Service agreement worth it?

[Tafia]

Hi,

Does anyone think it is a good idea to take out a main dealer service agreement for a 62 reg C180 with just 10,000 miles covered.

I have seen a quote of around £30 a month for that: or is it better to pay as you go for each service as it arises?

What is the difference in costs?

Thanks

T

 

[geraldrobins]

Bearing in mind that the 4 year service is likely to be a big, the service plan may well be worth it.
The service plan wont cost more than paying for servicing as you go in my experience.
Just consider how long you plan to keep your car etc.

 

[Tafia]

Do these service plans include the MOT? I am wary of letting a main dealer do our MOT's as I have caught two of them out trying to fit parts that were not needed. One was a Honda dealer a few years ago who said my Accord Exec needed discs and pads all round or it would fail the MOT. I told him not to touch the fronts as they were fine but agreed the rears needed renewal.

The car went for MOT later with the same front discs and pads and passed with no advisories. It passed several more MOT's with those discs still not causing concern.

Another Toyota dealer failed my wife's car due to a cut in the tyre: "You must have run over some metal" he told me by phone. I went to the garage and asked to see the tyre they had now replaced and there was not sign of a cut. Suspicious; me? oh yes.

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

No MOTs included. When in for a service it seems the norm for the dealer to 'try it' with the 'this item is needed, shall we replace now for an extortionate price?' trick. They did this with me at the last service

I'm on a service plan, £34 per month. It's only worth it AFTER an A service, if you're going for an odd number of years plan- that way you get more B services (more expensive)

I.e three year plan- BAB service, five year plan- BABAB

Same price, more B services, more bang for your buck

If the upcoming service is an A, pay it outright and go with a plan just before three months of the B service being due

Again, depends on how long you plan on keeping the car

 

[paul_f]

When you get a quote on the service plan site, is that the price of the direct debit or does VAT need to be added on top?

 

[geraldrobins]

Vat is included I'm pretty sure.

 

[geraldrobins]

No MOTs included. When in for a service it seems the norm for the dealer to 'try it' with the 'this item is needed, shall we replace now for an extortionate price?' trick. They did this with me at the last service

I'm on a service plan, £34 per month. It's only worth it AFTER an A service, if you're going for an odd number of years plan- that way you get more B services (more expensive)

I.e three year plan- BAB service, five year plan- BABAB

Same price, more B services, more bang for your buck

If the upcoming service is an A, pay it outright and go with a plan just before three months of the B service being due

Again, depends on how long you plan on keeping the car

In my experience dealers haven't tried it on when my car has been in, including MB, Ford and VW. Maybe I've been lucky with the dealers in our area. But in some circumstances eg brake pads, if your pads are 3/4 worn the dealer may suggest replacing as the next service could be 15000 miles away and they are not sure how heavy your brake use is.

 

[ash59fifty-uk]

In my experience dealers haven't tried it on when my car has been in, including MB, Ford and VW. Maybe I've been lucky with the dealers in our area. But in some circumstances eg brake pads, if your pads are 3/4 worn the dealer may suggest replacing as the next service could be 15000 miles away and they are not sure how heavy your brake use is.

MB and Vauxhall are the only ones I've experienced doing it, our work vehicles are with VW and although we don't get the recommendation list the lease company does, recently I saw the list for my van when it was there recently and they qouted over £1700 worth of stuff

Most of it was declined but I wonder how many lease places just say yes to everything, without knowing the vehicle/being there to see what actually needs doing and doesn't

 

[geraldrobins]

Ive experienced it with Nationwide service centres, now Halfords I think. A few years ago I took my wifes car in for a service and MOT. An hour later they rang and said it needed £400 spent on the brakes, new pads, discs, fluid change etc. I asked if it would fail the MOT and they said the brakes would pass so I declined. 2 Mots later, same discs and pads, and no brake issues reported or advisories. Trying it on or opinions???

 

[Tafia]

Ash 59.

That's a good tip. One of the best.

Cheers

T.

 

[Mr slow]

Take your car to a local authority MOT centre for a totally honest test, they have no repair facilities and thus no interest in generating repair work.

