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Servicing and service plan query

ToeKnee

MB Enthusiast
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Aug 14, 2016
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4,751
Location
leicestershire
Car
R230 SL500 in teal blue, R231 SL500 in black. (Vauxhall insignia diesel now sold) Black Ford Mondeo
I've been thinking about a service plan to cover my next three services (B,A,B). According to the service schedule book that came with the car my next service should be oil and filter, air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid change and spark plugs, then a standard A service followed by another B service including brake fluid and transmission fluid change. My problem is that the ESS and estimated price for my next service doesn't show any of the other jobs listed above. Anyone able to shed some light on why the service sheet wouldn't show all the jobs that are required?
 
Only guessing but probably the time or mileage related items not shown but as far as I understand all items needed according to the servicing schedule for your car are covered if you take out a service contract
 
They are inc with a service plan. No service plan they go down as extra work.
 
Thanks for the replies.
 
ESS doesn’t include those items...

By excluding those essential items ( for warranty and Mobilo purposes) MB can reduce the headline figure for a service quite
 
Assume it is short for electronic service software, but could be wrong , anyway it is the programme that calculates the price of a standard A or B service based on hours needed according to the standard MB workshop time allowed for each element of the particular service activity specified as far as I understand it.
 
I've been thinking about a service plan to cover my next three services (B,A,B). According to the service schedule book that came with the car my next service should be oil and filter, air filter, cabin filter, brake fluid change and spark plugs, then a standard A service followed by another B service including brake fluid and transmission fluid change. My problem is that the ESS and estimated price for my next service doesn't show any of the other jobs listed above. Anyone able to shed some light on why the service sheet wouldn't show all the jobs that are required?

ESS should show correctly the additional items required for the service (it does for my car). Unfortunately if there's a discrepancy between the paper service schedule and ESS, the dealer will go with what ESS says. So you should probably call the dealer and get them to confirm over the phone what the car will need according to their system.
 
That's what I thought Mark. Looking at service assyst in the car it says next service B1 so just a standard service and no extras. I'll talk to the dealer but if that's the case then I'll definitely not be taking out a service plan for a standard B service followed by a standard A then another B all for nearly £1600
 
That's what I thought Mark. Looking at service assyst in the car it says next service B1 so just a standard service and no extras. I'll talk to the dealer but if that's the case then I'll definitely not be taking out a service plan for a standard B service followed by a standard A then another B all for nearly £1600
I wouldn't worry about what the dash is should (B1 is service B plus brake fluid). The dealer wil ignore it anyone and go by what ESS says. Call the dealer and ask them what the computer is showing as due for your car.

Also, I am assuming that the next service is the 4th service? If so, does your car have automatic transmission, and when is the ATF due? It's another biggie that you would want to cover with a service plan.
 
It should be more straightforward now MB has fixed interval servicing, but mine was on variable and did very low mileage and ESS seemed to get messed up if the mileage was lower than average. In my case the dealer would only do what was called for on the ESS as they reckoned that's all MB would pay them on. My car got to 6yrs old before the air filter was changed. It wasn't apparent as with ServicePlus they didn't give any paperwork, but gave me copies when the contract ended.

Last time it went to the dealer (about 3yrs ago) it was a due a brake fluid change but that didn't come up, and that's just time based. Of course as I was paying cash by then the dealer cheerfully did it (well, took money off me).
 
Well the car is a 2012 so just gone through it's year 7 service (A), it had full Mercedes service history so was going to continue with that (even though I'm more than capable of doing my own servicing and do so on the other three cars in the household). Although it has a full history including atf change at four years old it still had the original air filters in!
I had a lot of people lose interest in the R230 I've just sold because it didn't have a full MBSH so that's why I'm thinking of going dealer although if they are not going to do the jobs required in the schedule I may go indie (although I'd still rather service it myself and ensure everything was done to MY satisfaction). Decisions decisions....
 
...Although it has a full history including atf change at four years old it still had the original air filters in!...

Are you saying this because there's no record of the air filter having been changed in 2016 as it should have? If so, could it be that the previous owner declined the garage's quote, instead went out an bought an MB air filter then replaced it himself? That wouldn't be unheard off.
 
You could always take the car to a MB dealer and demand only an A service (getting the book stamped) and you do the additional bits yourself keeping any receipts

I have a couple of aston owners who do that

kc
 
The filter does have a date stamped and it's before the car reg date so knew it wasn't changed at all, plus it was filthy!
 
I wouldn't bother with the man dealer, service it yourself and keep the receipts, if you really must just get them to do an oil change.

Had exactly the same on our very low miles W212, dealer simply never bothered to change cabin filters even though these were charged for.
 
The filter does have a date stamped and it's before the car reg date so knew it wasn't changed at all, plus it was filthy!
Fair enough, though it *could* have just been purchased from old stock....

Or... did the car change ownership shortly after the 4th service? Possibly the previous owner knew he was selling the car so didn't bother with the additional items?

Or..... maybe the garage 'short changed' the previous owner....? Is the air filter change documented in the service history?

(No more sleuthing from me, I promise :D )
 
You sleuth away, I'm never too old to learn! I don't think I'll go with a service plan though so that gives me a year to decide whether to service it myself or get an indie to do the work so the dsb is updated.
 

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