Service Plans

[steve333]

Well, it would if you paid list price. Most dealers will service the car way cheaper than list. I just had a B service, brake fluid, ATF change and some other bits and pieces done for £430 and I know someone who paid even less than that for the same work.

Be careful of making the decision based on the cost of the ATF change - it's not called for on all models (the later 5 speed boxes don't seem to ask for it) and the dealer will not do it if it's not called up by the Electronic Service Sheet.
Mercedes-Benz ESS


I do have a problem with the these plans - many other manufacturers offer them and they're way cheaper than MB charge.

^ Although some of the autoboxes are supposed to be sealed for life(i.e no atf/filter change)most of the experts on here will tell you they should be serviced about every 40k.

 

[Dryce]

The indie servicing does not affect the warranty as such but a merc dealer can't sell a car that doesn't have a full merc history as it makes up part of the approved used plan.

That doesn't match with any claims we made when we bought our cars. And no claim about FMBSH was made on any of the generic AU documentation at the time. The emphasis was on the fact that cars had been inspected and checked. There was no specific guarantee that the car would qualify for Mobilo 30 year scheme either - that was dependent on the service history.

I would have thought that servicing at merc but other items done elsewhere would be okay. (as already stated).

Therein lies one of the conundrums of the term FMB in FMBSH.

There have been various experiences reported over the years as to whether everything has to be done by MB to maintain the history or whether they will let non-scheduled items be done by an indy.

The impression I've had is that they have been that they are tightening up on this.

If your car is older then a decent indie service history would be fine I would have thought.

Depends. Dealer buying might claim that it doesn't count. Dealer selling will make big thing of it.

We were told quite straightfaced by one salesman (non-MB) that a FSH wasn't a FSH unless it was a FMBSH. (Kind of makes the 'MB' in the acronym redundant then doesn't it. ). Of course if he'd been selling it then the FSH would have been a FSH and a FMBSH wouldn't really be 'any different'.

Maybe this has all been tightened up with the computerisation of the service records.

Apart from that last time we were looking I would have said that majority of under 3 year cars were ex-fleet or ex-lease. So the FMBSH was either irrelevant die to age or a default because of the conditions of the financing/lease.

 

[steve333]

Yup. Even trading in at a non-dealer at three years old it will hit trade-in.

Obviously 7/8 years old probably less so.

^ Definately the case if you trade in at an mb dealership as they only sell approved used mb's that have full mb service history.

 

[Rory]

Ok that sounds like a good deal. But they did produce the invoice before I said we had a Service Plan. I still think it is worth doing but each to their own.

I'm sure they did, but the work I had done started off at over £700.

Not all dealers are so co-operative though and, depending on where you live, it's not always easy to shop around other dealers if you hit a brick wall with your own.

To my mind, the thing about the service plans is you can lose the small monthly cost in 'noise', and then you don't have to haggle with the dealer and you're not faced with a hefty bill in one go. Just watch what work the dealer does though - they're not above 'forgetting' to do things which ought to be done.

 

[Rory]

^ Although some of the autoboxes are supposed to be sealed for life(i.e no atf/filter change)most of the experts on here will tell you they should be serviced about every 40k.

Yep - that's why I just paid to have mine done. I had the old ServicePlus cover and they wouldn't do it under that because ESS didn't call for it on my car's VIN number.

 

[steve333]

Yep - that's why I just paid to have mine done. I had the old ServicePlus cover and they wouldn't do it under that because ESS didn't call for it on my car's VIN number.

^ In case anyone doesn't know you can check exactly what you will get on a service due by putting your cars details on ESS(you can take a print to the dealer with you) before commiting to the service plan