 

[Belcher]

I considered a plan for my 2005 C55 AMG. Mainly because I want to keep the full MB dealer service history it currently has. In the end, I created a new online savings account via my bank and pay a decent amount into that each month. So this means I earn the interest on it, not MB, and if the service costs less than I think, then I am quids in. My next service is in June, and will be a B service.

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

 

[Rory]

I've always used the dealer for MOTs - but Inchcape dealers have an MOT "guarantee" which covers the first £500 of any work. This seems guaranteed to ensure a pass!

 

[Tafia]

I've always used the dealer for MOTs - but Inchcape dealers have an MOT "guarantee" which covers the first £500 of any work. This seems guaranteed to ensure a pass!

I see you are based in Gods county, Cheshire.

I will be using Inchcape in Chester. Any experience of them?

T

 

[Rory]

I see you are based in Gods county, Cheshire.

I will be using Inchcape in Chester. Any experience of them?

I've PM'd you a bit of an essay.

I suppose my biggest issue is I feel I have no sort of relationship with them.

Maybe that's because I don't need to go very often! Plus their Service Advisor and Service Manager (sorry, After Sales Director) staff turnover is very high.

I think they're geared up for routine servicing, probably on ServiceCare, and that's about it.

 

[Tafia]

I've PM'd you a bit of an essay.

.

Hi Rory,

Thanks, I did receive your useful 'essay' and thanks for that, it is much appreciated. I have responded to it but am not sure if you received it. One query was, did they do the extra work without your permssion and then bill you for it?

Thanks again,

T.

 

[Rory]

Thanks, I did receive your useful 'essay' and thanks for that, it is much appreciated. I have responded to it but am not sure if you received it. One query was, did they do the extra work without your permssion and then bill you for it?

Hmmm...that's weird. I haven't got your PM, and the one I sent you isn't in my Sent folder either.

Anyway, they didn't do the extra work. It was the way they handled that that was really off-putting. They didn't call and say it needed work, they didn't even call to say the car was ready - I'd asked them to call so I could avoid rush hour traffic if possible.

In the end I called them at 4.30 and they said the car was just being washed. I got there 30 mins later and it didn't look like they'd just finished washing it. I also noticed the initial check-over was timed at 9.09. If they'd called me about the work I could have told them to go ahead with some of it - especially the auto-box pilot bush leaking (I was aware something was leaking due to small stain on the drive).

I was presented with a list of work, all priced up at full list price, with no attempt made to discuss what was really needed, what they could do on pricing for a long-standing loyal customer etc. I got the impression they just wanted me to pay and go away.

I've now been surveyed 3 times and have asked for the service manager to call me and he hasn't. MB keep trying to close the case saying he's attempted to contact me but that's not true (I work from home and he hasn't called).

Anyway, I took the car to MD Motorcare this week and they're going to do the pilot bush. The rest of the work (apart from the brake discs, which I've known are going rusty due to lack of use) they wouldn't have looked twice at if it hadn't been pointed out and even under close examination the items flagged up didn't give them any particular concern.

 

[Muna34]

I've always used the dealer for MOTs - but Inchcape dealers have an MOT "guarantee" which covers the first £500 of any work. This seems guaranteed to ensure a pass!

Thanks for this Rory. I have booked my service and MOT at Inchape Coventry for next week. They did not mention anything about the MOT cover. Just rang them to confirm this and they could not tell me as the person who picked the phone could not get into the system, so waiting on a call back!!

 

[Rory]

I always had to ask for it and they send the paperwork on afterwards. Note that it only covers you on subsequent MOTs, not the first one done by Inchcape. In my case I've always used them so the first one would have been covered by warranty anyway.

It's linked on their website https://www.mercedes-benz.inchcape.co.uk/our-services/my-service-and-parts/complementary-mot-cover/

It used to be limited to up to 10yrs old and the T's & C's still say that, but Chester assured me the age limit has been removed.

I'm not sure how likely a successful claim is - something has to be pretty bad for it to fail MOT and anything with a lot of labour will be twice the price at the dealer than an indie would charge so £500 wouldn't go very far. But something like a seatbelt not working etc should be OK.