Service Contracts & Service Plus

[Benz270]

Im new to the forum and new to Mercedes ownership! Just recently bought a E270 CDi on a 05 plate. Im looking into the service plus scheme Mercedes offer as I clock up about 30k every year in mileage. Price I have ben quoted is £160 per month based on a 12 month contract at around 30k during this period.

Just wondering what peoples experiences with Service Plus is and anything I should be aware of? I already know i have to wait a month or 3k miles before it can go in for a service, im trying to negotiate around this but effectively the dealer is saying i have to pay for the last 3 months for the car to go in for a service now (its due) under the service plus scheme which would leave me with only 9 months from today. Not really best pleased with that.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

If you do a search of the forum for Service Plus you'll find all sorts of comments.

I've found it to be pretty good, and has covered all things bar one. My own mistake though, as I didn't say it had failed through wear and tear.

 

[Benz270]

Yep i did try a search but the search engine didnt like the words so came back with all sorts will try again though!

Out of curiosity what happened with the one incident? I mean you have to tell the dealer its failed due to wear and tear? Thought they would judge that for themselves.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

The ML doesn't have electric seat adjustment - and instead has the usual lever to slide the seat fore/aft. It has a plastic handle on a metal mechanism, and pretty much clips into place.

I adjusted the seat and the clips failed, and the plastic hand came off in my hand. My Service Advisor asked at the time whether I thought it was wear and tear, and I said "no, it's not really a wear and tear item", I think it must be a combination of a poor design and low quality part". So I had to pay.

It was only afterwards I noticed the paper work has "wear and tear" written all over it. Not to worry it was less than a tenner and they fitted it for free.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

Try searching with service + plus + contract

...and include the + symbols.

Hope this helps.

 

[Rory]

Im new to the forum and new to Mercedes ownership! Just recently bought a E270 CDi on a 05 plate. Im looking into the service plus scheme Mercedes offer as I clock up about 30k every year in mileage. Price I have ben quoted is £160 per month based on a 12 month contract at around 30k during this period.

Just wondering what peoples experiences with Service Plus is and anything I should be aware of? I already know i have to wait a month or 3k miles before it can go in for a service, im trying to negotiate around this but effectively the dealer is saying i have to pay for the last 3 months for the car to go in for a service now (its due) under the service plus scheme which would leave me with only 9 months from today. Not really best pleased with that.

Why are you only doing it for 12 mths? You can get a 3 yr quote - the price stays the same each year and it can be cancelled with max 3 mths notice (they work out how much you 'owe' them, so there might be no canc charge).

It's a lot of money, but I'm paying just under £80 for 12K/yr on a C270, so pro-rata your price is OK (unless it goes up hughly as the car comes out of warranty).

It's always a gamble - I was doing 30K/yr when I bought my car (almost new) and didn't take it out (figuring that service couldn't possibly cost that much) but in practice I've done loads less miles (due to job change) and now it's out of warranty I wouldn't want to run a Merc without some sort of back up. In my case ServicePlus was about the same price as 4th year extended warranty and alledgedly* offers the same cover PLUS servicing and repairs, so it was a no-brainer.

*I always say this, but it's clear that ServicePlus is for wear and tear items, however MB seem to have (so far) been very generous in their interpretation of wear and tear. I do worry about what will happen if the auto-box (or whatever) 'breaks', but I'm hopeful that MB will pay as surely no-one would expect an MB auto-box to 'break'!

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

*I always say this, but it's clear that ServicePlus is for wear and tear items, however MB seem to have (so far) been very generous in their interpretation of wear and tear. I do worry about what will happen if the auto-box (or whatever) 'breaks', but I'm hopeful that MB will pay as surely no-one would expect an MB auto-box to 'break'!

I have it in writing - both email and in a letter - that an autobox failure would be covered. In fact I think I copy/pasted the email text into a thread on here somewhere.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

*I always say this, but it's clear that ServicePlus is for wear and tear items, however MB seem to have (so far) been very generous in their interpretation of wear and tear. I do worry about what will happen if the auto-box (or whatever) 'breaks', but I'm hopeful that MB will pay as surely no-one would expect an MB auto-box to 'break'!

I have it in writing - both email and in a letter - that an autobox failure would be covered. In fact I think I copy/pasted the email text into a thread on here somewhere.

 

[Rory]

I have it in writing - both email and in a letter - that an autobox failure would be covered. In fact I think I copy/pasted the email text into a thread on here somewhere.

"Failure"? I have no doubt it would be covered if it wears out, but what if it, like your seat adjuster thingy, just breaks?

I do think it's funny the way the blurb that comes with the contract specifies things like bulbs & wiper blades and then casually says 'major units' !

