under the UK top-up scheme, minor mishaps cover continues for one more year, but only on UK cars and only while those cars are in the UK.
e). So after two years, if you can’t or don’t want to change the wheel for a puncture, and you travel in Europe, then you need to join the AA/Rac and get Euro cover costing up to and even beyond £100 per year depending on length of stay, how often you travel and so on.
f). Note that even with the UK top-up scheme, and even with full MBSH, cover for punctures and other minor mishaps ceases after three years, even if the puncture or whatever occurs in the UK.
g). So, if you won’t, can’t or don’t want to change a wheel for a puncture by the side of a motorway in pouring rain, then after the third year you need to join the AA/RAC or equivalent. To join the AA and to get full cover for a couple in the UK costs about £150 per year. European cover is extra.
h). The point I have made to Mercedes is that for those like me and my wife, who do not want to do wheel changes (she has no idea how and I have back injuries and no desire to do it anyway), there is now a real diminution in the incentive to keep up a full MB service history after the second year of ownership (or third if you don’t go abroad). Sad. But that is why they are working on an improved scheme. Let us hope it comes soon.
Next time a salesman tells you that MobiloLife is like 30 years free membership of the AA/RAC point him to this website!
As I understand it, cars registered before 2004 do not suffer these problems, but check your own T’s and C’s.
Administrators may like to consider whether this could be a sticky for a while. It has taken me weeks of phone calls and correspondence to put all this together and I just wish it had not been necessary and that the information had been stuck to a forum somewhere. Otherwise members will make inappropriate decisions due to inadequate information. Many now think they are covered for all their needs by MobiloLife when in fact they are not. I hope members find this posting helpful.
and a very nice man came and sorted if for me.
We were in a 4 month old '04 E270CDI Avantgarde estate in which the fuel flap release had become disconnected (the manual release behind the trim in the boot was also malfunctioning). We were at Maidstone services on the M20, en route to the Eurotunnel to catch a train, so I called Mobilo and explained the problem. 
They did transfer my call to the local MB dealer, who agreed to look at the car if I drove it there. Fortunately I had enough fuel to do that, and the dealer (in Ashford IIRC) was suberb.