 

[Benz270]

Why are you only doing it for 12 mths? You can get a 3 yr quote - the price stays the same each year and it can be cancelled with max 3 mths notice (they work out how much you 'owe' them, so there might be no canc charge).

Basically i dont think i will be doing the same mileage as i do now after 12 months so decided to look at 1 year rather than 2 year or 3 year option.

The fact that you cant claim for the first 3 months or first 3000 miles still annoys me as effectively it can work out to be 9 months cover.

Having said that though some form of warranty/guarantee is a good idea. So far in 3 months of ownership i have had the wing mirror glass changed, new alloy wheels all round and new roof strips (they had started to corrode). Has anyone else suffered from the roof strips corroding? It was minor but i was surprised it happened given the problems with all the old Mercedes i thought this problem had been put to bed.

 

[Rory]

The fact that you cant claim for the first 3 months or first 3000 miles still annoys me as effectively it can work out to be 9 months cover.

To be honest, I surprised that they'll let you backdate it. If you could take 30K cover for 12 months immediately before a service was due then they're likely to have to pay for 3 services - their plan is to make money on the deal after all!

Even though it was showwing 5K to service, I took mine out a few days before 2yrs 9mths so it would be in place for when the car gets MOT'd - it would cover the MOT anyway, but at 3yrs it needs the ccolant changed and I was also concerned that the disks are pretty rusty. It was pointed out by the dealer that the brake fluid should have been changed at 2 yrs and that I'd probably have to pay, however I hope to try and blag that.

 

[Bobby Dazzler]

The fact that you cant claim for the first 3 months or first 3000 miles still annoys me as effectively it can work out to be 9 months cover.

You can claim for unexpected things - just not planned stuff like a service.

 

[petef]

The ML doesn't have electric seat adjustment - and instead has the usual lever to slide the seat fore/aft. It has a plastic handle on a metal mechanism, and pretty much clips into place.

I adjusted the seat and the clips failed, and the plastic hand came off in my hand. My Service Advisor asked at the time whether I thought it was wear and tear, and I said "no, it's not really a wear and tear item", I think it must be a combination of a poor design and low quality part". So I had to pay.

It was only afterwards I noticed the paper work has "wear and tear" written all over it. Not to worry it was less than a tenner and they fitted it for free.

....if ya payin that sort of money a month on a gold plated warranty you would have thought it would cover a poorly designed inadequate hndle !!!! .......If you are going to have to read the warranty from start to finsh when something goes wrong to make sure you are covered , and even then have the stress of battling out with a jumped up mb tech. I would put your £2,000 a year in savings. As my ole man use to say "knowone gives thee out for nowt lad ".

 

[Rory]

....if ya payin that sort of money a month on a gold plated warranty

ServicePlus is *not* a warranty, gold plated or otherwise. It's a service and repair plan. It covers servicing and wear and tear items, like brake pads and disks. MB do seem to have generally been generous in what they cover, but if something clearly breaks, then it didn't wear out.

Having said that, I would hope / expect MB to cough for anything that broke anyway, especially within the first 5 years.

 

[Dryce]

but if something clearly breaks, then it didn't wear out.

Generally things do clearly break as the ultimate result of being worn out.

 

[glojo]

Having said that, I would hope / expect MB to cough for anything that broke anyway, especially within the first 5 years.

Make that six :bannana:

John

 

[petef]

ServicePlus is *not* a warranty, gold plated or otherwise. It's a service and repair plan. It covers servicing and wear and tear items, like brake pads and disks. MB do seem to have generally been generous in what they cover, but if something clearly breaks, then it didn't wear out.

Having said that, I would hope / expect MB to cough for anything that broke anyway, especially within the first 5 years.

...


..... so its a service and repair plan ? ... not a warranty ...this comment is a great example of the use of phrases that dealers use when they want to fob you off and not pay for any work thats needed. At the end of the day they are a buisness, not a charity, nor are they there to do you any favours...They want your money ...they have targets to meet .............its all very disconcerting.
....

 

[Rory]

...


..... so its a service and repair plan ? ... not a warranty ...this comment is a great example of the use of phrases that dealers use when they want to fob you off and not pay for any work thats needed. At the end of the day they are a buisness, not a charity, nor are they there to do you any favours...They want your money ...they have targets to meet .............its all very disconcerting.
....

I think the clue is the name - ServicePlus! MB describe it as covering service and wear and tear repairs. If it was a warranty, it would be called a... warranty!

Now some people have been able to get what would (hopefully, if you had a warranty) normally be warranty repairs done under ServicePlus but it's clear that the package isn't really intended to do that.

 

[DieselE]

Here is just one of the threads discussing Service Plus

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=40883

You can find another if you page back through "General Discussion" until the beginning of September.